Every generation thinks it’s drowning in content.
“Too many newspapers.”
“Too many radio shows.”
“Too many cable talkers.”
“Too many podcasts.”
It’s the same complaint in different clothes. And it’s not a fluke — it’s a feature.
In 1971, Nobel laureate Herbert Simon warned that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Half a century later, that truth has become unavoidable. The scarce resource in media isn’t content. It’s attention.
After two decades in the industry, I’ve come to see a pattern that repeats itself across every medium. Call it the Attention Cycle:
Every medium of attention begins in scarcity, expands into oversupply, enters fatigue, consolidates into a few survivors, and renews only when a new medium shifts the terms of attention.
How the Cycle Works
- Scarcity (the Gold Rush): A new medium emerges, fresh and rare. Early movers dominate.
- Oversupply (the Flood): Barriers drop, everyone piles in. Content floods the system.
- Fatigue (the Collapse): Audiences burn out. Critics complain of “too many.”
- Consolidation (the Survivors): The weak fade, a few brands become institutions.
- Renewal (the Reset): A new medium resets scarcity, and the cycle begins again.
The Proof: Sports Media
Sports is the clearest case study:
- Newspapers: Cities once supported four or more dailies. By the 1970s, only one or two survived. Renewal came through radio.
- Radio: Play-by-play in the 1920s felt magical. Oversupply came with the sports talk boom. Fatigue set in. Syndicated voices survived. Renewal came through TV.
- Cable TV: ESPN and Fox filled 24/7 grids with debate shows. By the 2000s, critics said there were “too many.” Today only SportsCenter, PTI, and First Take remain. Renewal came through digital and streaming.
- Podcasts: Athlete-led podcasts exploded in the 2010s. By 2025, even Front Office Sports is asking if we’ve hit “Peak Athlete Podcast.” We have. Consolidation is happening now, and renewal will come through AI-personalized and interactive formats.
What Makes This Cycle Different
This time, oversupply isn’t being driven by beat writers or studio execs. It’s athletes themselves.
The Kelce brothers’ New Heights is bigger than most ESPN properties. Draymond Green, JJ Redick, and Paul George matter more than cable hosts. Even role players are building audiences.
This mirrors what happened with influencers: Instagram bloggers became household names, TikTok creators built empires. The difference now is that athletes already arrive with built-in fame and cultural weight. They don’t need the gatekeepers. They are the media.
Beyond Sports
The Attention Cycle governs all media:
- Music: MTV made videos scarce → YouTube and SoundCloud oversupply → Spotify playlists consolidate → TikTok resets discovery.
- News: Daily papers → 24/7 CNN → blog and Twitter oversupply → consolidation around a few national papers → newsletters/podcasts as renewal.
- Influencers: Early scarcity on Instagram → oversupply of #sponcon → fatigue → mega-influencers + micro-communities consolidate → TikTok renewal.
- Gaming: Twitch pioneers scarce → oversupply of streamers → fatigue → top 1% consolidate → Shorts/YouTube TV renew.
Everywhere, the complaint is the same. The medium changes, but the cycle doesn’t.
The Lesson
For fans: Overload is inevitable. That’s what the cycle feels like in real time.
For creators: Volume won’t win. Differentiation and trust will.
For brands: Don’t chase the noise. Bet on the voices that survive consolidation.
Closing Thought
Every generation thinks it’s unique when it complains about saturation. It’s not. It’s the law of media-attention.
Scarcity → Oversupply → Fatigue → Consolidation → Renewal.
The mediums change. The complaint doesn’t. Because the cycle doesn’t.