Transcript 0:00 Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com. Over four million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. 0:11 Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. 0:21 Get $20 in free postage when you sign up for the pro plan at stamps.com/blackfriday2026. Terms and conditions apply. [gentle music] Wheelhouse DNA. 0:36 [upbeat music] Hi, everyone, my name is Boye Kolade. And I'm Chris Sotto. And welcome to The Future Forecast, a podcast where we explore the intersection between business, technology, and entertainment. 0:50 Today, we're looking ahead. We're gonna talk about a recent study on the digital habits of Gen Z, 0:57 how the secondhand clothing market is struggling to maintain their popularity online, and the updates, the most recent updates, on the Paramount-Skydance merger. But first, let's catch up. Wow. [sighs] Let's do it. 1:12 We've been gone for a second. We have. We have. Kinda like when they say, like, when the cat's away, the mice will play, I think my hot takes have just been- [laughs]... on fire. You've had, you've had a couple wins. 1:23 You've had a couple wins. Hmm. One, two, three. Hmm. That's how many licks it takes to get to the sweet center of a Tootsie Pop- [laughs]... if you listen to Mr. 1:33 Owl, and I assure you I myself have three hot takes that came to fruition. Okay. We'll have to, we'll have to dive in when we get there, but, um, where were you? 1:42 Where were you traveling while your hot takes were working for you? Oh, well, I happened to be at Cannes. How was Cannes? It was gr- honestly, it was great. It was my fourth year going, and 1:55 it's so, it's- it's- it's always fun. It was very heavily creator focused. Focused. Interesting. Heavily creator focused in the sense that Cannes, this was their first year launching a creators specific programming. 2:10 I think I saw that, which is interesting because it's right around the time of VidCon. Yeah. I've been to the Cannes Film Festival- Mm-hmm... a ton of times, five to six times. I love it, but I've never been to Lions. 2:22 And so I'm like, I, I, I have to admit, I got FOMO looking at your stories, a bunch of other people. [laughs] I'm like, dang, maybe I gotta go back and check out this. 2:31 The one thing that was, that was announced or, or that they did do this year wa- uh, separate from creators was Stagwell, which is a big- Yeah... ad agency. Uh, Stagwell did what they were calling sports beach, which, 2:49 uh, was very, uh, it, it was smart of them because they were very much planting their flag to say that we're focusing on sports marketing. Mm-hmm. And so the conversations that they had, Shannon Sharpe was there. 3:00 They had- Oh, that's good... a, they had a huge, uh, huge, Megan Rapinoe. They had the amount of- Wow... talent that the Kelce brothers showed. Oh. 3:09 They all did a bunch of panels and speaking engagements at what was considered this thing called sports beach. Yeah. That was their own activation. They're, they took out one of the, um, beach clubs- Yeah... 3:21 there and, and, ran, um, ran all, all day. We honestly, I, I would've... Next time, next time we should just do a live, live, live podcast. Yeah. Future Forecast takes Cannes. You know? 3:35 That would be the right way to do it. Yeah, I think, I think you're right. Any brands that wanna sponsor that, by all means, feel free. Yeah. Uh, DM us. $1 million. Uh. [laughs] Where were you? Where was I? 3:50 Uh, I was not in Cannes. I was doing more family things. Oh, okay. [laughs] I became an old man. I focused on my investments. [laughs] I was doing studies on influencer marketing- No, I-... and what Gen Z's doing. 4:03 Segue I was, I was, like, wake surfing and, and hanging out with the fam- Oh... on a lake. It was good. Um... 4:10 So speaking of Cannes, and podcasts, and stuff, we should probably let our audience know that we're gonna take a little bit of a break. A little summer hiatus? A little summer hiatus. Woo! Yeah, you know. 4:24 It's a hot boy summer, I guess. Oh, damn. [laughs] I mean- Was that hard for you to say? Yeah, it was. Really? 'Cause I'm a man. Oh. [laughs] All right. 4:34 Anyways, uh, this is gonna be our second to last episode for a hot second. Everyone's traveling. Um- Guys, if it wasn't clear, Boye meant to say that he's in his daddy era and didn't wanna be a boy. 4:47 He is now a man- Yes... with a baby on the way. Thank you, Daddy. Yep. Cat's out of the bag. I'm having a kid. Anyways, it's gonna be fun. We've done just about 30 episodes. Can you believe that? Yeah. 5:01 I mean, I can't believe it, if I'm being honest. [laughs] It's pretty cool to think that we've accomplished that- Yeah... almost accomplished that thus far. Everyone else is- Yeah... traveling and been doing vacation. 