• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Today

Netflix now looks more like a TV broadcast network: It is scheduling a regular, weekday early morning video podcast.

“The Breakfast Club,” a morning show co-hosted by Charlamagne tha God, will stream live every weekday. And that show will essentially compete with other live morning shows on other platforms -- mostly TV broadcast networks or local TV stations.

But it also means going head-to-head with the likes of YouTube. This is part of Netflix overall effort for video podcasts -- as part of a major programming expansion.

This comes as YouTube has aggressively expanded video podcast efforts, including live programming every weekday. It even has a “live” tab to see upcoming scheduled video podcasts.

Shows on YouTube includes “The Pat McAfee Show” which is also simulcast on ESPN, as well as a number of news and politics-focused shows like “Breaking Points” and “The Majority Report with Sam Seder.”

Netflix wants to actively join this pursuit -- now as a “must have” premium platform for many U.S. and other subscribers. For many it’s just a necessary utility now. But increasing it wants more: More regular tune in

Netflix has seen flattening of average daily use by its subscribers over the last few years. For example, in the first half of 2025, average subscriber viewing per day actually slipped about 6% year-over-year in the U.S. to 1.4 hours, according to MoffettNathanson Research.

Other third-party estimates (eMarketer and Nielsen) show average daily time spent by U.S. subscribers was around 60 to 64 minutes per day.

This doesn’t mean Netflix is going to add in normal looking TV newscasts, or even opinion-tinged newscasts. Fully opinionated, free-spirit podcasts are the way to go.

National and local TV newscasts typically skew to a crowd 60 and older years old. Like it or not, podcasts offer up spicy, opinionated content that can observe news and deliver compelling spin to its consumers and fans. And they can skew younger.

But now comes the moment where we wonder about the type of advertisers that will support such content. Are many brands still worried about ‘brand-safe” content? How do video podcasts then fit into the mix?

Considering its growing diverse content, Netflix -- more or less -- wants to find a broad range of advertising interest in all types of new content going forward (video podcasts, special sporting events, gaming) -- targeting young and old viewers.

Again the key word here is broad-based -- which makes sound familiar to that other familiar word: Broadcasting.