The Digital Contrarian

TDC 064: The Market Shift Nobody Sees Coming (While You're Distracted by AI)

• Ryan Levesque • Episode 64

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TDC 064: The Market Shift Nobody Sees Coming (While You're Distracted by AI)

Paid media costs are dropping to 18-month lows—here's what this unexpected trend could mean for your business.

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Digital Contrarian, host Ryan Levesque shares a surprising market observation from his Vermont farm as he prepares to host the first Return to Real mastermind.

You'll discover an unexpected shift in paid media costs, learn why this contradicts conventional wisdom, and explore what this opportunity means for digital entrepreneurs who are paying attention.

Question of the Day 🗣️

Are you seeing any unexpected shifts in your paid media costs recently? Comment "TOWN HALL" if you'd be interested in a deeper dive into this market trend!

Key Take-aways

  • Paid media costs on Meta are hitting 18-month lows, defying expectations
  • This shift represents a potential major opportunity for businesses paying attention
  • The market dynamics are different from last year's "Great Sea Change"
  • Strategic timing matters when everyone else is distracted by AI trends

Timestamped Outline ⏱️

00:00 – Cold open & surprising non-AI trend
01:00 – The unexpected paid media cost shift
01:42 – Why this contradicts last year's predictions
02:18 – Balancing multiple commitments and gauging interest
03:06 – Digital Contrarian podcast update and gift
04:00 – Final thoughts from the farm

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Credits

Host: Ryan Levesque
© 2025 RL & Associates LLC. All rights reserved.

A surprising non AI trend taking shape and a little gift for you today for being a subscriber. Over the next three days, Tyleen and I are hosting a dozen entrepreneurs on our farm for the very first ever return to real mastermind experience. And because we're in the middle of making final preparations leading to the welcome dinner tonight, including tidying up the room that you see here, today's episode is going to be short, but after wrapping up a VIP day with a private client on the farm yesterday, and after connecting with no fewer than five additional private clients via Slack earlier today, I'm seeing a surprising trend taking shape in the market right now. 

And there's something that I wanted to throw out to you before I completely get consumed in farm mastermind mode. And that's this, would you be interested in the following? Now, as I mentioned a moment ago, I've started to see this trend taking place over the last few months. And it's something that I never would have predicted a year ago at this time. 

And that's this, for the first time in over 18 months, I'm actually starting to see paid media costs coming back to earth with CPAs on meta, for example, among some of the lowest that I've seen in over a year. And I think that this is a function of a few different forces at play right now. I have a theory and there are some potentially major implications. 

Now, last year, as you may remember, I hosted a town hall event titled the great sea change, why the digital marketing playbook of the last decade is obsolete, and what to focus on doing next. But now I'm seeing a different shift take place in the market, something I don't think many people are aware of, at least not yet. So I've been thinking, maybe it's time for another town hall, which brings me to my question for you here today. 

And that's this, if I make time to host a town hall event in the coming weeks, sharing some of the surprising observations that I'm seeing show up in the market and the opportunity I believe that this presents, would you be interested in attending? If the answer is yes, please do me a favor and leave a comment with the words town hall. Now, the reason I ask you to do this is because between the farm serving as a strategic advisor to nearly a dozen different companies right now, finishing my book, return to real, running my high level mastermind, and now serving as a soccer coach to not one, but two of my boys' soccer teams this fall, which sometimes feels like a full-time job in and of itself, I'm getting close to being maxed out. But if there's enough interest, I will make time to host a town hall event to share what I'm seeing show up in the market, because I think this could be big. 

So let me know if you'd be interested in this by leaving a comment with the words town hall to just help me gauge interest. Make sense? Okay, cool. Now, in the meantime, since today's episode is a bit lighter than usual, I have a little gift for you here today. 

So last month I announced that we quietly launched the digital contrarian podcast. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review on Apple podcast and Spotify. Well, today I'm excited to announce that all past episodes of the digital contrarian podcast are now uploaded onto the website with links to both audio and video format in one convenient place. 

Now, the reason why I share this with you today is because this week represents a great opportunity to catch up on everything that you may have missed over the last few weeks. In fact, Jason, a digital contrarian subscriber wrote the following message to me just a few short days ago. He wrote, you know, I was just thinking about how it would be great to have your newsletters on audio and voila, I'm excited to listen and drop a review. 

I just binged and caught up on your last three newsletters. Thanks, Jason, by the way. So I'll leave you with the link so you can binge watch and catch up on anything that you may have missed in the description with this episode. 

And by the way, if you feel compelled to leave a short review on Apple podcast or Spotify, it would mean the absolute world to me. Thank you. All right, I'll leave you with that for now. 

I really do need to get back to prepping for this Vermont Farm Mastermind experience. Guests are literally arriving in less than an hour. So that being said, have a great rest of your weekend. 

Remember to hug the ones that you love. And until next week, I wish you all my best. Take care and talk soon. 

Goodbye.