TBPN Podcast Summary

Podcast: TBPN
Hosts: Ben Thompson & James Allworth
Episode: Diet TBPN: October 22, 2025
Date of Recording: October 22, 2025
Release Date: October 23, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into Apple TV’s new exclusive U.S. broadcast deal for Formula 1 (F1), explores the broader implications for live sports in streaming, discusses Meta’s major AI layoffs and strategy, highlights the growing influence of Anthropic in the AI race, and touches on the security woes of the Louvre and developments in space computing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Apple TV's F1 Deal: Strategy and Implications

• Apple TV+ secures exclusive F1 U.S. streaming rights

  • Five-year deal, annual fee: $140–$160 million.

  • ESPN out, Apple TV+ in.

  • F1: ~30M viewers across season, 1.3M average per race, up to 3M for top U.S. races.

  • High-value, tech-savvy, affluent audience aligns well with Apple’s brand.

    "It's a very high value audience. It's a very Apple audience, in my opinion.”
    — Ben Thompson [00:56]

• Cultural angle:

  • F1’s U.S. growth propelled by the “Drive to Survive” Netflix series, leading to “fake fans” — newcomers drawn in by dramatic storytelling.

  "Apple's audience of people that become fans of a sport because they watch reality television about it, basically fake fans."
  — James Allworth [01:12]

• Technical Experience & User Journey:

  • Apple TV+ users get F1 streams integrated, can choose camera angles (including in-car cams).
  • Potential funnel from other Apple content (e.g., upcoming F1 movie) to live races.

  "You will get full access to F1 streams...not just the race cams...but you can watch the individual drivers. I think both the front and the back camera, which is kind of cool.”
  — Ben Thompson [01:25]

• Will Apple TV grow F1’s U.S. audience?

  • Mixed feelings:
    • Streaming (Apple TV+): viewed as more intentional than incidental TV (i.e., people don't just 'have it on’ like ESPN).
    • Audience might shrink due to less casual exposure, but strengthens engagement among core fans.

  "I still think of Apple TV as the thing that people are doing intentional watching on versus just running it. … I think it could potentially shrink the audience in the US.” — James Allworth [02:08]

• Adjacent Content & the ‘Funnel’:

  • Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” effect couldn't be replicated by Apple, which lacks reality/documentary IP.
  • Apple’s F1 movie integration possible, but unlikely to generate the same volume.

  “Apple can do something similar with the F1 movie...but way, way, way less watch.”
  — Ben Thompson & James Allworth [03:14–03:22]

• Apple Vision Pro & F1: (Underwhelming)

  • High hopes for immersive, spatial F1 viewing.
  • Launch announcement: only traditional 2D viewing, no 3D or real spatial video.
  • Hardware exists (“$10,000 camera”), but no current plans for advanced experiences.

  “All they're saying on Vision Pro is that you'll be able to watch it in Vision Pro, which is like, yeah, of course... So yeah, they're not doing any 3D content…which is, it’s not look, it’s not turn your head all the way around and look behind you. But it’s basically a bubble.”
  — Ben Thompson [03:56]

  “I would set up film.”
  — Ben Thompson [04:44]

  • Steer-man (optimistic) case: Apple isn’t ready to announce, but immersive content is in works.

2. Meta AI Layoffs & WhatsApp ChatGPT Ban

• Meta’s Layoffs:

  • 600 jobs cut from “superintelligence” AI division (umbrella 3,000-person org).
  • Layoffs unlikely to increase unemployment as AI talent is in high demand.

  "If you're not meeting the bar at Meta, it's very possible that you would be elite at like thousands of other companies that want to have an AI strategy.”
  — James Allworth [06:36]

• Meta blocks non-Meta chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT) from WhatsApp in 2026.

  • 3 billion WhatsApp users, ~50 million ChatGPT-on-WhatsApp users affected.

  “3 billion users will no longer be able to use ChatGPT in the messaging app. Apparently there was like around 50 million people that were primarily using ChatGPT through WhatsApp.”
  — James Allworth [07:13]

  “Whoa, that's WhatsApp power user.” — Ben Thompson [07:29]

  • Atlas RT encourages users to migrate.

