Promotional appearances have shifted from television sofas to long conversations on podcasts and video shows. The move is driven by economics on both sides rather than by a preference for the format.
The junket model was expensive and shallow
A traditional press day put a performer in a hotel suite for dozens of short interviews, each a few minutes long with rotating outlets.
Everyone asked overlapping questions because everyone had the same brief and no time. The output was interchangeable and disposable.
It also required travel, crews, suites and coordination for all parties. The cost per usable minute of coverage was poor and got worse as outlets shrank.
Long-form audio inverts the arithmetic
A single conversation lasting an hour or more produces a large volume of material from one booking. It can then be cut into clips that circulate for weeks.
Production cost is low, since the format needs a room and microphones rather than a studio and a crew. There is no set to build, no audience to seat and no broadcast slot to buy.
For the show, a recognisable guest brings an audience. For the publicist, one appointment replaces twenty. Both sides gain from the same change.
Audiences arrive already interested
A talk show is watched by whoever is watching that channel. A podcast is chosen deliberately by people with a specific interest.
Promotion is more effective against a self-selected audience, even a much smaller one, because attention is genuinely committed rather than incidental.
This is why appearances are increasingly targeted by subject rather than by audience size. A niche show reaching the right people outperforms a large show reaching everyone.
Control shifted toward the guest
Hosts who depend on access have limited incentive to press hard, and the guest's team can indicate areas to avoid before recording.
The length of the format also helps the guest. An hour allows a difficult subject to be addressed once, at chosen length, and then left behind.
A four-minute television interview cannot do that. Anything raised occupies a large share of the segment and dominates whatever is clipped from it.
What has been lost
The adversarial interview, conducted by someone with no relationship to protect, has largely disappeared from promotional cycles.
Its replacement is friendlier and considerably longer, which produces more material and less scrutiny. Audiences generally prefer it, which is why the shift has held despite regular complaints about it.
What disappeared with the junket was not insight so much as friction. A hostile question from a stranger occasionally produced something unplanned, and unplanned moments are the ones people remember.
The result is that the promotional interview has become a conversation between people who both benefit from it going well.