Learning Objectives

• Listening Growth
• Landscape  & Diversity
• How to Find Podcasts
• Humble History
• Podcast Trends

Chapter 1: Podcast Growth, Landscape, History & Trends

In 2025 the number of Americans listening to podcasts and online audio hit new all-time highs, with 73% of the population ever having consumed a podcast, or some 210 million people.

The growth is driven by increases in podcast consumption – meaning both audio and video podcasts. U.S. audiences spent 773 million hours a week with podcasts, up from 170 million hours in 2015. 

The data come from Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2025 which has tracked digital media consumer behavior and technology use for 27 years. A January nationwide telephone survey conducted in English and Spanish called both cell phones and landlines.

How MANY Podcasts Are There?

In all, the number of podcasts is considered to be between 3 to 7 million. The differing numbers reflect the podcast directory being used.

The Apple Podcasts catalog lists nearly 3 million podcasts while Spotify says they have more than 7 million podcasts, according to their company info page.

Podcast Index, which is primarily built from discovering open podcast RSS feeds on the web, says there are more than 4 million podcasts.

While it may seem like there are too many podcasts competing for ears and eyes, many of the large numbers of podcasts created during the pandemic years are no longer in production. In September 2025 the number of active podcasts – meaning that a new episode has been released in the last 90 days – dropped to 13.4%, according to figures from PodMatch.

RECORD High Podcast CONSUMPTION

Another milestone was reached when more than half the U.S. population reported listened to podcasts monthly, with the term ‘podcasting’ now familiar to three-out-of four Americans, further narrowing the gap between familiarity and listening.

Other researchers say these numbers may actually be low as some podcast consumption involves co-listening, which is not counted in traditional podcast metrics. This occurs because of in-room smart speakers and in-car listening with friends, family and kids. The report comes from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights.

VIDEO Pushes Podcast Consumption Mainstream  

With the push to video podcasts particularly by YouTube and Spotify and become a bigger player in podcasts, but is still far from dominant.

Infinite Dial has now expanded their surveys about podcasts to include video consumption. It shows that while video podcasts helped bring in about eight million more podcast consumers, it does not kill audio podcast listening. Instead, it provides another choice as consumers use both platforms.

If you further break down the numbers for Americans 12 and older, 70% have listened to a podcast, while 51% have watched, and with the overlap that adds up to 73% of the population having consumed a podcast in either audio or video or both.

Edison Research Vice President Megan Lazovick points out that most people who watch podcasts will say they are podcast listeners. “But as more people discover the platform via video, it’s smart to think about it as consumption, instead of just listening.” She says that while this is not intended to undercut the magic of audio-only content, “there’s room for both video and audio in the world of podcasting.”

For the younger demographic, podcast reach is now as big as TV. Podcasts are replacing traditional media consumption with not only less TV watching but less time browsing social media and playing video games, according to research and consultancy firm KS&R.

VIDEO Impacts GENDER & AGE Listening

The growing number of video podcasts is also impacting gender. While the early days of podcasting were dominated by white male listeners, the gap between male to female listening had been leveling out in recent years. Now, due to a strong male video podcast base, there’s been an increase in men who watch and listen but not in women.

Podcast watching is especially big among the younger demographic of 12-34 years. However, in many cases the video is minimized and only playing in the background.

Older Audience Nearly Doubles 

There’s another major shift in long-term listening habits underway and that is for the 55+ audience, which has nearly doubled in two years. Edison’s data says 27% of Americans aged 55+ reported listening or watching a podcast in the past week, up significantly from 2024.

Why is this happening? As younger Boomers age into that age bracket, they are bringing their traditional radio-listening habits into digital audio. In addition, podcast platforms have made it easier to search and subscribe, and publishers are creating appealing content such as health, history, hobbies, lifelong learning and nostalgia. Spotify and Apple have dedicated sections for seniors and there are online communities with podcast recommendations for seniors.

POLITICAL Podcasts Gain REPUBLICAN Listeners

Politics also helped fuel podcast listening during the recent election year for both major political parties, accompanied by a significant change in consumer behavior. In 2022 more Democrats listened, but now Republicans have surged ahead with an increase in conservative talk podcasts.

In the U.S. where you live also makes a difference in listening patterns. Urban audiences spend over twice as much of their daily audio time with podcasts as rural listeners, acccording to Edison’s Share of Ear study.

This chapter gives an overview about the landscape of podcasting, who’s doing it, what researchers have discovered about audiences, and identifies top trends.

