Why Influencers Are Abandoning Their Podcasts — Plus: TikTokers on Substack + The Death of the “Pop Boy”
Not every influencer is built for long-form. This week’s FTR looks at why some TikTokers fail at podcasting, who’s making moves to Substack, and why Gen Z has no time for the next Justin Bieber.
Ever had a favorite TikToker launch a podcast or dive into long-form content… only to feel let down? Yeah, same. This week’s Friday Trend Report (FTR) is all about why podcasting isn’t for everyone, the TikTokers making the jump to Substack, and my theory on why the “pop boy” has vanished from today’s music landscape.
This FTR feels like a throwback to my early days on this app—three quick-hit trends instead of one long deep dive. Let me know what format you prefer in the survey below ⬇️
Do you like the bite-sized trend drops or the single-topic deep dives?
Why podcasting (and long-form) isn’t for everyone:
I love short-form content. I respect the reach and chaos of the algorithm, especially TikTok’s For You Page. But I’ve always said: the shorter the content, the shorter the object permanence.
Most people can’t remember the last 10 TikToks they watched—but they can tell you the last podcast they listened to, who made it, why they clicked, and what they got from it.
Podcast hosts with 10,000 followers on Instagram (who barely post) can sell out theaters. Meanwhile, TikTokers with 5 million+ followers sometimes can’t get anyone to show up to a meet-and-greet. Why?
One of my mentors, Jamie Gutfreund (you can find her insights on LinkedIn), said something that stuck with me:
“No one hate-listens to a podcast.”
And she’s right.
People will hate-watch a TikTok. Why?
It’s visual.
You can read the comments while watching.
But podcasting doesn’t work that way. Sure, there are video podcasts on YouTube, but most podcast consumption happens either on TV (source: Forbes) or via audio-only apps like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Even Spotify’s new comment feature hasn’t taken off yet.
Here’s an analogy for short-form vs. long-form creators:
Imagine you’re walking through NYC. Short-form creators are like the people you pass on the street. Some stand out—they’re loud, stylish, or weird. But after a hundred faces, you forget most of them.
Long-form creators are like the friend you grab dinner with after work. You don’t do it every night. But when you do, you remember it. You build a connection. You make time for them.
Short-form creators might catch your eye. Long-form creators stick in your memory.
The podcasting craze of the last 5 years:
I’ve been critical of some of her moves, but credit where it’s due: Alex Cooper helped spark the wave of female podcasting in the 2020s.
When she licensed Call Her Daddy to Spotify in 2021 for $60 million, it sent shockwaves through the creator space. Suddenly, everyone wanted in on podcasting.
It was also a fascinating moment: in the same year TikTok (a short-form app) blew up globally, podcasting hit a financial high. Opposite trends, rising at the same time.
Josh Richards joining the BFFs podcast with Barstool’s Dave Portnoy and Brianna Chickenfry is a classic example of a TikToker making the leap into long-form.
Another big win for women in podcasting: Dear Media Studios. Lauryn Bosstick started The Skinny Confidential blog in 2011, launched a podcast with her husband in 2016 (way ahead of the lifestyle podcast curve), and then co-founded Dear Media in 2018 to give female voices a platform when most studios were still male-dominated.
When TikTokers Make the Jump (and Don’t Stick the Landing)
Being a TikToker is not easy. Some of the top-growing TikTokers post over 10-times a day. It takes a certain skillset to make a mundane errand worth a video with millions of views.
Bran Flakez, for example, is one of the rare creators who’s mastered both short and long-form. On Your Rich BFF’s podcast, he recently shared that he made over $700k in 2024. He’s built for both formats.
But that’s rare. Bran is the exception.
I’d argue it’s easier for long-form creators to go viral on short-form than the other way around. Why? Long-form creators have more to work with. They can clip key moments from an hour-long show and test them on short-form platforms. If a clip flops, no big deal—it was just part of a larger piece.
Short-form creators, on the other hand, are built for speed and precision. That doesn’t always translate to a format that demands depth, pacing, and structure. It’s oil and vinegar.
The reason I’m bringing this up? Alix Earle just announced that she’s putting her podcast Hot Mess on pause indefinitely.
That doesn’t mean it was a failure—far from it. She frequently charted in the global top 10 and even outperformed her boss, Alex Cooper, at times. She crushed it.
But a common critique of her show was that the storytimes that felt fun in a 3-minute GRWM lost their magic stretched over 30 minutes. Her content was wired for short-form. When that structure is forced into long-form, it doesn’t always land.
Another example is Ken Eurich. She launched Dumber Blonde, calling herself the “queen of oversharing”—and yet the podcast lasted less than a year. In her exit video, she said (paraphrasing) she was putting in a lot of money without seeing a real return.
I still believe something can be a success even if it ends. And it’s admirable when a creator knows when to step away. But it’s also a sign: long-form takes different muscles. It’s slower, more demanding, and requires a different kind of commitment.
But if you win doing a long-form podcast, you win in the long-run as a creator.
^ Write that one down as a new Coco-ism!
I’ll dig more into the growing graveyard of creator podcasts (mine included) in Monday’s episode of Ahead of the Curve with Coco Mocoe. Tune in if you want more on this. And drop a comment if there’s a podcast you loved that ended too soon ⬇️
In the paid portion of today’s FTR:
TikTokers jumping ship to Substack (and who’s doing it well)
Why “pop boys” have disappeared from the music scene
Subscribe for $9/month to unlock the full report and all podcast episodes I’ve posted since joining Substack last June. And if you have a friend who’s obsessed with pop culture and marketing like we are—send this their way ❤️
And thank you for being a coconut and making it this far, either way. I appreciate you. 🥥