I think part of it has to do with the pure quantity of content that is put out on a weekly basis. If you wanted to keep up with all your favorite podcasts, newsletters, YouTubers, news outlets, sports, political breakdowns, business headlines, it would be more than a full time job! If you only have a little free time with work, family and other commitments, clips is kinda the only way to try to do it on the consumer side!
Excerpts and quotes of books taken out of context are often more impactful and more lasting than the full book itself. Call Me Ishmael but the trick is getting viewers to ingest the long form or a longer form of the content based on the proper clips.
This is so distressing. As you mentioned, people already have short attention spans and their inability to learn about anything at a deep and broad level is rapidly diminishing. I guess they assume they'll just AI to figure out their issues. This lack of intellectual depth and rigor leads us to debacle's like The Felon's negotiations duo of Witkoff and Kushner, who are so out of their league as to be laughable.
I think some legacy media is experimenting with this. Paramount started posting clips from I Love Lucy which took over my feed and now I’ve started watching I Love Lucy regularly again on Paramount+
With attention spans that short, tame content won't work. You have to go more extreme, grotesque and misogynist to grab eyeballs & get those view counts up.
It’s important for media companies not just for ad monetisation but for authenticity & relevance. Worst case scenario - If ads cover the cost of clipping (editors) it likely increases predisposition to (media) brand, which can be monetised through other products / experiences
I think this slightly misunderstands streaming as a medium. 30,000 average live viewers across a 6 hour stream translates closer to 200,000/300,000 total viewers daily. Not to mention the full streams then being uploaded longer form to YouTube. The clip economy is undoubtedly big but streamers don’t have the “small audience” you suggest. It’s also why whenever a streamer makes a podcast transferring their audience it’s usually top of the ranking lists.
Here's a clip that needs to be explored. Our democracy has become an oligarchy, a government in which a small group exercises control, especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. Now is the time for US, the vast majority of Americans, to unite and share in our prosperity. An estimated 8 million people showed up for the third No Kings protest. Now is the time to build off this momentum by initiating a grassroots campaign to pursue the following. Several Democrats and progressive organizations have compiled separate tax reform proposals. I envision having these proposals consolidated into one bill that will benefit the vast majority of Americans. Such a bill will provide a much-needed alternative tax plan that will counter and expose the corrupt and unjust fiscal endeavors enacted by Republicans. The following is a draft of my proposal.
True Tax Reform 2026: The Sequel:
Increase the current number of tax brackets to create more progressive tax rates on the top 10%, 5%, 1%, 0.1%, and 0.01% of income earners.
Create progressive tax rates that will benefit the vast majority of Americans. Compare this with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and H.R. 1 2025.
Richistan: A Journey Through American Wealth and Lives of the New Rich—Robert Frank: Consider income brackets for Lower Richistan, Middle Richistan, Upper Richistan, including Affluentville and Ultra-Wealthyville—added by Chuck Collins.
Make the federal tax system simpler and more rational.
Enact policies that address excessive CEO compensation. Corporations will be taxed at progressively higher rates based on the income gap between CEO compensation and median worker income.
Enact policies as necessary concerning upside-down subsidies to make them progressive.
Taxpayers subsidize private jet use. Current rates need to be raised substantially by targeting private jet use.
Provide financial relief to individuals adversely affected by higher prices caused by tariffs and caused by the war in Iran. This form of progressive payments could be distributed twice a year for those who qualify. Payments would be distributed similar to how COVID stimulus checks were processed.
Maintain President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act incentives for production in using green energy.
Target measures to protect programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP), to name a few.
Consider expanding and increasing funding for programs such as SNAP and child care that target low-income families.
Republicans are threatening to discontinue some programs that provide much-needed assistance to individuals going to college.
Since 1954, scholarships that provide financial assistance to college students have generally been excluded from taxable income. Ensure this policy continues and protect a host of additional policies that make attending college more affordable.
Increase the corporate tax rate and tax corporations on all profits made in the United States.
