About The Wishbone Theory

A new type of media consumer has emerged.

This new cohort of media consumers shares one common characteristic - an awareness of the cyclical dynamics of the media business.

It's aware of enshittification cycles that ruin its favorite platforms.

It's aware of how algorithmically-driven social media foster audience engagement with ragebait and disinformation.

It's aware of the shift to subscription services over purchased products.

This cohort is growing.

Its values are spreading.

While those values aren't necessarily anti-advertising, this cohort is mindful of what ad models do to their favorite digital and real-life experiences.

That will have consequences for marketers who rely on advertising to reach them. It will create pockets of difficult-to-reach people. It will also create a very different media experience for these people - owned and not rented, insular and not mass, shared with friends and not bots.

This media experience stands in stark contrast to the typical ones experienced today through streaming services, infinite-scrolling social media and bot-infested open information sources. If you imagine this new cohort's media experiences contrasted with our own, one will capture more people, more engagement. If you visualize that as a wishbone that will eventually break - with one model achieving the larger share of ongoing media consumption...

You get my drift.