Axios CEO on ‘Post-News’ Era, Tubi CEO on TikTok Awards, Lyft’s Autonomous Goals | Dec 18, 2025

29:06It's really exciting pieces of our strategy that begin to come together. I walk you through that because I think it gives you a sense for how we think about supporting the growth of the business. We're fortunate to be in an industry that has incredibly healthy organic growth and lots of opportunity across geos. And so, you know, we're always looking for interesting ways to continue to support that growth. You mentioned the financial profile of the company now, and you guys have done some great work getting yourselves to more than$1 billion in free cash flow for the trailing 12 months. Those two assets, FreeNow and TBR, are they free cash flow positive?

29:45Well, look, when you think about FreeNow and how those synergies will be generated, first of all, it's a nice little business in and of itself. It plays in the taxi space in Europe, which is a premium product. And really what they're great at doing is bringing fleets on. What we're great at going to do is tweak those algorithms that are really going to raise the efficiency levels. And then you add on to that things like our global, our partnerships, which is a huge strategy for Lyft domestically in North America today. We partner with global companies. That's going to expand. Our media business is going to expand.

30:18So there's layers of synergies where we can take that core performance and really accelerate it. The same with TBR Global Chauffeuring. It's an incredible business in and of itself in terms of the top line, its profit profile, its cash profile. You put it on the strength of our overall platform and we have incredible opportunities to accelerate that. So it sounds like both of them are generating free cash flow, the ideas. Both of those businesses generate, they're slightly different levels, but they do today and they'll be positive contributions to our overall cash profile. Right. Well, last question before I hand it over to Anita is, as you think about M &A, how do you preserve that free cash flow profile then as you seek to build out the company further?

31:05Well, look, just the organic piece of the business is an extremely strong ongoing cash profile position. So we expect to convert. We talk about it as a conversion of our adjusted EBITDA. We expect to convert that at very high levels as we look out over the next couple of years. So we see extremely strong runway in terms of healthy cash generation profile. And that's going to support what is our capital deployment strategy. And it's really kind of three foundational layers. One, ample liquidity. This is a hugely scaled business. So ample liquidity to support the operation is incredibly important.

31:43Supporting our growth, whether it's through organic growth or opportunities that we see to accelerate our growth in inorganic means is another piece of that strategy. And then we obviously announced an inaugural share buyback program at the start of this year. $750 million is the size of the overall program, and we'll complete$500 million of that program by the end of 2025. So really around reducing our share profile, ensuring that we've got our eye to that, you know, from expanding investor value is really critical and important. Those are the three layers of our program. Erin, I wanted to ask you a little bit about your rationale.

32:22you know, just staying on the topic of M &A here, you know, what was the customer research and analysis that convinced you ultimately that in these areas of your recent acquisitions, it was better to buy than to build? Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, if you think about FreeNow and Europe, that's a landscape that's an attractive market. Those rides tend to carry higher values. FreeNow had really carved out a niche in terms of aggregating taxi that we found extremely attractive and we thought was going to be a platform for which we could actually add value, right? You want to find that classic one plus one equals three in any M &A transaction.

33:00And we obviously did deep research in the markets. They operate across nine markets. The characteristics of the market, the customer profiles, it's a heavily business-oriented traveler. That's a great profile for us to participate in and accelerate that growth. And understanding, again, what else we can bring to the table that would ultimately be a value, both in terms of the fleet side or the driver side on Freenow, but also to the rider. We think about that very in depth. And then if you think about TBR, global chauffeuring, this is really, again, at the highest end of a premium offerings. We have been focused on a very specific strategy to increase and accelerate the growth and the value at our premium ends.