Annually raise additional revenue to pay off the entire deficit created by Republican tax reforms of 2017 and 2025 by targeting the ultra-wealthy.
Annually raise additional revenue by targeting the ultra-wealthy to pay off the costs of the war in Iran.
Review and adjust Research and Development (R&D) tax credits.
Enact legislation to make the IRS Direct File permanent and available nationwide.
Decide what actions need to be taken to revise SALT.
Impose financial transaction fees to raise revenue.
Discuss the 20% small business deduction- TCJA 2017 section 199A and consider options.
Increase and make the Child Tax Credit permanent.
Plutocracy Prevention Program:
Design a comprehensive manner to address this issue.
Pursue rules and policies to raise the floor, level the playing field, and break upoverconcentration of wealth.
Pursue efforts that address inequality in wealth and income, including policies to address these inequalities based on race and gender.
Social Security: Create a higher threshold to target those with higher incomes.
Have Social Security benefits be exempt from federal taxes—specifically for low-income and middle-income families.
Pursue and expand a comprehensive approach similar to the "American Housing and Economic Mobility Act" that will provide financial support for homeownership for low-income and middle-class individuals and families.
Pursue efforts to address concerns regarding the size and distribution of intergenerational transfers.
Close the Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) loophole.
Brookings: How Should We Tax the Great Wealth Transfer? (12/12/2024):
Authors report "the size and distribution of intergenerational transfers have raisedconcerns about creating family dynasties, exacerbating trends in inequality, andlimiting economic opportunity and mobility. Authors conclude, "reforms tothe wealth transfer system, including taxing unrealized capital gains at death andconverting the estate tax to an inheritance tax, can raise revenue, increaseprogressivity and improve the economy in other ways as well. "
Institute for Policy Studies: Revenue-Raising Proposals in the Ever-Evolving BuildBack Better Debate (1/25/2022):-
General proposals to raise taxes on high-income individuals. It was mentioned that a bill was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee that included aprovision to mostly reverse the 2017 tax law's cut in the top personal income tax ratefor "ordinary" income (income that is not capital gains or stock dividends subject tospecial tax rates). Democratic lawmakers left the provision out because SenatorKyrsten Sinema reportedly did not support it.
Pursue proposals that aim to limit tax breaks on wealth and income derived from wealth. This includes taxing capital gains as income.
Limit tax breaks for wealthy business owners.
Abolish unjustified tax breaks for the owners of pass-through businesses.
Abolish the special 20% deduction "qualified business income" for large businesses.
Make permanent the limit of pass-through business losses.
Increase taxes on corporations.
Proposals would be designed to ensure that corporate profits do not escape taxation.
Establish a corporate minimum tax rate that requires the biggest corporations to pay progressive federal income taxes on the profits reported to shareholders and create an excise tax on stock buybacks.
Include proposals to limit tax breaks for corporate profit-shifting and offshoring. This includes a reduction in the exemption for offshore profits for so-called "Qualified Business Asset Investments” and increasing the minimum effective tax rate on offshorecorporate profits on a per-country basis.
Proposals to limit tax breaks for wealth and income from wealth:
Repeal several breaks in the estate tax and lower the financial threshold to pay estate taxes.
Replicate successful state programs such as the Massachusetts Fair ShareAmendment and Washington state's Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC) in 2023.
Consolidate These Proposals:
Keep Your Pay Act: Cory Booker
Equal Tax Act: Senators Edward Markey, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Jeff Merkley
Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act: Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Rashida Tlaib
Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act: Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna
Tax on Extreme Wealth and For the 99.8% Act: Senator Bernie Sanders
Working Americans’ Tax Cut Act: Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Don Beyer
The Ultra-Millionaires Tax: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representatives Brendan F. Boyle and Pramila Jayapal
Defund the Oligarchs Resolution: Senator Elizabeth Warren
American Homeownership Act: Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jeff Merkley
21st Century ROAD to Housing Act: Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott
Billionaires Income Tax Act: Senator Ron Wyden and Representatives Donald Beyer and Steve Cohen
The Money Agenda 250: Patriotic Millionaires
The Five & Dime Tax: Tax the Greedy Billionaires
Executive Summary: Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute
Court of International Trade Tariff Refunds: Senators Ron Wyden, Edward J. Markey, and Jeanne Shaheen
The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2011: Senators Ron Wyden and Dan Coates
Publications:
"99 to 1: How Inequality is Wrecking the World and What we can do About it”- Chuck Collins
"Is Inequality Irreversible? The Case for a Maximum Wage”- Chuck Collins and Sam Pizzigati
