On 2 October 2026, columnist Marina Hyde said goodbye to readers of Britain's Guardian, where she had written for 25 years, and in her final column gave them exactly a day to complain before her inbox self-destructed. The podcast studio Goalhanger is now building a venture called Always On around her and promises to keep her firmly at its centre, but the parties have not disclosed the ownership stakes or how revenue is split. The studio launched the venture on 12 October as the first project of its Goalhanger X programme, through which it aims to build entire media ecosystems around selected creators.
From day one, the Always On ecosystem consists of a new Hyde show on YouTube, regular written columns and original content for social media, with further audio, video and digital formats to follow. On Substack, she is due to publish at least two pieces a week. In the studio's launch press release, she said she was hugely excited to be able to "respond to the news batsignal in whatever format feels right - written / video / podcast / social / costumed vigilantism".
Podcasting is the format Goalhanger grew up on. According to one of its founders, the studio gradually added advertising, host-read partnerships, fan memberships, a live festival and eventually T-shirt sales to its first show. In January 2026, the studio announced more than 250,000 paying members. According to the British trade site Press Gazette, hosts of The Rest Is shows, Hyde among them, have lucrative revenue-sharing agreements on their shows, built on adverts the hosts read themselves.
The Goalhanger X programme
On The Rest Is Entertainment, Hyde shares the microphone; the name Always On with Marina Hyde carries only hers. She has co-hosted the studio's entertainment show since November 2023 and will continue on it alongside Always On. According to the studio's co-founder Jack Davenport, Goalhanger X is built around creators with a powerful voice and a loyal audience who can grow far beyond any single format or platform.
In 2022, the question of who owns a show built on a voice and a loyal audience was the subject of a dispute in the Czech Republic between the makers of the podcast Kecy a politika and the publisher Czech News Center. According to the makers, the publisher stopped paying them the money from subscribers. The publishing group countered that the podcast had been created at the weekly Reflex and that, apart from co-author Petros Michopulos, it had been produced only by the publisher's employees during working hours. Since August 2025, under the European Media Freedom Act, media outlets in the Czech Republic and other EU countries must disclose the owners who have influence over their management, together with their stakes.
Who owns Always On
According to Net Influencer, the studio producing Always On also provides distribution, audience development and commercial infrastructure, while the creator retains editorial control. Hyde herself speaks of a partnership with the studio's team at launch, and Press Gazette describes Always On as a joint venture between Hyde and the production company Goalhanger.
The studio has gone into business with other creators before, and the type of those deals is public. In January 2026, it launched a programme offering selected creators investment, training and mentoring. In May 2026, it added an investment and partnerships division for creator-led media companies. Invisible Media is the company behind the YouTube channel The Invisible Hand, and the studio has put capital into it. With the YouTube brand Backyard Cricket, it shares commercial revenue.
Always On has no reader revenue yet: at launch it is free, and all of Hyde's writing is published on Substack. On 21 October 2026, the counter on the Always On page showed more than 26,000 subscribers. A paid tier with exclusive content and membership benefits is due later, nearer the end of the year according to Hyde.
Membership benefits are also among the options the studio is offering brands around Always On. Brands can sponsor columns and live events or enter partnerships around future long-form authored projects. At the same time, the studio promises clear editorial boundaries. On Substack, according to the opening Always On post, Hyde is enjoying the direct relationship with readers, the questions and answers, and suggestions for what to write about.
Hyde corresponded with readers from her Guardian address; in her whole quarter of a century at the paper she never had a private email address. That address was due to stop working when she left, and for the venture through which she now connects with readers directly, the parties have yet to say who owns how much of it.
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