As we settle into the latter half of 2026, the media landscape continues its relentless churn. One format, however, has shown remarkable resilience and growth. Back in early 2025, Scott Galloway called podcasting the "media of the year," noting it was the "only ad-supported medium growing as fast as" the big tech platforms. The numbers have borne this out, with podcast advertising and listenership maintaining robust growth well into 2026.
On the social media front, the conversation often circles back to one platform in particular. Galloway has been watching TikTok closely, predicting in early 2024 that it would "start to eat into Spotify and even start to eat into Netflix's business." (Scott Galloway). By mid-2024, he escalated this, forecasting that TikTok's pressure would lead to Spotify being "sold to a Western investor" (Scott Galloway). The verdict here is more nuanced. While TikTok has undeniably intensified the competition for user attention and ad dollars, Spotify remains independent, and both it and Netflix have continued to grow their core subscription businesses.
What we're watching: The direct, material impact of attention competition on subscription revenue remains the key question. While platforms compete for eyeballs and ears, converting that into a zero-sum game for subscriber wallets has proven to be a much higher bar.