Vice TV And Scott Galloway Launch New Show: What’s Up There?

Vice on TV – the cable network home of Vice – has launched a new show hosted by the ubiquitous Professor Scott Galloway and based on his blog No Mercy/No Malice. If you know Galloway and his irreverent view of the media landscape (and most everything else), it won’t shock you that he kicked off the first episode by posing the provocative rhetorical question: “What series of bad decisions led me to ad-supported linear TV?” When I spoke to Galloway this week, I naturally had to start right there.

The answer isn’t all shocking. Linear TV is just another way station on Galloway’s quest for total media world domination. OK I jest, but only a bit. If you don’t know of Galloway, his background should make him an iconic figure for anyone (present company included) with a non-linear career path or ambitions.

Galloway’s “day job” is serving as Professor of Marketing at New York University Stern School of Business, where in 2012 he was named one “World’s 50 Best Business School Professors,” and where I would expect he would win any poll of the “professor I’d most like to have a beer with.” He is a serial entrepreneur who founded the ecommerce site Red Envelope as well as hedge fund, served on the board of directors of companies such as Eddie Bauer and Gateway Computer, and is the author of several books including The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Prior to leaping into TV Galloway has been a relentless blogger and podcaster, most prominently on Pivot which he co-hosts with Kara Swisher (no media wallflower herself).

As to why ad-supported linear TV, Galloway only half-jokingly explained: “Because HBO didn’t ask me!” In fact, as Galloway points out, Vice’s “irreverent, hard-hitting and experimental” approach is a very good fit with his personal brand. Galloway also was drawn to Vice’s promise that he could have a show on the air in 19 days – an impossible to top proposition in a world where program development is usually measured in months if not seasons. Galloway noted the appeal of an accelerated launch such that when “everyone in the business world is in the equivalent of the pits in a NASCAR race, I can get on the track.”

Galloway is well-aware of his value to Vice as a rare academic who doesn’t shy away from self-promotion and marketing through any available means. He isn’t merely “the talent” but sees his focus on marketing as the key to the show’s success. It’s a lesson he attributes in part to his NYU surroundings – a locus of extraordinary scholars who loathe any form of the marketing he embraces and pay the price by “chopping down trees in a forest where no one will hear them fall.” It’s an apt metaphor for anyone building their own business signature.

Galloway views the content of the show itself as a “work in progress” as any ongoing enterprise should be. Although the original plan for was a studio audience and a more typical looking on-air TV production, the Covid-19 stay-at-home requirements may actually have brought Vice and Galloway to a point that makes a lot of sense – a stripped-down program at a fraction of the typical production cost that provides a greater likelihood that serving a niche audience can hit a sustainable level of success. Although they haven’t revealed any specific numbers on this, Galloway notes that the ratings for the first episode “exceeded expectations.”

Galloway is a pretty tough self-critic and somewhat laughingly claims his wife “hated” the first show, “cried” when watching it, and “thought we were trying to give people seizures” with the fast pace. The show will clearly develop over time, but it does fairly and entertainingly reflect Galloway’s substantive take on current business issues such as what he sees as the “steal from our children” Paycheck Protection Plan passed by Congress and the need to protect “people not jobs.” The show features his “Big Rant” upfront and will incorporate a weekly interview (the “guest lecture”), represented by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in week one. Galloway says he’ll never be a competitor for celebrity “gets” but will be more than happy to shine a light on thought leaders, especially from the academic world, whose work and wisdom is underexposed.

One thing No Mercy/No Malice will never run out of is Galloway’s opinions. As an example, when we spoke, we got into an extended riff on Galloway’s take on the media business in the current and post-Covid-19 world. His view is that the virus hasn’t done anything to change the direction of the media business, given years of cord-cutting and audience fragmentation, but it is a major accelerant. For a non-Marxist, Galloway loves to quote Lenin, who famously said: “Nothing may happen for decades and then a decade can happen in a week.” Look around us – that seems pretty prescient right now.

As to where that future goes, Galloway claims no more of a crystal ball than anyone else. He does remain cautiously optimistic that in a Democratic Administration with a changed set of priorities you might see an invigorated Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. These empowered agencies would and could forcefully take on – and take down – the digital giants of Silicon Valley whose massive market power Galloway sees as only accelerating under Covid-19. I don’t know if this will come to pass, but it would be fun to watch Galloway grapple with it on TV or anywhere else. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned.*

*No Mercy/No Malice airs Thursday nights at 10PM ET on Vice on TV. Check your local listings.