Simon Owens
@simonowens.bsky.social
Media industry journalist who runs a newsletter and podcast. You can reach me at simonowens@gmail.com
Can someone who's good with photoshop remove these three people? This is the only good remaining photo I have of a well that used to be in my back yard.
November 10, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Can someone who's good with photoshop remove these three people? This is the only good remaining photo I have of a well that used to be in my back yard.
HOUSE OF DYNAMITE was actually quite good, though flawed in the way it was told.
At a time when nuclear threats feel more alarming than ever, Netflix’s doomsday film falls frustratingly flat. A 1964 masterpiece tells a much better cautionary tale.
If You Hated ‘A House of Dynamite,’ Watch This Classic Nuclear Thriller Instead
At a time when nuclear threats feel more alarming than ever, Netflix’s doomsday film falls frustratingly flat. A 1964 masterpiece tells a much better cautionary tale.
wrd.cm
November 10, 2025 at 12:32 AM
HOUSE OF DYNAMITE was actually quite good, though flawed in the way it was told.
The guy who just received a $1 trillion pay package committed genocide.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 AM
The guy who just received a $1 trillion pay package committed genocide.
So many sports media outlets have staked their entire future on converting their audiences into gambling addicts. It makes you wonder whether, a decade from now, we’ll look back on ESPN the same way we look at cigarette companies or the Sackler family.
defector.com/espn-will-no...
defector.com/espn-will-no...
ESPN Will Not Let Failure Push It Out Of The Gambling Business | Defector
Disney is bouncing out of its gambling partnership with Penn Entertainment, the operator behind the crummy ESPN Bet sportsbook platform. The unholy partnership, forged in 2023 between the wheezing mul...
defector.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:52 PM
So many sports media outlets have staked their entire future on converting their audiences into gambling addicts. It makes you wonder whether, a decade from now, we’ll look back on ESPN the same way we look at cigarette companies or the Sackler family.
defector.com/espn-will-no...
defector.com/espn-will-no...
Zohran Mamdani's didn't just create incredibly good online content that allowed the candidate to communicate directly with voters; he also inspired a wide range of fan content made by people who had no formal relationship with the campaign.
"This form of participatory online fan
"This form of participatory online fan
Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign Figured Out How to Channel Fandom
Much of the content about Mamdani online hasn’t come from his campaign or the dozens of political influencers invited to cover it. It has also come from fans.
www.wired.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Zohran Mamdani's didn't just create incredibly good online content that allowed the candidate to communicate directly with voters; he also inspired a wide range of fan content made by people who had no formal relationship with the campaign.
"This form of participatory online fan
"This form of participatory online fan
A lot of people think his name is Igor, but in the book he’s called Frankenstein’s chief of staff
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM
A lot of people think his name is Igor, but in the book he’s called Frankenstein’s chief of staff
Is Spotify still launching/acquiring/licensing podcasts? I’m struggling to remember its last major podcasting deal it announced.
November 6, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Is Spotify still launching/acquiring/licensing podcasts? I’m struggling to remember its last major podcasting deal it announced.
It's kind of funny to think back to the music streaming landscape just five years ago. Back then, if you asked anyone who Spotify's biggest competitor was, they'd say Apple Music. Now, Spotify has pretty much left all the other major music streamers in the dust, and its sole comp
Spotify now has half a million video podcasts, which nearly 400M users have watched | TechCrunch
Spotify says that users' time spent with video content on Spotify has more than doubled year-over-year, largely driven by video podcasts.
techcrunch.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:06 PM
It's kind of funny to think back to the music streaming landscape just five years ago. Back then, if you asked anyone who Spotify's biggest competitor was, they'd say Apple Music. Now, Spotify has pretty much left all the other major music streamers in the dust, and its sole comp
Elon Musk is currently raising money for xAI at a $200 billion valuation.
Tesla chatbot Grok asks her 12 yo son for nudes www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMpvfSkr/
A Toronto mom says her 12-year-old son asked Tesla’s AI chatbot, Grok, which soccer player is better: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. After some back and forth, she says the chatbot asked her son, ...
TikTok video by CBC News
www.tiktok.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Elon Musk is currently raising money for xAI at a $200 billion valuation.