33:44And in the third quarter of this year, for example, what we've talked about is that growth at that higher end piece of our ride offering was up 50 % year over year, and we're just getting started. So TBR really adds a capacity as we think about in particular targeting that business traveler, engaging with partners around events to provide, in addition to the core premium rides that are available on the platform, really that next level of incredible service that really round out the offering and make us differentiated in the market. So you talked a little bit about TBR. I wanted to double-click on FreeNow a little bit, Erin, because I listened to you talk at the NASDAQ recently, and you mentioned a lot about smaller cities in the US and how these underpenetrated markets in North America have been a great source of growth for you.

34:34FreeNow, obviously, is based in Europe. You guys have also been expanding a lot in Canada. And I just wanted to ask, what are your geographic expansion plans big picture going forward? Today, we're obviously incredibly focused on where we operate. The U.S. and Canada, our traditional markets, still have strong growth opportunities ahead. You've mentioned underpenetrated markets in the U.S., which has been a strong source of growth. And don't forget, even in 2025, we continued to launch new provinces, new cities across Canada. So as we think about 2026, again, a lot of runway for growth. And then Europe really presents a new front for us.

35:11And so the teams, as we closed the acquisition in the recent months, got right to work in terms of capturing that initial, you know, beginning to capture that initial synergy profile in terms of just improving the core way that that business operates. And we're really excited for what comes ahead. So we've got a lot on our plate to execute that we're excited about and a number of different growth trajectories that we're pursuing. So we're very focused on that. I think it's a good time, Erin, to get into a topic that is top of everyone's minds today, especially after our story earlier that Waymo is in talks to raise funding at double its last valuation.

35:50I think everyone is thinking about AVs, using AVs in San Francisco and other cities. You guys actually bought an interesting asset in 2020, FlexDrive, and you've been using it to service and clean some of the vehicles associated with your partnership with Waymo. And I've just been thinking, you know, Uber also, your competitor, has similar partnerships with Waymo, but they've taken a different approach. They use third parties for sort of servicing and cleaning the cars. So I wanted to hear from you, has owning FlexDrive been an advantage, and how has that helped you? We absolutely think owning FlexDrive has been an advantage and will continue to be an advantage.

36:26You know, at the advent of this industry on AVs, which is still, frankly, quite nascent, I think people sort of forgot for a minute that having very high availability of this technology was a critical foundational layer, right? If a vehicle isn't available to be deployed, to be hailed, then you're not optimizing your revenue-generating opportunity. And in order to do that, you need to have incredible operational excellence behind it. We knew FlexDrive was absolutely going to be a superpower, a secret weapon, if you will, in that overall mix and in that conversation. And we have high confidence it will continue to be.

37:08What's unique about it is, yes, it's a fleet management capability. We own over 10 ,000 cars today. We operate in over a dozen major cities with physical centers. So that's important. But what's incredibly important is it's optimized for rideshare. And that's incredibly unique and we think is going to be incredibly valuable as we think about the continued buildout of the AV landscape, as you think about ride hailing in a hybrid world. So it sounds like then with respect to margin structure for autonomous vehicles, I mean, if you look three years out, how do you think it changes your margin structure?

37:46You know, it's interesting because today what you see across not only Lyft and all of the partnerships that we're engaged in, but across the industry, you see a high level of experimentation with many, many different models. That, I think, will continue for certain over the near term. and as people begin to figure out the models and more importantly, figure out exactly where they wanna play. And I'm talking up and down the value chain. I think then that will be the point where we'll come into focus about exactly how it will fall into our overall P &L structure. But what I can say to you is that we are incredibly excited about the advent of AV technology.

38:27We see today that it expands the market. We see that in the cities where AVs operate and have been operating at some scaled fleet. And we know and have high conviction that a hybrid network, so the ability to service riders, incredibly efficiency, whether it's a human driver, an autonomous driver, is going to be the winning model. And so net-net, this is great not only for our top-line growth, but as we continue to seek to expand margins. But I guess as you think about that, I mean, you know, do you think that prices in the long term will have to come up to be able to offset the margins? Do you see the costs coming down?

