Connect your Claude, Codex or OpenClaw for full transcripts on millions of podcasts. Two week free trial, cancel anytime.

Start free trial →
DK Daniel Kolitz On the culture journalist

“I think industry analysts are like, well, it's short and it's, you know, for people with wrecked attention spans. So it must be for Gen Z. But as we know, older people are even more destroyed by phones. … Talking to agents, talking to directors, talking to people involved in the industry, they all say middle-aged Midwestern women, or maybe going somewhat younger, 35 to like 65.”

the culture journalist · Media & Creator Economy · October 2026

“I think industry analysts are like, well, it's short and it's, you know, for people with wrecked attention spans. So it must be for Gen Z. But as we know, older people are even more destroyed by phones. … Talking to agents, talking to directors, talking to people involved in the industry, they all say middle-aged Midwestern women, or maybe going somewhat younger, 35 to like 65.” — Daniel Kolitz, the culture journalist

Context

Asked who actually watches microdramas, Kolitz says the Gen Z claim looks like a media narrative, and that the people who make the shows describe a much older audience.

Transcript

the culture journalist
Daniel Kolitz

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the Gen Z thing is, I think, just a media narrative. It's not clear to me that Gen Z is watching these. I think, you know. You're

Andrea Domanick

just supposed to say that.

Daniel Kolitz

Yeah, I think industry analysts are like, well, it's short and it's, you know, for people with wrecked attention spans. So it must be for Gen Z. But as we know, older people are even more destroyed by phones than to some degree. You know, talking to agents, talking to. Directors talking to people involved in the industry, they all say middle-aged Midwestern women, or maybe going somewhat younger, 35 to like 65. And I did meet the head of a fan club, Megan Johnson, who's since become a microchamber consultant, who is a true blue Midwestern woman who really did love the shows and seemed to have a community of people who love them as well. She felt a little bit like a front to me, like they'd kind of gone to Central Casting and found a woman who looked exactly like a middle-aged Midwestern white woman to pose as a representative of the audience.

Andrea Domanick

She's based here in LA or she was no,

Daniel Kolitz

she's based in like Michigan, but they had flown her into LA for like a panel that was happening when I was in town. But yeah, I mean, as far as who actually is watching them, I mean, I think a large percentage even for the audience for even the English language microdramas is outside of the United…

Andrea Domanick

Okay.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

More from the culture journalist