00:01:37.300Total viewing hours rose only 2% during the second half of 2025.
00:01:40.960Global subscribership increased 10% according to Moftison estimates
00:01:45.360that implies daily engagement per subscriber declined by approximately 8%.
00:01:50.140Tom, why is this so important, and can they turn it around?
00:01:53.720I think they can turn it around, but it's going to be difficult. And I believe that they really whiffed on one thing, and that thing is focus. You've got to know what you make, and you've got to know what you do and what you do well.
00:02:08.540And Netflix is not in the podcast game.
00:02:38.400But I think what they went out to do is they made a couple acquisitions of things like Breakfast Club and Bill Simmons, but they paid a hell of a lot of money for them, maybe overpaid.
00:02:52.440Now, maybe they thought that that was the Rush Limbaugh contract for EIB Network, Excellence in Broadcasting, or they thought it was the Howard Stern contract for Sirius Satellite Radio.
00:03:03.560Those are big anchor contracts that got people in the business.
00:03:07.600But I actually think that the podcast world is more difficult than they think.
00:03:13.940And I think they overpaid for what they got into it.
00:03:16.480And they're having trouble being a destination for the podcast.