There’s also been an increase in racial diversity with the number of Black and Hispanic podcast listeners increasing over 30% in the U.S. in recent years.

YOUNG People Listen Most

The largest demographic group of listeners is Gen Z (those now between 15-29), with 63% of Americans having listened or watched a podcast in the last month, according to the 2025 Gen Z Audio Report.

A survey by the podcast hosting company Transistor, says while this generation consumes a lot of audio podcasts, the preference is for video podcasts with YouTube being the dominant app, followed by Spotify, and Apple Podcasts far behind.

These 35 million consumers got an early start on podcasts, starting as a child or in teenage years. The younger they began the more they consume podcasts now, so their appetite for the medium is growing.  They like to binge listen by listening to several episodes in a single session and they are a more racially diverse group than the general population.

Favorite Gen Z Podcast TOPICS

Podcasts are used for connection and entertainment by these digital natives. Their top genres are comedy and music, followed by entertainment, true crime, and sports. Over six in 10 Gen Zer’s say that audio helps with their mental health by improving their mood and helping to shape their perspective on life and express their individuality and style.

Gen Z TOP 10 Podcasts

The top ten shows of Gen Z listeners was gathered by Edison podcast metrics, which measures actual podcast listening and not just downloads. It includes three shows by SiriusXM – Rotten Mango, Crime Junkie, and Call her Daddy. Rotten Mango host Stephanie Soo, who is known as a YouTuber and true crime podcaster, did extensive coverage of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial.

Gen Z Mental Health Priority

Emotional well-being with a focus on self-care and unplugging is a priority for Gen Z. That has helped make The Mel Robbins Podcast, a top-performing show with more than 37M monthly downloads. Her fan base is full of high-achieving young women, who look to look to her as a personal life coach. Robbins won the best host award of the 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards, with the iHeart Media company reaching 9 out of 10 Americans each month. Robbins also won a Webby Award.

Social Media Gateway to Podcast

Gen Z discovers podcasts most often through searching on YouTube, closely followed by social media clips, often hearing about podcasts from a social media influencer or personality they follow. This stands in contrast to older podcast listeners who use traditional podcast apps like Apple Podcasts.

Young people also dominate when it comes to podcast creation. In terms of age, the largest number of creators are in the 25-44 age group, while those in the 55+ demographic barely exist. This can be an opportunity for both creators and advertisers.

Minorities Want To HEAR & SEE Their Communities

The diversity of podcasting consumers is one of the medium’s biggest strengths. Edison Research and SiriusXM Media have published a series of studies on Black, Latino, female, and most recently Gen Z listeners.

The Black Podcast Listener Report from Edison Research in 2023 said that 43% of the Black population in the U.S. had listened to a podcast in the last month, which is five points higher than the general population. Black females were more likely to be monthly listeners while Black men are more likely be weekly listeners.

However, the 2025 Edison Research Share of Ear study reveals that Black Americans have a smaller share of listening than the general public, with the contradictory numbers explained by the fact that they don’t listen as often.

What is clear is that representation matters as more frequent listeners follow or seek out content that focuses on Black stories and perspectives. Younger listeners are more likely to listen to shows hosted by Black hosts. The Black-owned news aggregation app, Hayti, is the largest source for podcasts with Black hosts, offering access to over 2,000 Black hosts.

Video is also a strong attraction for Black podcast listeners (80%), as they like to see representation.

LATINO/HISPANIC Podcast Listening Hits Record

Monthly podcasting listening for Hispanic Americans is growing nearly three times faster than the U.S. population. Edison Research says Latinos make up 20% of the U.S. population, with a 72% growth in Latino listening over the past five years.

For the first time since the studies began, female listenership now matches that of males, with 50% of the listening population. The Latino audience is more likely to be employed, earn a higher income, and are more likely to be entrepreneurs.

Edison’s fifth annual Latino Podcast Listener Report says that YouTube is used the most to listen to podcasts and that Latinos preference for video podcasts is up.

“If the young Latino demographic is any indication of how listening will take shape among the rest of the podcast audience, podcasters will have another reason to consider video as part of their content,” says Gabriel Soto, Senior Director of Edison Research.