5:09 Yeah. We figured let's take the summer to debrief. Yeah. And we'll do season two come fall. Come fall, or come soon. Come soon. Uh, but yeah, catch the next episode next week. 5:21 Uh, may or may not be a guest, but you'll have to tune in to find out. All right. Shall we? We shall. 5:28 [radio screech] All right, Gen Z, we've talked a lot on this show about how companies are always trying to pin down how to market to Gen Z as a demographic, from paying their college tuition to creating newsletters. 5:43 Well, a subsidiary of Google has done some research into the, quote-unquote, "digital mindset" and informational literacy of the group, and the results are kinda compelling. So I'm gonna continue to set the backdrop. 5:58 Okay, please. All right? So why is this? 6:02 Because Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with technology already at the forefront of culture- This Google subsidiary, they're called Jigsaw, uh, they wanted to see how they actually use technology. 6:16 It was con- it was basically like a qualitative study, not quantitative, so for all you research nerds, it's not about the numbers, it's just about how people feel, their opinions, right? 6:26 Uh, there's- [laughs] I love how you said, "All you nerds that respect research." [laughs] Well... Yeah. Gotta call it out. I used to work in research, so I get it. Anyways, uh, six big points. 6:39 One, Gen Z is very informational literate, but generally apathetic. What does that mean? They can tell the difference between accurate news and AI generated memes, but they don't necessarily care. 6:54 Two, they see no difference between reading the news themselves and being told the news by someone they trust, i.e. an influencer. 7:02 Three, they aren't necessarily gathering information to learn, more doing so in an effort not to be bored. Number four, they create their own filters to process what information they receive through tailored algorithms. 7:19 S- the study found it was hard to be siloed in a specific algorithm unless the user explicitly chose it. Just to clarify for that, if I may- Yep... or may, may, if I may inquire. Yep. 7:30 What we mean by that bullet, or what the study means by said bullet, is that as the user has gone through their social media, as you scale through TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, the algorithm that they are already tailoring to themselves as they choose the content that they're watching, correct? 7:48 Correct. Correct. Thank you. Number five, they don't read long articles and they don't trust anything with a paywall or ads or subscriptions. They think of it as clickbait. 8:03 And last but not least, number six, they rely heavily on comments to find the average opinion on an issue. Interesting, so very democratic. Yeah, it, it, the, the, the takeaway I'm getting from a couple of these is, 8:20 I, I think especially the last point, right, looking at comments to g- to, like, find the opinion, but also number two, where they don't see a difference between reading the news and, like, hearing it from someone, is they like to get the news from conversation or from, like, people they trust talking to them, which I think is rather interesting. 8:43 I think the thing that was, I don't know if alarming is the right word, but the most interesting for me was seeing how they don't read long articles. They don't trust anything with a paywall or ads or subscriptions. 8:59 And so if I'm a media company, I'm like, "How do I make money?" [laughs] You know? It's like these... But at the same time, it, it also sounds like they don't really care about the news. We hear so much about how 9:12 our most valuable asset is time. Mm-hmm. And I think that something that has consistently been coming out, back in the 14th century, it made sense for you to have to read War and Peace. [laughs] Uh, n- 9:28 I'm just saying it more in the sense of it's the longest, you know, everyone jokes about it being, like, one of the longest books one could read. And 9:36 there was a lot of time being s- you had a lot of time on your hands so that you, you know, things would take months. Literally, a information would take months to be on a ship to go from point A to point B. 9:49 There are now apps, there are services that will consolidate profound books like 48 Laws of Power or Sun Tzu's Art of War- Yeah... into six minutes. 