**** Review provisions in H.R. 1 and executive orders- void and add provisions as needed.
Yes, attention is no longer earned through depth, but through fragments that spread fastest. Clips aren’t promoting content anymore; they are the content.
Traditional media has always been divided into clip-sized segments with link the ad banks on either side. The fact that we can watch so many clips is the real change and subconsciously makes us think we don’t have time to watch anything full length. It certainly having an impact on our attention, but I think it’s less the clip length than the volume of content coming at us.
As a professional editor I see this as a glimmer of hope. Good, effective clips require a well executed edit. This comment was brought to you by Yuban Coffee.
At the same time there are very long podcasts emerging with deeply researched content, such as Curt Jaimungal. We are experiencing a social division between those producing and consuming long firm media and those who cannot consume anything long. I suspect that we will eventually discover that deep understanding and solutions to hard problems will emerge only through long form communication.
First, this is a great long-form post for those of us who prefer reading to learning through clips. I am a one-man band on Substack. I hand-edit short clips of my podcast and use the short clips automatically generated by Substack to encourage viewers on other platforms to "click the link" and listen to the full-length podcast and/or read the related long-form post. However, I cannot tell whether any of the clip watchers actually click back to watch or read the longer version on Substack. What's your sense of this?
By the way, from my home in Japan, I listen to almost all of the podcasts (in full) put out by you, Scott, and your talented team. Keep up the great work!
I think part of it has to do with the pure quantity of content that is put out on a weekly basis. If you wanted to keep up with all your favorite podcasts, newsletters, YouTubers, news outlets, sports, political breakdowns, business headlines, it would be more than a full time job! If you only have a little free time with work, family and other commitments, clips is kinda the only way to try to do it on the consumer side!
Excerpts and quotes of books taken out of context are often more impactful and more lasting than the full book itself. Call Me Ishmael but the trick is getting viewers to ingest the long form or a longer form of the content based on the proper clips.
You’re right. Makes me feel old for going through a whole book.
That’s unfortunate. It sounds like you haven’t found the right book that gives you a sense of wonder and joy.
This is so distressing. As you mentioned, people already have short attention spans and their inability to learn about anything at a deep and broad level is rapidly diminishing. I guess they assume they'll just AI to figure out their issues. This lack of intellectual depth and rigor leads us to debacle's like The Felon's negotiations duo of Witkoff and Kushner, who are so out of their league as to be laughable.
I think some legacy media is experimenting with this. Paramount started posting clips from I Love Lucy which took over my feed and now I’ve started watching I Love Lucy regularly again on Paramount+
With attention spans that short, tame content won't work. You have to go more extreme, grotesque and misogynist to grab eyeballs & get those view counts up.
It’s important for media companies not just for ad monetisation but for authenticity & relevance. Worst case scenario - If ads cover the cost of clipping (editors) it likely increases predisposition to (media) brand, which can be monetised through other products / experiences
I keep pushing this but old habits are hard to change.
I think this slightly misunderstands streaming as a medium. 30,000 average live viewers across a 6 hour stream translates closer to 200,000/300,000 total viewers daily. Not to mention the full streams then being uploaded longer form to YouTube. The clip economy is undoubtedly big but streamers don’t have the “small audience” you suggest. It’s also why whenever a streamer makes a podcast transferring their audience it’s usually top of the ranking lists.
