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New York Times
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Who Is Watching All These Podcasts?
The following are the runtimes of some recent episodes of several of YouTube's more popular podcasts: 'This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von,' #595: Two hours, 14 minutes. 'Club Shay Shay,' #172: Two hours, 59 minutes. 'The Shawn Ryan Show,' #215: Five hours, four minutes. 'Lex Fridman Podcast,' #461: Five hours, 20 minutes. These shows follow the same general format: people sitting in chairs, in generically designed studios, talking. And, like many of the biggest podcasts these days, these shows are all released as videos. They don't feature particularly fancy camerawork, or flashy graphics, or narratives. All of them require time commitments typical of feature films, ball games or marathon performance art installations. Yet going by YouTube's statistics, hundreds of thousands of people have viewed all of the above episodes. Which leads to comments like this, as one fan wrote after a recent episode of Theo Von's show: 'Truly, this podcast was amazing to watch.' So a genre of media named for an audio device — the iPod, discontinued by Apple in 2022 — and popularized by audiences enamored with on-demand listening has transformed in recent years into a visual one. It's well established that the American brain is the prize in a war for attention online, a place that incentivizes brief and sensational content, not static five-hour discussions about artificial intelligence. So what gives? Who exactly is watching the supersize video talk shows that have come to define podcasting over the last several years? At the highest level, the audience for video podcasts is simply people who consume podcasts. 'Who is watching these?' said Eric Nuzum, a podcast strategist. 'A person who loves podcasts who happens to be near a screen.' Indeed, according to an April survey by Cumulus Media and the media research firm Signal Hill Insights, nearly three-quarters of podcast consumers play podcast videos, even if they minimize them, compared with about a quarter who listen only to the audio. Paul Riismandel, the president of Signal Hill, said that this split holds across age groups — it's not simply driven by Gen Z and that younger generation's supposed great appetite for video. But dive a bit deeper into the data, and it becomes clear that how people are watching podcasts — and what counts as watching — is a far more revealing question. According to the Signal Hill survey, about 30 percent of people who consume podcasts 'play the video in the background or minimize on their device while listening.' Perhaps this person is folding laundry and half-watching 'Pod Save America,' or has 'The Joe Rogan Experience' open in a browser tab while they do busy work at the office. That describes Zoë McDermott, a 31-year-old title insurance producer from Pennsylvania, who said she streams video of Theo Von's show on her phone while she works. 'I don't have the ability to watch the entire thing through, but I do my glance downs if I hear something funny,' Ms. McDermott said. 'It's passive a little bit.' Still, this leaves everyone else — more than half of YouTube podcast consumers, who say they are actively watching videos. Here, it gets even trickier. YouTube, the most popular platform for podcasts, defines 'views' in a variety of ways, among them a user who clicks 'play' on a video and watches for at least 30 seconds: far from five hours. And the April survey data did not distinguish between people who were watching, say, four hours of Lex Fridman interviewing Marc Andreessen from people who were viewing the much shorter clips of these podcasts that are ubiquitous on TikTok, Instagram Reels, X and YouTube itself. All of which makes it hard to pinpoint a 'typical' podcast viewer. Is it a couple on the couch with a bucket of popcorn, streaming to their smart TV? Is it a young office worker scrolling through TikTok during his commute? Or is it the same person engaging in different behavior at different points in the day? Alyssa Keller, who lives in Michigan with her family, said sometimes she watches 'The Shawn Ryan Show' on the television with her husband. But more often, she puts the video on the phone for a few hours while her children are napping. This means she sometimes has to watch marathon episodes in chunks. 'I've been known to take multiple days,' she said. 'Nap times only last for like two hours.' In February, YouTube announced that more than a billion people a month were viewing podcasts on its platform. According to Tim Katz, the head of sports and news partnerships at YouTube, that number is so large it must include users who are actually mainlining five-hour talk shows. 'Any time you have a number that large, you're going to have a broad swath of people consuming in lots of different ways,' Mr. Katz said. Recently, The New York Times asked readers if and how they consume video podcasts. Many of the respondents said they played video podcasts in the background while attending to work or chores, and still treated podcasts as audio-only products. A few said they liked being able to see the body language of podcast hosts and their guests. Still others said that they didn't like video podcasts because they found the visual component distracting or unnecessary. Video can have its drawbacks. Lauren Golds, a 37-year-old researcher based in Virginia, said that she regularly hate-watches podcasts at work — in particular 'On Purpose,' which is hosted by the British entrepreneur and life coach Jay Shetty. She said she'd had awkward encounters when co-workers have looked at her screen and told her that they love the show she's watching. 