Land of the Giants
The Cut & The Verge
4.8
(20)
Big tech is transforming every aspect of our world. But how? And at what cost? In Land of the Giants: Dating Games, The Verge and New York Magazine's The Cut trace the evolution of the multi-billion dollar dating app industry. Hosts Sangeeta Singh Kurtz and Lakshmi Rengarajan explore the modern dating landscape forged by companies like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, and their impact on our hopes for connection. Through conversations with industry leaders, experts, and users, this series will look at the past decade of dating and ask the question: are the business goals of dating app companies aligned with users' romantic aspirations? New episodes every Wednesday. From The Verge, The Cut and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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Did the algorithm make you watch Tiger King?
Land of the Giants
07/07/20 • 21 min
4.0
Netflix’s recommendation algorithm is supposed to find you TV and movies that you’ll like — and that will keep you paying for Netflix. But is Netflix really showing you stuff you want to watch, or just stuff that Netflix made?
Hosts: Peter Kafka & Rani Molla
This podcast is a production of Recode by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This episode was produced by Zach Mack, Bridget Armstrong. Our editor is Charlie Herman. Gautam Srikishan engineered and scored this episode. Nishat Kurwa is the Executive Producer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
8 Listeners
3

Netflix vs. Hollywood | Part 1
Land of the Giants
07/14/20 • 28 min
5.0
Loaning out shows and movies to Netflix used to be a great way for studios to make a little money on the side, until they realized they were training audiences everywhere to watch Netflix. In this episode, we look at how Netflix went from renting content—and breathing new life into shows like Breaking Bad and The Office — to investing heavily in original content and changing Hollywood forever.
Hosts: Peter Kafka & Rani Molla
This podcast is a production of Recode by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This episode was produced by Zach Mack, Bridget Armstrong. Our editor is Charlie Herman. Gautam Srikishan engineered and scored this episode. Nishat Kurwa is the Executive Producer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
4 Listeners
2

Don't Be Afraid To Break Things
Land of the Giants
07/20/22 • 37 min
5.0
If our first episode brought you into the beginning of Zuckerberg’s vision for connecting at scale, this story is about the consequences of pursuing that vision at full speed. In the 2000s, Facebook made a big bet to become a platform for developers – and all social activity across the web. It would bring us FarmVille and “Log In With Facebook.” But years later, it would lead the company into one of its biggest scandals: Cambridge Analytica.
- Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
- Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by hitting the plus sign in your favorite podcast app
- Follow @recode and @verge for more coverage of Meta and Big Tech
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2 Listeners
1

Why You’ll Never Quit Amazon Prime
Land of the Giants
07/23/19 • 34 min
5.0
With over 100 million members, Prime is the engine that’s made Amazon a retailing juggernaut and one of the largest companies in the world. Jason Del Rey explores how Prime came to be, why it’s so effective at keeping us locked into the Amazon ecosystem, and how it became the source of the company’s power.
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Want to get in touch?
Tweet @recode or send an email to landofthegiants@voxmedia.com.
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3 Listeners
1

Who really killed Blockbuster Video?
Land of the Giants
06/30/20 • 37 min
5.0
Netflix killed our trips to the video store and ushered in the streaming era. But when Netflix started out, it was a fraction of the size of Blockbuster. It should have been crushed, and almost was. What went wrong?
Hosts: Peter Kafka & Rani Molla
This podcast is a production of Recode by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This episode was produced by Zach Mack, Bridget Armstrong. Our editor is Charlie Herman. Gautam Srikishan engineered and scored this episode. Nishat Kurwa is the Executive Producer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
3 Listeners
3

“Netflix is a team, not a family”
Land of the Giants
06/23/20 • 39 min
5.0
Is working on a team of all-stars, excellent pay, and unlimited vacation worth the stress of constant criticism from co-workers and the knowledge that your boss is considering whether to replace you? Netflix execs will tell you that their internal culture is the key to their success.
Hosts: Peter Kafka & Rani Molla
This podcast is a production of Recode by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This episode was produced by Zach Mack, Bridget Armstrong. Our editor is Charlie Herman. Gautam Srikishan engineered and scored this episode. Nishat Kurwa is the Executive Producer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2 Listeners
1

The Race for Your Dollars
Land of the Giants
06/29/21 • 42 min
The restaurant delivery industry is worth more than $100 billion. But none of the major apps are profitable. In this episode, the key battles that have shaped the delivery wars from the point of view of founders, company executives and venture capitalists. And a key question: With billions invested, rockstar IPOs and a pandemic that exploded the growth of the industry, why aren’t these companies profitable?
- Hosts : Ahmed Ali Akbar (@radbrowndads) & Jason Del Rey (@delrey)
- Enjoyed this episode? Rate us ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
- Want to get in touch? Tweet @recode or @eater.
- Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2 Listeners

The Virtual Future of Restaurants
Land of the Giants
07/13/21 • 37 min
5.0
There's a secret world of restaurants that you can only find when you open up the delivery apps. This brave new world of ghost kitchens and virtual brands has allowed traditional restaurants to access new revenue streams. And these new models are using data to shape new concepts and menus. But when tech reimagines what a restaurant even is, is the soul of an entire industry at stake?
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2 Listeners
1

Netflix is Hollywood | Part 2
Land of the Giants
07/21/20 • 33 min
5.0
Netflix hasn’t just disrupted Hollywood, it has become Hollywood. How has that changed the lives of studio executives, movie producers and creators in the entertainment industry? A lot.
Hosts: Peter Kafka & Rani Molla
This podcast is a production of Recode by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This episode was produced by Zach Mack, Bridget Armstrong. Our editor is Charlie Herman. Gautam Srikishan engineered and scored this episode. Nishat Kurwa is the Executive Producer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2 Listeners
1

Why Instagram Broke Its Square
Land of the Giants
07/27/22 • 36 min
4.0
When Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram in 2012, he promised he would be hands-off with the company’s curated aesthetic and simple features. But as Facebook scaled the startup into a social media juggernaut, tensions flared. Instagram’s founders would leave, and it’s now a very different app than when it first started. But are the changes setting the company up to compete in the future? Or is Instagram losing the magic that made it great in the first place?
- Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
- Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by hitting the plus sign in your favorite podcast app
- Follow @recode and @verge for more coverage of Meta and Big Tech
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2 Listeners
2
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4.8
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20 Ratings
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Ken (Team Goodpods)
@ken
Jul 23
What an amazing combination of luck and genius contributed to the enormous success of Netflix. Definitely worth a listen if you enjoy business stories.
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