As Broadcast Slowly Dies, Niche-casting Is on the Rise

CNBC entertains Wall Street honchos and Joe Scarborough draws Washington politicos. But Malcolm Harris is content with reaching a far less sexy audience: freight industry executives.

Since September, Harris — a former sports talk personality — has helmed “What The Truck?!?,” a thrice-a-week, livestreaming show setting the agenda in the world of logistics. Harris yaks with trucking tycoons as news items crawl beneath them. FreightWaves, the logistics news outlet behind his show, is discussing adding more live programming to its slate, according to Harris.

“This is how people are getting content today,” he says.

Broadcast TV morning shows now draw nearly half the audience they had fifteen years ago, and livestreamers are keen to pick up the pieces. While livestreaming experiments like Cheddar and CBSN launched in the mid-2010s, a new crop of creator cowboys are taking on news giants by going tiny. These niche Andrew Ross Sorkins are making slickly-produced programs for narrow slices of the economy, on platforms like X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Many of these productions function as modern-day trade magazines. One show targets car dealership owners. Another, TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network), focuses on tech overlords. And on March 8, Tinseltown is getting its own SportsCenter.

Warner Bailey will spearhead a weekly morning show about the business of Hollywood. It’s an offshoot of Bailey’s popular meme page, Assistants vs. Agents, which recently livestreamed an awards show from the El Rey Theatre. Bailey believes audiences are craving alternatives to social media slop. “People right now are just chasing authenticity,” says Bailey. “In those moments of live, it’s not polished. It’s real and authentic.”

Bailey credits three-hour-a-day talk show TBPN — Silicon Valley’s own Squawk Box — with igniting his interest in livestreaming. “They only care about servicing that exact niche,” says Bailey. “We look at that for what we’re doing, as well. We only care about servicing entertainment professionals, people working in entertainment, or students wanting to break in.”

TBPN has spurred others to join the livestreaming rodeo. Geno Schellenberger and Jack Westerkamp — who cover the advertising industry — are two such creators. Today, the duo recap industry news and interview executives on Breaking and Entering, a popular Instagram account and podcast. Soon, they expect to launch a livestreaming show covering Madison Avenue, which they hope to broadcast three times a week.

“We’ve been friends for our whole lives, so we have a really great chemistry with one another,” says Westerkamp. “That kind of is our competitive advantage and we get the most out of that competitive advantage by being live.”

Although any creator can go live on Instagram with an iPhone and ring light, the latest wave of news creators prioritize production quality. What’s delaying Schellenberger and Westerkamp is that their only employee with livestreaming experience is a 23-year-old who aired himself playing Call of Duty in high school. They expect to produce live content once they ensure the technology won’t fail.

Bailey is relying on an in-house team who got their start in airing music festivals and DJ sets online. Assistants vs. Agents previously produced a live show from a Gen Z-focused festival in November, where Bailey interviewed a UTA executive and Gymnasium founder Adam Faze.

Since these nichecasts are free, the production budget is often covered by advertising. Similar to sporting events, these shows attract advertisers because of their can’t-miss quality, as well as their passionate and finely targeted audience. “It’s just like a truly unskippable ad read,” says Dylan Abruscato, who recently joined TBPN as president.

Some of the engagement stems from interactivity, which sets it apart from podcasting. Hays often responds directly to viewer comments as they’re made during the broadcast. “I think being able to sit there with people, sit in on a conversation, see it live, see it happening in front of you makes you feel more part of it,” says Westerkamp.

These shows don’t vanish from the internet after creators’ own versions of “Good night and good luck.” There is a second window, with short clips distributed on social media. “More people are watching the recording right every day of the show than the livestream, which makes sense,” says TBPN co-host Jordi Hays. “Only so many people are going to be available during the show.” Harris says about 40 percent of his audience watches live.

Many of the creators see livestreaming as an efficient way to build communities. Although an interview with a logistics technology executive won’t go as viral as Mr. Beast’s latest stunt, specialized content captures superfans.

Just as John Malone’s fiber-optic pipes ushered in a “500-channel universe,” as he dubbed it, algorithmic-driven feeds are likely to continue fueling niche livestreamers. Over his career, Malone amassed stakes in a hodgepodge of networks, including QVC, Food Network, and BET. So could one of these creators build the Liberty Media of livestreaming? Hays has an idea for another venture.

“I’ve said this a bunch and nobody’s taken me up on it yet, but TBPN for cooking,” says Hays. “There is a hit show to be made.”