The Media Odyssey
Each week, two of media’s most influential thinkers, Evan Shapiro & Marion Ranchet, take on the hottest media topics with their hottest takes, helping their audience chart a course through the maelstrom that is today’s Media Odyssey. Based in the US, Evan Shapiro is the Media Industry’s official Cartographer, known for his well-researched and provocative analysis of the entertainment ecosystem in his must read treatises on Media’s latest trends and trajectories. Marion Ranchet, French expat based in Amsterdam, has become the industry’s go-to expert in all things streaming, building a following for turning even the most complex problems into easily digestible and actionable insights. Ranchet and Shapiro are known for their sharp-yet-accessible content on Media consumption, audience trends, and the shifting fundamentals of the business itself. Even during the toughest of topics, they each make talking about Media fun. Together every week, these two will offer entertaining, often humorous, and always educational content on today’s Media Odyssey.
Episodes
Who really runs the media world now — creators, corporations, or algorithms?
In this episode of the Media Odyssey Podcast, hosts Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet unpack the newly released Creator Ecosphere Map, a first-of-its-kind visual of the entire creator economy, created in partnership with Shira Lazar (What’s Trending) and InfluencerMarketing.Ai.
Recorded just after MIPCOM, they explore how creators, brands, and tradit...
What happens when a niche fandom becomes a global streaming powerhouse?
In this episode of the Media Odyssey Podcast, hosts Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet sit down with World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the creative minds behind RuPaul’s Drag Race, and a streaming empire built on fandom. They explore how World of Wonder transformed drag culture into an international media brand spanning 17 territ...
Jimmy Kimmel is at the center of the conversation where politics, free speech, and billion-dollar mergers collide.
In this episode of the Media Odyssey Podcast, hosts Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet unpack the dramatic suspension and reinstatement of Jimmy Kimmel—a flashpoint that highlights the collision of politics, regulation, and the crumbling power of broadcast TV. Shapiro explains the FCC’s limited authority, why Chai...
In this episode of the Media Odyssey Podcast, hosts Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet record live from IBC with Simon Farnsworth (ITV) and Adde Granberg (SVT), two CTOs (or as they call it, “Chief Transformation Officers”) reshaping European public broadcasting. The conversation explores how legacy broadcasters can adapt to a digital-first, fragmented world while facing off against trillion-dollar tech giants.
They discuss th...
In a special episode recorded live from IBC in Amsterdam, the Media Odyssey Podcast brings together hosts Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet with Whale TV’s Teresa Lopez and Chris Hock. Once a white-label operating system hidden inside millions of TVs, Whale TV has rebranded and stepped into the spotlight.
The discussion dives into the shifting economics of TV hardware, why operating systems are now the key battleground for a...
After raising $55M in commitments in just 18 days, Angel is ringing the bell on Wall Street and the three founding brothers come on this special episode of The Media Odyssey Podcast for the first time ever!
In this episode, hosts Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet sit down with the Harmon brothers—Neal, Jeff, and Jordan, founders of Angel—to explore how they’ve turned an outsider’s vision into one of the most disruptive force...
Welcome back to the Media Odyssey Podcast!
In the first episode of Season 2, hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro return from summer break to unpack the biggest stories shaping the media landscape on both sides of the Atlantic.
They cover everything from NBCUniversal’s cable spin-off and MSNBC rebrand, to European consolidation led by MFE and ProSiebenSat.1, and the growing dominance of YouTube on TV screens. They ...
Some quotes are memorable because they’re insightful, others because they come on a tin coffee cup.
Welcome to the season finale of The Media Odyssey Podcast, where hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro close out season one by sharing their last favorite clips – and the behind-the-scenes stories that came with them. From public spats with self-aware CEOs to surprising platform performance data and perfectly ripe metapho...
On this special episode of The Media Odyssey Podcast, hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro discuss their favorite moments from Season 1.
Evan and Marion select standout clips that capture the biggest themes, surprises, and insights from across the year. It’s a thoughtful, high-energy wrap-up on the state of media through the lens of prediction, collaboration, tech disruption, and creator evolution.
