Zeitgeist Report is your cultural intelligence briefing. Hosts Thomas Umstattd Jr. and Jonathan Shuerger decode the forces reshaping culture, from generational cycles to the shifting stories audiences crave, so creatives and curious minds can navigate the changing times instead of being blindsided by them.
Each episode connects today's headlines to the cycles that drive them, drawing on the Fourth Turning, Strauss-Howe generational theory, 2,000 years of history, and a working knowledge of what audiences actually buy. Why did audiences stop rooting for antiheroes? Why does earnestness suddenly sell? Why does this decade feel like the 1930s wearing a smartphone? The patterns answer those questions, and the patterns repeat.
The show began as the most-requested segment of Author Update, the publishing industry news show from Author Media. Enough listeners kept saying "I skip to the zeitgeist part" that the zeitgeist part became its own show. If you make things for a living, or you just want to understand why the culture feels the way it does, this briefing is for you.
Zeitgeist Report is a production of Author Media, the team behind Author Update and the Novel Marketing podcast.