250 Posts A Day Won’t Fix Your Pipeline

30 years ago, in the mid-1990’s, NBC television programming on Thursday night was marketed as ‘Must See TV’ and… it was. You had to see it. Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, and Mad About You were genuinely phenomenal sitcoms. The most amazing aspect of this line-up was the size of the audience. The cast members were being paid $1m an episode because the ratings were astronomical. The viewing audience was 70 million viewers each week. That’s more than half of last year’s Super Bowl (American) audience. Think about that: NBC was getting two Super Bowls a month worth of viewership on Thursday nights. For years.

They’ve never been able to replicate that. In fact, that was the zenith point of all broadcast television. We don’t watch television like that in 2026. That was the last act. American audiences don’t coalesce around programming like that any longer. We’re too fractured in our interests and tastes, and our attention is completely shattered. Netflix knows they’re the second screen in the room. Viewers’ heads are down, looking at their handheld devices, scrolling through content aligned with their interests while Netflix blinks in the background. What used to be called ‘distracted’ viewing is now called ‘casual viewing.’

Netflix actively shapes scripts for “casual viewing.” They have to. Their executives are now requesting that writers accommodate this modern reality with excessive exposition, repetitive plot points, and characters literally narrating their actions so that ‘casual’ viewers can follow the story without looking up.

Writing for divided attention—often called the ‘second-screen phenomenon’—fundamentally changes narrative structure and script notes:

• Tell, Don’t Show: The classic “show, don’t tell” rule is inverted. Writers are instructed to ensure major plot points are verbally reiterated several times so the audience doesn’t miss crucial information.
• Literal Narration: Scripts are adapted to be fully functional as “background noise,” featuring voice-overs and characters announcing exactly what they are doing or feeling.
• The First-Five Hook: To prevent users from navigating away, creators are pushed to pack massive, attention-grabbing sequences into the first five minutes of a film or episode.
• The “Confusion” Risk: Streamers want to avoid any nuance or complex visual cue that might confuse a distracted viewer, as this often results in them turning the program off entirely.

That is a very long way away from the 1990’s. Next week’s episode on ‘Must See TV’ required that you stop your life at a certain time. It required your attention. You couldn’t yet record it and watch it later. The episode happened, and either you saw it, or you missed it, and you’d have nothing to contribute to the discussion the next day at lunch.

What does all this mean for brands in 2026?

What are the implications for your company – I mean, you aren’t writing scripts or trying to run a television network, so why does this matter for current brands?

It means that mass appeal is functionally…unreachable.

Aside from a few major companies that predate this moment (think iconic, mega brands: McDonald’s, Rolex, Wal-Mart, Schwab, Wells Fargo, etc.), most companies will have to fight to build awareness and loyalty through long-term, sustained, relentless, slow, and methodical approaches. The old ‘there’s riches in the niches’ mantra still holds, but it’s harder to find those niches and engage them meaningfully. It’s increasingly difficult to achieve market penetration. It’s so loud. It’s so confusing.  And the hardest part about doing this in the future is that AI can replicate and ‘seed’ the digital terrain faster than you or I can respond.

When Alex Hormozi advocates that you produce and publish 250 pieces of micro-content a day to get your brand moving with sustained momentum, you know you’re up against it. Every start-up and mid-market company is viewing Hormozi and thinking, ‘okay then…we’re going to brute-force attack our market with content, and that’s how we will build our brand.’

Which then brings us to this: even if your brand is publishing 250 pieces of content a day and allocating tons of marketing dollars to the effort, your audience is at the mercy of a platform algorithm that is guided by AI. It might work in your favor; it might not. But what is a brand to do in 2026? You don’t have an option. You MUST reach your ideal customer, and that translates to social media and content production. You know it’s inescapable. You just need to keep in mind that we are a very long way away from focused, engaged audiences. We are a very long way from ‘grand-slams,’ and everyone is fighting for the same dwindling attention. So, be patient. Build the plan (social media strategy with clear tactics and the right tools) that will win over time. Commit. Don’t give up. Slow builds can win, but today it feels more like a sustained investment than the ‘three-step plan’ the gurus crow about on LinkedIn.

Finding a good team that can get you there – that’s worth more than ever. If you’re not sure whether your current content and marketing efforts are actually compounding — or just adding to the noise — that’s worth knowing before you produce one more post.