A significant portion of the "always online" audience is chasing conspiracy theorism confirmation biased content like it's a gigantic online Art Bell coast to coast show lately. That has eroded some of the more traditional audience. I find the entire online environment of that all too predictable and easy to see through. People are consumed with seeking confirmation biases that pique their intuitions, conjectured, and suspicions and it is easy to fine one or more of those categories and feed them content and string them along.

I'd agree Shapiro hammers the Israel angle too hard too often but he is Jewish. I just overlook at part because aI find his politicsl and legal analysis of domestic politics incisive and well reasoned. I think they probably overstepped trying to create a media giant and do battle with far larger and more well funded entrenched media businesses in an environment where content is becoming diffuse, increasingly niche, and individually customized and personalized. This is something of a theme from Matt Walsh and it is very observant and it is affecting our media consumption, culture, and politics.

Anyone can go out and find any entertainment they want, or even make it. Anyone can also now find any fact or truth they need or want to believe is true. Anyone can be manipulated in these ways, or exploited, if they aren't careful. It's almost a sort of Nietzschean devolution of our society vie disconnection with common culture and institutions, and it affects everyone to some degree.

I personally can't go doen the path of buying into all these conspiracies so readily to rationalize giving up and throwing in the towel on institutions in general. It seems to me the easy way out to claim that it is an impossible effort to combat all the decay and corruption, instead of doing the harder work of finding the real causes of and solutions to problems.

They spent too much on entertainment especially directed towards kids and it failed. Ben talks about Israel too much and they don't have a democrat is office to complain about. They will start to do better when 2028 campaigning begins and Ben starts talking about domestic issues. I'm a DailyWire fan and used to listen to Ben daily but can't when it is only about Israel.

Quote:

---

I would imagine Walsh is by far their most popular podcaster.

---

Every metric I've seen had Shapiro SIGNIFICANTLY larger.

Is it really so hard to believe that a practicing Jew would want to talk about what happens in Israel? I'm also on Ben's side on the whole Tucker/Candace fight. Those two have gone absolutely bat**** and it's obvious.

That said, I haven't been watching him regularly for a long time because his show largely boils down to playing clips of democrats saying what they always say followed by uninformative reactions. Yes, I know the democrats are insane. Yes, I know they hate me and want me dead. No, playing half an episode of The View for the 3rd time this week followed by calling them dumb is not newsworthy. It's not informative. It's not insightful. It's just boring, and I have no interest in it.

Klavan still has a good show more often than not. He puts some thought into his commentary, and I usually have something to think about from every show. Only downside is that he's once a week.

Stmichael said:

---

That said, I haven't been watching him regularly for a long time because his show largely boils down to playing clips of democrats saying what they always say followed by uninformative reactions. Yes, I know the democrats are insane. Yes, I know they hate me and want me dead. No, playing half an episode of The View for the 3rd time this week followed by calling them dumb is not newsworthy. It's not informative. It's not insightful. It's just boring, and I have no interest in it.

---

This. I am a big fan of Ben (and Matt, Michael and the rest of DW), but Ben has gotten in this lazy rut at the expense of covering substantive issues in depth. For example, the recent Calais decision was mostly a footnote in his show, where it deserved a whole episode devoted to dissecting the various opinions. He's adopted the Greg Gutfield format, with less guests and without the comedy.

PS- Bentkey was a large part of the reasons our family became subscribers to DW. I wish they had been able to pull it off.

I think a big contributor to their decline, as other posters have pointed out has been some of their ventures into other media spaces (entertainment) that have flopped.

You also have to consider that when personalities like Candace, Brett Cooper, and Crain & Co. leave, a portion of their/DW's audience leaves with them.

I also agree with the point other posters made about some of the culture-war commentary being excessive/over the top. Yes, the left is insane. Yes, it needs to be talked about. Do I need a 30-minute long spiel about the Little Mermaid being black in a new Disney movie? No, I do not.

I think one major problem is that Daily Wire is primarily built on personalities, not content. People subscribe to it to follow the personalities they like. When one of the personalities leaves, gets in a fight with one of the other personalities, or says something subscribers don't like, they lose a chunk of viewership and revenue.

I think that's an ok model if you don't over-extend, and if you're built to absorb losses in viewership when personalities cycle in and out. But I don't think you can have that as a business model if you're going to branch into TV and movies, unless you get really lucky with some huge hits that bring you a bunch of subscribers (which they haven't had).

