pod.link/recodemedia
pod.link copied!
Recode Media with Peter Kafka
Recode Media with Peter Kafka
Recode

What happens when media, entertainment, and technology collide? Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans,... more

Listen now on

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Overcast
Podcast Addict
Pocket Casts
Castbox
Stitcher
Podbean
iHeartRadio
Player FM
Podcast Republic
Castro
RadioPublic
RSS

Episodes

That’s a wrap (for now)

Peter Kafka, soon to be formerly of Vox, reviews the year in media with Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw. What did we... more

07 Dec 2023 · 38 minutes
Sam Altman’s back at OpenAI. What’s next?

After a wild series of events, Sam Altman is back as CEO of OpenAI… with more power than ever before.... more

29 Nov 2023 · 47 minutes
What just happened to OpenAI?

The board of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, ousted CEO Sam Altman on Friday. Since then, the board has appointed... more

20 Nov 2023 · 29 minutes
Why so, Sirius?

SiriusXM makes money by beaming music and talk radio - especially Howard Stern - to your car using satellites and... more

16 Nov 2023 · 34 minutes
No seriously. What’s the future of Disney? And why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson?

It’s a double shot of media business takes, with conversations about the Walt Disney Corporation and Fox News, with references... more

09 Nov 2023 · 51 minutes
Land of the Giants: What We All Got Wrong About Twitter

This week, an episode of the latest season of Land of the Giants: The Twitter Fantasy, hosted by our own... more

02 Nov 2023 · 42 minutes
How Dropout found success streaming comedy for $6 a month

When Sam Reich bought CollegeHumor from Barry Diller’s IAC for pennies in January 2020, the comedy site was long past... more

26 Oct 2023 · 32 minutes
Inside the New York Times’ controversial Gaza headline

The New York Times issued a rare editors’ note Monday: a mea culpa for a headline repeating unverified claims from... more

25 Oct 2023 · 21 minutes
How the Washington Post is covering the Israel-Hamas War

The war in Israel and Gaza is hugely complicated - dangerous, horrifying, and moving fast. Which means it’s a huge... more

18 Oct 2023 · 20 minutes
The rise and (maybe) fall of Marvel

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an interconnected series of movies and TV shows that produced four of the top-grossing movies... more

12 Oct 2023 · 42 minutes
The internet, explained by Taylor Lorenz

Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) is the person who told you what “cheugy” means, what a “content house” is, and basically anything... more

05 Oct 2023 · 35 minutes
Warner Music Group’s CEO says AI songs are coming whether you like it or not

When Robert Kyncl (@rkyncl) worked at YouTube, he made deals with companies like Warner Music Group. Now, he’s the CEO... more

02 Oct 2023 · 31 minutes
HBO boss Casey Bloys on the strikes, the bundle and AI

The Hollywood writers’ strike is over and there’s hope the actors guild and studios will also settle their differences soon.... more

28 Sep 2023 · 29 minutes
Why did it take 5 months to solve the Writers’ Strike?

After a historic strike that went on for almost 150 days, the studios and the Writers Guild of America have... more

25 Sep 2023 · 22 minutes
Why did Rupert Murdoch just leave his media empire?

One of the most powerful people of the 21st century says he’s retiring. Rupert Murdoch, 92, will hand over control... more

21 Sep 2023 · 18 minutes
How Matthew Berry made fake football his real job

Once the domain of the nerdiest of sports fans, these days fantasy football analysis is on primetime TV. Matthew Berry... more

21 Sep 2023 · 39 minutes
Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's Rise and Fall

Wait a minute. For a couple of years there - 2020 through 2022 - everyone acted like bitcoin and even... more

14 Sep 2023 · 38 minutes
The Business of Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is on one of the most successful concert tours of all time, but what's her secret? Switched on... more

12 Sep 2023 · 26 minutes
It’s the US vs China with tech in between

The US and China are in a sort of cold war, and the tech industry is caught in the middle.... more

07 Sep 2023 · 25 minutes
CNN is Mark Thompson’s problem now

David Zaslav sent up the white smoke, marking the selection of a new CNN CEO. Mark Thompson comes from The... more

31 Aug 2023 · 26 minutes
How The Try Guys survived going viral

Born at BuzzFeed in 2014, The Try Guys make online videos where they try all sorts of things: earwax extractions,... more

24 Aug 2023 · 33 minutes
Today, Explained: Sound of Freedom is the surprise movie hit of the summer

A movie made for peanuts and distributed by a studio far outside the Hollywood system has done better box office... more