Now that Netflix is finally revving up its video podcast deal machine, it'll be interesting to see whether its contracts allow for the podcasters to continue posting their shows to YouTube. Other podcast companies, most notably Spotify, gave up on forcing platform exclusivity yea
Netflix Starts Bigger Push Into Video Podcasts
The streamer has sent out dozens of requests to agents at WME, UTA and CAA for video podcast creators.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Now that Netflix is finally revving up its video podcast deal machine, it'll be interesting to see whether its contracts allow for the podcasters to continue posting their shows to YouTube. Other podcast companies, most notably Spotify, gave up on forcing platform exclusivity yea
I can't remember the last time I actually wanted to see a biopic.
November 6, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I can't remember the last time I actually wanted to see a biopic.
I think the biggest problem facing many major media companies today is that their leaders aren’t focused on long-term growth — they’re instead focused on positioning the company for a sale, whether to a private equity firm or a larger media conglomerate. There’s no reason MSNBC c
MS Doom
The network formerly known as MSNBC is still shedding (mostly geriatric) viewers at a steady clip. Despite Rebecca Kutler’s ambitions, is it just a matter of time before the realities of cable’s decli...
puck.news
November 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I think the biggest problem facing many major media companies today is that their leaders aren’t focused on long-term growth — they’re instead focused on positioning the company for a sale, whether to a private equity firm or a larger media conglomerate. There’s no reason MSNBC c
The New York Times is continuing to add more subscribers in a single quarter than 99% of news publishers have in total.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
The Times’s Profit Jumps With 460,000 More Subscribers
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:12 PM
The New York Times is continuing to add more subscribers in a single quarter than 99% of news publishers have in total.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
I love it how every time the Democrats lose the White House there are all these panicked stories about how their support is eroding with key demographics, and then the next election cycle happens and it turns out once again that Americans simply have the memories of goldfish.
November 5, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I love it how every time the Democrats lose the White House there are all these panicked stories about how their support is eroding with key demographics, and then the next election cycle happens and it turns out once again that Americans simply have the memories of goldfish.
Second major plane crash during Trump's administration after over a decade of no such crashes.
November 5, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Second major plane crash during Trump's administration after over a decade of no such crashes.
An ESPN employee was laid off and had two years left on his contract where he couldn’t work for anyone else. He basically used that time to level up his video production skills, and then once the contract was up he poured himself into creating sports video essays on YouTube. Seven months later, he’s
🔴 Turning a layoff into a creator media business
For 22 months, ESPN paid Joon Lee not to work. He used that time to master YouTube and plan his next career.
www.creatorspotlight.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 PM
An ESPN employee was laid off and had two years left on his contract where he couldn’t work for anyone else. He basically used that time to level up his video production skills, and then once the contract was up he poured himself into creating sports video essays on YouTube. Seven months later, he’s
lol. The entire business case for why AT&T acquired Warner Media in the first place was that it would be able to leverage the combined data of its telecom customers and media customers to drive all sorts of synergies. Can someone remind me how that worked out?
November 4, 2025 at 11:15 PM
lol. The entire business case for why AT&T acquired Warner Media in the first place was that it would be able to leverage the combined data of its telecom customers and media customers to drive all sorts of synergies. Can someone remind me how that worked out?
I feel like every three months for the past 10 years there's been a story about some new bubble Michael Burry has identified, and then there's no follow-up on whether his bet was correct.
Don't get me wrong, I do think we're in an AI bubble, but I don't put much stock in Burry's predictions.
Don't get me wrong, I do think we're in an AI bubble, but I don't put much stock in Burry's predictions.
The guy who got famous betting against the housing market in 2007 just before that bubble burst - played by Christian Bale jn “The Big Short” - just wagered $1 billion on the collapse of the AI boom.
www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
Michael Burry Returns With Two Big Shorts: Palantir and Nvidia
Signs of an AI bubble abound: Stock valuations have become uncomfortably rich, AI-related debt is ballooning, and a sustainable financial model for the technology has largely yet to emerge. Now Michae...
www.wsj.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I feel like every three months for the past 10 years there's been a story about some new bubble Michael Burry has identified, and then there's no follow-up on whether his bet was correct.