If they were going to go into streaming, they probably should have started a standalone entity separate from Daily Wire.

I think this is largely correct. I also think their little clique was very niche. Shapiro and Walsh have the broadest appeal. They have brought in some ones to do and don't make sense. Klavan just isn't a draw. He's fine, just not a big deal. Owens is and always was weird. But weirder now. They've attracted and lost a lot of young faces that have been pretty unreliable as far as on screen talent.

And I just don't think they have the ability to produce movies and TV shows of the scale they've been attempting. It's ambitious, and needed, but the distribution side just isn't there. And streaming as a platform is really expensive and hard.

They've done a lot as well, a childrens arm, movies, tv and their podcast formats. That's a lot of places to need people and talent and resources and all at once. Hat's off for the attempt but I'm not really surprised that they need to reorganize.

aggies101 said:

---

Turns out a lot of Americans don't want to hear his Israel first propaganda. The more he doubles down the faster his company will eventually tank. Shapiro really thought he could pick up with Charlie Kirk left off but a lot of people just aren't having it.

---

Fun fact: Shapiro was hostile to Charlie Kirk coming up, and Charlie couldn't stand Ben.

Daily Wire should have used their resources for an epic COVID docu series. So much hysteria and abuse of gov/authority. Also, big pharma corruption entangled with media. Would prob be a bigger hit than What is a Woman.

Instead, Shapiro went full Mark Levin with non-stop Israel First content.

This thread is attracting groypers like moths to flame.

Getting a chance to bag on a prominent Joooooooo gets them hot and bothered.

Silent For Too Long said:

---

This thread is attracting groypers like moths to flame.

Getting a chance to bag on a prominent Joooooooo gets them hot and bothered.

---

Is Matt Walsh of DW a "groyper" or part of the "woke Reich"? If not, why not? He has been consistently critical of the war and why we are in it.

MarvZindler said:

---

Silent For Too Long said:

---

This thread is attracting groypers like moths to flame.

Getting a chance to bag on a prominent Joooooooo gets them hot and bothered.

---

Is Matt Walsh of DW a "groyper" or part of the "woke Reich"? If not, why not? He has been consistently critical of the war and why we are in it.

---

Of course Walsh isn't a Groyper. What a stupid question.

There are reasonable opinions against the war. Then there are brain dead the jooooos are behind everything groyper bull ***** A college educated person shouldn't need this explained to them.

Quote:

---

Klavan still has a good show more often than not. He puts some thought into his commentary, and I usually have something to think about from every show. Only downside is that he's once a week.

---

Klavan has new show with his son talking about movies & pop culture. I have watched the first show but haven't gotten around to watching the new episodes yet. You should checkout Pints with Aquinas too. Matt Fradd has some amazing guest on.

Stmichael said:

---

Is it really so hard to believe that a practicing Jew would want to talk about what happens in Israel? I'm also on Ben's side on the whole Tucker/Candace fight. Those two have gone absolutely bat**** and it's obvious.

---

It's not just that he's Jewish, but that he regularly visits Israel for major Jewish holidays, and has friends living there. So October 7 was personal for him.

I've found Ben harder to listen to over the past few years. His on-campus thug life compilations were his best content.

I think the mantra of "Came for Shapiro, stayed for Knowles" is quite true for much of the audience.

With that said - the Shapiro rap appearance was an all timer.

I agree and think it should be discussed. I also expect him to advocate for US supporting Israel and personally I think we should (maybe not as much as we are right now) but it doesn't need to be the majority of what he talks about for multiple years. His audience is mostly American and we care more about domestic issues.

The Collective said:

---

I've found Ben harder to listen to over the past few years. His on-campus thug life compilations were his best content.

I think the mantra of "Came for Shapiro, stayed for Knowles" is quite true for much of the audience.

With that said - the Shapiro rap appearance was an all timer.

---

Knowles is my favorite guy at Daily Wire. He has had some great podcasts/long form interviews over the past couple years.

With that said - the Shapiro rap appearance was an all timer.

Agree! I had to go watch it again to enjoy it and to see how many views it's up too:

Podcasting peaked last year with the election.

It's going to fall slowly. This means talent moves around to work with the brands it likes or they will go independent and skip the media houses that provide almost no value.

BonfireNerd04 said:

---

Stmichael said:

---

Is it really so hard to believe that a practicing Jew would want to talk about what happens in Israel? I'm also on Ben's side on the whole Tucker/Candace fight. Those two have gone absolutely bat**** and it's obvious.