17 Aug 2023 · 30 minutes
Land of the Giants: How Tesla became the Elon Musk Co.

This week, a quick update on Disney’s deal to get into sports betting. Then, we’re bringing you an episode of... more

10 Aug 2023 · 38 minutes
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker says tech isn’t our problem - it’s us

Black Mirror isn’t just a hit TV show: It’s a window into the not-too-distant future. Creator Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker) has... more

03 Aug 2023 · 42 minutes
Why Lina Khan is fighting big tech - and losing

Joe Biden wants to stop big companies - especially big tech companies - from buying or merging with other companies.... more

27 Jul 2023 · 29 minutes
Strikes! AI! And a Steven Soderbergh show he’s selling himself.

This is a very good week to make a Recode Media episode: Hollywood is reeling from two different strikes. Disney... more

20 Jul 2023 · 56 minutes
Can Meta Make a Twitter Killer?

We’re one week into the Threads era. How long is that going to last? What does it mean for Twitter,... more

13 Jul 2023 · 1 hour, 10 minutes
Why ESPN’s old boss made movies you can’t see - yet

Former head of ESPN John Skipper has produced an ambitious new project. Now he has to figure out how to... more

03 Jul 2023 · 43 minutes
How to make laughs on TikTok and action on Netflix

Comedian Nimesh Patel was grinding it out in the stand-up mines for years with middling success. And then the stage... more

29 Jun 2023 · 58 minutes
Is Instagram the place to unbreak news?

Mosheh Oinounou worked his way up through the TV news ranks and ended up running CBS Evening News. Now he’s... more

22 Jun 2023 · 54 minutes
Meet the AI company that wants to remake Hollywood

For some people that’s a dystopian vision. But for Cristóbal Valenzuela, it’s a mission statement: Valenzuela is the co-founder and... more

15 Jun 2023 · 42 minutes
CNN’s CEO is out; Apple reveals its goggles

After just over a year of questionable leadership and on the heels of an unflattering Atlantic profile, Chris Licht is... more

07 Jun 2023 · 47 minutes
NYT rising star Astead Herndon on podcasts, power, and the 2024 race

It’s not just Ron DeSantis: All kinds of candidates are piling into the 2024 presidential race. New York Times national... more

01 Jun 2023 · 50 minutes
Meet the media insider who makes Succession feel real

Succession — the HBO drama about a Murdoch-ish family of media moguls — feels authentic thanks, in part, to consultant... more

22 May 2023 · 32 minutes
It’s TV’s biggest week - and TV is on strike

Live from New York, it’s Upfronts week, where TV networks sell billions of dollars of advertising with glitzy presentations. It’s... more

15 May 2023 · 44 minutes
Ken Jennings on the future of Jeopardy!

Ken Jennings won 74 straight episodes of Jeopardy back in 2004. Somehow he’s turned that winning streak into a career,... more

11 May 2023 · 48 minutes
How worried—or excited—should we be about AI?

AI is amazing… or terrifying, depending on who you ask. This is a technology that elicits strong, almost existential reactions.... more

04 May 2023 · 53 minutes
Jonah Peretti, Nick Denton and Ben Smith on digital news’ past and future

It’s our first four-way pod, featuring BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti, Gawker founder Nick Denton, and Semafor founder (and former editor-in-chief... more

02 May 2023 · 36 minutes
Inside the AI Gold Rush

Silicon Valley needs a new thing and AI is that new thing: investors are supposed to pour 43 billion dollars... more

27 Apr 2023 · 47 minutes
AI is the future! AI is a fraud. Let's debate.

AI has captured the imagination of Silicon Valley seemingly overnight. And in all this excitement, it's hard to tell what's... more

20 Apr 2023 · 51 minutes
Has Fox News learned a $787 million lesson?

Fox News, accused of repeatedly and knowingly spreading lies about Dominion Voting Systems, opted Tuesday to fork over $787 million... more

19 Apr 2023 · 30 minutes
'Chef Reactions' blew up on TikTok. But will TikTok blow up?

It’s a TikTok double-header! Vox’s Peter Kafka talks to ‘Chef Reactions,’ the semi-anonymous TikTok star whose hilarious culinary critiques skyrocketed him... more

13 Apr 2023 · 50 minutes
Why is a talent agency buying pro wrestling? Plus a green media startup

Endeavor started out as a traditional Hollywood talent agency - CEO Ari Emanuel, famously, was the model for Jeremy Piven’s... more

06 Apr 2023 · 1 hour, 1 minute
Is Apple sure about Apple’s new Goggles? Plus Roger Bennett, Media Mogul

We’ve had questions about Apple’s new VR headset — supposedly set to debut in June — for some time. Starting... more

