Don Lemon’s news show now fits inside a backpack.
After more than 30 years as a journalist, the former CNN anchor has traded a massive studio and production crew for a setup he can carry anywhere. His YouTube channel “The Don Lemon Show,” launched in March 2024, now has 1.35 million subscribers.
But Lemon hasn’t just downsized his equipment and team. He’s had to “unlearn” other aspects of traditional media, such as getting rid of “formalities” and becoming “more nimble.”
“I don’t have to wear a suit. I don’t have to wear a tie. I think people appreciate the authenticity more,” he said on the latest episode of Scalable.
Lemon has also had to rethink his relationship with viewers. Instead of just broadcasting the news once a day, he now goes live twice daily, reading comments from viewers in real time and answering their questions. Many of those people weren’t watching him on CNN, Lemon told us.
“Every day people are in the chat. They started calling themselves the Lemonheads, and then I said ‘yeah, you’re all part of Lemon Nation’ and that caught on,” he said.
One thing that hasn’t changed? “Facts and telling the truth,” he said, though he added that he can now express much more of his opinions.
After his high-profile firing from CNN in 2023, Lemon joined a growing number of former TV news stars who have gone independent. Many of them are also polarizing figures in the industry: Piers Morgan has ambitions to build a $1 billion media company, while Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson have expanded their media businesses.
“I don’t agree with hardly anything Megyn Kelly says, and I don't appreciate the type of journalism that Piers Morgan does,” Lemon said. “But I do think that they are incredible broadcasters…You want to watch them.”
Going independent allows for more autonomy and the potential to earn more money than in legacy media as newsroom budgets shrink, he said.
Audiences are shrinking, too. In late 2022, Lemon’s primetime cable news show was averaging about 628,000 viewers per episode, down from over 1 million in 2018, according to data from USTVDB and CNN. Lemon later moved to CNN’s morning show.
But going solo also comes with new risks and challenges.
Earlier this year, Lemon was arrested while covering an ICE protest at a church in Minnesota. He believes that was a targeted move by the Trump administration. “They’re going after independent voices because they’ve already neutered legacy media,” he said.
Unlike in his CNN days, there were no corporate lawyers to help him.
Lemon has also had to get comfortable with YouTube tactics for grabbing attention, which include dramatic thumbnails. A recent example: a photo of Lemon with a shocked expression alongside President Trump and RFK Jr. with the text “They Are Making Us Sick!”
“It is clickbait,” he said, but a catchy thumbnail is what draws viewers in. “Once they get there, they’re going to get the information.”
Looking ahead, Lemon believes it’s only going to get harder to stand out in independent media. “If you’re not in this game now, you better start.”
In the interview, we also discussed Lemon’s biggest revenue sources, whether he’d ever return to cable news, why he thinks legacy media is “bending the knee” to the Trump administration and much more.
You can watch the full episode on YouTube or tune in on Spotify, Apple or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Meta’s Tough Week
It’s been quite the barrage of negative news for Meta this week!
What was supposed to be a big launch moment for its new AI image model, Muse Image, has quickly turned into a privacy headache.
As part of the update, people with public Instagram accounts are automatically opted in to their content, including their face, being used to generate AI images. (Yikes!) Instagram users have been spreading the word and encouraging their followers to turn off the setting. BRB, going to update Scalable’s account settings...
Then in a court filing earlier this week, Meta wrote that four states were looking for $1.4 trillion (yes, with a “T”) in penalties over claims the company designed its apps to addict young users and misled the public about safety, Reuters reported. The figures were calculated by Meta and, if accurate, would be far greater than any of the other financial fines the company has faced.
Meanwhile, Meta is facing mounting pressure in India, one of its largest markets. The Indian government is demanding that Instagram remove child abuse-related content, which appeared in paid ads, according to a local broadcaster. (A Meta spokesperson told CNBC it has a “zero tolerance policy” for child abuse-related content.) India also wants WhatsApp to pause a new feature that lets people use a username to keep their phone number private, which the country believes will increase cyber crime.
