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Podcast: TellyCast: The content industry podcast
Episode: The State of Digital-First in 2025 and What Comes Next in 2026
Description: In this special end-of-year episode of TellyCast, Justin Crosby looks back at 2025 and unpacks the structural shifts that have quietly but fundamentally reshaped the digital-first production economy.Drawing on reporting from The Drop, conversations on the podcast, and insights from TellyCast events throughout the year, the episode breaks down six defining trends: the rise of creator collectives as studio systems, the explosion of micro drama and vertical video, the maturation of vodcasting as a business model, YouTube’s dominance as the world’s leading AVOD platform, brands operating as broadcasters rather than advertisers, and AI becoming everyday prod...