'There's no way to say it's garbage and I'm watching it for entertainment purposes to fill my need for hatred,' Ms. Golds said. One thing a 'typical' podcaster consumer is less likely to be these days is someone listening to a full-attention-required narrative program. Say 'podcast' and many people still instinctively think of painstakingly produced, deeply reported, audio-only shows like 'Serial' and 'This American Life,' which listeners consumed via audio-only platforms like Apple Podcasts and the iHeartRadio app. Traditional podcasts relied on host-read and scripted ads to make money, and on media coverage and word of mouth for discovery. And it was a lot of money, in some cases: In 2019, to take one example, Spotify acquired Gimlet — one of the defining podcast producers of the 2010s — as part of a $340 million investment in podcast start-ups. Now, the size of the market for video podcasts is too large to ignore, and many ad deals require podcasters to have a video component. The platforms where these video podcasts live, predominantly YouTube and Spotify, are creating new kinds of podcast consumers, who expect video. Ms. McDermott, the Theo Von fan, said the video component made her feel like she had a friendly guest in her home. 'It feels a little more personal, like somebody is there with you,' she said. 'I live alone with my two cats and I'm kind of in a rural area in Pennsylvania, so it's just a little bit of company almost.' The world of podcasts today is also far more integrated into social media. Clips of video podcasts slot neatly into the Gen Z and millennial behemoths of TikTok and Instagram. The sophisticated YouTube recommendation algorithm suggests relevant new podcasts to viewers, something that wasn't possible in the old, siloed model on other platforms. To get a sense of just how much things have changed, imagine the viral podcast appearances of the 2024 presidential campaign — Donald J. Trump on Theo Von's podcast and Kamala Harris on 'Call Her Daddy' — happening without YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X. You can't. In a sign of the times, in June the radio company Audacy shuttered Pineapple Street Studios, a venerable podcast producer known for its in-depth narrative shows like 'Wind of Change' and Ronan Farrow's 'The Catch and Kill Podcast.' Jenna Weiss-Berman, who co-founded Pineapple Street, is now the head of audio at the comedian and actress Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Productions. Ms. Poehler's new podcast, called 'Good Hang with Amy Poehler,' is typical of the genre: a charismatic, well-known host, interviewing other charismatic, well-known people. Ms. Weiss-Berman said she was concerned that the costs associated with high-quality video production would be prohibitive for smaller podcast creators, who faced almost no barrier to entry when all the genre required was a few microphones. 'If you want to do it well, you need a crew and a studio,' Ms. Weiss-Berman said. For podcasters with an established audience, the potential of video to open up new audiences for the world of talk podcasts is obvious. (The New York Times has introduced video podcasts hosted by some of its more recognizable columnists.) Adam Friedland, a comedian who started his video interview show in 2022, first came to prominence on an irreverent and lewd audio-only hangout podcast with two fellow comedians. He got an early taste of the limitations of traditional podcast distribution when he discovered fan cut-ups of the funniest moments of his old show on YouTube. 'There was an organic growth to it,' Mr. Friedland said. 'We weren't doing press or promoting it.' Mr. Friedland's new show is an arch interview program with high-profile guests and considerably fewer impenetrable — not to mention scatological — references. Along with that, distribution over YouTube has made a once cult figure something a bit closer to a household name, as he discovered recently. 'There was a regular middle-aged guy at a Starbucks who said he liked the show,' Mr. Friedland recalled. 'Some guy holding a Sweetgreen.' Mr. Friedland's show is the rare video podcast with a distinctive visual point of view; the vintage-looking set is a reconstruction of 'The Dick Cavett Show.' And Mr. Friedland made it clear that he prefers people to watch the show rather than listen to it. The many ways that Americans now consume podcasts — actively and passively, sometimes with another device in hand, sometimes without — bears an obvious similarity to the way Americans consume television. 'I think podcasts could become kind of the new basic cable television,' said Marshall Lewy, the chief content officer of Wondery, a podcast network owned by Amazon. Think: shows that are cheaper to produce than so-called premium streaming content, consumed by audiences used to half-watching television while scrolling their smartphones, in a wide variety of genres. Indeed, while talk dominates among video podcasts, Mr. Lewy said he thought the trend for video would lead to more shows about food and travel — categories beloved by advertisers — that weren't ideal when podcasts were audio only. All of which calls into question the basic nature of the term 'podcast.' Mr. Riismandel, who runs the research firm Signal Hill, said he thought the category applied to any programming that could be listened to without video and still understood. According to Mr. Katz, the YouTube executive, the nature of the podcaster is undergoing a redefinition. It includes both audio-only podcasters moving to video, as well as social media content creators who have realized that podcasts present another opportunity to build their audiences. One concern with the shift to video, according to the former Vox and Semafor video boss Joe Posner, is that people who are less comfortable onscreen will be left out. This could lead to a deepening gender divide, for example, since women are much more likely to face harassment over their looks, especially from an engaged online fan base — and therefore potentially less likely to want to be on camera for hours on end. Still, for all the eyeballs moving to YouTube, audio remains the way most consumers experience podcasts, according to the April survey, with 58 percent of people listening to only audio or to a minimized or backgrounded video. And while YouTube is now the most used platform for podcast consumption, per the survey, it's far from monolithic; a majority of podcast consumers say they use a platform other than YouTube most often, whether it's Spotify or Apple Podcasts. That's why at least one pillar of audio-first podcasting doesn't see much to be alarmed about. Ira Glass, the creator of the foundational long-form radio show 'This American Life,' said that the fact that the podcast tent has gotten bigger and thrown up a projector screen doesn't threaten a program like his. 