The Indian government has broad authority to regulate foreign social media platforms, including requiring them to take down content. TikTok and other Chinese apps have also been banned in the country since 2020.
Finally, backlash over Meta’s smart glasses—and the privacy and surveillance concerns surrounding them—isn’t letting up. We’ve seen online sentiment trend more negative since last month’s launch of a new pair with Kylie Jenner.
One food influencer returned his glasses, while creator Saad Akhtar apologized to his 334,000 Instagram followers for offending them by wearing them.
“If you are still angry, my DMs are open,” Akhtar wrote in a disappearing Story this week.
Watch our full take on Meta’s—and Snap’s—smart glasses in the YouTube video embedded below.
🏆Emmys Snub Creators
Creator shows were largely shut out from earning Primetime Emmy nominations on Wednesday.
One exception: Kareem Rahma’s “Subway Takes” scored its first nomination in the outstanding short form comedy, drama or variety series category.
But other creator shows including TBPN, Sean Evans’ “Hot Ones” and Michelle Khare’s “Challenge Accepted” were left off the nominee list. In true creator fashion, Khare posted a video about the news.
More creators have been vying for awards from Hollywood lately. YouTube has also been pushing for recognition for its creators. But, as we’ve previously reported, Hollywood isn’t quite ready to open its arms to social media creators.
Soundbite
We’re in a race against time to make sure that good-quality journalism competes with AI-generated slop and influencer-generated non-original journalism out there on the internet.”
In an interview with Business Insider, Kahn said it’s “imperative” for the newspaper to “translate” its work into formats that people want to consume. Read: Lots more video.
The remarks echo the media industry’s major pivot to video a decade ago.
But there is a big difference this time around: publishers aren’t betting their business on social platforms, thinking that’s where the traffic and dollars will come from. Instead, they’re making videos for their own sites and apps—but that are also shareable on other platforms.
Netflix’s Publisher Play
Netflix will bring videos from brands including BuzzFeed, Condé Nast and People to markets including the US, Canada, UK and Australia starting in August.
The videos will range in length from three to 20 minutes, making them more similar to the kind of content you see on social media platforms than on a premium streamer. Netflix plans to add other publishers in the future.
The move also comes several months after Netflix launched “Clips,” a short-form video feed for its mobile app.
“We don’t want it to be just a redux of a bunch of clips,” Netflix CMO Marian Lee recently told us about Clips. “We are trying different things, like maybe something that works on social that we are co-creating.”
We understand the need for streamers to have their own short-form feeds to help people find something to watch. We’re also not surprised to see Netflix experimenting with more social-like content on its main platform.
Still, we find this move a bit strange. While it’s a good way to test whether people want shorter-form content on the platform, we’re not convinced these are the right partners to do it with. Yes, they may publish content related to Netflix’s shows but they no longer attract the same level of attention that they used to.
But for these publishers, getting their content on Netflix is a major win.
Tune into our full interview with Lee on YouTube, Spotify, Apple or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Podcast Watch
Chelsea Handler is launching her own podcast network with iHeartPodcasts. The Dear Chelsea Network includes Handler’s own podcast alongside other shows. The first is a new comedy and pop culture show called “You’re the Problem … with Yamaneika,” hosted by Yamaneika Saunders, which premieres July 15.
Handler is the latest public figure to take a whack at launching a network of shows, following Conan O’Brien, Alex Cooper and Piers Morgan. But expanding beyond one high-profile show or individual has proven difficult for these creators. We explain why here.
TOGETHXR, a media company focused on women’s sports, launched a new weekly podcast on Thursday with iHeardMedia called “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports.” (The company’s t-shirts with this phrase have gone viral.) Featured hosts will include journalist Ari Chambers, Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles and comedian Sam Jay.
Talent Tracker
Georgia Katz joined CAA as an agent in London as the talent agency builds out its UK creators division. Most recently, she was a talent manager at Mokkingbird.
Sony Pictures Entertainment is hiring an executive vice president and head of YouTube and social platforms, strategy and operations in Los Angeles.
