 Welcome to Semafor Media, where we’re still betting on newsletters. Today’s edition reflects conversations with some of the key figures reacting to a reshaped media world: Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, who told me he’s now spending more than 90 days a year outside the US as content globalizes; California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is finding booking for his podcast surprisingly hard; Gawker founder Nick Denton, who’s trying to use AI to predict (and trade on) the future; and the lawyer Ben Meiselas, riding a rocketship of American liberal dismay. Semafor business editor Liz Hoffman wrote recently that “for most of the post-2008 era, there wasn’t a lot to be gained by being smarter than others, or even having a point of view. Everything went up. Investors’ best bet was to do what everyone else did (buy stocks, occasionally dumb ones), lever up, and shrug.” In media, something like the opposite was true: Across digital, print, and broadcast news organizations, smart and dumb leaders often rode the same steep downward curve. But this new moment features leaders with wildly different hypotheses. Newsom is betting on cross-partisan conversation, while MeidasTouch is betting on partisan fury. Sarandos is planning for a networked, globalized media world in which Hollywood remains preeminent, while Denton is shorting Tesla and investing in BYD. Not all of them can be right. Also today: A blogger goes to Moscow, Audacy has a new podcast chief, the Trump bump returns, Signal gets a boost, and Ted figures Amazon’s Melania Trump doc must be really good at that price. (Scoop count: 3) Join us in Washington and online next month for the Semafor World Economy Summit, which will be America’s most consequential gathering on the state of the global economy. Apply to come in person, or register for a virtual pass here. |