SiriusXM Media, which has the largest ad-supported audience in the U.S. across podcasting, streaming, and satellite, has partnerships with Spanish-language and Latino-culture-focused podcast networks like reVolver, Pitaya, and Sonoro.

iHeart Media, the largest radio station group owner in the U.S. has a partnership with the Latino Oyénos audio network to distribute dozens of Hispanic-focused podcasts on the iHeart platform and iHeart’s My Cultura Podcast Network, has podcasts in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. The network has seen steady growth and is adding a new slate of podcasts by partnering with Hyphenate Media Group, founded by actress, producer, and entrepreneur Eva Longoria.

Longoria has taken an equity stake in My Cultura and will executive produce a slate of podcasts. “Storytelling shapes how we see ourselves and how the world sees us, and podcasting is one of the most intimate, accessible, and powerful ways to connect with audiences and share meaningful, authentic conversations,” said Longoria. The entrepreneur has long been an advocate for Latino voices both in front of and behind the camera.

Latinos Consume in English & Spanish

The Latino audience is more likely to listen or watch podcasts with other people and they are doing so in both English and Spanish.

More than a quarter of Latinos exclusively listen to content from their culture, and love the opportunity to have conversations about culture, politics and identify in their life, especially when the host is Latino.

The Latino audience is spending 12% more time with digital audio than the general population and because of their trust in beloved hosts they are more likely to respond to podcast ads and buy products they endorse.

Latin America’s Boom-Bust

In Latin America there was a podcast boom in 2019, due to large investments in programming by Spotify which at one time owned 90% of the market. But the company has reversed course the last few years and canceled shows and had large layoffs. An investigative reporter in Bogotá, Columbia traced the shake-up.

More ETHNIC Creators

In ethnicity, the number of podcast creators is more in line with the overall U.S. population for Whites, African Americans, and Asians, while Latino creators are growing significantly.

The data on education levels for creators does not look like the average American since 40% of creators have an advanced degree, which leads to higher levels of employment and higher income. Analysts point out that this makes the creator class more privileged than the general public, which can impact content creation.

All these numbers can be overwhelming but it’s useful to know some of these metrics as a way of understanding the birth and growth of the podcasting industry.

The KIDS Podcast Listening Report

Podcasts already have considerable reach among kids 6-12 in the U.S., according to the Kids Podcast Listening Report by Edison Research.

Forty-six percent have ever listened to a podcast, and 29% of ages 6-12 in the U.S.  listened in the last month. That percentage soars to 42% if their parents listened to a podcast in the last month.

Kids listen because they think podcasts are fun to listen to and a way to avoid boredom, with the top genres being games, music, adventure, comedy, short stories, and bedtime stories such as those from Sleep Tight Stories. For parents, podcast listening is a way to connect as a family as they listen together and discuss. The national online survey of parents was administered by parents and in-home interviews.

The 2025 Webby Award Winner for Kids Podcast of the Year, is Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest – with fairy tales that are funny, spooky, and surprises.

KidsPod is an app for children 3-13 years of age with both free and paid subscriptions, developed with a kids’ tech expert. Co-founder Rachel Lacy says kids, just like parents,  like to multitask while listening, “making podcasts more interactive helps audio compete with streaming and gaming when kids do have a device in hand.”

TWEEN Podcasters

With 66% of podcast listeners between the ages of 12-34, teens and tweens are launching podcasts and finding success. Some Maryland middle schoolers have achieved fandom on YouTube and social media with their podcast MD Foodie Boyz, where they rate and review food.

Their Instagram clips have millions of views, fans on Tik Tok, and they are followed by big name comedians and creators. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy invited the tweens on some of their podcasts. They also have brand deals with companies like CAVA.

These Gen Alpha (kids born between 2010 and 2020) grew up in the world of interactive media, with podcasters being a vital of their media consumption habits and that of their parents. Teen girls are also in the action with shows like Girl Talk, filled with teen gossip and RockPod.

How To FIND Podcasts

The smartphone is the most popular way to hear a podcast, although some listeners do download shows to their computer. Taking information from OP3 – the free, open podcast analytics service, Podnews created a graphic that shows Spotify as the dominant app for most of the world, while Apple is the biggest app in the U.S. The United Kingdom uses more independent podcast apps than any other large country.

You can filter apps by platform: iOS, Android. All podcast apps all have a library of podcast shows categorized alphabetically or by genre.

How To Find Podcasts

Most people get podcast recommendations from their friends, family, and colleagues, as well as from social media, online communities, top podcast charts, and “best of” lists.

There are also free podcast recommendation newsletters that you can sign up for to be sent directly to your inbox weekly, see the list below.

• Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast
• Triton Podcast Rankers measures average weekly downloads of podcasts
• Edison Podcast Metrics offers measurement of top podcasts, networks, and shows listened to by women, Black listeners, etc.
• New Podcast Trailers, from the creators of The PodNews daily newsletter, which also has new podcasts.
• Podcast The Newsletter (Weekly recommendations on a variety of podcasts)
• Earbuds Podcast Collective (5 podcasts on a theme curated by someone new)
• Find That Pod  (5 recommendations each week, archive)
• Radio Ink (Daily headlines and news about new podcasts)
• Podcast Guide (Community search engine for podcasts)
• Your Next Podcast (Podcast that recommends a new podcast)
• Podcast The Newsletter (Weekly recommendations on a variety of podcasts)
• Earbuds Podcast Collective (5 podcasts on a theme curated by someone new)
• Find That Pod  (5 recommendations each week, archive)
• Radio Ink (Daily headlines and news about new podcasts)
• Podcast Guide (Community search engine for podcasts)
• Your Next Podcast (Podcast that recommends a new podcast)
• Podnews (Global news about podcasting including new and continuing podcasts)
• ‘Best Of’ from: Vogue, Esquire, Vulture, New York Times, Appendix B
• Riverside has a list of 13 best popular podcasts of 2023

More Time Spent Listening & Favorites

Overall podcast consumption has slowed over the past year, but weekly listeners now spend an average of 6.3 hours with podcasts, up from six hours a year ago. More than one in five now consume over 10 hours weekly, or an extra 20 minutes. This means engagement is growing according to a June 2025 a study of the podcast landscape by Sounds Profitable. Partner Tom Webster attributes the increase to video podcasts.

Most people consume about 3 podcast titles regularly, reflecting a maturing medium where audiences lock into their favorites and it’s harder for newcomers to break through.

In a separate study by Edison Research, heavy podcast listeners – so-called ‘Super Listeners’ consume an average of 11.2 hours of podcasts per week, with over half of them listening to podcasts through YouTube.

What Are The Most Popular GENRES?

In the U.S. the most popular genres are Comedy, Society & Culture, News, and True Crime, followed by Sports and Education.

In particular, Gen Zer’s, value diverse podcast content and the importance of mental health with a focus on self-care and unplugging. 

TRUE CRIME, INVESTIGATIVE Podcasts

Among the overall audience, listening to the True Crime genre remains immensely popular with shows regularly at the top of podcast charts, spurred by the phenomenal success of Serial. Some cover cold cases and unveil family secrets while others bring publicity to underrepresented communities, looking for justice.

Criminologists say interest in true crime is driven by the basic human emotion of fear, allowing people to experience fears without the consequences of actual trauma. Rolling Stone came up with a list of “The best 25 True-Crime Podcasts of All-Time.”

In a similar vein, investigative podcasts may involve true crime but they also run the gamut – terrorism, corporate or political scandals, health care, or inequality in education.

Both genres are expensive to produce and time-consuming to create because this kind of watchdog journalism can take weeks, months and even years to come to fruition. “I believe investigative journalism is really like you are solving a mystery,” said LA Times reporter Joanne Faryon.

The Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW) at American University in Washington, D.C., has a look at how investigative reporters develop their stories for audio.

NEWS Podcasts Are Top Draws

When it comes to news, a third of U.S. adults (32%) say they sometimes get news from podcasts, with 10% saying they do this often. The survey from August 2025 was conducted by the non-partisan Pew Research Center. The survey found growth among all age groups but younger Americans are more likely than older adults to get news from podcasts often. Just five years only 22% got news from podcasts.

Another survey by Signal Hill Insights reinforces the popularity of news podcasts. Since the annual study began in 2021, news has consistently remained the second most-consumed podcast category. “News podcasts are not only finding themselves increasingly at the center of the national conversation, but they are also appealing to an inquisitive and attractive audience that’s growing even faster than podcast consumption in general,” said company president Paul Riismandel.

A Political Shift

The growth is being driven by new podcast consumers, and the data suggests that in this group more people are identifying as Republican, while Democrats make up the largest share of political affiliation among podcast veterans. Mainstream news podcasts remain popular and are benefitting from this growth. While just one-in-five U.S. podcast listeners listen to podcasts from a news organization, the legacy media organizations have put money, time, and staffing into news podcasts – from audio organizations  such as NPR to national publications like The New York Times which is building an audio empire by buying audio companies and adding more podcasts.