Don't get me wrong, I do think we're in an AI bubble, but I don't put much stock in Burry's predictions.
Don't get me wrong, I do think we're in an AI bubble, but I don't put much stock in Burry's predictions.
I just fundamentally don't believe a media company can consolidate its way to success. There's just not enough user lock-in, not when the Creator Economy is pumping out millions of hours of free content every day. The only truly differentiated media conte
variety.com/2025/film/fe...
variety.com/2025/film/fe...
Inside David Ellison’s Dramatic First 100 Days at Paramount: Courting Tom Cruise Blockbusters, Forging Ties With Trump and Daring Anyone Else to Buy Warner Bros. Discovery
David Ellison is the ultimate Hollywood disruptor. This week's Variety cover story goes deep on the Paramount-Skydance boss' industry takeover.
variety.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:43 PM
I just fundamentally don't believe a media company can consolidate its way to success. There's just not enough user lock-in, not when the Creator Economy is pumping out millions of hours of free content every day. The only truly differentiated media conte
variety.com/2025/film/fe...
variety.com/2025/film/fe...
I've always thought Famous Birthdays was super smart in how it identified an information vacuum and then did an excellent job filling it. Basically, there are tons of social media influencers who are fairly famous -- in that they have millions of followers -- but don't meet the notability requireme
‘IMDb for Creators’: How Famous Birthdays Took Over Gen Z — and Became Agents’ Scouting Tool
SCOOP: Founder Evan Britton talks about his new feature to help brands reach its network and how he built his must-refresh site
likeandsubscribenews.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:37 PM
I've always thought Famous Birthdays was super smart in how it identified an information vacuum and then did an excellent job filling it. Basically, there are tons of social media influencers who are fairly famous -- in that they have millions of followers -- but don't meet the notability requireme
Media executives have seemed oddly obsessed recently with spinning out media outlets into separate companies -- both WBD and NBCU are spinning out their cable channels, for instance -- and I just don't get it. Wouldn't the distribution of Vox Media's publishing arm help Vox Media's podcasts grow th
Scoop: Vox Media board has discussed spinning out podcast network
Vox Media has received active interest in its podcast network from strategic and financial sponsors.
www.axios.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Media executives have seemed oddly obsessed recently with spinning out media outlets into separate companies -- both WBD and NBCU are spinning out their cable channels, for instance -- and I just don't get it. Wouldn't the distribution of Vox Media's publishing arm help Vox Media's podcasts grow th
I could never be a fitness influencer because I’d be too embarrassed to set up a tripod at the gym.
November 4, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I could never be a fitness influencer because I’d be too embarrassed to set up a tripod at the gym.
Tesla has racked up nothing but Ls for the past year, and yet its stock price is still up over that time period. Perfect poster child for how dumb the stock market is.
November 4, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Tesla has racked up nothing but Ls for the past year, and yet its stock price is still up over that time period. Perfect poster child for how dumb the stock market is.
Microdramas are already an $11 billion industry, and while much of that revenue comes from China, these vertical video series will generate over $800 million in other countries this year. The companies behind microdramas are now spending big on social media advertising, running clips and trailers on
In Graphic Detail: The rise of micro dramas that are attracting big ad dollars
Micro dramas are attracting attention, so Digiday has charted the format's revenue forecasts and viewership, to understand how we got here.
digiday.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Microdramas are already an $11 billion industry, and while much of that revenue comes from China, these vertical video series will generate over $800 million in other countries this year. The companies behind microdramas are now spending big on social media advertising, running clips and trailers on
Taylor Sheridan doesn't just produce some of Paramount+'s most popular shows, he's one of the platform's main customer acquisition drivers, with data showing his shows collectively drive millions of paid subscription signups. He's locked into his contract until January 1, 2029, and David Ellison has
Taylor Sheridan Burning Questions and Smoking Guns
My recent reveal of the ‘Yellowstone’ creator’s jump from Paramount to NBCUniversal unleashed a torrent of questions, most of which can be answered here.
puck.news
November 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Taylor Sheridan doesn't just produce some of Paramount+'s most popular shows, he's one of the platform's main customer acquisition drivers, with data showing his shows collectively drive millions of paid subscription signups. He's locked into his contract until January 1, 2029, and David Ellison has