30 Mar 2023 · 40 minutes
Podcast pioneer Jesse Thorn built his own business. Now his employees own it.

Jesse Thorn has been podcasting for so long it was called radio. Over time he turned his career into a... more

23 Mar 2023 · 41 minutes
An SVB (phew!) update + Benedict Evans on the future of (almost) everything

First: A Silicon Valley Bank check-in with Dan Primack of Axios. Why, exactly, did so many tech companies (and, um,... more

16 Mar 2023 · 1 hour, 4 minutes
Science fiction pioneer Neal Stephenson on the metaverse, the movies and why he still believes in blockchain

Mark Zuckerberg wants to build the metaverse. Neal Stephenson created the meta verse three decades ago. The author’s 1992 science fiction... more

06 Mar 2023 · 44 minutes
Meet the woman who got De La Soul streaming

De La Soul was legendary for their trail-blazing approach to hip-hop. But in recent years the trio become notable for... more

03 Mar 2023 · 37 minutes
Real-life “Succession”: Jim Stewart on Sumner Redstone’s sordid saga

Veteran business journalist James B. Stewart specializes in getting behind the scenes to tell the stories of rich, powerful, and... more

23 Feb 2023 · 37 minutes
We quiz BuzzFeed’s CEO about AI

It used to be that a human would have to write a BuzzFeed quiz about “Which Fictional Artificial Intelligence Are... more

14 Feb 2023 · 26 minutes
Why is tech in trouble if the economy is ok?

Tech and media companies (including the one that brings you this podcast) are laying off workers left and right. Meanwhile,... more

09 Feb 2023 · 44 minutes
Land of the Giants: The Hidden Hand Behind Your Swipes

This week, we bring you an episode of The Cut and The Verge’s latest season of Land of the Giants:... more

02 Feb 2023 · 39 minutes
Don't tell investor Li Jin that Web3 is dead

Investor Li Jin helped popularize the idea of the Creator Economy — the theory that many people who make stuff... more

26 Jan 2023 · 44 minutes
How The Last of Us went from hit game to hit zombie tv

The critically-lauded video game The Last of Us is now a critically-lauded HBO series. It's about a global pandemic that... more

18 Jan 2023 · 38 minutes
"Resist trying to make things better" - a conversation with internet security expert Alex Stamos

A new study in the journal Nature Communications finds "no evidence of a meaningful relationship" between Russian disinformation and voting... more

16 Jan 2023 · 54 minutes
Was YouTube’s NFL deal a $2 billion mistake?

For the first time in 3 decades, NFL’s Sunday Ticket - a subscription service that lets viewers watch many but... more

12 Jan 2023 · 37 minutes
Apple’s new goggles; Hollywood’s new streaming pitch.

Before we face the reality of 2023, we discuss the state of virtual reality — specifically, the still-unannounced VR/AR headset... more

05 Jan 2023 · 41 minutes
Reader Mail!

Recode’s Peter Kafka answers listener questions about Twitter, niche content streaming, print media microtransactions, regional sports networks and more. Peter’s... more

29 Dec 2022 · 37 minutes
An Elon-free year in review

The Earth has just about completed its latest orbit around the sun, which means it’s time to take a look... more

20 Dec 2022 · 36 minutes
A n00b’s guide to the Microsoft / Activision deal the FTC wants to stop

The FTC wants to (candy) crush Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc., the makers of games like Call of Duty,... more

13 Dec 2022 · 44 minutes
Why the media landscape is “dire” with WSJ’s Jessica Toonkel

Layoffs, Disney CEO take-backsies, and the Netflix of it all — this week, Recode’s Peter Kafka catches up on the... more

08 Dec 2022 · 29 minutes
How Eventbrite survived the pandemic, and why it’s not fighting Ticketmaster

Selling tickets for live events can be… tricky, as Ticketmaster has proven yet again. But Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz runs... more

01 Dec 2022 · 36 minutes
It’s not TV it’s HBO — the book

HBO’s 50-year-old history tells you a lot about culture, business, and TV’s past and future. This perhaps explains why we’ve... more

29 Nov 2022 · 53 minutes
How to watch a complicated World Cup

Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup, casting a pall over one of the globe’s most-watched sporting events. Men With... more

21 Nov 2022 · 37 minutes
Life, the internet, and everything with Garbage Day’s Ryan Broderick

Ryan Broderick is very online so you don’t have to be. His internet culture Substack ‘Garbage Day’ is a mix... more

17 Nov 2022 · 49 minutes
What Elon’s past tells us about his present

This is not an emergency podcast, but, you know, maybe it will be? As questions swirl around what exactly Elon... more