39:07How do you think about that? You know, if you're talking specifically about autonomous vehicles, you have to go down a laundry list of sort of assumptions and inputs. The most critical being around how will the hardware ultimately scale and where will that cost land? Then you have to understand where will the regulatory and sort of insurance structure land overall. And so there are a number of years here for that to develop so that we know those inputs with a lot more certainty at scale. And I think that will influence ultimately where the pricing dynamic lies in the overall market. That being said, I do think we will reach a point at scale.

39:45It's certainly not going to be next year. it's going to be multiple years down the road where that all becomes much more into focus so that we understand the structures. But ultimately, if you think about whether it's autonomous, human-driven, the hybrid network, this has become really an essential way that people get their transportation needs met. I think autonomous will expand that overall. And so it's critical that we continue to be able to deliver a competitively priced service that delivers very, very high levels of service. I think it's clear that we're in earlier days in terms of AVs, Erin, but one area where you guys have expanded a lot already is by adding all these new partnerships.

40:27You have partnerships with DoorDash, United was one that you talked about on the last earnings call, Hilton, and I just wanted to ask, you know, this affects your long-term margin structure as well. In these sorts of deals, who is paying who? These sorts of deals, you know, generally are constructed where both parties are contributing, right? So you've got a co-funding mechanism. And that's incredibly important because to build durable partnerships, you need both partners to be really in it to win it. And what that means is you go into this understanding that both have a deep interest in, you know, introducing new riders or new consumers to the service, building loyalty, building high engagement, building higher frequency.

41:10And you see that throughout the life of a program with investments, with different campaigns to grow it over time. And Lyft has a track record of doing that very, very successfully. Rides that are tagged to partnerships have grown significantly as part of our overall profile. And those rides, you know, contain very, you know, high quality characteristics, meaning those riders tend to take a higher mix of higher value rides. So they tend to bring higher than average profitability. So deepening our partnerships and continuing to penetrate that opportunity has been a huge focus and will continue to be so as we think about 2026 and beyond.

41:50Can you give us a sense of what that funding split might look like for any of your bigger partnerships, say, let's take United? Yeah, it varies by partner, so I'm not going to go into details, but, you know, it tends to be balanced. And it really also is informed by what stage of the partnership we're in, what cohorts we're going after. So that's sort of the general color that I'll provide. Got it. So moving to another area, Erin, the FTC we got news this week is suing Uber over its Uber One subscription program. And I've heard you guys say a lot before that you're fundamentally a rideshare company.

42:26You're not looking to get into any other areas outside of riders and cars. And I was just wondering, where do you personally spend the most time in terms of thinking about regulatory affairs? I mean, is it insurance? Is it worker classification? Is it something else? Yeah, I mean, first, you know, maybe touch on your initial point, Anita, because I think it's a great segue from what we were just discussing in partnerships, right? So riders on the Lyft platform and the way they engage with partners are very, very different. So if you're someone who loves rideshare and you also love food delivery, we've got the best offering in the industry with our Lyft and DoorDash partnerships, same with United, et cetera.

43:07So we think that's a great model, and we're excited to continue to grow that. In terms of the regulatory landscape overall, it's important when you operate a service that is so essential to the transportation environment that happens with cities that you go into it with a mindset of really partnering, both locally, at a state level, or federally. And that is the way that we have gone about this as a company. We think it's been a winning model overall. It's something we also, frankly, really liked about FreeNow. And so the regulatory environment is present in all aspects of our business. We partner extremely closely and we think about it from the lens of, you know, some of the areas that are more present has been around some of this reform in California around insurance, which we're excited about.

43:57it's going to kick off in 2026. And we think that that could present a canvas, if you will, for other states to do some accelerated, what we view as common sense reform in overall rideshare insurance marketplace in the United States. So Erin, I've got to ask, you're a CFO, you make tough capital allocation decisions every day, I'm sure. What is the toughest one you've had to make in the last six months? I say this to the team all the time. It's also relevant because obviously we are wrapping up some of our planning processes for 2026. We do make tough decisions. And, you know, the team will tell you sometimes it's not fun, but I remind them frequently, I'd rather be in this position than in any other position because we are in a growing, vibrant industry, and we have more great opportunities that would be possible for us to invest against, whether that's resources or capital, than we could probably fund.