This isn’t just ...
Welcome to a new episode of The Media Odyssey Podcast, where we explore the people and ideas reshaping the media landscape. Hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro sit down with Dhar Mann, one of the most successful independent creators in the world, to unpack what it really means to build an owned-and-operated media empire in the age of platforms. With over 70 billion views across social media, Dhar has mastered the art of ...
Welcome to a special edition of The Media Odyssey Podcast from the Croisette at Cannes Lions! Hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro sit down with Pedro Pina, Vice President of YouTube EMEA, for a sharp and forward-looking conversation about creators, monetization, and YouTube’s role in the evolving media landscape. As YouTube celebrates its 20th anniversary, the platform is no longer just a distribution tool—it’s a full-fl...
Welcome to a special edition of The Media Odyssey Podcast from the buzzing beachfront of Cannes Lions! Hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro explore the collision of traditional media, streaming giants, and the creator economy in an environment buzzing with brand activations and bold narratives. With viewership migrating to digital but ad dollars lagging behind, the episode dives into how media organizations are rethinking...
Welcome to a special edition of The Media Odyssey Podcast from the heart of the Croisette at Cannes Lions! Hosts Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro dive into the evolving mood and key narratives emerging from the industry’s most vibrant gathering. From linear TV’s staying power in Europe to the acceleration of addressable advertising and first-party data, they set the stage for a candid, high-energy conversation on the st...
Evan and Marion take The Media Odyssey Podcast live at Stream TV's Media Universe Summit, joined by two special guests shaking up the content discovery game. Matthew Henick of Ventura TV OS, revealed how Ventura is building a new kind of CTV OS: one that puts transparency, user experience, and publishers first. Then Alan d’Escragnolle, CEO of Filmhub, showed us what a true distribution machine looks like, connecting indie ...
In this episode of "Chatting at GEMA", Marion Ranchet interviews Unai Iparragirre, Head of Channels & OTT at EITB, the public broadcaster in the Basque Country, about being able to adapt to a changing landscape, brave content, and the intersection of public service and entertainment. Iparragirre explains the importance of EITB beyond entertainment to preserve the Basque culture, identity, and language while serving th...
In this episode of "Chatting at GEMA", Marion Ranchet interviews Emmanuelle Lacaze, President and Owner of Gédéon Communications, about television design, the Olympics, and innovative collaboration. Lacaze explains how Gédéon Communications, a design agency known for its work on media branding in France and internationally, contributed to the rise of television design with new ways of thinking about creativity and concept...
In this episode of "Chatting at GEMA", Marion Ranchet interviews Pierluigi Colantoni, Creative Director at RAI, Italy’s national broadcasting company, about creative packaging, branding and promotion, and the growing role of data in media. Colantoni speaks to how data informs creative decisions and the delicate balance between creative instincts and data while warning that data may become too central and rising concerns o...
This week on The Media Odyssey Podcast, Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet roll up their sleeves to recap the tumultuous first half of 2025. From mass layoffs at Disney, ITV, and Warner Bros. Discovery to a sports rights meltdown in Europe, they dig into the biggest media headlines of the season, and what they truly reveal about the state of the business. Evan and Marion dissect the difference between strategy and reactive ch...
AI: fear it or figure it out? This week on The Media Odyssey Podcast, Evan Shapiro and Marion Ranchet sit down with David Rudnick, CTO of LG Ad Solutions, to unpack how artificial intelligence is reshaping connected TV, from creative optimization to real-time personalization. They tackle big questions: Is AI replacing jobs or removing the boring parts? How can marketers catch viewers in their moments of interest? And what ...
This week on The Media Odyssey podcast, Evan and Marion join to delve into the fast-evolving world of digital content distribution, with a behind-the-scenes look at one of YouTube’s most powerful enablers: Merzigo. Joining the show is Dilip Bala, SVP & GM of Merzigo U.S., to unpack how the company helps IP owners—from broadcasters to studios—unlock serious revenue and global reach through platform-specific strategy, co...
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