15 Nov 2022 · 42 minutes
Tech’s big bust, plus Marvel (and Wakanda) Forever?

Mass layoffs and cutbacks at companies like Meta and Twitter point to a slowdown (and chaos) in tech. Bloomberg tech... more

10 Nov 2022 · 33 minutes
Election special with Punchbowl's Jake Sherman

Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman joins us from the U.S. Capitol building just in time for the 2022 midterm elections.... more

03 Nov 2022 · 40 minutes
Jason Gay isn’t making Elon Musk jokes

We’re taking a short break from the Twitter shitshow to give you an interview with Jason Gay, sports and humor... more

01 Nov 2022 · 25 minutes
Bloomberg’s Matt Levine still loves crypto; Ankler’s Janice Min loves newsletters

When Bloomberg’s Matt Levine sent an enticing email about “a big thing coming out about crypto in Businessweek,” Recode’s Peter... more

27 Oct 2022 · 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ben Smith says Semafor will take 10 years to get right

One week after the launch of Semafor, Recode’s Peter Kafka flags down the news startup’s co-founder Ben Smith. Who is Semafor... more

24 Oct 2022 · 35 minutes
Netflix is back (?) + Julia Boorstin on women who lead

Netflix added 2.4 million subscribers! Ads are coming! Wall Street’s excited again! But is Netflix back for real? Recode’s Peter... more

20 Oct 2022 · 50 minutes
Inside the curious mind of XKCD cartoonist Randall Munroe

Since 2005, Randall Munroe has used his webcomic XKCD to comment on the world around him and express his love... more

13 Oct 2022 · 37 minutes
Elon Musk is buying Twitter. Really. (Really?)

He’s back! Elon Musk, who agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion last spring and then tried to back out... more

05 Oct 2022 · 44 minutes
Interview with Interview with a Vampire’s Eric Bogosian

Writer and actor Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Succession) has been in the business for a... more

29 Sep 2022 · 44 minutes
YouTube fights TikTok with cash

YouTube wants a piece of that sweet TikTok action, so it’s getting out the checkbook. The most popular creators on... more

21 Sep 2022 · 30 minutes
José Andrés has a full plate, but he's adding more

Chef José Andrés may very well be The Best Person. His nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, activates local restaurants to provide... more

15 Sep 2022 · 29 minutes
The inside story of YouTube

Despite YouTube’s massive influence, it's been chronically underreported on. But finally, Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen wrote the comprehensive, soup-to-nuts history of... more

08 Sep 2022 · 50 minutes
Why the Good Fight creators are glad they moved from CBS to streaming

Like other big deal TV creators, Robert and Michelle King are thriving in the streaming era. The duo behind the... more

01 Sep 2022 · 36 minutes
Algorithms that give you anxiety and a Web3 project that doesn't suck.

Kyle Chayka writes about tech and internet culture for the New Yorker; he’s also the co-founder of Dirt, a newsletter... more

25 Aug 2022 · 35 minutes
Home Box Office of the Dragon

In 2011, HBO changed the prestige television landscape with its expensive, ultra-violent, sex-filled fantasy epic Game of Thrones. Three years... more

18 Aug 2022 · 30 minutes
Why the Democrats finally got on TikTok

Democrats have a complicated relationship with social media - sometimes they think it’s a huge help; other times, not so... more

11 Aug 2022 · 41 minutes
Land of the Giants: Why Instagram Broke Its Square

This week, we bring you an episode of Recode and The Verge’s latest season of Land of the Giants: The... more

04 Aug 2022 · 37 minutes
B.J. Novak on “Vengeance”, podcasts and the downside of the streaming boom

B.J. Novak has starred on TV, written a best-selling kids’ book, and tried his hand at app-making. Now he’s written,... more

28 Jul 2022 · 46 minutes
What is the metaverse, when is it going to show up and who’s going to run it?

People have been talking about the metaverse for years. But they’re talking about it much more these days, spurred by... more

19 Jul 2022 · 32 minutes
Ken Auletta on the Harvey Weinstein story he wrote, the story he couldn’t write, and the one he’s publishing now.