44:52So our job is to be discerning and try to be extremely smart about the areas that we invest. So it's always tough, but I'll take this problem over the alternative problem any day. But Erin, what decision kept you up at night last? I mean, we're looking for, was it a deal? Was it an acquisition? Something must have kept you up late trying to figure out if this was the right decision. I wouldn't say that any of them have kept me up in terms of, you know, are we making a mistake or not? What keeps me up is when we look at the different pathways we could take, you know, and what the opportunity is, how do we make sure, given the variety of inputs that we're choosing from the right category?

45:39So, you know, confidential. So I'm not going to go into it right now. But that's where I spend more of my time worrying than, frankly, second guessing or, you know, worrying about a particular decision. It's we've got a couple of very attractive choices. Do we double down? Do we, you know, do we kind of spread our bets, if you will, for where we are? Those are the things that we really think deeply about. Where do you think Lyft is three years from now? Oh, my gosh. I mean, we're just on an incredible trajectory today. I think Lyft is the innovator in the industry. I think we are the service leader in our industry.

46:17I think we will continue to expand that across Europe, continue to expand that across Canada. I think we'll continue to penetrate deeply in our rider-facing partnerships. And I think we will be sort of the poster child for what it looks like to have an extremely successful hybrid human-based, autonomous-based ride-hailing network. So that's where I see us three years from today. Great. Well, Aaron, it is so great to have you on the show. I want to thank you for joining us. That is Aaron Brewer, the CFO of Lyft, and Anita Ramaswamy, our financial analysis columnist, here at The Information. The co-founder and CEO of Axios has a new warning out for journalists, saying, we have entered a, quote, post-news era where information is what matters, not the news.

47:07Jim VandeHei wrote this in a memo shared with Semaphore. The Informations founder and editor-in-chief Jessica Lesson sat down with Vande Hei for a conversation about what that post-news era looks like for newsrooms. Here is that conversation. Well, I am so thrilled to be here with Jim Vande Hei, who has been an outspoken leader in news about what is to come. So, Jim, thanks for joining TITV to tell us about your latest manifesto, if you will. It's always a treat. Good to see you, Jessica. So you wrote this week that we have entered the post-news era. This is a little jarring as a news person, but tell us what you meant.

47:54Yeah, I mean, you have the perfect name, right? It's much more about information now. And if you think about the individual, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, most of how they saw the world was shaped by news, right? But now news is a part of it, but it's also by the podcasts you listen to, the videos that you watch, the people who show up in your social media feed, your social circuit. And to me, this is a huge, huge, huge shift that most companies and most individuals have not grappled with. It's no longer like Red America, Blue America, or we have like these a couple of information bubbles.

48:30We might have millions of information bubbles. where really smart people in close proximity to each other could have pretty different realities based on where they're consuming their content, right? So you and I could both play this game. If you told me how old you are, what you do, what your politics are, I could probably tell you where you get the vast majority of your information. And it's possible that you could be sitting with somebody and they're on a platform you never visit. They're trusting people you've never heard of, following topics that never really come across your radar. That's wild.

49:05That's different. And that has huge, huge, huge political consequences and massive, massive business consequences. And have you seen something lately that you think is exacerbating this? I mean, I think you connected it to filter bubbles, but, you know, to the nth degree. But I wonder, in running Axios this year and in all the conversations you have, are we at some kind of inflection point of acceleration? Or is this kind of just calling a moment that we've been late to call? I think we're in – listen, I think as long as you and I have been talking, we've been in this hypervolatility world. And I think it's about to be put on steroids.

