The Experience Strategy Podcast · 2026-05-15 · 25 min
Kareem Rahma built Subway Takes into a hit with 2 million Instagram followers, a metro card as a microphone, and a format that runs in seconds. Now he's walking away from a CNN deal to put his next show Keep the Meter Running on YouTube - because YouTube, in his words, is where the next Bourdain and the next Lena Dunham will come from. In this episode, Joe, Dave, and Aransas dig into what Rahma's bet actually means for experience strategy. The conversation moves from short-form content design, to the death of "Gen Z YouTube" as a useful category, to why every brand needs to rethink where and how it reaches customers in the micro-moments that now define modern media consumption. 100% agree or 100% disagree - you decide. What We're Talking About This Episode Rahma's CNN walk-away. Why he turned down a legacy media deal to own his independence on YouTube, and what that signals about creator economics now. YouTube as television, not social media. YouTube's monthly share of TV watch-time hit ~12% in 2025 per Nielsen - higher than any network or streamer. Rahma's read: "this is a TV screen, but right now no one's making television for it." Subway Takes as situational design.
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