20 years ago the New Yorker’s Ken Auletta wrote a seminal profile of famed and feared producer Harvey Weinstein -... more

11 Jul 2022 · 32 minutes
Netflix has a huge hit with Peaky Blinders — and Caryn Mandabach owns it.

Caryn Mandabach produced some of the biggest hits in TV history — like The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock from... more

07 Jul 2022 · 31 minutes
The future of: Crypto criticism; Substack and ABC News

Three interviews! One pod: First entrepreneur and investor Zach Weinberg tells Recode’s Peter Kafka why he’s accidentally become Twitter Famous... more

30 Jun 2022 · 1 hour,
Is this a Netflix problem or a streaming problem?

Today, CNBC’s Alex Sherman joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to ponder several media mysteries: Why did Netflix lose 2 million subscribers? Why was... more

23 Jun 2022 · 35 minutes
Bill Simmons on podcasts, celebrity interviews and life at Spotify

The Bill Simmons Podcast is, by its own description, "the most downloaded sports podcast of all time." This week, it... more

15 Jun 2022 · 1 hour,
Why is this VC on your TikTok?

TikTok isn’t just funny dances and glow-ups anymore… it’s also for venture capital!!! Logan Bartlett, managing director at the VC... more

09 Jun 2022 · 42 minutes
Engineer Molly White explains why Web3 isn’t going great

Software engineer Molly White has emerged as one of Web3’s most high-profile skeptics. Her website “Web3 is going just great”... more

02 Jun 2022 · 32 minutes
Is Big Tech getting better about misinformation?

Lots of people will tell you that misinformation is a big problem online. But exactly what the problem is, and... more

26 May 2022 · 32 minutes
What can you learn from the guy who built the iPod?

The markets are crashing - and that includes both Netflix and the media companies that wanted to be Netflix. What’s... more

19 May 2022 · 1 hour, 18 minutes
Ronan Farrow: “We are living in a post-privacy age”

Ronan Farrow’s latest investigative work for The New Yorker looks into the surveillance technology Pegasus — spyware that gives remote... more

12 May 2022 · 46 minutes
Behind the scenes at Apple with journalist Tripp Mickle

Design genius Jony Ive was Steve Jobs’ chief collaborator at Apple. But Ive didn’t run Apple after Jobs’ death: That... more

05 May 2022 · 35 minutes
NYT’s Wesley Morris on writing, podcasting and staying off TikTok

Wesley Morris wrote his first review when he was 15 years old, about the movie “Cape Fear.” Since then, he’s... more

28 Apr 2022 · 44 minutes
Can Elon Fix Twitter? Can Reed Fix Netflix?

It’s been a big week for media events involving tens of billions of dollars: Elon Musk is buying Twitter for... more

27 Apr 2022 · 1 hour, 11 minutes
Elon and Twitter: A love/hate story

Elon Musk loves Twitter and also thinks it’s broken. So he wants to buy it. Can he, really? And who would... more

19 Apr 2022 · 46 minutes
Disney vs. Itself vs. The Right

Within the past few months, Disney CEO Bob Chapek managed to piss off his shareholders, the LGBT community, and right-wing... more

14 Apr 2022 · 53 minutes
The State of Streaming

It’s time to check back in on the state of the streaming wars, with two binge-worthy conversations. First, Recode’s Peter... more

07 Apr 2022 · 1 hour, 1 minute
Judd Apatow on The Bubble, TikTok and The Slap

Legendary comedy director/writer/producer Judd Apatow was busy during lockdown: He wrote a book and made two movies. One of them... more

29 Mar 2022 · 44 minutes
The Oscars: Hollywood’s smallest biggest night?

The Oscars used to be one of the biggest things on TV. Now they’re… not. Does that matter to the... more

24 Mar 2022 · 38 minutes
Dan Le Batard on life after ESPN; Russia sanctions upend big-time soccer

March Madness has started, but this isn’t a podcast about that: Today, it’s a podcast about sports media, about leaving... more

17 Mar 2022 · 59 minutes
Big Tech takes a side, finally + Zappos' tragic founder

Silicon Valley goes out of its way not to upset countries around the world - even when that means making... more

10 Mar 2022 · 43 minutes
Covering the war in Ukraine, online and on the ground

Recode's Peter Kafka talks to three reporters about the realities of covering the war in Ukraine and sorting truth from... more

03 Mar 2022 · 1 hour, 8 minutes
Uber, but for TV

When Recode’s Peter Kafka advises you not to write your book, WRITE THAT BOOK. That’s the lesson Mike Isaac learned:... more

24 Feb 2022 · 51 minutes
Chuck Klosterman relives the 1990s & Sarah Palin loses her NYT libel suit

Make sure no one’s on your home phone while you use your dial-up modem to listen to this week’s show... more

17 Feb 2022 · 1 hour, 7 minutes
What's next for CNN? + The Afterparty's Ben Schwartz writes jokes for C-3PO

This is (an update about what’s going on at) CNN. Dylan Byers of Puck News joins Recode’s Peter Kafka: They... more