49:42I think it's it's I'm highly confident that in the next 12 to 48 months, we're going to go through a massive platform shift that will move from kind of web and search to something that is LLM based. And you have so many different choices. You have really high quality content coming from people on YouTube, from people with podcasts, from people with sites, people with sub stacks, people like you and I with companies. That means that the whole mix is just different. It is like that's why I say it's post news. And I think most people don't think of news like you and I do because we got into the business.

50:16They just think about how do I get informed? Like how do I take inputs so that I can make really good decisions? Unfortunately, there's a lot of pollution. I think there's more good – the paradox of the moment is there's more good content than at any point in humanity and there's more crap content than at any point in humanity. And for those of us that can make really healthy choices about the inputs, I don't know about you, but like I feel like I have almost a bionic brain these days. because I know who to follow. I know what to read. I know who the smart people are. I know what the right publications are.

50:46I feel like I have more visibility into more things than ever before. But we're also in the business. We know these people. We've hired them. We've fired them. We've read them. We've worked at these places. So we were able to do that. And what I hope to do with Axios is help other people try to get to this approximation of a more bionic brain. Get rid of the crappy stuff. Put in the really good stuff. and you can make much better decisions. Like think about even for you and I, like five years ago, 10 years ago, if we wanted to know what the smartest people in the world thought, like maybe once in a while we got them on the phone, but now all of us have access to it.

51:25All of them are doing podcasts. Well, we know what they want us to think. So, I mean, I think this is part of your theme of being post news is we're also in full-on propaganda. We're also in full on, you know, storytelling. We're in the era of don't let the facts get away of a good story, you know, with some of the most powerful people in the world. And it's not one. It's many of them. Right. I see it in the technology industry every day. And so I wonder for what's the prescription or recipe for news organizations, right, that that are on one hand fighting that propaganda, but also, you know, have to face the reality of declining trust and, you know, even declining visibility.

52:15And I want to get back to LLMs, too, but that's a long enough question. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's a massive problem, massive problem for some business models. But I think what you have to do is you have to do what you're doing, what we're doing. You have to tighten your relationship with the consumer. You have to have this relationship of trust between you and the people consuming your content. And to deliver that, you have to have distinctive content. You have to have distinctive reporters providing things that no machine can provide and that their competition can't provide. And what I think will happen, like you and I spend a lot of our time thinking, what does the world look like in 18 months?

52:54From a news perspective, I think that if you have a company like yours, a company like ours that are built around expertise for very distinct audiences, I firmly believe that that content is going to be worth five or 10x in the new world order what it is today. Because everyone else is going to have equal access to general, high-quality information at their fingertips on almost any topic. What the LLMs and what the individuals will pay for is human nuance, human expertise, human experience, analysis and insight that is distinct from people who've been looking at these topics, talking to the people person to person.

53:31I think that soars in value. So if you're you or us, I feel good. If you're producing generic commoditized content, I felt this way for the last 10 years. I feel it more powerfully today. You're screwed. There's not going to be a market. I printed out the crap trap. So this was, I don't know if people can see here, but nine years ago, Jim wrote in an op-ed for The Information, probably one of our first op-eds, that digital media companies are caught in the crap trap, mass producing trashy clickbait so they can claim huge audiences and higher valuations. And I think you call it, I had to, you know, this was largely a social media story at the time, right?

54:14The social media companies were the distribution channels to Azure. And so anyway, everyone should check it out and we can link to it. But it was prescient to say the least. And you also nailed the rise of video, which, you know, here we are. So obviously that's happened. But I wonder, I couldn't agree more with everything you're saying. I mean, one thing I've been toying with in my brain is, or just struck by the rising cost of getting to the truth and doing what journalists do. You talked about how, you know, there will be value in being specialized. But I think, you know, whether it's just the fact that there's so much obfuscation, so much propaganda, you know, if you survey 40 editors at top publications, 40 will say their legal budgets are significant, are significantly increasing.

