I wonder how much of this is driven by the entrepreneurialisation of everything? We have commercialised hobbies to death. Everyone needs to have a side hustle. LinkedIn is full of posts on how to be successful on LinkedIn. Everyone has a course, a podcast, a coaching practise or selling strategic services. Cultural commentary is recycled by the prosumers and creators who hope to ride it commercial gain. In a market where jobs are at risk of being eaten, and "taste" is the final human trait we hope AI can't replicate, it's essential to show our humanity, and understanding of the world, in a world which is harder to make sense of. Nikita Walia coined the term "tiktok oracle", and I think she sums the potential shallow nature of it well. We are offloading our own cognitive effort to those who can give us the 3 minute or 3 seconds summary, and are hoping we'll like, subscribe and pay for the shortcut.
Interesting take—and I agree there’s definitely a widespread entrepreneurial impulse at play. But I wonder if we’re framing infotainment as more commercialised than it actually is?
Many hobbies tied to “pure” entertainment—dancing, makeup, even mukbangs—were heavily monetised long before this rise of insight-driven content. If anything, today’s version feels like an evolution of entertainment: one where value isn't just visual or emotional, but cognitive too. And that makes it worth paying for, not necessarily more commercial.
Also agree re: the sea of lookalike offerings—notably the growth courses and Substack playbooks. The irony is that so many of these “strategic services” flatten individuality, even as they preach differentiation.
Cutting through it requires discerning eyes, cognitive skill, and actual taste.
In some ways this shift feels like the natural continuation of the fluffy-deep content cycle. We had a patios of super fluffy content, and are now cycling into deeper content.
The educational AND entertaining combination is a really interesting flavor of deep content.
I’m a content creator on instagram and this is precisely what I’m seeing happening. Brands don’t know where to go marketing wise as what’s always worked in the past now is not. Really interesting read thank you!
This! Ive worked in influencer strategy for brands for the past ten years and could not agree more with everything you’ve written here. And I’m proud to see things shifting. As a consumer, I love educational content! It’s part of the reason I love substack over other platforms. There is so much valuable, educational content on here, designed for an audience with an appetite to learn rather than those with a goldfish-style 3 second attention span. Excited to see this space continue to move in this direction.
YES!! This is so on point and I just wrote about this too, specifically thought leaders on Linkedin/podcasts and how they may be inspiring more people to become entrepreneurs. I've heard some people call these creators "Knowledge Creators" and I'm interested to see how this space evolves
This is so well done. Thank you for sharing your in depth insights. What I take from this article is that personal story (experience, nuance, success, case studies, deep understanding) paired with knowledge (facts, citations, frameworks, formulas) is a recipe for success going forward.
Hi Charlotte! I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your recent article🤍
I actually included it in my latest newsletter because I thought my readers would really appreciate it too! No pressure to respond — I just wanted to let you know your work resonated with me.
I love this Charlotte. Spot on breakdown, pointed out some things I hadn’t thought of. Also affirming as I’ve noticed the shift firsthand in my work and it’s been refreshing.
I wonder how much of this is driven by the entrepreneurialisation of everything? We have commercialised hobbies to death. Everyone needs to have a side hustle. LinkedIn is full of posts on how to be successful on LinkedIn. Everyone has a course, a podcast, a coaching practise or selling strategic services. Cultural commentary is recycled by the prosumers and creators who hope to ride it commercial gain. In a market where jobs are at risk of being eaten, and "taste" is the final human trait we hope AI can't replicate, it's essential to show our humanity, and understanding of the world, in a world which is harder to make sense of. Nikita Walia coined the term "tiktok oracle", and I think she sums the potential shallow nature of it well. We are offloading our own cognitive effort to those who can give us the 3 minute or 3 seconds summary, and are hoping we'll like, subscribe and pay for the shortcut.
Interesting take—and I agree there’s definitely a widespread entrepreneurial impulse at play. But I wonder if we’re framing infotainment as more commercialised than it actually is?
Many hobbies tied to “pure” entertainment—dancing, makeup, even mukbangs—were heavily monetised long before this rise of insight-driven content. If anything, today’s version feels like an evolution of entertainment: one where value isn't just visual or emotional, but cognitive too. And that makes it worth paying for, not necessarily more commercial.
Also agree re: the sea of lookalike offerings—notably the growth courses and Substack playbooks. The irony is that so many of these “strategic services” flatten individuality, even as they preach differentiation.
Cutting through it requires discerning eyes, cognitive skill, and actual taste.
This was such a good article! You articulated themes I had noticed but did not know how to verbalise myself
Thank you and thank you for reading the article 🙏🏾
In some ways this shift feels like the natural continuation of the fluffy-deep content cycle. We had a patios of super fluffy content, and are now cycling into deeper content.
The educational AND entertaining combination is a really interesting flavor of deep content.
I agree. I have to say this type of content is my favourite. Whether it’s pop culture takes or world news.
Absolutely!
Deep content! That’s a new one. Do you mean long-form?
I mean content that goes deep. It could be long form but doesn't have to be.
This is super fascinating
Thank you for reading Natasha 🙏🏾
Love it. I would add Substack as another factor in this as well :)
I’m a content creator on instagram and this is precisely what I’m seeing happening. Brands don’t know where to go marketing wise as what’s always worked in the past now is not. Really interesting read thank you!
This! Ive worked in influencer strategy for brands for the past ten years and could not agree more with everything you’ve written here. And I’m proud to see things shifting. As a consumer, I love educational content! It’s part of the reason I love substack over other platforms. There is so much valuable, educational content on here, designed for an audience with an appetite to learn rather than those with a goldfish-style 3 second attention span. Excited to see this space continue to move in this direction.
*saves to read later* because this is gonna be tea
Love this take! I’ve felt the shift. Seems like people on TikTok like my work a lot more than when I first joined the platform.
Your newsletter is so hot!! Love what you’re writing about 💥
YES!! This is so on point and I just wrote about this too, specifically thought leaders on Linkedin/podcasts and how they may be inspiring more people to become entrepreneurs. I've heard some people call these creators "Knowledge Creators" and I'm interested to see how this space evolves
This is so well done. Thank you for sharing your in depth insights. What I take from this article is that personal story (experience, nuance, success, case studies, deep understanding) paired with knowledge (facts, citations, frameworks, formulas) is a recipe for success going forward.
Hi Charlotte! I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your recent article🤍
I actually included it in my latest newsletter because I thought my readers would really appreciate it too! No pressure to respond — I just wanted to let you know your work resonated with me.
Looking forward to what you publish next!
Warmly,
Lena
I love this Charlotte. Spot on breakdown, pointed out some things I hadn’t thought of. Also affirming as I’ve noticed the shift firsthand in my work and it’s been refreshing.