10 Feb 2022 · 1 hour, 5 minutes
Is Spotify’s Joe Rogan problem over? Plus how to launch a new media startup.

First: Neil Young quit Spotify over Joe Rogan, but just a handful of musicians have followed him. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw... more

03 Feb 2022 · 1 hour, 6 minutes
Game on: Behind the sports betting boom

Just in time for the NFL playoffs, sports betting is legal in New York. $600 million in bets were placed... more

27 Jan 2022 · 53 minutes
Gaming out Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal

It’s the biggest acquisition in Microsoft’s history: $68.7 billion to buy the video game company, Activision Blizzard.  First, Axios’ Chief Technology... more

20 Jan 2022 · 53 minutes
So … what the hell is Web3? With the Chernin Group’s Jarrod Dicker

What the hell is Web3, why did everyone start talking about it all at once, and are we going to... more

13 Jan 2022 · 1 hour, 6 minutes
How the right covers 1/6 + tales from the Theranos trial, with Oliver Darcy and Erin Griffith

CNN’s Oliver Darcy joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to discuss the way conservative media covers - and, importantly, doesn’t cover -... more

06 Jan 2022 · 49 minutes
The Verge’s Ashley Carman on podcasting’s big year

2021 was the year everyone who wasn’t already in podcasting jumped in the pool - and everyone who was already... more

27 Dec 2021 · 37 minutes
What the hell happened in 2021? With Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw.

How do you describe what happened to the media world in 2021? What happened to the movie business, streaming, music,... more

20 Dec 2021 · 46 minutes
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s almost-exit interview

Jason Kilar does not have opinions about the finale of HBO’s Succession, because he hasn’t seen it yet. The CEO... more

15 Dec 2021 · 50 minutes
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti has gone public

BuzzFeed used to be an internet experiment. Now it’s a publicly-traded company that expects more than $500 million in revenue... more

06 Dec 2021 · 36 minutes
@Jack is leaving Twitter. What now? + Lina Khan’s battle with Big Tech

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is no longer the CEO of Twitter. Why did he leave? And what does the choice... more

02 Dec 2021 · 45 minutes
Director Rhys Thomas on his unlikely journey from SNL to Disney’s Hawkeye

Rhys Thomas used to make short films for Saturday Night Live. Now he’s making Hawkeye, the newest installment of Disney’s... more

23 Nov 2021 · 40 minutes
The inside story of HBO, with Jim Miller

HBO has brought us nearly 50 years of riveting movies and TV shows; the behind-the-scenes stories are equally compelling. Journalist... more

18 Nov 2021 · 58 minutes
What is Twitter Blue and is it worth $3?

Twitter is free. But Twitter Blue — a new service for Twitter super-users — costs $3 a month. So what... more

11 Nov 2021 · 31 minutes
Facebook’s Metaverse explained - by metaverse explainer Matthew Ball. Plus Justin Smith builds a media biz for Bloomb

Before Mark Zuckerberg told the world he was turning Facebook into a Metaverse company, he called Matthew Ball, one of... more

04 Nov 2021 · 59 minutes
How to cover the Facebook leaks + SNL’s Heidi Gardner

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is handing over thousands of documents to reporters like The Verge’s Alex Heath. The next step:... more

28 Oct 2021 · 1 hour, 8 minutes
Dotdash CEO Neil Vogel on his $2.7 billion Meredith deal

Neil Vogel had no publishing experience before he took over About.com, the how-to website he turned into Dotdash for owner... more

21 Oct 2021 · 32 minutes
Land of the Giants: "He's No Steve Jobs"

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple and infused it with his love of product design and attention to detail. His successor, Tim... more

14 Oct 2021 · 37 minutes
Ozy Media, RIP with NYT’s Ben Smith + Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch on remaking a magazine giant

Five days after the New York Times’ Ben Smith wrote an astonishing piece about the fakery supporting Ozy Media, the... more

07 Oct 2021 · 51 minutes
Streamers shrink Hollywood, again + What’s a “Hate Raid”?

More consolidation in Hollywood - but this time it’s talent agency CAA buying rival ICM. Puck’s Dylan Byers sits down... more

30 Sep 2021 · 32 minutes
How Peter Thiel went from Silicon Valley to The White House with Max Chafkin

Peter Thiel used to be a Silicon Valley investor best-known for early investment in Facebook. But in recent years he... more

23 Sep 2021 · 55 minutes
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri on teenagers, Tik-Tok and paying creators

Instagram is no longer going to be a photo-sharing app, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced earlier this summer. So what... more

16 Sep 2021 · 1 hour, 6 minutes
Big changes at Apple: New phones, new AR glasses, and big app store changes.

Mark Gurman has been one of the best-sourced Apple reporters since he was in high school. Literally. Now he’s at... more

09 Sep 2021 · 43 minutes
Defector Media: Life after Deadspin is good (and profitable)

Defector Media launched a year ago as a digital publishing experiment: What if the former staff of Deadspin built and... more

02 Sep 2021 · 37 minutes
OnlyFans’ weird week with MEL’s Magdalene Taylor; BuzzFeed’s Joe Bernstein on the problem with our misinformation problem.