'That's a strength, not a weakness — that both things exist and are both called the same thing,' Mr. Glass said. He stressed that audio-only podcasting has formal strengths that video podcasts don't. 'There's a power to not seeing people,' Mr. Glass continued. 'There's a power to just hearing things. It just gets to you in a different way. But if people want to watch people on a talk show that seems fine to me. I don't feel protective of podcasting in that way. I don't have snowflake-y feelings about podcasts.'
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson says he looks for 2 key things when hiring
Tech entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson said he looks for two key things when hiring programmers. Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, says a good cover letter is crucial for applicants. If you can't write a good cover letter, "you're out," he told podcaster Lex Fridman. A cover letter might not be your top priority if you're preparing an application for a job in tech — but perhaps it should be. That's especially true if your hiring manager happens to be David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, a well-known framework for building web applications, and the CTO at software firm 37signals. In a lengthy six-hour interview with podcaster Lex Fridman published Saturday, the exec shared the two key things he looks for when hiring new computer programmers. "Up until this point, the main pivot point for getting hired was not your résumé, was not the schooling you've had, it was not your grades, it was not your pedigree," Hansson, who is also known as DHH, said, adding that AI could now change things. It was about how well you do two things: your cover letter and programming, he continued. "I can only work with people remotely if they're good writers," he told Fridman. "If you can't pen a proper cover letter and can't bother to put in the effort to write it specifically for us, you're out." He also said you had to be able to program well. "To the degree that I can look at your code and go like, 'Yeah, I want to work with that person.' Not only do I want to work with that person, I want to work on that person's code when I have to see it again in five years to fix some damn bug." Hansson said that applicants would have to show their skills through a programming test that "simulates the way we work for real." "I've been surprised time and again where I thought for sure this candidate is a shoo-in, they sound just right, the CV is just right, and then you see the code getting turned in and I'm like, 'No way. No way are we hiring this person,'" he said. "The capacity to evaluate work product is a superpower when it comes to hiring." Writing cover letters has long been a necessary evil for job candidates. Often regarded as time-consuming and repetitive, many are also put off by rumors that hiring managers simply don't read them. But even for jobs that don't specifically ask for one, studies suggest cover letters are still an important part of the application process. In 2023, a Resume Genius survey of 625 hiring managers across the US found that 83% said they frequently or always read cover letters. And 73% of managers at companies that did not require cover letters also said they frequently read them. For applicants to the tech industry, the key to a successful cover letter is conveying experience with relevant technology and providing a snapshot of what you'd bring to the specific company, Thomas Vick, a senior regional director at the talent firm Robert Half, previously told Business Insider. "What return on investment have you created for an organization?" Vick said. "What have you done in your career that has helped save a company time, energy, and money?" Read the original article on Business Insider
India Today
01-07-2025
- Business
- India Today
Google issues AI playbook for engineers to boost productivity as Microsoft mulls grading employees on AI use
Google has taken a major step to formalise how its software engineers use artificial intelligence at work. In an internal email sent earlier this week, the company shared detailed guidelines on how employees should adopt AI tools to boost productivity. The move comes as Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently revealed that over 30 per cent of all code written at the company is now AI-generated — a sharp rise from 25 per cent just a few months ago. Last month, the Google CEO also said that AI tools have helped its engineers be 10 per cent more guidance, described by 9to5Google as the most formal communication on this topic so far, outlines best practices for using AI in day-to-day coding. Created by engineers at Google, the playbook reflects what has worked well internally and aims to help teams across the organisation work more efficiently.'We want every engineer to use AI to move faster and build better,' said a Google spokesperson. 