10:00 There are literally YouTube videos- Headway, Shortform, all really great apps. Exactly. 10:05 So I g- I guess my question is, how often, I, I truly myself find myself, I don't mean to say getting bored, unless I truly love the person's just general sense of self and wanting to hear more about their overall biography, you can really condense the messaging or the thesis of a book or an idea in, you know, two minutes or less. 10:30 And so I think that there's something to be said about in this new world of constant consumption, tell me, get to the point, really. Yeah. Is, is, is the, you know? As I'm long-winded, it's like, just get to the point. 10:44 You know- What the fuck are you trying to say? You know who's really interesting? Do you follow Jerry News? No. So Jerry News is Fuck Jerry's media brand. Okay. 10:53 They have a newsletter, but um, they popularized the sort of Instagram photo headline, and it was j- it was, it's literally just, like, w- one sentence, this happened, and, like, that's it. 11:09 And to your point about, like, summaries, I'm gonna, like, actually look up really quick and see what some of their latest- Oh, I love that. That's great... um, you know, a- and so they have 1.2 million followers. So 11:22 here's the one I just pulled up. Laundry sheet study, and then a sentence about what it is. 11:27 "A New York Times report questions the sustainability of laundry detergent sheets, which rose to popularity based on their plastic-free claims." That's it. That's the news. 11:37 And honestly, to your point, it's, it is kinda refreshing, you know? And I, I do see what you're saying, the idea of a summary, but 11:46 how is the younger generation going to understand what's happening if they don't even care about it, or they don't respect the institutions who create it because they don't 11:58 want to support anything that basically [laughs] is monetized, you know? I don't, I don't think that people don't wanna support things that are monetized. 12:09 I took the, if I'm being honest, I- when I heard that study, my immediate response, and this is kind of something I guess I talk with Josh and some of our other clients that are Gen Z, when you get sent a paywall, not to throw shade at like Business Insider, for example, Business Insider has some great stories. 12:25 You see a lot of great stories. There's plenty of ways in which they're monetizing. You get plenty of in-feed ads. But the, but the study's saying they don't like, they don't like ads either. 12:35 But yeah, I think, I think that the study, I think the information as you read it or as we're seeing it, anything's an ad. 12:43 I take that as we not liking an ad as like I just don't want a very blatant what is, like, "Hey, buy Clorox." Like a paywall, you have to remember like how we get exposed to a paywall. 12:55 Bus- I'm only mentioning Business Ins- Insider specifically to say you'll look at the clickbait, which is, "Oh, I'm really interested in reading this article." 13:05 You click on it, or it forces you to be sent to a link to watch it or to read it. You scroll two seconds, or not even. You scroll, what, uh, just below the paragraph- [laughs] Boom... and you're instantly- Clorox bleach. 13:20 [laughs] No, no. That was... [laughs] Or instantly- Paywall. Yeah... for $3 you can- True... read this article. Yeah. And that's the fuckery. 13:28 It's like I get that you were trying to get me to read this, but what you're doing is you're manipulating me. 13:34 You're not trying to provide me with the information as much as you're trying to monetize me, and that's where I think the fuckery is, right? 13:42 Meaning no different than like when you go to like a Nordstrom, a- any department store, a salesperson says, "Hey, can I help you?" 13:50 Subconsciously, most oftentimes when you're asking someone, "Do you think this shirt looks good on me?" You're also asking yourself, are they telling me the truth? Are they, are they getting a commission on this? 14:00 Are they telling me because they actually want me to get the best product here, or is it because they're commission-based and if I buy this, they get X amount of, you know, percentage off of the sale? Yeah. 14:12 And that's the reality is like, like no, they're selling you, and if they're selling you, it's like, fuck. Like, okay, well, fuck you. I don't wanna give you my, my business. I think it's gonna present an opportunity for 14:25 media brands to challenge themselves on how to reinvent monetization. I, I, I think that challenge is still there. 