Breaking Points

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar (or simply Breaking Points) is an American political news and opinion series created and hosted by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti. It was launched in June 2021 by Ball and Enjeti, both former hosts of The Hill's Rising web series. They publish an audio-only podcast and the video program is available on YouTube, Rumble and Spotify. Its format includes one left-leaning anchor (Ball) and one right-leaning anchor (Enjeti), who give views from both sides of the political spectrum.[4][5]

Breaking Points
Presentation
Hosted by
GenrePolitical news and commentary
Format
  • Video
  • audio
LanguageEnglish
Length60 minutes
Publication
Original releaseJune 7, 2021 (2021-06-07) –
present
Related
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers1.02 million[1][2]
Total views454 million[1][2]
1,000,000 subscribers2023[3]
Last updated: August 12, 2023

Format

Breaking Points features commentary and analysis of political news and current events, in-studio interviews with journalists, politicians, campaign staff and surrogates, political advisors and strategists, and members of the news media, and occasional live-analysis segments. Krystal and Saagar, the primary hosts, usually publish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky co-host on Wednesdays. Their show is called Counter Points.

Ball and Enjeti each produce, write, and deliver a monologue each episode highlighting an important topic in current events. The hosts analyze the topic, usually organized into three or four bullet-points. This is followed by an open discussion with the other host, available to premium subscribers.

Business model

The majority of the show's revenue comes from premium subscribers, with some additional revenues from YouTube and podcast ads.[6] Their expenses are around one million dollars a year.[6]

History

On May 28, 2021, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti announced their departure from The Hill's Rising. The Breaking Points program and channel launched at YouTube on Monday, June 7, 2021, and reached 285,000 channel subscribers by Friday of that week.[7]

Ball and Enjeti had spoken about subtle pressure they experienced working under The Hill's corporate umbrella when choosing topics to cover and the angles used in their coverage there. These anecdotes match their thesis about how power is wielded in Washington; with Breaking Points, they sought to free themselves of any such corporate influence.

At the new venture, they gained complete editorial control over their work.[7] They also lost access to certain resources they enjoyed at Rising, such as a small network of field reporters and regular remote hits with members of Congress from inside the Capitol dome.

Other personnel

In September 2022, former Rising hosts Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky also joined Breaking Points, at first filling in on as co-hosts and for special coverage as needed.[8] Grim and Jashinsky now co-anchor their own show, Counterpoints, which airs one to two times a week.

The Breaking Points YouTube channel occasionally features contributions from a number of other reporters or writers. The channel also posts cross-over content from other affiliated partners and programs. These have included:

References
  1. YouTube Staff; Ball, Krystal & Enjeti, Saagar (August 12, 2023). "Breaking Points—About" (podcast). Washington, DC: Breaking Points, Inc. Retrieved August 12, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "About Breaking Points". YouTube.
  3. Ball, Krystal & Enjeti, Saagar (June 27, 2023). Krystal And Saagar Celebrate 1 Million Subscribers (podcast). Washington, DC: Breaking Points, Inc. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  4. Fischer, Sara; King, Hope (July 6, 2021). "Corporate Media Backlash Fuels New Upstarts". Axios.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  5. "Cockburn" (June 1, 2021). "The fall of Rising". The Spectator World. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  6. Newport, Cal (June 15, 2022). "The Rise of the Internet's Creative Middle Class". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  7. Berkowitz, Joe (June 12, 2021). "Why 'Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar' Became the No. 1 Political Podcast in a Week". Fast Company. Fast Company. Retrieved June 17, 2021. Together, [Ball and Enjeti] hosted The Hill's internet morning show, Rising, for the past two years, grabbing enough viewers to net a book deal just in time for the presidential election... / In late May, [they] announced they were leaving Rising and The Hill to build something of their own. They wanted a well-produced internet morning show (and podcast) unbeholden to any corporate interests, which they view as the ruination of most, if not all, major media ventures.
  8. Baragona, Justin (September 1, 2022). "Two Hosts Exit The Hill's Popular Web Show 'Rising'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 11, 2022.

Notes
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