Business and culture podcaster Sammi Cohen is launching “Social Commerce Network” (SCN), a livestreamed business news show that will air three times a week across YouTube, X, TikTok and Instagram, with a format she says is inspired by “TBPN,” the tech talk show OpenAI acquired this spring.

As Variety reported, SCN debuts October 6 and will broadcast Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific from a new studio in Los Angeles’ Sawtelle neighborhood. Cohen will co-host alongside Alaina Hartley, a former Greycroft principal and Bain & Co. consultant who now runs the Santa Monica consumer-brands consultancy Dream Hunter. Each broadcast will split into two halves, opening with breaking news before moving into short-form interviews with CEOs and other decision-makers across consumer businesses, tech, fintech, retail, CPG and beauty.

“Think CNBC for the generation that gets their news on their phone,” Cohen told Variety. “It’s a news show for the generation that is getting their news on social media.”

Cohen has built an audience of more than 500,000 followers across platforms, including 250,000 on Instagram and 107,000 on YouTube, largely through short-form video and her weekly podcast “Social Currency,” which she plans to continue alongside SCN. She said her following skews roughly 70% women, and she expects SCN’s audience to follow suit, with coverage weighted toward women-led enterprises.

Cohen named “TBPN” directly as a reference point. “I think what ‘TBPN’ has done was brilliant,” she said. “They knew exactly what their target audience was and created a media platform to serve this audience.” 

“TBPN,” launched in late 2024 by entrepreneurs John Coogan and Jordi Hays, built a similar live-show format around tech, business and AI coverage before OpenAI acquired it in April in what the company called its first media acquisition. The show generated about $5 million in ad revenue in 2025 and was on track to exceed $30 million in 2026 at the time of the deal, with sponsors including Ramp, Plaid and Google’s Gemini, despite a YouTube subscriber base of just 58,000. OpenAI has said “TBPN” will retain full editorial independence under the acquisition.

Cohen has lined up sponsors across tech, fintech, hospitality, creator media and marketing to fund SCN’s launch but declined to name them, saying they would be treated as partners in building the show rather than simple advertisers. She said the first two months will focus on studying the audience SCN attracts and adjusting coverage accordingly.

Asked why now, Cohen pointed to a shift in appetite for media formats. “As all forms of communication become automated, people are yearning for a human touch in media, and there’s nothing more human than live,” she told Variety, adding that SCN will build in live viewer feedback and questions during broadcasts. “We are seeing this incredible opportunity for creators like me to make their own media businesses.”

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