55:15You know, the topics are getting more complicated. So the level of reporters you need is more specialized. I wonder what you think of that, and does it play into who wins and loses over the next five years? Well, I think about the cost thing differently. I agree with you. I agree legal costs probably go up, and I think the cost of talent goes up. I think the cost of everything else drops precipitously. Distribution, all that. Everything. Listen, we're not a technology company. We're not necessarily a marketing company. like all of the stuff that sits behind me creating content and you consuming that content, all of that can be automated and I think will be automated in the not too distant future.

55:57That takes down a massive part of our cost structure. I'm sure if you looked at my budget, I looked at yours, we allocate a similar percentage to talent because we're talent-based organizations. A lot. That would be the, a lot. Yeah, but you want to squeeze that other side so you can put the money in the other place. So I think that they, I think it more than evens out. I think these become better businesses that you can run on better margins. But they are really going to very specific people who have like a real desire and demand for high quality content, which isn't most people. Like it's not going to fix a propaganda problem.

56:31It's not going to fix a manipulation problem. And you know and I know that problem is going to be 10 times as bad 18 months from now as it is now. Every new technology, even if it ends up in a beautiful place, we're going to go through hell. Like this spin that the idea that AI is just going to be nirvana, we're all going to be sitting home not having to work and we're learning poetry might be true 10 years from now. It's bullshit in the short term. It's going to have real pain for jobs and it's going to have real pain and conversion. And most humans, when they get a new technology, use it for perversion.

57:01And foreign actors use it for perversion. And so we're going to have to grapple with all that. I believe on the other side of it, it could be big, could be beautiful. But there's going to be real tumult in between there. Okay. So last question. And you're a news org like the information or Axios. You see this AI train coming. What do you do? I mean, I think what we've done is we try to get ahead of it like you. Like we know these companies. We know the principles. And so we've really a year ago, I basically had a speech to our staff and I said, I know you're worried about AI. I know you think it's going to take your job from this day.

57:35Henceforth, I don't give a shit. Like I'm going to equip you as best. I'm going to take your talking points, Jim, and just see how they fly. I tell all CEOs they should do this. People don't want to talk about it. But just tell your people, like, listen, if you can't take AI in any technology and make it a force multiplier of the work that you do and do it right away, not just here, you're not going to have a job anywhere. And so what I said is, like, that's the reality. We gave everybody a free license to use OpenAI as much as they want to be able to use it, the industrial version. And then we said, listen, I want you to spend 10 % of your day just figuring out how to use it to do the specific work you do.

58:15When you have a win, share that with other people here that do the job that you do. And then together, we can at least try to come out in the best possible position on the other side of it. And I think that's what every company should be doing. It's certainly what I assume you're doing. It's what we're doing. And that doesn't mean it's not going to be scary. It doesn't mean it's not going to change the nature of work. It will. It doesn't mean it's not going to eliminate some jobs. It will. But I think the smartest thing you could do is be eyes wide open. The minute you think you can utilize it, utilize it.

58:46And ultimately, I think it helps on the back end. The stupid bet being made right now, I think, is like all these companies investing in producing actual content for the consumer using artificial intelligence. Like your LLM garbage spitting out something to the consumer might work in the short term. Maybe. I don't think it will. But it's not going to be useful in the future in, like, video made up because you have, like, some AI techniques built into it. I just don't see how that's going to have value because the machines are always going to do it better than any media company can. So figure out what do you do better than anyone else and no robot can do.

59:21And if you do it better than anyone else, you will be able to extract value. You've done it. We've done it. Others will do it. It'll be different. It's not going to look like the media landscape of the past. But whatever. That's life. Yeah, well, I love it. And I'll just add, too, that I think publishers have to hold their own ground and recognize that there, in my opinion, aren't really yet benefits to licensing these content to the LLMs for the same reason. There aren't the products that, you know, you can even say would justify the distribution and the money and the growth and the reach for partnering.