Here's a clip that needs to be explored. Our democracy has become an oligarchy, a government in which a small group exercises control, especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. Now is the time for US, the vast majority of Americans, to unite and share in our prosperity. An estimated 8 million people showed up for the third No Kings protest. Now is the time to build off this momentum by initiating a grassroots campaign to pursue the following. Several Democrats and progressive organizations have compiled separate tax reform proposals. I envision having these proposals consolidated into one bill that will benefit the vast majority of Americans. Such a bill will provide a much-needed alternative tax plan that will counter and expose the corrupt and unjust fiscal endeavors enacted by Republicans. The following is a draft of my proposal.
True Tax Reform 2026: The Sequel:
Increase the current number of tax brackets to create more progressive tax rates on the top 10%, 5%, 1%, 0.1%, and 0.01% of income earners.
Create progressive tax rates that will benefit the vast majority of Americans. Compare this with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and H.R. 1 2025.
Richistan: A Journey Through American Wealth and Lives of the New Rich—Robert Frank: Consider income brackets for Lower Richistan, Middle Richistan, Upper Richistan, including Affluentville and Ultra-Wealthyville—added by Chuck Collins.
Make the federal tax system simpler and more rational.
Enact policies that address excessive CEO compensation. Corporations will be taxed at progressively higher rates based on the income gap between CEO compensation and median worker income.
Enact policies as necessary concerning upside-down subsidies to make them progressive.
Taxpayers subsidize private jet use. Current rates need to be raised substantially by targeting private jet use.
Provide financial relief to individuals adversely affected by higher prices caused by tariffs and caused by the war in Iran. This form of progressive payments could be distributed twice a year for those who qualify. Payments would be distributed similar to how COVID stimulus checks were processed.
Maintain President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act incentives for production in using green energy.
Target measures to protect programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP), to name a few.
Consider expanding and increasing funding for programs such as SNAP and child care that target low-income families.
Republicans are threatening to discontinue some programs that provide much-needed assistance to individuals going to college.
Since 1954, scholarships that provide financial assistance to college students have generally been excluded from taxable income. Ensure this policy continues and protect a host of additional policies that make attending college more affordable.
Increase the corporate tax rate and tax corporations on all profits made in the United States.
Annually raise additional revenue to pay off the entire deficit created by Republican tax reforms of 2017 and 2025 by targeting the ultra-wealthy.
Annually raise additional revenue by targeting the ultra-wealthy to pay off the costs of the war in Iran.
Review and adjust Research and Development (R&D) tax credits.
Enact legislation to make the IRS Direct File permanent and available nationwide.
Decide what actions need to be taken to revise SALT.
Impose financial transaction fees to raise revenue.
Discuss the 20% small business deduction- TCJA 2017 section 199A and consider options.
Increase and make the Child Tax Credit permanent.
Plutocracy Prevention Program:
Design a comprehensive manner to address this issue.
Pursue rules and policies to raise the floor, level the playing field, and break upoverconcentration of wealth.
Pursue efforts that address inequality in wealth and income, including policies to address these inequalities based on race and gender.
Social Security: Create a higher threshold to target those with higher incomes.
Have Social Security benefits be exempt from federal taxes—specifically for low-income and middle-income families.
Pursue and expand a comprehensive approach similar to the "American Housing and Economic Mobility Act" that will provide financial support for homeownership for low-income and middle-class individuals and families.
Pursue efforts to address concerns regarding the size and distribution of intergenerational transfers.
Close the Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) loophole.
Brookings: How Should We Tax the Great Wealth Transfer? (12/12/2024):
Authors report "the size and distribution of intergenerational transfers have raisedconcerns about creating family dynasties, exacerbating trends in inequality, andlimiting economic opportunity and mobility. Authors conclude, "reforms tothe wealth transfer system, including taxing unrealized capital gains at death andconverting the estate tax to an inheritance tax, can raise revenue, increaseprogressivity and improve the economy in other ways as well. "
Institute for Policy Studies: Revenue-Raising Proposals in the Ever-Evolving BuildBack Better Debate (1/25/2022):-
General proposals to raise taxes on high-income individuals. It was mentioned that a bill was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee that included aprovision to mostly reverse the 2017 tax law's cut in the top personal income tax ratefor "ordinary" income (income that is not capital gains or stock dividends subject tospecial tax rates). Democratic lawmakers left the provision out because SenatorKyrsten Sinema reportedly did not support it.