14:32 Here's what I think might happen, and this is inspired by, um, what you were talking about the other day with how, you know, the, these kids wanna hear from creators, right? 14:44 Someone who I've recently actually seen this from is King Bach. 14:48 I don't know if you've seen some of his posts, but he will read the news, and in his own comedic tone, give a recap of what's going on, and- Oh, interesting... 14:58 it is exactly what you've been saying, and it's like fascinating. 15:02 I actually think he might have more of a leg up to monetize and create a platform than potentially maybe a Business Insider or a New York Times if what this study is saying is true and is the future. 15:17 What it's really bringing to light is that content creators are now the new reporters because by way of them already highlighting what is in the zeitgeist or what is pop culture- Mm-hmm... 15:29 content creators or de facto publishers, i.e. New York Times, a- anything that is, you know, a content producing or- Yeah... a media enterprise have to stay a part of the algorithm- Yeah... so they have to talk about it. 15:44 Anyways, real- we should talk more about that sometime. I think it's actually really fascinating to think about. The next conversation we're gonna talk about the secondhand market. Ooh, what about the secondhand market? 15:58 The secondhand clothing market. Oh, got it. I had thought we could buy hands on the- [laughs] No, no, no... black market. Wow. The worst dad joke. Anyways- Hmm... uh, the secondhand- No? You don't want human bodies? No? 16:10 No, we don't. No. Got it. We don't. [laughs] The secondhand clothing market has been booming over the past few years, but many people might not know this. 16:19 A lot of these companies that you see in the space are actually not able to turn a profit. Even though thrifting has been super popular, some people seem to be struggling. So high-level stat, 16:33 just so we set the stage, the secondhand apparel market was worth about $43 billion last year and is still expected to grow 11% per year through 2028. 16:46 Some of these people that are struggling, though, seem to be more of the newer e-com type companies like thredUP, RealReal. 16:53 Uh, they're down significantly from their peaks a few years ago, but nonprofits like Goodwill, they, like, they literally control a massive portion of the market, and eBay dominates the resale market. That blows my mind. 17:07 That- Yeah... blows my mind to hear that. Yeah. Same. One more piece of information that I found really interesting, 74% of thrift stores are independently run. So the market is so fragmented that 17:26 it seems very hard to actually have a dominant leader in the space. So you're saying that's why. Because it's so fragmented, everyone is sourcing separately. 17:34 Your margins, you, you can't buy in bulk, or you can't focus on bulk because you're competing at such a high level with everyone. I think it's just so competitive, right? It's hard to do it at scale. 17:47 Like, the nature of thrifting in general, I guess, is to find the undiscovered, is to find a deal. Right, but like by proxy... 17:56 I mean, I, I love the RealReal, uh, and this is, you know, I'm not sponsored by them or anything, and they should. [laughs] I, I, I, I, I deeply, you know, these pants that I'm wearing now are, are from the RealReal. 18:06 I, I appreciate the RealReal because I don't, I don't subscribe to the idea that I should buy It's kinda... 18:13 I, I don't buy a used car, but sometimes I find myself being like, oh, some garments are literally just worn once after a fashion show, and maybe it's because we specifically live in LA and are in entertainment. 18:24 But so I'm gonna buy and pay a premium for retail when ironically enough if I just go to a secondhand market, it's already 50% off. Yep. You know? Yeah. 18:38 And that just blows my mind that, that they're struggling, unless there is something to be said about big cor- uh, big corporate America specifically trying or wanting to, uh, ensure the fragmentation because the real... 18:53 I, you know, there's something to be said, does the RealReal help these brands, or does it, do, do they hurt the brands? I th- I think they massively help. Do you? 19:01 You know, I'm not, like, deeply in the fashion world, but my small understanding is this is, some level of this has been happening for so long, right? You have a season of, of clothes. 