---

It's not just that he's Jewish, but that he regularly visits Israel for major Jewish holidays, and has friends living there. So October 7 was personal for him.

---

Yeah nobody faults him for that. The issue is when he preaches AGAINST "identity politics" for Americans (despite personally being openly Israel First and Jewish First), and also how he has been on record saying he has no problem with the "browning of America" (or something like that).

KentK93 said:

---

With that said - the Shapiro rap appearance was an all timer.

Agree! I had to go watch it again to enjoy it and to see how many views it's up too:

---

Yeah, that was great!

What was the nickname that Shapiro got for doing that? "Dr. Dreidel"?

BonfireNerd04 said:

---

KentK93 said:

---

With that said - the Shapiro rap appearance was an all timer.

Agree! I had to go watch it again to enjoy it and to see how many views it's up too:

---

Yeah, that was great!

What was the nickname that Shapiro got for doing that? "Dr. Dreidel"?

---

Yes it was:
Ben Shapiro's main "rap name" after his 2024 feature on Tom MacDonald's "Facts" was "Dr. Dreidel" (a play on Dr. Dre, tying into his Jewish heritage with a dreidel reference).

Why did you stop morning wire. It's still short to the point and free…

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

Why did you stop morning wire. It's still short to the point and free…

---

Morning Wire is one of the best things they do. I enjoy those 15 min everyday and the cover some really important bits of news.

Also, Luke Rosiak needs more air time with all the fraud he's reporting.

one MEEN Ag said:

---

At the end of the day, I think the DW is on the wrong side of the fracturing conservative movement and they can't course correct because of who they are by nature. American support of Israel is highly boomer/protestant leaning. I don't think anyone who listens to conservative talk show under 35 has good things to say about Israel. And the pro-Israel conservative groups consider negative views on Israel or positive assertions of Christianity only as disqualifying for allying with them under the banner of fiscal conservativism and secularized social conservativism.

---

Who is the current mainstream conservative then?

Ben Shapiro's latest YouTube video has 137k after 8 hours. He's doing fine.

one MEEN Ag said:

---

At the end of the day, I think the DW is on the wrong side of the fracturing conservative movement and they can't course correct because of who they are by nature. American support of Israel is highly boomer/protestant leaning. I don't think anyone who listens to conservative talk show under 35 has good things to say about Israel. And the pro-Israel conservative groups consider negative views on Israel or positive assertions of Christianity only as disqualifying for allying with them under the banner of fiscal conservativism and secularized social conservativism.

---

Yeah, Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles just hate people that positively identify as Christians.

Also, 69% of conservatives still have a positive view of Isreal....

Silent For Too Long said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

At the end of the day, I think the DW is on the wrong side of the fracturing conservative movement and they can't course correct because of who they are by nature. American support of Israel is highly boomer/protestant leaning. I don't think anyone who listens to conservative talk show under 35 has good things to say about Israel. And the pro-Israel conservative groups consider negative views on Israel or positive assertions of Christianity only as disqualifying for allying with them under the banner of fiscal conservativism and secularized social conservativism.

---

Yeah, Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles just hate people that positively identify as Christians.

Also, 69% of conservatives still have a positive view of Isreal....

---

I actually like Matt Walsh. Ben Shapiro is the center of gravity of DW so this is mostly pointed at him. And read closely, I said 35 and under crowd. A demographic that as a whole does not respond to telephone pollsters. And guess which demographic can't wait to talk the ear off of whatever pollster calls their landline.

Cynic said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

At the end of the day, I think the DW is on the wrong side of the fracturing conservative movement and they can't course correct because of who they are by nature. American support of Israel is highly boomer/protestant leaning. I don't think anyone who listens to conservative talk show under 35 has good things to say about Israel. And the pro-Israel conservative groups consider negative views on Israel or positive assertions of Christianity only as disqualifying for allying with them under the banner of fiscal conservativism and secularized social conservativism.

---

Who is the current mainstream conservative then?

Ben Shapiro's latest YouTube video has 137k after 8 hours. He's doing fine.

---

You bring up a good point, I don't think there is a mainstream guy that embodies where young conservatives are pointing, in a mainstream palatable manner. Because a lot of young conservatives do not hold political opinions that don't spook advertisers. On basically any subject.

Boomer conservatism is going to go away very quickly over the next 10 years and usher in way more radical right wing platforms.