• Platform power dynamics:

  • The “hyperscalers” (big tech cloud/AI providers) are aggressively protecting their cores and limiting cross-service integration.

  “All of the hyperscalers hate each other."
  — Ben Thompson [07:47]

  • Satirical banter: urge to move from “super intelligence” to “hyper intelligence” or even “giga intelligence”.

  “My for you is to start working on hyper intelligence.”
  — Ben Thompson [07:49]
  "Giga intelligence. That might be a 2030 goal."
  — James Allworth [08:03]

3. Anthropic, Google, and the Future of AI Compute

• Anthropic in talks with Google for tens of billions in cloud/compute deals.

  • Google owns 14% of Anthropic.
  • Strategic implications for AWS: missing out could damage their AI infrastructure market position.
  • If running Apple, they’d acquire Anthropic outright.

  "Anthropic scaling revenue. They're doing B2B token generation and they need more compute. And so they went to the biggest compute provider, very Drake Coded."
  — James Allworth [08:41]

• Media coverage disparity:

  • Anthropic rapidly growing (approaching 75% of OpenAI’s revenue), but gets less press.
  • Mainstream press prefers buzz around consumer-facing AI (like ChatGPT) for more relatable headlines.

  “Anthropic gets wildly disproportionately less MSM coverage than OpenAI despite approaching 3/4 of its revenue size because its quiet blowout success severely hurts the broader AI bear case.” — Ben Thompson [08:54]

• Product differences:

  • OpenAI “ships a browser”, Anthropic “ships a blog post.”
  • Measurement of product usage and tracking: more straightforward for OpenAI than Anthropic’s more API-driven model.

4. Other Topics & Banter

• Louvre security shortcomings (satirical tone):

  • Discussions on recurring Louvre art heists and management’s possible misjudgments.

  “Louvre heists are always a false flag by the art world. To increase notoriety of certain works, do not fall for the Frankish tricks.” — James Allworth [10:01]

• Space Data Centers:

  • Nvidia pushes HPC-powered (H100) satellites—“Space isn’t just for stars anymore.”
  • Are “space data centers” really a compelling proposition yet?
  • Humorous, rapid closing to the show.

  “Have we got a compelling pitch for space data centers yet?” — Ben Thompson [10:46]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Apple TV audience:

  "I still think of Apple TV as the thing that people are doing intentional watching on versus just running it."
  — James Allworth [02:08]

• On Vision Pro’s lack of innovation:

  "Since the initial demo of the Apple Vision Pro, critics and analysts Ben Thompson and more have been saying live sports are going to be amazing in Apple Vision Pro because you can just drop a camera there and you don't need to do anything else..."
  — Ben Thompson [05:33]

• Meta layoff context:

  "This seems healthy and normal. I think these 600 people are going to have a bunch of job offers really quickly in my view."
  — James Allworth [06:31]

• On the hyperscalers' AI war:

  "All of the hyperscalers hate each other." — Ben Thompson [07:47]

• Anthropic’s media strategy:

  "OpenAI ships a browser. Anthropic ships a blog post. DeepMind solves Navier Stoke. Meta Eff it. Let's do a layoff."
  — Ben Thompson [09:42]

• Louvre heists joke:

  "Louvre heists are always a false flag by the art world. To increase notoriety of certain works, do not fall for the Frankish tricks..."
  — James Allworth [10:01]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Apple TV+ F1 Deal & Strategy — [00:00] to [04:56]
• Apple Vision Pro / Live Sports Integration — [03:16] to [05:52]
• Meta AI Layoffs & WhatsApp ChatGPT Ban — [06:12] to [07:49]
• Anthropic’s AI Compute, Media Coverage & B2B Focus — [08:07] to [09:42]
• Art World Banter & Space Data Centers — [10:01] to [10:56]

Conclusion

This episode provided a rapid-fire but insightful analysis of the latest collisions between sports media, big tech’s battles over live content, the realpolitik of the AI arms race (Meta, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic), and, as always, some tongue-in-cheek commentary on the week’s quirky news. Perfect for listeners wanting clear, opinionated takes on big tech’s latest chess moves.