What is OnlyFans, and why did OnlyFans abandon and then come back to its primary business model in the span... more

26 Aug 2021 · 39 minutes
WWE’s Nick Khan on pivoting his streaming strategy and getting back in the ring

Nick Khan used to be a CAA agent who represented the WWE. Now he’s president of the pro wrestling company... more

19 Aug 2021 · 35 minutes
NYT’s Shira Ovide on the everything and nothingness of tech.

The New York Times’ Shira Ovide, writes the popular and incisive “On Tech” newsletter, which means she gets to write... more

12 Aug 2021 · 36 minutes
Reese’s $900 million deal; ScarJo vs Disney with Matt Belloni, + Derek Thompson on how the media covers Delta

Puck News Hollywood expert Matthew Belloni sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to discuss the biggest stories in the past... more

05 Aug 2021 · 59 minutes
Director Tom McCarthy on Stillwater, finishing a movie in a pandemic and playing one of the Wire’s best villains

Stillwater was supposed to debut in theaters last fall, but the pandemic changed those plans along with everything else. Academy... more

29 Jul 2021 · 39 minutes
Deep fakes come to the movies and Hollywood resets for the streaming era

Anthony Bourdain is dead. So how does a new documentary have audio of him reading his emails? It’s not him:... more

22 Jul 2021 · 46 minutes
WeWork's rise and fall (and rise again?) with Eliot Brown

Wall Street Journal’s Eliot Brown first became interested in WeWork back in 2014 after an encounter with founder co-founder Adam... more

15 Jul 2021 · 43 minutes
Kevin Delaney turns the future of work into a media business; plus a Sun Valley update from David Gura.

When are we going back to the office? How often are we going back to the office? And what’s work... more

08 Jul 2021 · 57 minutes
Men In Blazers’ Roger Bennett loves soccer and America

Roger Bennett is half of Men In Blazers, the entertaining podcast/broadcast duo dedicated to Americans who love soccer. So he’s... more

01 Jul 2021 · 53 minutes
One of the most popular streamers on Twitch… is a lefty political commentator? Hasan Piker explains

Twitch, the Amazon-owned streaming platform best known as a haven for gamers, wouldn’t be the first place you’d look for... more

24 Jun 2021 · 35 minutes
One of Silicon Valley’s most powerful investors is now a media company, too

The newest publication covering tech is Future — a site owned and operated by Andreessen Horowitz, the powerful Silicon Valley... more

15 Jun 2021 · 30 minutes
Jake and Amir on being Web famous, fed up with Hollywood, and podcast bosses

Jake Hurwitz & Amir Blumenfeld got their start on the internet when making content for sites like YouTube and Facebook... more

10 Jun 2021 · 30 minutes
How to make it in the creator economy with Rob Walker

Journalist Rob Walker sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to discuss why he decided to go the independent route instead... more

03 Jun 2021 · 34 minutes
Why is Amazon buying MGM?

The Information’s Jessica Toonkel joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to discuss Amazon’s (planned) $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM. It’s the first... more

27 May 2021 · 44 minutes
Jim Miller on HBO’s new home; Alan Yang on a very different season of “Master of None”

Jim Miller was finishing up a book about HBO and then… the story changed. He talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka... more

20 May 2021 · 42 minutes
Why did AT&T just bail on WarnerMedia? And what happens next?

AT&T bought WarnerMedia three years ago for more than $100 billion, so it could chase after Netflix. Now it’s getting... more

17 May 2021 · 29 minutes
Antonio García Martínez's controversial exit from Apple

Antonio García Martínez used to work at Facebook, and wrote a book about it. In April, he started working at... more

15 May 2021 · 23 minutes
Live music is back! Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino can't wait

The concert business has been shut down for a year, which means that Live Nation, the world’s dominant concert promoter... more

13 May 2021 · 44 minutes
The Jeff Bezos Empire with Brad Stone & Jason Del Rey

Bloomberg's Brad Stone and Recode's Jason Del Rey report on all things Amazon and Jeff Bezos. They discuss how Bezos built... more