59:54I think that one we might disagree because we've done a deal with OpenAI. I think it depends on the economics. Just know what the other company is trying to get out of it. Are the economics good enough for you based on what you think the future will hold? I think I'm right with you. I'm with you usually philosophically on this because I think one of the dumbest things that media companies did was tether their future to social media companies, giving them deals to do content deals or video or shows. I mean, it was destruction. BuzzFeed News doesn't exist, right? I mean, it was like we wasted a decade.

1:00:25Yeah. Yeah. No other company, no other industry would outsource their destiny to a third party's benevolence. That's stupid. You can't do that. And I think that's where people have to be thinking about it. If the deal's great economically and you think it pays off over time, do it. But also understand that we don't know what it needs yet. We don't know if having no deal puts you in a better position to be able to provide distinctive content through an LLM or sit outside of it. And I just got to tell you, Jim, sitting out here in the Valley and talking to these companies, they don't know what they're going to be yet.

1:00:54these AI companies? Are they research labs? Are they product orgs? Are they in the subscription business? Are they in the advertising business? Are they Search 2.0? Are they the, you know, something else? So a caution to publishers, shall we say. But Jim, it's always a pleasure. We've got to do this more. Thanks for joining us. And everyone should check out Axios to see where you wrote more extensively about these thoughts this week. Awesome. And congrats on all your success and happy holidays. Thank you. Okay. YouTube made big news this week with its announcement it will stream the Oscars starting in 2029.

1:01:32And on a slightly different but related note, TikTok is hosting its first TikTok awards in the US tonight, which is being streamed on the platform and also on Tubi. To talk more about the media landscape at large, I want to bring on Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi. Anjali, welcome back to the show. It's great to have you here. Thank you, Akash. It's good to be here again. So I want to talk to you a little bit about media right now because it's kind of a crazy time. And, you know, in the background, we've got the Warner Brothers Paramount Netflix saga, which is continuing to play out. I think it's anyone's guess as to where this all ends up.

1:02:07But the question I want to start with you is, I mean, what impact do you think this consolidation will end up having on the content and the films and the TVs that will end up being produced in the end? Yeah. Well, it is certainly a fascinating saga. And I think ultimately consolidation is natural and appropriate and expected in the media industry right now. Consumer needs are evolving and we have to adapt. I think the way Tubi looks at it, we have a very diverse and diversified collection of content. We work with creators, some of the world's most popular creators. We work with Hollywood. We work with independent filmmakers.

1:02:48And we expect that there will be even more stories and more storytellers that we will be putting in front of our audience in the future. So certainly there will be implications from consolidation. but I actually think the real story here isn't who buys who. It's how is the future of streaming going to evolve as we see this convergence between social and the creator economy and Hollywood. And you mentioned YouTube, you know, YouTube's got the Oscars. I think Instagram is now putting vertical videos on TV. You've got Tubi streaming the TikTok awards. We are seeing this convergence. And I think it's really going to force all of us to think about how are we meeting the next generation where they are.

1:03:31So I want to get to all that, but level with me here. I mean, do you think this consolidation is good for filmmakers? I think there's going to be fewer players, but the general trends I don't think change here. At the end of the day, the real trend is that we are in an attention economy and there's a battle for everyone's mindshare. And there will be, I think, with AI and other trends, You're going to see just more stories and storytellers that are out there. And for me, I think the question for filmmakers is how do you help every content creator and every story find its audience? And so I actually think there's a real tailwind for platforms like Tubi that are really good at taking a broad set of different kinds of content.

1:04:16Right. And put it in front of the right viewer at the right time so that those stories can find their audience. Like, to me, that's the tailwind that I think will carry forward, not just this month or this quarter, but for the next few years. Right. Now, you mentioned AI. The other deal that has happened since we last spoke is the Disney OpenAI investment. What did you make of that deal? I'm not surprised. I think we're going to see more and more of these kind of partnerships. And I think ultimately it's because there is an opportunity for AI, if used in the right way and responsibly, to democratize storytelling, to enhance creativity.