19:15 Like, back in the day it might have been, like, JCPenney, Nordstrom, and what happens moments later? Clearance. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Right? Like, sales, and it, they have to get rid of these things. You know? 19:27 Then, then those same stores, they create moments of like, "Hey, we've got everything must go," like blah, blah, blah. Right. And so, um, again, this is my small understanding. I could be wrong. 19:39 I, I think they benefit from the resale market a little bit, depending on who's reselling. Something that I've just noticed more and more- Yeah... is that 19:50 actual brands are starting to release their own secondary markets- Yeah... to control the price point from going down. And- Nordstrom Rack... d- well, but Nordstrom Rack you can get a real deal. 20:03 You know that, like, New Balance just announced a buyback. Oh, really? A bu- oh, yeah. I got the email literally t- two weeks ago. I was like, whoa. Uh, totally just released a buyback, uh, program. Interesting. 20:15 And there's more and more... Like, Sandro has their own... It, it's called Secondary Sandro if you know the, the, the clothing brand. There's, uh, Jacques Marie Mage, the sunglass company, is now... 20:26 They haven't done it yet, but they're going to. Like, it's j- no different than, like, Rolex wanting to ensure that they are- Wow... 20:32 controlling the f- the price because they wanna make sure that as they're putting product out- Yeah... the product isn't diminished. 20:39 So I'm, I'm curious if that's going to threaten the secondary market- That's actually interesting... 20:42 retail stores as well, just- I think too, piggybacking off of that, how cool would it be if, like, a Louis Vuitton or a Prada did something similar? Like, they bought back 20:56 certain bags and products because I, I actually think those brands have huge resale value- Yeah... and they could repurpose that, recycle that, make more money, you know- Oh, yeah... 21:06 just, just by saying it's vintage, you know? Oh, I'm sure they will. Yeah. Um, then there's no question. Nordstrom's was doing... What's the bag that, what are the bags that every, every woman always wants to buy? 21:15 Like a Birkin. They're, they're selling, like, Birkins for 20k a pop at Nordstrom's in Century City. It is. But and I think that they're or- anywhere between 10 to 20, and some of them are refurbished or secondhand. Mm. 21:30 Some are, like, brand fricking new, but that's- Yeah. You want a Birkin, go to second, you know, go to Century City, guys. But, like, I'm sure that that's what's gonna start hurting these secondhand retail, resales. 21:41 Do you think thrifting will decline in the next few years? It depends on what you define thrifting to be, right? 'Cause there, there's thrifting that is wasteland and all the other, like, uh... 21:53 Like, there's, like, Buffalo Exchange. Yeah. I don't wanna say lower tier, but, like, what is T-shirt thrifting, like, buying? Mm-hmm. Uh, but then there's also... When I think of, 22:03 when I think of the RealReal, I think that that's a very different market. It's not thrift. Like, it's, it's still thrifting in the sense that, but it's high fashion thrifting. Mm-hmm. 22:13 So you're still paying relatively high prices for garments. Like, you still are paying $1,500 or $2,000 for a Louis Vuitton bag- Yeah... if you buy that, right? Yeah. 22:26 Versus, like, a T-shirt that you're getting for 15 bucks- Yeah... you might consider, like, that being, like, a Goodwill thrifting. Yeah. I go back to that stat that I mentioned earlier, that 74% of thrift stores 22:39 are independently run. I, I just think it's gonna be a hard market. Mm. 22:43 So, like, even you talking about corporations, I think there would be a lot of winners, but I, I kinda see it being more challenging for the RealReal and thredUP if, especially if the same people selling those clothes are just gonna be like, "Well, we're also gonna do it ourselves." 22:57 And then it al- almost becomes like streaming. It's you have your arms dealers and- Yeah... you have your platforms, and some people do both, and it's just this deep, dark world. The customer will win, right? 23:08 Because they, they're just- Will they, though? I think they will. That actually makes me sad. 23:12 I think the customer doesn't win if the brands create the secondary markets 'cause it gives them the ability to keep the prices high. 23:18 If you're the RealReal and you get a Louis Vuitton bag, what happens is they're consignment stores. Yep. So I can put my product... 23:28 If I'm like, "Oh, I don't need my Louis Vuitton bag anymore," I can give it to the RealReal. No different than, like, StockX. I can put my clothing there, set the price- Yep... and then they manage it for me. 23:38 And I make some money. And I make some money, and then they make some money. Yep. 23:42 But over time, the reason why you're seeing the price, you know, they very, very smartly say, "Here's the retail price," and then they lower the, the, they say 50% off. 23:52 You then see the in- you know, the, the value you're getting as a buyer. Mm-hmm. But the seller is then over time being like, "Ah, sh- freak, I'm not getting my garment sold." 24:01 They start s- lowering the cost more and more and more just to get it off their plate and make some money. Yeah. 24:08 Whereas if you're a secondary market, let's say Louis Vuitton does their secondary market, they just go, "Hey, great. 24:14 We're just holding onto all of our bags, and if you want one, you still gotta buy it for- Yeah That's a good point, and there's some items that I might want to resell, like a Louis Vuitton bag or a Rolex watch, and then there's a bunch that I just wanna dump at Goodwill. 24:29 I'm dropping my clothes off at Goodwill multiple times a year. Oh, same. Yeah. Because of Marie Kondo, right? I mean, it doesn't spark joy, it's gotta go. Gotta go. 24:39 [laughs] [instrumental music] Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way? 24:52 Mail and ship when you want, how you want with stamps.com. Print postage on demand, and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. 25:02 Over one million small businesses trust stamps.com. Get $20 in free postage when you sign up for the pro plan at stamps.com/blackfriday2026. Terms and conditions apply. 25:14 [instrumental music] You know what does spark joy, probably for you? What? Is Skydance and Paramount merging. Whoa, what? [laughs] What? Yeah, this is one of y- What are you talking about? 25:29 Yeah, this is one of your three, still need to hear the other two hot takes coming true. Oh, man. Does that pain you? [laughs] Um, it doesn't pain me 'cause I like to see you happy, Chris. 25:40 And honestly- Oh, you mean you like to see me succeed? I appreciate that. Yeah, I like to see you succeed. You're a true, you're a true friend. Yeah. I'm happy to see you successful. 25:48 And also, I think this is good for the industry. I do, I do. For those who are just tuning in, you probably heard from a couple months ago us breaking down the potential Skydance media and Paramount merger. 26:02 We've been talking about it through a bunch of episodes, and we recently talked about how it wasn't gonna happen, and in that you were like, "He's not gonna let it go." 26:12 Actually, that might have even been way before, but I think you doubled down and, and, uh, now the news is out that it's happening. That's right, that's right. 26:20 The announcement came out specifically being like, "It's over. Talks are over." Yeah. "It's not happening. Completely off the table." Yep. And so what's the offer? 26:28 Skydance and RedBird Capital will buy National Amusements, which holds the controlling stake at Paramount for $2.4 billion. 26:35 They will purchase 4.5 billion in sh- Paramount shares, and they will pay off 1.5 billion of Paramount's 14 billion of debt. 26:45 David Ellison, he's gonna become the chairman CEO, and Jeff Shell, former chief executive at Universal who- Or NBC Universal. Is that what it is? Yep. NBC Universal. NBC Universal. 26:55 He was actually doing that before he was fired for sexual harassment. He will become president. I do think this is positive news. Um, I, 27:05 I think back on the acquisition of Disney to Fox, and at the time I think everyone was like, "Oh, this is amazing," blah, blah, blah, but what was lost is more competition. You know? And, you know, I, I don't even... 27:21 We talk about Fox here and there, but I think people still think about Fox News, which is actually a totally different entity, but I'll stop before I get on a side tangent. 