'These recommendations and best practices, developed by a group of software engineers at Google, are designed to help all SWEs [software engineers] across the company get the most out of AI in their day-to-day work.' Google's internal tools like 'Goose', which are trained on years of technical data, are already assisting engineers in writing code, fixing bugs, and even handling routine development tasks. Externally, Google has rolled out tools such as Gemini Code Assist, Gemini CLI, and Gemini in Android Studio. But internally, the company is now doubling down on the expectation that everyone must embrace these new guidance not only focuses on AI-powered coding but also helps engineers understand the limitations of today's models. Managers and tech leads are being encouraged to integrate AI practices into their team workflows. While code is increasingly AI-generated, human oversight remains essential. The guidance stresses maintaining rigorous code review, testing, and security standards even with AI in the has said AI tools have already improved engineering productivity by around 10 per cent. In a podcast with researcher Lex Fridman, he explained how Google measures time saved through AI and reinvests it into more valuable work. He called AI an 'accelerator'. He says it is a tool to free up engineers from repetitive tasks so they can focus on creative the broader industry is wrestling with how to scale AI use internally. Microsoft, for instance, is reportedly planning to evaluate employees based on how effectively they use AI tools like GitHub Copilot. According to Business Insider, Microsoft has instructed team managers to include AI usage in performance reviews. Julia Liuson, President of Microsoft's Developer Division, wrote in an internal email: 'AI is now a fundamental part of how we work It's no longer optional — it's core to every role and every level.'advertisementThis move follows concerns inside Microsoft that internal adoption of Copilot has not met expectations. To change that, the company wants AI use to become as routine as collaboration or communication, especially among teams building AI Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has said that AI could soon handle 100 per cent of his company's developer work, highlighting how central AI has become to software development across the tech world. Meta on Monday also announced the Meta Superintelligence Labs, which is aimed at developing artificial general Pichai has tried to strike a balance. He says Google will continue hiring engineers and sees AI as a tool that complements, not replaces, human talent. But he also acknowledged the wider debate around job displacement. Citing remarks from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who predicted that AI could replace half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years, Pichai said it's important to have open discussions about AI's impact on employment, especially as it begins to automate more white-collar tasks.- Ends
Business Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
AI and the disappearing pause
'IT'S interesting to see progress through the arc of time,' Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai said recently on Lex Fridman's podcast. It aptly describes a huge shift happening in business right now; a change in how we even think about something as basic as time. Time used to be one of the few constants in global business. We had clear deadlines, synchronised news cycles, 'follow-the-sun' business models. New York would open for business as Singapore was winding down. The world had a predictable beat, even if not perfectly aligned. But something has shifted. We no longer share time. We consume it. And as we do, something else has stepped in to seemingly unify us: artificial intelligence (AI). Released recently, Apple's latest white paper, The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity, offered a timely warning about the limits of what we perceive as AI's true 'reasoning' capabilities, particularly when faced with increasing complexity. This research could not be more relevant, as we navigate a world where time itself feels fractured. Not just by time zone, but by our very experience of it. Our screens update instantly, yet our minds need more time to catch up. Trends explode in minutes, but decisions stretch across weeks. Some teams are 'on' 24/7, while others are experimenting with four-day weeks, all creating a fragmented sense of pace. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The clock is dead; long live the code AI has replaced traditional time as the driver of business speed. It works across time zones, never sleeps and always responds. AI is becoming the first thing everyone relies on. It is global, immediate and relentlessly consistent. Feed a business challenge into an AI tool and in less than a minute, a well-structured response will appear. Discuss it with the team and I assure you that someone will say, 'That's actually good enough to run with.' But that is precisely the problem. Not because it is inaccurate, because it probably is not. But because it is almost always predictably coherent. It offers no friction, no doubt. There would not be a spark of tension. This is where the real shift is happening. AI is collapsing time while expanding output. We get more done in less time. But in doing so, it threatens to erase something businesses have not yet learnt how to measure – the value of shared deliberation. Even Bill Gates, during a recent visit to Singapore, admitted, 'If I had a switch to slow down AI, I might use it.' It was a rare concession from one of technology's most persistent optimists, and a reminder that just because something moves fast, does not mean we are ready to move with it at the same pace. The disappearance of productive discomfort When humans worked to the same clock, decisions took time. But that time created space for discussion, disagreement or even deep reflection. Not all of it was efficient, but much of it was productive discomfort. Productive discomfort is that critical pause before commitment; the challenge before reaching consensus. AI, by contrast, skips the pause. It generates answers before humans even begin to ask follow-up questions. I am not saying it is wrong, but it removes resistance – which is the very thing that often leads to better insight. With less shared time and more AI, companies might move quickly but without much deep