The PodTube Effect

The Bizarre Shift to Independent Media

When I was a kid, I remember (vaguely) the following story being told on the news and by adults in my life:

We had to invade the Middle East because terrorists were threatening our country

That wasn’t the exact story, but it was some variation of that, over and over again. Fast forward to when I was in middle school, and the story had changed. Now I was being told that we didn’t need to go to the Middle East, and instead, we needed to create a government healthcare program to lower costs since 2008 hurt so many people.

Two years ago, when I started listening to financial news every morning, I realized that the second narrative wasn’t correct either. We have a solid understanding of what caused people to be impoverished by 2008, and healthcare costs have increased every year that I've been alive.

As you can probably guess, this freaked me out two years ago, and I desperately started looking for other places to get my news. That’s when I found independent media. As I listened to people like Joe Rogan, Chris Williamson, Eurodollar University, and others I started getting a more holistic approach to what was happening in the world.

The rise of independent media changed how I look at the world, and I am not the only one.

The PodTube Effect…What Is It?

Why are people trusting mass media less and less?

US trust in mass news media has fallen fairly consistently since 2001. There were little rallies here and there, but trust has fallen 41% from 2001 until 2024. I don’t want to consume your attention spans describing every possible reason why that might be happening, but I have noticed an interesting one, anagnorisis en masse or as I like to call it The PodTube Effect.

Anagnorisis en masse is a concept where (playing off the literary term), where a large group of people reach a sudden discovery that helps them understand what is truly going on.

You and I observe this effect all the time, it usually goes something like this:

We are out with a friend or loved one, and they say something like: “You know I heard ________ on a podcast the other day, and I’d never thought about it that way before.” The story is usually the same, they were watching a podcast or YouTube video where an expert in a certain discipline explained the “truth” about something, and it changed the way your friend viewed the world. Usually, by the end of the conversation, it changes how you view the world as well!

The Joe Rogan Experience is a classic example of this concept in action. You would never expect an online show about “interesting conversations” to radically shift the outcomes of people’s lives, yet it has. Since 2009:

• He's changed the course of US elections.
• Woke up the world to common health crises.
• He's reshaped the careers of 100s of people.

He’s not the only one either, Tatiana Siegel and Todd Spangler at Variety went as far as to say a handful of podcasts are now more powerful than traditional corporate media. The craziest thing is, that the numbers support it.

How YouTube and Podcasts Rocked The News

Looking at the numbers, as the monthly average users on Spotify and YouTube have increased, trust in mass media has decreased.

Consumers go to social media apps for their news more now than ever, especially among the younger demographics. According to Pew Research, the number of US consumers that have listened to a podcast increased from eleven percent in 2006 to sixty-four percent in 2023, a 481% increase. The Joe Rogan Experience received a lion's share of that increase. Considering the caliber (and controversy) of guests Joe Rogan has had on his podcast, it makes sense that consumer sentiment towards the news has changed.

YouTube also had a significant effect on the drop in news trust as well. YouTube MAUs in the US have risen around 20% since 2017, highlighting the growing interest in the platform. I have talked about this before in previous articles, but consumers today are looking to YouTube more and more for their cultural and social connections. When you add that to the rise of "far-right conservative" creators on the platform, significant shifts in trust make sense.

Why Is the PodTube Effect Happening?

I am going to use an experience I had last month to explain why this anagnorisis on masse is occurring across the US. Throughout my education in finance, I’ve always heard that deflation was dangerous. All of my textbooks said that deflation destroyed economies during the Great Depression until I started listening to more independent finance content.

All of a sudden, portfolio managers with decades of experience, and PhD economists were saying that what I knew about deflation was wrong. Since then, more and more data I read about and see supports what I heard from those independent sources, not my textbooks. Is this starting to sound like something in your life?

So What Now?

The largest problem with the rise of independent media is whether we can trust the information. In a perfect world, mass news media are supposed to be the “guardians of truth” with armies of people to verify articles before they are published. However, that’s not what happens. But can we trust independent journalism more? Maybe. I think it honestly depends on the caliber and track record an independent voice has. What we can’t ignore is that independent voices are becoming more popular, and trust in mass media is continuing to fall.

As we navigate this evolving landscape of information and trust, the PodTube Effect is undeniably here to stay. Independent media has reshaped news consumption, challenging established beliefs and institutions. With this shift, consumers must critically evaluate all information, regardless of its source. Moving forward, the ability to sift through information, fact-check, and form our own opinions will be crucial.

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Tyler Kreiling, WealthNWisdom, Founder and Head Editor