Channels with Peter Kafka

Latest Episodes:

Streamers shrink Hollywood, again + What’s a “Hate Raid”? Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

More consolidation in Hollywood - but this time it’s talent agency CAA buying rival ICM. Puck’s Dylan Byers sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to explain why the streaming boom has created another merger. Then, podcaster and game streaming expert Bijan Stephen joins for an update on Twitch and its new “hate raid” problem - and what the platform and the community are doing to fight back against trolls.

Featuring: Dylan Byers (@DylanByers), Senior Correspondent at Puck News

Bijan Stephen (@bijanstephen), Host & Executive Producer of Eclipsed for Campside Media

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape.

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How Peter Thiel went from Silicon Valley to The White House with Max Chafkin Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

Peter Thiel used to be a Silicon Valley investor best-known for early investment in Facebook. But in recent years he seems to have shifted into something different: A Trump-supporting billionaire who wants to remake American politics - and someone who nursed a years-long grudge against Gawker and ultimately bankrupted the publisher and its owner. Bloomberg’s Max Chafkin details Thiel’s story in his new book The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power; he talks about what animates Thiel, and why he thinks we’ll be hearing from him and about him for a long time. Then Vox Media’s Joe Posner joins to talk about making videos for YouTube, Netflix, and HBO which is now airing his newest show: Level Playing Field.

Featuring: Max Chafkin (@chafkin), Author and Bloomberg reporter

Joe Posner (@joeposner), of Vox Video

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri on teenagers, Tik-Tok and paying creators Sep 16, 2021

Show notes

Instagram is no longer going to be a photo-sharing app, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced earlier this summer. So what is Instagram going to be instead? Mosseri talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about his plans to emphasize video and commerce for the service, competing with Tik-Tok, and looming regulation. Mosseri also talks about recent revelations in the Wall Street Journal about Instagram’s own research, which suggests the app could be harmful to a segment of its users, particularly teenagers. Then Kafka talks to Puck co-founder Jon Kelly about his news site’s recent launch, and what sets it apart from other subscription-based news services.

Featuring: Adam Mosseri (@mosseri), Head of Instagram

Jon Kelly (@JonKelly2), Co-Founder of Puck

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Big changes at Apple: New phones, new AR glasses, and big app store changes. Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

Mark Gurman has been one of the best-sourced Apple reporters since he was in high school. Literally. Now he’s at Bloomberg, with deep insight into Apple’s new product line - new iPhones this year, new “mixed reality” headsets next year - and its political and philosophical ideology - why it's fighting regulation in courtrooms and capitols around the world. He talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about the future of the world’s most valuable tech company.

Featuring: Mark Gurman (@markgurman) Tech Reporter at Bloomberg

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Defector Media: Life after Deadspin is good (and profitable) Sep 02, 2021

Show notes

Defector Media launched a year ago as a digital publishing experiment: What if the former staff of Deadspin built and owned their own site, fueled entirely by subscriptions? Now it looks like we have an answer: It’s working, really well. Editor in chief Tom Ley walks Recode’s Peter Kafka through Defector’s financials and argues that a site that runs on readers’ dollars instead of advertisers is more fun to work at and to read.

Featuring: Tom Ley (@ToLey88) Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Defector Media

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OnlyFans’ weird week with MEL’s Magdalene Taylor; BuzzFeed’s Joe Bernstein on the problem with our misinformation problem. Aug 26, 2021

Show notes

What is OnlyFans, and why did OnlyFans abandon and then come back to its primary business model in the span of a week? MEL Magazine’s Magdalene Taylor joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to explain the rise of the NSFW platform, and why some banks are reluctant to work with a company that consumers seem to love. Then BuzzFeed News’ Joe Bernstein talks about his recent story on the disinformation/misinformation industry, which isn’t exactly what we think it is.

Featuring: Magdalene Taylor(@magdajtaylor), Staff Writer for MEL Magazine

Joe Bernstein (@Bernstein), Senior Technology Reporter for BuzzFeed News

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WWE’s Nick Khan on pivoting his streaming strategy and getting back in the ring Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

Nick Khan used to be a CAA agent who represented the WWE. Now he’s president of the pro wrestling company and is pivoting it from a direct-to-consumer strategy into a content studio for the likes of Peacock and Fox. Khan tells Recode’s Peter Kafka why the WWE has abandoned its pioneering streaming model, how he’s managing the company through covid, and what got him into the TV business.

Featuring: Nick Khan, WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NYT’s Shira Ovide on the everything and nothingness of tech. Aug 12, 2021

Show notes

The New York Times’ Shira Ovide, writes the popular and incisive “On Tech” newsletter, which means she gets to write about… everything. She sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to discuss some her latest stories in her column like why “Tech Can’t Fix Everything”, how society rather than social media itself is more to blame for the spread of misinformation, and the pros and cons of writing a popular newsletter.

Featuring: Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide), tech writer for The New York Times

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reese’s $900 million deal; ScarJo vs Disney with Matt Belloni, + Derek Thompson on how the media covers Delta Aug 05, 2021

Show notes

Puck News Hollywood expert Matthew Belloni sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to discuss the biggest stories in the past week: Reese Witherspoon’s new $900M deal and the lawsuit between Scarlett Johansson and Disney. Then, The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson joins the show to discuss how the media has been reporting on COVID-19 recently, especially now that the concerns of the Delta variant begin to increase.

Featuring: Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) Hollywood editor at Puck News

Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) writer at The Atlantic

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Director Tom McCarthy on Stillwater, finishing a movie in a pandemic and playing one of the Wire’s best villains Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

Stillwater was supposed to debut in theaters last fall, but the pandemic changed those plans along with everything else. Academy Award-winning director and writer Tom McCarthy explain how he used the extra time to improve the Matt Damon movie, why the film isn’t on a streaming service — and what it was like to play one of TV’s best villains in the final season of The Wire. Then, creator Kyla Scanlon joins the show to discuss her quick rise on social media from making short-form videos on finance.

Featuring: Tom McCarthy, director and writer

Kyla Scanlon (@kylascan), Content Creator and writer

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices