This week, we’re joined by Joe Marchese, operating and build partner at Human Ventures and veteran media exec. We discuss why the obsession with performance marketing has created incentives for many intermediaries to focus on giving the appearance of being responsible for a sale rather than actually contributing to the sale, and how that’s led to short-term approaches that skips the basics of building lasting brands. Plus: What the meting of Kamala Harris says about the direction of news and political campaigns, why Netflix points to a shrinking TV ad market and the perils of operating content and commerce businesses as part of one company. Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter Skip to topic: 00:00 Introduction06:09 Netflix vs. Apple TV: The Future of Streaming16:51 The Meme Election24:42 The Role of AI in Media and Advertising35:59 The Evolution of Content Creation Tools38:07 The Cookiepocalypse and Ad Tech Cynicism40:31 Performance Media and Brand Building44:37 Content and Commerce: The Houdinki Case Study51:32 The Future of Digital Media and Monetization58:56 Media Investments and Optimism01:01:00 Good Product