11 May 2021 · 1 hour, 4 minutes
Apple vs Epic with John Gruber; Truth, Doubt and History with Jill Lepore

The antitrust trial between Apple and Fortnite’s parent company Epic Games is underway, so Apple observer John Gruber talks about... more

06 May 2021 · 1 hour, 1 minute
AMC Networks can’t compete with Netflix. CEO Josh Sapan is fine with that.

AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan checks in with Recode’s Peter Kafka to talk about his company’s pivot from TV to... more

29 Apr 2021 · 40 minutes
Did the pandemic kill the Oscars?

The Oscars are supposed to be a celebration for Hollywood, but this year it feels like a collapse: The pandemic... more

22 Apr 2021 · 54 minutes
Apple and Facebook's ambitious audio plans

Apple’s selling podcasts. Facebook wants to distribute podcasts - and take on Clubhouse, too. It’s been a busy couple days... more

21 Apr 2021 · 23 minutes
Substack’s next target: Local news

Substack is known for recruiting high profile writers to leave the big name publications and start their own newsletter businesses.... more

15 Apr 2021 · 42 minutes
How Hollywood and the NBA are betting on NFTs

NFT’s have been rising in popularity in recent months with franchises like the NBA partnering with Roham Gharegozlou’s Dapper Labs... more

13 Apr 2021 · 1 hour, 18 minutes
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar on a wild first year on the job

Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar started his job in the middle of a global pandemic. Things got even weirder after... more

08 Apr 2021 · 49 minutes
Media Merger Mania with Axios’ Dan Primack and WSJ’s Ben Mullin

Why is every digital media company talking about a SPAC? Why now? And what, exactly is a SPAC? Axios’ Dan... more

01 Apr 2021 · 37 minutes
The rise and maybe fall of YouTube star David Dobrik; inside Facebook with the Markup’s Julia Angwin

David Dobrik was one of YouTube’s biggest stars. Now his career is in peril after an expose by Business Insider’s... more

25 Mar 2021 · 50 minutes
How Christina “Tinx” Najjar became a TikTok star overnight

Like many of us last year, Christina “Tinx” Najjar decided to download TikTok on a whim. Unlike many of us,... more

18 Mar 2021 · 49 minutes
How did - and didn’t - the pandemic transform media?

The pandemic changed everything - including the media landscape. What happens when things get back to mostly normal? ESPN’s Brian... more

11 Mar 2021 · 1 hour, 18 minutes
Fubo TV is a Reddit meme stock. CEO David Gandler has bigger ambitions.

Fubo TV wants to take on the giants in streaming and in sports betting. Investors have sky-high expectations and skeptics... more

08 Mar 2021 · 47 minutes
Have we hit peak streaming? + NYT’s Kevin Roose on his new book “Futureproof”

Paramount Plus and Discovery Plus are the latest, and perhaps the last big streaming services to launch in a very... more

04 Mar 2021 · 56 minutes
Australia vs. Facebook; Al Madrigal means business about All Things Comedy

Facebook and Google faced off against Australia and Rupert Murdoch. Who won? Recode’s Peter Kafka asks his colleague Sara Morrison... more

25 Feb 2021 · 44 minutes
Pandora founder Tim Westergren on the future of streaming

Pandora founder and former CEO Tim Westergren is back in the music business with Sessions, a live-streaming service well-timed for... more

18 Feb 2021 · 37 minutes
New York Times CEO Meredith Levien on the future of news, and her newspaper

The New York Times has a thriving subscription business, award-winning journalism - and a staff that increasingly turns to Twitter... more

11 Feb 2021 · 42 minutes
How To Make An Influencer In America with Nick Bilton

Can you make someone famous on the internet by buying their fame? Journalist Nick Bilton tries to do just that... more

04 Feb 2021 · 40 minutes
Andrew Ross Sorkin on Gamestop, Robinhood, Reddit and how to fix the system.

CNBC host and New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to recap a wild... more

03 Feb 2021 · 41 minutes
How Jessica Lessin got people to pay for The Information

In 2013, Jessica Lessin left her job as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal to start The Information, a... more

28 Jan 2021 · 41 minutes
Recode Media with Peter Kafka
New York Times CEO Meredith Levien on the future of news, and her newspaper
Recode Media with Peter Kafka
0:00
-0:00

Listen now on

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Overcast
Podcast Addict
Pocket Casts
Castbox
Stitcher
Podbean
iHeartRadio
Player FM
Podcast Republic
Castro
RadioPublic
RSS

Description

The New York Times has a thriving subscription business, award-winning journalism - and a staff that increasingly turns to Twitter and Slack... more