Chris Balfe built a business around turning independent voices into profitable audio and video operations. Then Fox bought his company. Now he watches as the rest of the industry chases short clips. He doesn’t like what he sees.
Balfe sold Red Seat Ventures to Fox in 2021. The firm produces and sells ads for shows hosted by Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson. It also works with Bari Weiss. In a recent conversation with veteran media reporter Peter Kafka, Balfe laid out a blunt view of the podcast business. The word “podcast” itself feels dated to him. Audio and video have merged. “We’re pretty much already there,” he said. “We just say it’s a show now. ‘Podcast’ is an archaic term.”
That shift matters. Platforms treat everything as video now. Creators face pressure to chop long episodes into bite-sized pieces for TikTok and Instagram Reels. Balfe calls the practice a mistake. Long-form content carries advertisements. Creators share in that revenue on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Clips on social media deliver zero dollars back to them. “We’ve taken a massive, massive amount of dollars for our content and just said, ‘Here, Meta, here TikTok, you take this money,'” he told Kafka.
His stance stands out. Many media companies push clipping as essential for discovery. Balfe sees it as surrender. Talent feels the same way, he added. They notice when short-form clips erode their main business. Exposure sounds nice. Money feels better.
Fox’s approach reflects this caution. Red Seat focuses on full episodes and direct ad sales. It avoids giving away economics to tech platforms that refuse to share. The strategy has worked for high-profile hosts who left traditional networks. Carlson and Kelly built large audiences outside cable news. Their shows generate revenue through ads and subscriptions without heavy reliance on algorithmic short video.
Netflix enters this picture too. The streaming giant signs exclusive podcast deals. Balfe hates the tactic. He dislikes it for creators who risk losing control and audience. He dislikes it for Netflix because it turns free content into something paid without adding much value. “I hate it for creators, and I hate it for Netflix,” he said.
Those deals often pull talent away from YouTube. Balfe views that move as dangerous. YouTube built many of these careers. Leaving it behind can kill momentum. Creators hand over destiny to a single buyer. The risk rarely pays off in his experience.
Yet short-form video keeps growing. The category topped $100 billion last year. Projections point toward $300 billion soon. Creators chase that scale. They adopt podcast-style consistency to stand out amid endless feeds. Balfe acknowledges the draw. He simply believes the economics favor those who protect their core product.
His comments arrive at a moment when the audio business shows signs of maturity. The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported U.S. podcast ad revenue reached $2.1 billion in 2024. Early 2025 figures suggest continued expansion even as overall digital advertising faces headwinds. A Wall Street Journal article from March 2025 noted that growth has slowed from pandemic peaks but remains steady for established shows.
Independent creators who partner with firms like Red Seat often outperform pure platform plays. They control distribution. They negotiate ad rates directly. Balfe’s model emphasizes that ownership. Fox gives him resources to scale it. The parent company benefits from premium content that fits its news audience without the volatility of social algorithms.
But challenges remain. Younger listeners discover audio through short video. They may never sit through a two-hour episode. Balfe counters that true fans still seek depth. Clips can introduce them. They should not replace the original. “Talent is sensitive to it,” he explained. “They see it hurting their core business.”
Other executives disagree. Some point to data showing clips drive downloads. A New York Times report published last month highlighted several networks that increased listenership 25 percent after aggressive short-form campaigns. Those gains came with trade-offs in ad revenue per user.
Balfe remains unconvinced. He has seen the pattern before. Media companies gave away content to tech platforms in the 2010s. They spent years trying to win it back. Podcasting offered a chance to reset the balance. Many blew it by chasing the same old metrics.
So what does success look like? Balfe points to sustainable revenue. Shows that command premium ad rates. Audiences that return weekly. Hosts who own their intellectual property. Fox’s investment in Red Seat signals belief in that approach. The company declined to comment for this article but has highlighted podcast growth in recent earnings calls.
Kafka pressed Balfe on whether resistance to clipping ignores how people consume media today. Balfe conceded the point on discovery. He pushed back on the economics. Platforms could share revenue. They choose not to. Creators accept those terms at their peril.
The conversation reveals deeper tensions. Traditional media still wrestles with digital natives. Netflix treats podcasts as video filler. Social apps treat them as content mines. Independent operators like Balfe try to thread the needle. They produce high-quality shows. They sell ads aggressively. They avoid giving away the farm.
Recent data supports parts of his argument. A Bloomberg story from earlier this week found that direct ad sales now account for 60 percent of revenue at top independent podcast companies. Platform dependency has declined since 2023. Hosts who maintained control over their catalogs fared better during the 2024 advertising slowdown.
Balfe’s skepticism toward Netflix exclusives also finds echoes elsewhere. Several creators who signed such deals later expressed regret over lost YouTube momentum. One prominent interviewer told Kafka in a separate conversation that the guaranteed money felt good until the audience stopped growing.
And the term “podcast”? It may fade. The format won’t. People still want conversation, analysis and storytelling. They just access it across more screens and lengths. Balfe’s job is to make sure the people who create it get paid fairly. Fox seems content to let him try.
Whether the industry follows his lead will determine the next chapter. Clipping looks easy. Building lasting value never is. Balfe has placed his bet. The numbers will eventually show who calculated correctly.
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