thought. This is not an argument against AI. It is an argument for reasserting intentional rhythm in a world where machines are increasingly dictating the pace at which we need to move. If AI is the new constant, then leaders must become designers of pace, friction and flow. That begins with reintroducing cadence. For example, how does one create deliberate moments where teams step back from tools and re-engage with deeper thought. Not all tasks require instant answers. We know this from years of human experience and insight. Next, we need to embrace useful pauses. Taking a bit more time should not be seen as a weakness. This strategic lag can bring back important context, deeper understanding and clearer thinking into our decisions. Finally, we need to tell the difference between 'fast' and 'finished'. Just because AI gives an instant answer does not mean the discussion is over. Often, that is where the real thinking should just begin. In short, we need to create thoughtful counterbalances to the hyper-efficiency AI enables. Do not get me wrong. This is not to slow progress, but to ensure we still know what progress means. The new role of leadership In the past, when everyone largely shared the same work hours, great leaders were like timekeepers. They set the pace, coordinated schedules and organised how work flowed. Today, their role has changed. Leaders must now become guardians of how we use time. They need to decide not only what tasks are completed, but also when they are done, how quickly and how much thought goes into them. We used to organise business around time. Now, increasingly, we organise it around AI. Leadership today should not be about rejecting the technology. It is about knowing when to slow it down. Deliberately, and for the right reasons. Because AI moves in seconds, but strategy and orchestration still takes time. The writer is head of Singapore at Sling & Stone
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Should not overthink big decisions, advices Google's Sundar Pichai. Here's the simple formula he follows instead
As the CEO of Alphabet and Google, Sundar Pichai is no stranger to high-stakes decisions, tight deadlines, and intense pressure. Yet, the leader of the $1.92 trillion tech giant says his ability to stay composed and act decisively stems from habits he formed long before reaching the top. In several recent public interactions, including at Stanford Business School, Bloomberg's Tech Conference, and on the Lex Fridman podcast, Pichai has shed light on the mindset and principles that help him lead effectively. A Simple Two-Step Approach to Pressure At the core of Pichai's leadership is a straightforward mantra: make a decision quickly and remember that most choices are not permanent. He learned this during his time as a graduate student, and it remains his go-to method in high-pressure environments. When faced with conflicting suggestions from teams, Pichai prefers to act swiftly rather than get stuck in prolonged analysis. According to him, the very act of deciding is what keeps projects moving. Reflecting on his approach, he said that what may feel like a weighty decision in the moment often turns out to be less consequential in hindsight. He sees mistakes as part of the process, not something to fear — a mindset that enables learning and course correction when necessary. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Your Car Will Look Brand New After One Use of This Cleaning Agent! Make Your Car Look Like New Undo The Influence of Bill Campbell Pichai attributes much of his leadership growth to the late Bill Campbell, the former Intuit CEO and advisor to several Silicon Valley leaders. During his time at Stanford, Campbell would regularly meet with Pichai and ask him one particular question: 'What ties did you break this week?' The question left a lasting impression. It helped Pichai understand that effective leaders don't just guide teams — they step in to resolve deadlocks. This weekly challenge from Campbell trained him to get comfortable with final decisions, even in moments of uncertainty. Over time, this habit became central to how he handles leadership at scale, especially at a company like Google where hesitation can slow down innovation. Choosing Growth Over Comfort Beyond handling pressure, Pichai also shared his perspective on professional growth. Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast, he encouraged young professionals to work with individuals who push them out of their comfort zones. In his view, working with people who are more skilled or knowledgeable can stretch one's own abilities and unlock personal growth. He stressed the importance of entering challenging environments and being willing to feel uncomfortable — because that's often where development happens. Pichai also touched on the importance of finding joy in work. He believes that people should listen to their inner instincts when choosing a career path. While it can be difficult to identify work one truly enjoys, he recommended paying attention to what feels meaningful, as it can make a significant difference in the long term. Balancing Work and Rest Despite the demands of his role, Pichai doesn't ignore the basics. He shared that sleep remains a priority in his routine, even if it's not always ideal. His goal is to get six hours of sleep each night, and while that may not sound like much, he sees consistency as key. It's one of the ways he maintains focus and energy in a role that requires constant attention. When asked about the future leadership of Google, Pichai humorously remarked at a tech conference that his successor will likely have an 'extraordinary AI companion.' His comment reflected how deeply artificial intelligence is being integrated into the company's operations. Yet, he emphasized that AI is not a replacement for human workers. Instead, he sees it as a tool that can enhance productivity — and he reaffirmed Google's plans to continue hiring engineers through 2026.
