Paramount’s New Playbook Unveiled and the Taylor Swift Podcast Bounce

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by NYT staff reporter Brooks Barnes to discuss Paramount’s new strategy under David Ellison. They were both at Paramount’s press event earlier this week, so they dissect what Ellison told the press about the company’s new direction and discuss their views on theater windows, Paramount’s content spend, its streaming strategy, and whether it will sell off its cable assets (02:43). Matt finishes the show with a prediction on where the New Heights episode with Taylor Swift will rank among the top-viewed podcasts of all time on YouTube (27:06).For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Email us your thoughts! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Brooks Barnes Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, it's Amy Polar, and I'm launching a new podcast called Good Hang.
0:05.1	In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and give me some advice.
0:10.6	Just be yourself, and the guests will come.
0:13.1	Don't be the celebrity that this is their, like, sixth thing they're doing.
0:16.0	I love true crime and cooking podcasts. Is there any way you could combine the two?
0:21.6	Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast. So, join me for good hang. It's rough out there.
0:27.8	We're just trying to lighten it up a little.
0:31.1	I've rolled out uni because I want to live at home.
0:33.7	I've ruled out uni because I want to earn money.
0:36.9	I've ruled out uni because of want to earn money. I've ruled out uni because of my grades.
0:39.3	Study with the Open University and there's no need to rule out anything.
0:44.3	With our respected degrees, you can learn from home and work alongside study.
0:48.3	We're open to all.
0:50.3	Plus, you'll have the support of expert tutors.
0:53.3	So rethink your future with the degree
0:55.8	you didn't think was possible. The Open University, the future is open.
1:02.1	It is Thursday, August 14th. It's the question that dominates conversations all around town.
1:07.8	What is Paramount going to be exactly? David Ellison now owns the studio and he's
1:12.7	got his Skydance media team running the film and TV groups, but we haven't heard a lot about what
1:17.6	kind of movies they want to make, where they want to put those movies and theaters or on streaming,
1:22.5	and whether the shows on CBS and Paramount Plus will change that much. Yesterday, I trekked over to the Paramount Commissary on the lot.
1:30.1	The cookies were very tasty.
	...

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