Pursue proposals that aim to limit tax breaks on wealth and income derived from wealth. This includes taxing capital gains as income.
Limit tax breaks for wealthy business owners.
Abolish unjustified tax breaks for the owners of pass-through businesses.
Abolish the special 20% deduction "qualified business income" for large businesses.
Make permanent the limit of pass-through business losses.
Increase taxes on corporations.
Proposals would be designed to ensure that corporate profits do not escape taxation.
Establish a corporate minimum tax rate that requires the biggest corporations to pay progressive federal income taxes on the profits reported to shareholders and create an excise tax on stock buybacks.
Include proposals to limit tax breaks for corporate profit-shifting and offshoring. This includes a reduction in the exemption for offshore profits for so-called "Qualified Business Asset Investments” and increasing the minimum effective tax rate on offshorecorporate profits on a per-country basis.
Proposals to limit tax breaks for wealth and income from wealth:
Repeal several breaks in the estate tax and lower the financial threshold to pay estate taxes.
Replicate successful state programs such as the Massachusetts Fair ShareAmendment and Washington state's Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC) in 2023.
Consolidate These Proposals:
Keep Your Pay Act: Cory Booker
Equal Tax Act: Senators Edward Markey, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Jeff Merkley
Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act: Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Rashida Tlaib
Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act: Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna
Tax on Extreme Wealth and For the 99.8% Act: Senator Bernie Sanders
Working Americans’ Tax Cut Act: Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Don Beyer
The Ultra-Millionaires Tax: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representatives Brendan F. Boyle and Pramila Jayapal
Defund the Oligarchs Resolution: Senator Elizabeth Warren
American Homeownership Act: Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jeff Merkley
21st Century ROAD to Housing Act: Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott
Billionaires Income Tax Act: Senator Ron Wyden and Representatives Donald Beyer and Steve Cohen
The Money Agenda 250: Patriotic Millionaires
The Five & Dime Tax: Tax the Greedy Billionaires
Executive Summary: Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute
Court of International Trade Tariff Refunds: Senators Ron Wyden, Edward J. Markey, and Jeanne Shaheen
The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2011: Senators Ron Wyden and Dan Coates
Publications:
"99 to 1: How Inequality is Wrecking the World and What we can do About it”- Chuck Collins
"Is Inequality Irreversible? The Case for a Maximum Wage”- Chuck Collins and Sam Pizzigati
**** Review provisions in H.R. 1 and executive orders- void and add provisions as needed.
Yes, attention is no longer earned through depth, but through fragments that spread fastest. Clips aren’t promoting content anymore; they are the content.
Traditional media has always been divided into clip-sized segments with link the ad banks on either side. The fact that we can watch so many clips is the real change and subconsciously makes us think we don’t have time to watch anything full length. It certainly having an impact on our attention, but I think it’s less the clip length than the volume of content coming at us.
As a professional editor I see this as a glimmer of hope. Good, effective clips require a well executed edit. This comment was brought to you by Yuban Coffee.
Ed, what does the data say about how people are spending their time? Surely they're not in an endless clip loop?
At the same time there are very long podcasts emerging with deeply researched content, such as Curt Jaimungal. We are experiencing a social division between those producing and consuming long firm media and those who cannot consume anything long. I suspect that we will eventually discover that deep understanding and solutions to hard problems will emerge only through long form communication.
First, this is a great long-form post for those of us who prefer reading to learning through clips. I am a one-man band on Substack. I hand-edit short clips of my podcast and use the short clips automatically generated by Substack to encourage viewers on other platforms to "click the link" and listen to the full-length podcast and/or read the related long-form post. However, I cannot tell whether any of the clip watchers actually click back to watch or read the longer version on Substack. What's your sense of this?
By the way, from my home in Japan, I listen to almost all of the podcasts (in full) put out by you, Scott, and your talented team. Keep up the great work!