For investor and entrepreneur Matt Haycox, the resurgence of long-form conversations is not a trend to be marvelled at. It is a long overdue correction. After years of watching business, celebrity and media commentary shrink into punchlines and clipped opinions, Haycox believes audiences are actively pushing back.
Podcasting, he argues, has become the antidote to a short-attention culture that rewards speed over substance. Through his shows, No Bollocks with Matt Haycox and Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, he has built a platform rooted in depth, patience and uncomfortable honesty.
‘People haven’t suddenly lost the ability to listen,’ Haycox says. ‘They’ve just been fed too much surface-level nonsense. Once you give them something real, they stay.’
The fatigue behind short-form culture
The rise of short-form video and algorithm-driven content has reshaped how information is consumed, but not necessarily how it is valued. While clips dominate discovery, they often fail to deliver understanding. Haycox believes this has created a growing gap between attention and trust.
According to Ofcom, nearly 25% of UK adults now listen to podcasts weekly, a figure that has steadily increased despite the explosion of short-form platforms. Edison Research has also reported year-on-year global growth in podcast listening, particularly among audiences aged 25 to 44 who prioritise context, insight and credibility.
‘People scroll because they’re bored,’ Haycox says. ‘They listen because they’re interested. That’s a big difference.’
Spotify data has echoed this shift, highlighting rising engagement with long-form spoken-word content compared to many music and short-form formats. Listeners are not just sampling episodes, they are finishing them.
From investor to interviewer
Haycox’s journey into podcasting was not driven by media ambition. It came from frustration. After decades in business and investment, he had grown tired of seeing entrepreneurship presented as a highlight reel.
‘Every success story sounds clean when you remove the mess,’ he explains. ‘But the mess is where the learning actually lives.’
That frustration became the foundation for No Bollocks with Matt Haycox, a business-focused podcast designed to strip away performative success and expose the realities of building companies. The show features founders, investors and operators discussing pressure, mistakes, resilience and decision-making under stress.
Guests such as Daniel Priestley, Neil Patel and Rob Moore have spoken candidly about setbacks and near-misses, often sharing insights rarely heard on conference stages or social feeds.
‘I don’t want rehearsed answers,’ Haycox says. ‘I want the version they tell you when the cameras are off.’
Why honesty scales better than hype
There is a commercial reality behind this approach. Nielsen research consistently shows podcast hosts rank among the most trusted media voices, outperforming many traditional advertising channels. Studies also suggest podcast audiences demonstrate higher recall and stronger brand association compared to other digital formats.
Haycox believes trust is built through time, not tactics. ‘You can’t fake consistency,’ he says. ‘If you turn up every week and say what you actually think, people decide for themselves whether you’re worth listening to.’
This is reflected in the growing media attention around his work. OK! Magazine recently highlighted how Haycox’s podcast format cuts through curated success stories to expose the truths of entrepreneurship, positioning his shows as part of a broader move towards authenticity in media.
The International Business Times has also profiled Haycox as a podcaster willing to tell entrepreneurs what they really need to hear, rather than what sounds good in a quote graphic. That recognition reinforces his belief that audiences are no longer impressed by polish alone.
Two shows, one philosophy
While both podcasts share Haycox’s direct style, they serve very different purposes.
No Bollocks with Matt Haycox is unapologetically business-first. Conversations centre on leadership pressure, scaling challenges, financial reality and the personal cost of ambition. It is practical, occasionally uncomfortable and deliberately unsanitised.
‘If someone’s never struggled, they’re either lying or they haven’t done anything difficult yet,’ Haycox says.
Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, by contrast, is built around personal depth rather than professional success. The long-form interview series features celebrities, TV personalities and public figures, exploring life beyond public image. The tone is slower, more reflective and often more revealing.
‘People are used to seeing these figures in character,’ Haycox explains. ‘I’m more interested in who they are when that drops.’
Both shows are available through Matt Haycox’s podcast hub, where listeners can explore full episode catalogues and upcoming releases.
The psychology of long-form listening
Haycox believes long-form works because it mirrors how people actually communicate. Real conversations wander. They circle back. They allow for pauses and second thoughts.
‘You don’t get truth in thirty seconds,’ he says. ‘You get performance.’
Research supports this. Multiple studies indicate podcast listeners are more likely to feel emotionally connected to hosts compared to other media formats. That connection translates into loyalty, repeat listening and a willingness to engage with complex ideas.
For founders and investors, that depth matters. Topics such as risk, failure and leadership trade-offs cannot be meaningfully explored in clipped soundbites without losing context.
‘Entrepreneurship is nuanced,’ Haycox says. ‘If you remove the nuance, you mislead people.’
A platform built on consistency
Despite growing audiences and increasing media coverage, Haycox has resisted turning his podcasts into overt promotional vehicles. There are no hard sells, no forced calls to action and no manufactured controversy.
‘I’ve always believed credibility compounds,’ he explains. ‘You either protect it or you destroy it.’
That approach mirrors his background as an investor. Trust, he notes, is the foundation of any long-term relationship, whether in business or media. Once lost, it is almost impossible to regain.
Listeners appear to respond to that restraint. Engagement levels remain high, with audiences often following episodes across platforms rather than consuming isolated clips.
Why the comeback is just beginning
Haycox sees the return of long-form conversations as part of a wider cultural recalibration. As algorithms accelerate content cycles, audiences are becoming more selective about where they invest their attention.
‘People are exhausted,’ he says. ‘They don’t want more noise. They want clarity.’
Spotify and Edison Research data both suggest that spoken-word content is one of the fastest-growing segments within digital audio. As creators and audiences mature, depth is becoming a differentiator rather than a risk.
For Haycox, this shift validates a decision he made early on. ‘I didn’t start these shows to chase numbers,’ he says. ‘I started them to have better conversations.’
Looking ahead
As platforms continue to evolve, Haycox remains confident that long-form audio will hold its place. He views podcasting not as a media trend but as a communication medium that aligns with human behaviour.
‘We’ve talked for hours around tables for centuries,’ he reflects. ‘Podcasting just moved that table online.’
In a landscape dominated by speed, Matt Haycox is betting on patience. The growing appetite for long-form conversations suggests he is not alone. For audiences seeking substance over spectacle, the comeback has already begun.