27:29 Anyways, uh, this keeps more competition, more options for talent, for producers, and it seems like David really wants th- like, he's s- he's went on record saying, "This is what I wanna do the rest of my life." So. 27:45 It's very cool. Yeah. I mean, which, I mean, you talk about keeping industries alive or, or keeping more people and player buyers alive. It makes me think, like, who el- who else... 27:58 Not to say that this is no longer an independent company, but Paramount and Skydance, huge merger, big success for RedBird as they really continue, like, that- 100%... 28:07 they're on a charge to really get into the, continue to be in the, uh, media business. Mm-hmm. What will be interesting to see is who else is at, left out there as an independent studio. Mm. 28:19 Uh, so there's Legendary, there's... What's the company that produced House of Cards? MRC. MRC. Sony. But Sony is, like, th- they're owned by, you know, J- Japan. Yeah, but there's... 28:34 I- I consider them a mini major in the sense of, like, if you're looking at, like, who are the big establishments, there's Netflix, Apple. I'm curious to see how things continue to evolve. 28:46 Like, does Legendary try to buy Sony or vice versa? Well, I think Lions Gate seems to be the one that doesn't have, like, a big partner. Lions Gate is, is, is, might could be the next to go. 28:57 Yeah, but it's still pretty big. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, I don't know. I, I, I think it'll be interesting to, to see how, how things shape up. I used to work at Paramount, like, the studios, and, um, one thing I will say, uh, 29:13 is Skydance, they, like, you can't knock the work that he's done to get to this place. Like, I actually think he's, like, a legitimate person, maybe one of the best people to take this over. 29:24 I remember reading, um, Matt Belloni's newsletter, and he was talking about how Hollywood has never cheered so hard for a billionaire Nepo baby [laughs] buying another, like, company. And it's like, it's true. 29:38 Like, we're rooting for this guy who, you know, he's, he, i- in a weird way, he feels like the underdog. AKA, "Hey, we're so excited for you. We need your money." Yes. "Give us money. Succeed." Yes. "Yeah." 29:54 But Skydance has done hit after hit after hit. They were financing major Paramount movies. Mm. You know, they were ba- like, basically responsible for Top Gun: Maverick. You know what I mean? 30:06 Um- Yeah, Tom Cruise- Yeah... came out and announced, you know, uh, spoke on how he was excited for the, uh- Yeah... merger. That's cool. One more thing I will say. 30:14 Shari, when she was, I think, made the announcement, um, apparently, I'm paraphrasing, she was talking about how her dad- Always lived by this mantra that content is king. Mm. 30:25 And I, I, I think David is going to wear that same mantra. I was actually looking at their website earlier, and I didn't even know they had done Foundation. 30:34 They do a lot of deals around town, and I, I really think that, um, that they are approaching this the right way, and I think we're gonna see, like, a new age of, of Paramount. [slurping] What time is it? 30:48 It's Hot Take time. [imitates air horn] All right. Hot Take Time is that time every ep where we share our hot takes, our bold predictions on what we think is going to happen in the future. And we like to keep track. 31:06 Ooh, we like to keep track. So real quick, just before we get into our hot takes, which w- clearly the Paramount one was one of your takes. What were the other two? Oh, 'cause you forget, so, oh boy, A, you forget. 31:18 [laughs] Uh, I- on the episode where we talked quite a bit about Caitlin Clark, we ended up still t- we were talking about LeBron and how LeBron spoke out about Caitlin and in support of her. 31:30 And then we talked, we- somehow it navigated a little bit to Bronny. Mm-hmm. And it was like, LeBron was like, "I don't necessarily care about... I don't, I'm no longer focused on playing with Bronny. 31:41 I'm now focused on, like, doing, you know, continuing my track," and we were, like, talking about him maybe moving to Vegas or whatever. And I came out to say, "You know what? 31:51 I think that Le- we will see within the next year LeBron James and Bronny on the same team." Mm. And you know what? It happened. It happened. So that goes on the board. Okay. Atta point. 