1:05:01It is the job, I think, of media companies to be willing to experiment and to be willing to figure that out. And, you know, I can tell you at Tubi, we are doing a lot of things using AI to make— Do you have AI content on AI films on your platform? We don't. We don't yet. Okay. But I would tell you we do use AI for a lot of other things, like figuring out how to help you find what to watch. You know, one of the craziest stats is that the average American takes more than 10 minutes to find what to watch every night. Yeah, yeah. I take longer than that. Yeah, I think I do too. And think about like – think about how when you open up, you know, TikTok or Instagram, like if you don't get something interesting within seconds, you bounce.

1:05:43And so I think there's a huge opportunity for AI there. I think with advertising and helping more brands create content, that they can put ads on TV is another big area of opportunity. And then I do believe that AI will make it easier. It'll lower the costs and increase the speed for high quality production. And that can be a good thing for the industry if we sort of navigate that transformation in the right way. Let me ask you this. Would you ever do a deal of some kind with OpenAI? I mean, I don't know what such a deal would look like. I imagine it could be something around, hey, we give access to maybe our filmmakers.

1:06:27I don't know. The sky's the limit here. But would you ever do a deal like that with a model company? I mean, we're different from Disney in that we don't have the same kind of franchise. Right. But it is our responsibility, I think, and opportunity to find ways to work with the biggest AI players to unlock that technology and harness it to enhance creativity. That is our job. You will absolutely see Tubi look to experiment thoughtfully in the space. And like I said, I don't think we'll be alone in that. Right. Okay. So let's talk about the TikTok Awards. They are happening tonight. Where are they happening?

1:07:02Are they Los Angeles? Are they New York? It's in Los Angeles. It's in LA. Okay. Yeah, it's going to be great. We've got, it's a celebration of some of the biggest creators at TikTok with a lot of entertaining talent. Okay, and I want to get to the nominees in a second, but did you have to pay for the rights for this? How much did you have to pay? This was actually just a really more strategic partnership between Tubi and TikTok to kind of expand the audience of people who can tune into the awards. And it's also worth noting that Tubi has been really doing some interesting things with TikTok creators for a while now.

1:07:39We cast TikTok creators in Hollywood films, probably our biggest franchise ever. It's called Sidelined. It stars a TikTok creator who's also a producer. It's had nearly 20 million viewers to date all through viral marketing on TikTok. And as you know, Akash, we've also been bringing creators onto 2B's platform. We have over 10 ,000 creator-driven titles now, and we are working with creators to help them kind of graduate into Hollywood, elevate their long-form storytelling, and really just expand the pie so that they can do more projects, make more money, and be more successful. So I think it's much more of an alignment and sort of acknowledging that convergence is happening.

1:08:26How can 2B and TikTok work together to do that? Do you have a favorite creator that you're rooting for tonight? Do you have to be neutral on this, given that you're the distributor of some kind? I mean, can we make picks? I'm rooting for as many people. But there can only be one winner, Anjali. Everybody can't win. That's the point of the awards show. Well, you know, I will say there's actually numerous winners. There are multiple awards. But I do think, you know, what's interesting about the creator economy in general is there are actually multiple winners because we have such diverse tastes and there are creators that speak to different fandoms.

1:09:05And I actually think this is a common theme you're going to see, I think, not just from creator platforms, but from platforms like Tubi, which is acknowledging that fans have different tastes and needs. And it's our job to help them connect them with the storytellers that are inspiring them. Great. Well, Anjali, it was great to catch up. Thank you so much for coming on. That is Anjali Sood, the CEO of Tubi here on TI-TV. Well, that does it for today's show. A reminder, we are on this stream Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. I want to thank Amazon Web Services, who is our presenting sponsor for this production.

1:09:41And I want to thank you for tuning in. We really do appreciate your viewership. I'm already excited for our next show tomorrow. Have a great rest of your Thursday. Bye-bye for now.