Podcasts are increasingly YouTube ft. everyone else — even tech giants like Amazon are restructuring to favor video-first podcasts led by hosts with big personalities.
Earlier this week, Amazon announced it would be restructuring its Wondery podcast business as the landscape increasingly shifts toward host-centric, video-integrated shows.
About 110 staff will be cut from the move, as first reported by Bloomberg, including the division’s CEO, Jen Sargent. Wondery’s existing narrative-driven studio and series will be moved under Amazon’s Audible banner, while personality-focused shows, like Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, “New Heights,” will find a home at Wondery’s new “creator services” team, per a memo shared by Business Insider.
The tech giant has largely allowed Wondery to operate independently since its acquisition in 2020, but the latest reorganization signals that Amazon’s $300 million bet into podcasts is getting more focused.
Amazon’s decision comes as the podcast industry reinvents itself. In June, Spotify laid off 5% of staff in its podcast division, while radio conglomerate Audacy shut down its audio-centric podcast business Pineapple Street Studios after nine years.
The elephant in the room of all of this upheaval is YouTube — the silly viral internet video giant that became a TV, music, advertising, and now podcast giant. Per an April survey by Cumulus Media and media research firm Signal Hill Insights, 39% of all weekly podcast consumers use YouTube as their primary platform, more than double the share from late 2019. The video platform estimated that more than a billion people a month are watching podcasts as of February.
A large part of that domination comes from how podcast listeners across generations now consume the medium differently — nearly three-quarters of the respondents said they watch podcasts more often than listening to podcasts. That’s quite a stat for an “audio” medium.
YouTube’s domination echoes its success in TV — where it is routinely beating out Disney, Netflix, Paramount, and NBCUniversal.
At the heart of those video-integrated podcast shows are big personality hosts like Joe Rogan, Mel Robbins, and Amy Poehler, who, with their charisma and consistent jokes, amass legions of highly engaged, targeted listeners (and watchers).
Indeed, since YouTube started to share the most popular podcast shows on the platform in May, host-centric podcasts have been topping the leaderboard consistently in the US, with six out of the top 10 shows revolving around the host’s persona, according to the latest released weekly top 10 (starting July 21).
To get a sense of how much things have changed, think of the viral podcast appearances of the 2024 presidential campaign, with former Vice President Kamala Harris on “Call Her Daddy” and President Donald Trump on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Video? Tick. Personality hosts? Tick. The biggest podcasts of the day being true crime shows are long gone.
These days, podcasts are things you can watch, listen, or multitask to — a bit like the late-night talk show format that is, ironically, struggling so much on linear TV.
Yum! is in exclusive talks with private equity firm LongRange Capital about a sale, per reports.
Higher prices have pushed many members to the retailer’s pumps for the first time.
Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.
There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.
These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.
Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.
Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.
There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.
These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.
Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.
Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.
Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.
By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.
What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.
While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.
By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.
What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.
While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.
Temu’s parent company’s stock is still under pressure though, both this year and this morning.