YouTube – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

YouTubers Win the Box Office, Goodbye Gatekeepers, The YouTube Bar

Monday, June 1, 2026

YouTubers are ruling the box office, and it shouldn’t be a surprise: succeeding on YouTube is a much higher bar than the gates that currently govern Hollywood.

An Interview with Robert Fishman About the Current State of Hollywood

Thursday, March 12, 2026

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An interview with MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman about the current state of Hollywood, including Netflix, Paramount, YouTube, Disney, and Amazon.

An Emergency Interview with Michael Nathanson About Netflix’s Acquisition of Warner Bros.

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

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An interview with MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson about Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. and the Hollywood end game.

Netflix and the Hollywood End Game

Monday, December 8, 2025

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Netflix is driving the Hollywood end game, likely confident it can increase the value of IP, and fend off YouTube.

Sora, AI Bicycles, and Meta Disruption

Monday, October 6, 2025

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Sora is going viral, suggesting there is a big opportunity in unlocking creativity. If that’s true, that’s good for humanity — and bad for Meta.

An Interview with Ben Bajarin About AI Infrastructure

Thursday, October 2, 2025

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An Interview with Ben Bajarin about AI infrastructure, Nvidia, and Intel.

Sora the App, Sonnet 4.5 and the Question of Models as Processors

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

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OpenAI has its own AI video app with Sora, powered by Sora 2; I’m not sure how compelling it will be in the long run. Then, Cognition’s experience with a new Anthropic model suggests that incorporating new models requires a lot more work than a new processor.

YouTube Restores Suspended Accounts, Free Speech and Cultural Mores, Platform Power

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

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YouTube is reinstating accounts that were banned for alleged misinformation, and Google admits they made mistakes; the company — and big tech broadly — should go further, and lead the way in re-establishing the cultural importance of free expression.

The YouTube Tip of the Google Spear

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

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I’ve come to appreciate Google’s amorphous nature; what makes me bullish is the clarity of YouTube’s AI opportunity.

An Interview with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan About Building a Stage for Creators

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

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An interview with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan about empowering creators while leaning into AI.

(Preview) Five Questions on WWDC 2026, Fable 5 And Its Guardrails, What Anthropic Has in Common With Apple

(Preview) Five Questions on WWDC 2026, Fable 5 And Its Guardrails, What Anthropic Has in Common With Apple

WWDC Follow-Up

(Preview) Xi Goes to North Korea; Inspecting Xinjiang; A $295 Billion AI Buildout; The Pentagon Alleges PLA Links for Alibaba and Others

An Interview with Ben Bajarin About Apple, AI, and Compute

Fable 5, Anthropic Alignment, AI Tiers

Google Buys Compute From SpaceX, Broadcom’s Outlook, Apple’s AI Politics

(Preview) Five Questions on WWDC 2026, Fable 5 And Its Guardrails, What Anthropic Has in Common With Apple

WWDC Follow-Up

(Preview) Xi Goes to North Korea; Inspecting Xinjiang; A $295 Billion AI Buildout; The Pentagon Alleges PLA Links for Alibaba and Others

An Interview with Ben Bajarin About Apple, AI, and Compute

An Interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella About Finding Core Competencies