The Reading Garden: 5/23/25
What We’re Reading, and Why It Matters to Legacy Media
Welcome back to the Reading Garden, where every Friday we spotlight three must-read pieces we're paying attention to and explore what they mean for legacy media.
Let’s dive in…
Today we’re starting with what is perhaps the biggest headline of the week. In case you missed it, creator company Whalar Group (yes, same one featured in our long form this week) secured a strategic investment from some heavyweight names. Most notably among them is Neal H. Moritz, the acclaimed Hollywood producer & founder of Original Film.
Why does this matter? Because legacy producers like Neal are seeing what we’ve been saying for a while: that the most successful creators moving forward will not just be influencers, but rather operate like major entertainment companies, only leaner and more agile.
But we don’t need to tell you what Neal thinks. Take it directly from him: “Creators today have the power, reach, and originality that used to be reserved for studios and networks. We're excited to partner with Whalar Group on the infrastructure for Creators to help them scale that power into lasting IP.”
If anyone was waiting for a bigger sign that the lines between legacy and creators are blurring, this is it.
It’s been a big few weeks for the future of search, and Jim Louderback has been all over it. His latest piece breaks down how to adapt to the shift of people no longer using Google to find links. Instead, AI will be doing the searching for us, and delivering answers directly.
What does this have to do with video? Everything.
Because if your content isn’t optimized for this new wave of AI search, you risk disappearing altogether. Luckily, Jim walks us through six strategies to stay ahead—from basics like detailed transcripts and captions to more advanced tools like schema markups.
This is more than a simple search engine change. It’s about discoverability in a whole new era. And yes, it affects legacy media too.
Speaking of AI, Zack Honarvar warns of a risk that seemed to be only reserved for legacy media: AI. The narrative around AI and the creator economy used to be (and still kind of is) that it’s only going to boost creators’ productivity.
But what if creators aren’t free from falling prey to completely synthetic content?
Zack lays it out with live examples of YouTube videos and asks: Since our feeds have evolved into algorithmic content machines that serve us exactly what we want to watch, how far are we from platforms producing AI content that we prefer watching over content made by actual humans?
It’s too big of a question to have any real answers, but one thing is clear. Creators and studios shouldn’t be on opposite sides of this conversation. As AI disruption grows, we’ll need each other more than ever.
See you next week.