The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Why Podcasts Are the New TV, Careers After 50, and Divorce With Kids
26 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: Why are podcasts becoming the new TV?
Are we dumber than we used to be? Maybe. Or maybe we're just wrong about what it means to be smart. Our brains evolved for social interactions. You know, so when you're like talking to your friend next to you in the math class, that is actually what our brains are for. This week on Explain It to Me from Vox, our crisis of stupid and how to get our brains back.
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Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in our next episode. Question number one. First question comes from SolarSurfer7. Right on, dude.
On Reddit, they say, I just had an epiphany that podcasts are moving to video, not because people want to watch full-length podcasts on video, because it gives you short clips that can go viral on apps, including TikTok and Instagram, and thus landing more subscribers. Do you agree with this take? Have you seen a higher growth on the podcast after moving to video format? Thanks for the question.
So just some data. According to Spotify, 42% of podcast listeners discover new shows through social media channels like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. So Word, the clips on video platforms are a fantastic means of marketing. That's reason enough to do it on its own, but it's not the primary reason. I'll come back to that. Consumer surveys show that
Almost half of users on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts watch podcasts through short clips. The same study found that one-third of consumers engage with podcasts by watching video clips on social media. An industry report by Edison Media found that 80% or four-fifths. Isn't that amazing I can do that in my head? 80% four-fifths. What a guy! What a guy.
Anyway, so Gen Z podcast listeners discovered new shows via TikTok. But even beyond short clips, there's also evidence that people are engaging more with podcasts visually. Roughly half of Americans age 12 and over, 51%, have watched a podcast. Spotify reports that one in three US monthly active users engage with video podcasts. Okay. Every year, I like to have...
for the business a strategic mandate. Our strategic mandate in 2025 was the same as 2024, and that was, in one word, video. There are 600,000 podcasts that put out weekly content, 1.5 million podcasts in total. I bet the top 600 are the only ones that are economically viable. I'm not even sure the 500th most listened to podcast is economically viable. The top 100 are amazing businesses because
Once you get beyond a certain point, the gross margin or the incremental revenue is almost all margin. These things aren't that expensive to produce. If you look at the top 100 podcasts you're going to see or have seen just in every 12 or 24 months, 50 rotate in and 50 churn out. Essentially, the problem with Hollywood is the following. It's the means of production has become too expensive.
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Chapter 2: How do video formats impact podcast growth?
But that's not enough to sustain the business model. Basically, the business model has been starched by those video players you're talking about. And they do get something back in terms of what you're talking about in terms of marketing. But the churn in and out is the arbiter of that churn is who has the best video game. And this is what's happening.
Colbert will eventually move to podcasting and all of the band, the union players will probably get on the arc to podcast. And he'll be able to have an amazing podcast, not doing a hundred million, but maybe doing 10 or 20 million with six people instead of the 200 people that currently work on a show.
And it's going to make $10 million in profits off that $20 million because he's such an extraordinary talent. But basically, what are podcasts? Podcasts are 80% of television shows in terms of product and production quality for 10% of the price. That's what podcasts are. And that is a really well-done podcast, Feel Like Television.
But they don't need to make $40, $60, $100 million to be sustainable. They need to make a lot less because the means of production are so less expensive. I'll use Pivot as an example. Pivot is between our audio listens about 300,000 and our video views 100,000, so 400,000 impressions. We'll get a blended, you get a lower CPM for the video views.
Audio creates more intimacy and advertisers like it more. We get a blended CPM probably about 30 to 40 bucks, 45 bucks for the audio, CPM's 30 bucks for the video. So call it blended a 40. CNN right now is getting 15. Why? The average age, I think of a CNBC viewer is now well into their 60s. So what do we have? What's the advantage of podcasts or a pivot?
We have, whereas cable news, 30% are in the core demographic. That is 25 to 54 year olds who advertisers love because they're stupid and they buy high margin Range Rovers and coffees and go to movies still. They love those. And 30% of cable news now is in the core demo. 70% of listeners to pivot are in the core demo. So if we do 400,000, we're getting about 280,000 in the core demo.
The average CNN program is lucky if it gets 40 or 60,000 people in the core demo. So what are you getting here? You're getting the great taste of more people in the core demo, which advertisers love, with the low calories of a much lower means of production.
So if Pivot does $12 to $14 million this year in top-line revenue, which would be a modestly successful TV show, not a successful one, but the difference is eight or 10 of that will drop to the bottom line. Now we've got to pay Vox some money to sell our ads. But as you can imagine, it's a very, very profitable business.
But it's a little bit like the NBA in the sense that there's a couple million kids playing high school basketball online. And I think only five are still in the NBA after three years, and they make an extraordinary amount of money. But your chances are almost the same by getting to go into space someday. Podcasting is somewhat similar. The numbers I use and the algae I use is a crew at UCLA.
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