I agree that it's a kind con artistry, circus entertainment, and demagoguery. I don't know, though, that Osteen's and Peterson's "churches" are empty. It's just a fact that the intellectual elites are typically in the minority, and even they can be preyed on. Free markets and democracies aren't meritocracies. The excellent stuff goes underground.

Peterson's niche is the men's health movement, I think, the backlash against feminizing wokeness, the automation of labour, and global multiculturalism.