
Consumers in 2025 will increasingly look to AI-enabled platforms to help make purchasing choices, including travel recommendations, Scott Galloway told the Convening Leaders 2025 audience Sunday. (Whatever Media Group)
In his signature fast-talking and brash style, Scott Galloway commanded the Main Stage Sunday night, sharing what he thinks we can expect this year in business, marketing, and beyond — and officially launching Convening Leaders 2025.
To no surprise, AI took up the lion’s share of the 30-minute presentation, including Galloway’s prediction that Meta would become the AI company of 2025. Nine out of 10 Internet users (outside of China) use Meta at least once a month, which arms the company with more unique human language data than Google Search, Reddit, Wikipedia, and X combined. This makes Meta the most powerful of any, he said, “when you look at the most data — the most petroleum if you will, the most fossil fuel — in addition to [having] the most processing and refining capacity.”
He also touched on how AI will continue to change how and what consumers purchase. “The biggest mistake we make in marketing is believing that choice is a good thing,” Galloway said. “It’s not. It’s a tactic. Consumers don’t want more choice. They want to be more confident in the choices presented and they want fewer choices.”
He pointed to TikTok — what he described as “Netflix plus AI” — as a prime example of how consumers will increasingly look to AI-enabled platforms to help make those choices, including travel recommendations. According to a recent survey conducted by SAP Concur, almost all — 95 percent — of business travelers would consider using AI to assist with booking travel.
Galloway also predicted that YouTube will become the platform to watch in 2025, especially as it has become the largest distribution platform for what Galloway said is the media of 2025: podcasts.
He pointed to the 2024 U.S. election as the turning point for the medium, specifically when Joe Rogan hosted then President-Elect Donald J. Trump on his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience — a three-hour interview that garnered nearly 40 million views in just the first three days.
“About half the U.S. population listed to a podcast in the last month vs. less than 10 percent about 15 years ago,” Galloway said. “It’s also growing faster than any ad-supported medium. It’s also kind of emblematic of the winner-take-most environment we have in digital media. There are 600,000 podcasts that put out podcasts at least once a week, and the top 10 are responsible for a third of all listenership and the top 100, two-thirds of all listenership.”
In 2024, Galloway added “Raging Moderates” with co-host Jessica Tarlov to his own podcast lineup, which also includes Pivot with Kara Swisher, Office Hours, Markets, Conversations, and First-Time Founders.
Besides his podcasts, Galloway has founded nine companies throughout his entrepreneurial career, including RedEnvelope, an e-commerce site selling personalized gifts, as well as digital intelligence firm L2 Inc and Section School. He is a New York Times–bestselling author of The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity, and Adrift: America in 100 Charts.
Galloway also warned of the dangers of social-media addiction among young people. He finished his CL25 keynote with a heartfelt request for the men in the audience to mentor or take an interest in a young man in their life who may be struggling with loneliness and mental health issues, underscoring the need for human connection in a digital society.
Jennifer N. Dienst is senior editor at Convene.
Scott Galloway is brought to CL25 by New Orleans & Company and New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center