{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"\u2018Subway Takes\u2019 and the Future of YouTube TV","description":"Kareem Rahma built Subway Takes into a hit with 2 million Instagram followers, a metro card as a microphone, and a format that runs in seconds. Now he\u2019s walking away from a CNN deal to put his next show Keep the Meter Running on YouTube \u2014 because YouTube, in his words, is where the next Bourdain and the next Lena Dunham will come from. In this episode, Joe, Dave, and Aransas dig into what Rahma\u2019s bet actually means for experience strategy. The conversation moves from short-form content design, to the death of \u201cGen Z YouTube\u201d as a useful category, to why every brand needs to rethink where and how it reaches customers in the micro-moments that now define modern media consumption. 100% agree or 100% disagree \u2014 you decide. What We\u2019re Talking About This Episode Rahma\u2019s CNN walk-away. Why he turned down a legacy media deal to own his independence on YouTube, and what that signals about creator economics now. YouTube as television, not social media. YouTube\u2019s monthly share of TV watch-time hit ~12% in 2025 per Nielsen \u2014 higher than any network or streamer. Rahma\u2019s read: \u201cthis is a TV screen, but right now no one\u2019s making television for it.\u201d Subway Takes as situational design. The subway isn\u2019t a backdrop. It\u2019s the situation. The format, the duration, the point of view, the 100% agree \/ 100% disagree script \u2014 all of it is built around a specific consumer moment. The Lorne Michaels frame. Rahma isn\u2019t playing the virality slot machine. He\u2019s building a show. A nice change from all of the influencer content out there. Why \u201cGen Z YouTube\u201d is a lazy frame. Dave pushes back on the article\u2019s generational framing. His adult kids watch YouTube over Netflix. So does Aransas. So do millions of others. The situation around the screen has changed. Why This Matters for Experience Strategy Three themes worth pulling out: 1. Content is situational, not channel-based. Dave traces this back to a 2015 Collaboratives conversation with a major media company about designing content for the 30-second, 90-second, two-minute windows that now define daily consumption. A decade later, that conversation is finally mainstream. The companies still organizing around channel rather than situation are the ones being lapped. 2. POV is the differentiator. Rahma\u2019s 100% agree \/ 100% disagree technique forces you to take strong point of view in every interaction. Brands that hedge \u2014 that try to be all things to all customers \u2014 are getting outpaced by creators who plant a flag. 3. The CNN ticker is the OG infinite scroll. Joe drops a sharp observation mid-episode: 24-hour news already pioneered the segment-plus-chyron structure we now call short-form. The need hasn\u2019t changed. The means of meeting it has. Which connects to a Clayton Christensen line Dave only partly agrees with \u2014 and to Stone Mantel\u2019s view that situations themselves do change, not just the jobs underneath them. Memorable Moments Joe\u2019s Transformation Economy book made Thinkers50\u2019s top 10 management books of 2026. Aransas on the invisible load of AI: ideas start faster, but humans still have to finish them \u2014 and the cognitive load is going up, not down. Dave on what Cargo has done to his wardrobe: black t-shirt to medium gray. Things have changed. The unhoused-person-falling-in-your-lap test for quintessential New York. Joe\u2019s Easter Bunny \/ Cargo joke. You\u2019ll know it when you hear it. Quick References The Talk Show Where Celebrities and Mamdani Share Their Hot Takes \u2014 Sam Schube, WSJ Magazine, May 12, 2026 Subway Takes \u2014 Kareem Rahma\u2019s hit short-form show The Transformation Economy by B. Joseph Pine II \u2014 recognized by Thinkers50, 2026 Join the Collaboratives Dave\u2019s working the phones \u2014 it\u2019s that time of year. The Collaboratives is the Stone Mantel + Cargo partnership exploring situational markets as a growth mechanism in a world where parity is everywhere and growth is harder than ever. Free market analyses are my gift to anyone who joins. Workshop coming May 21. Send me a note if you\u2019d like to be invited to the May 21st Workshop. ","author_name":"The Experience Strategy Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/experiencestrategypodcast.com\/","html":"