32:06 I'm gonna put two and an half, because while I was gone, 32:11 news came out that the Apple Vision Pro was discontinuing their Apple Vision Pro and doing more research a- uh, before they come out with their next iteration, uh, which w- uh, they, they said to be, like, would be in the n- n- not too far future, but it was very clear, like, "Hey, we're gonna take a second to regroup and-" Okay. 32:34 "... and reevaluate." Good work, good work. Thank you. So that would be, that would be six bold hot takes coming to life. Anyway, uh, I didn't mean to take, to take the thunder. 32:44 By all means, uh- Well, well tell us, tell us what your, what your new one is. 32:48 The new one is, I don't know if you saw the an- there was an announcement about Netflix preparing, uh, m- for more locations, uh, specifically I think they were talking about doing, like, eateries. 33:01 B- basically just having more of a, uh, brick-and-mortar- Yep. So to that end, I, I, I'm gonna give a shout-out, uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give a, an assist to my former assistant and colleague, Luke Godson. 33:17 We were talking over coffee about Disney and Epic Games. And it got us thinking to your bold prediction, which was that there would be a, what is, what was the Wakanda in Africa? And it made me go, "You know what? 33:36 There is going to be a Fortnite/Epic Games world either integrated into Disneyland..." There will be, like, an announcement made. 33:45 We are gonna finally witness within the next year what is a, uh, the pro- a tried-and-true Fortnite world installation within Disney. Sweet. Yeah, I like it. I vibe. 34:01 That'd be really smart for them to c- 'cause I know they're actually creating a new park. Um, I wonder what that will be. Maybe it'll be video game-land. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Um, okay. What's yours? Yeah. I, um, 34:14 I have one that's a little bit more bolder, re- riffing off of what we were talking about today, and then I just wanna, I still wanna call back to the Paramount acquisition real quick before that. 34:24 This is a mini hot take. I have to do two today because I clearly have to catch up. [laughs] Uh, the first is that I f- I do think that the Paramount acquisition will be a success. 34:38 Um, this one's harder to quantify because it will take a long time, and there will be a lot of factors from cuts to content. 34:46 But I, I, I do think we will look back on this and say, "David made the right move," and Paramount, I think, will be looked at as a really good place for content and talent. 34:59 My bolder take, I, I th- think this will be within a year, this is coming off of the Jigsaw study, is that we will see a new news network 35:13 similar to, like, a CNN or a Fox full of native creator influencers, and it'll be distributed and fully native on, like, TikTok and Instagram. 35:25 So kinda like King Bach, you're gonna have a bunch more characters doing similar things but under one cohesive brand. Oh, interesting. That's my hot take. Sizzle, baby. 35:38 Uh, [laughs] it's gonna be as hot as the temperature in America right now. All right. Great ep. Uh, we'll catch you next week for the last one for a minute. Good to see you, Chris. Over and out. Future Forecast. 35:51 Like and subscribe. Peace. Peace. The Future Forecast is produced by Wheelhouse DNA for Acast. Our executive producers are me, Boye Kolade, along with Fanny Baudry, Cassie Berman, and Leah Sutherland. 36:07 Our audio producer is Kiara Noni. Our audio engineer is Matthew Blocka. Our editor is Nick Kursiemy. The podcast is hosted by yours truly, Boye Kolade, and Chris Sawtelle. Thanks for listening, and see you next time. 36:20 [outro jingle] When you're running a growing business, the right systems can unlock your full sales potential and make fulfilling every order effortless. 36:31 Switch to ShipStation before peak season so you're prepped and ready before the rush hits. ShipStation connects Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and over 200 more marketplaces with one platform that does it all. 36:41 You can manage orders, sync inventory, track returns, all automatically. Everything your operation needs, all in one place. 36:47 Upgrade your shipping operations to stress-proof your biggest sales days and capture every bit of potential revenue. Go to shipstation.com and use code AUDIO and get 30 days free. 36:55 [outro jingle] This show is brought to you by The Future Party and Crosstalk Studios. Produced by Chris Sawtelle, Boye Kolade, and Paul York. 37:05 Special shout-out to our production team, Araceli Rubalcava, Max Goolen, Shannon Kline, and Eli Tafur.