In the Triton Digital Top 200 Ranker, the NYT The Daily (#2), NPR News Now (#16), NPR’s Up First (#35), BBC Global News Podcast (#36). Each quarter 3,000 podcast listeners are surveyed. This is a distinct change in political affiliation compared to the second quarter last year.

Among podcasts with a clear political stance, conservative shows like The Megyn Kelly Show (#24), The Tucker Carlson Show (#43), and The Ben Shapiro Show (#42), while liberal podcasts include Pod Save America (#19), The Meidas Touch (#26), and The Bulwark Podcast (#71).

The survey found the most popular news-related podcast format to be when a topic in the news is explained in depth (69%), followed by a host offering opinions (61%), or a summary of the major news stories of the day (58%). “Most consumers are looking not for more news, but news that feels more relevant, and helps them make sense of the complex issues,” says the report.

WORLDWIDE News Podcast Audience

Worldwide about a third of the global audience accesses a podcast monthly, according to the 2025 Digital News Report, attracting a younger and better-educated audience. The survey covers six continents and 48 markets in a study commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

This year’s study focused on just the news and current affairs category to better compare podcasts for news to traditional radio, television, print news, and other digital sources.

According to the study there are significant differences across countries. The data says that weekly use of news podcasts in the U.S. is about 15%, which is similar to the numbers reading a newspaper or magazine (14%), or listen to news on the radio (13%).

Nordic markets also have well-developed news podcast markets, such as Denmark (12%), Sweden (11%), and Norway (11%), but traditional radio remains dominant (33%) across Northern Europe.

• By 2027 Latin America will have more podcast listeners than anywhere else in the world, according to research by Genuina Media.
• Edison Research has conducted surveys in five countries – including the U.S., UK Podcast Listener. Report, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. Triton also has a Canadian Podcast Report.
• YouGov also has data about regular podcast listeners around the world.
• Podcasters are calling for official government recognition as a cultural industry, with efforts in France; in Canada; and in the United Kingdom.

TOP-RATED News Podcasts

The massive success of The Daily from The New York Times, is credited with driving the growth of news podcasts, which attracts a younger and better-educated audience than traditional media. Since being launched in 2017 the powerhouse explanatory podcast has been downloaded more than 3 billion times with some 20 million people listening monthly. The format is to take  one big story and explain the issues in depth in for 20 to 40 minutes.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Times would start putting up a paywall for audio but it would be limited to old episodes while new shows would continue to be free.

The Times launched a shorter daily news podcast in 2023 that covers three top stories in about 10 minutes. The Headlines and other audio features curated by Times journalists can be heard on its main news app.

Among competitors, The Washington Post offers The 7,  which explores seven or more important or interesting news stories of the day with reporting and insight in about a 10-minute time span, while Reuters World News has a 10+ minute news briefing and the BBC has a 15-minute news podcast, aimed at 16-24-year-olds around the globe.

Also topping the podcast charts are two NPR news podcasts. Up First is the daily news podcast discussing the three biggest stories of the day with reporting and analysis in 10 minutes. NPR News Now has the latest hourly news in 5 minutes.

In the best news podcast category, Vox’sToday Explained won the 2024 Ambie for excellence in audio. The podcast covers the most important news of the day in about 30 minutes. The award comes from the professional member association, The Podcast Academy

News listeners generally view news podcasts as accurate, especially compared with news from social media. But there are danger signs ahead as the proportion of news consumers who say they avoid the news has grown sharply worldwide because consumers feel it has a negative impact on their mood and because of concerns over false and misleading news.

Top Podcast HONORS

Podcasts are now recognized at the highest levels of excellence in American journalism, with prizes that include the Pulitzer, Peabody, du Pont-Columbia Awards, and The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), among others.

Investigations have righted wrongs by getting inmates released from prison and exposed injustices that resulted in new national laws.

The U.S. Supreme Court felt the impact of a podcast in 2019. The In The Dark podcast prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to review and throw out the murder conviction of Curtis Flowers, a black Mississippi death row inmate who had been tried six times for the same crime.

A new trial was ordered after the investigative unit of American Public Media uncovered evidence of a pattern of racist jury selection by the prosecutor. After 23 years, Flowers became a free man after the Mississippi attorney general dropped state charges against him. The show also won top journalism honors including the Peabody, George Polk, and Edward R. Murrow awards.

Creation of the national sex-offender registries came after the 2016 podcast “In the Dark” documented how police mishandled the child abduction and murder of a small-town Minnesota boy.

So Does EVERYONE Have A Podcast?

It may seem like everyone has their own podcast since technology has made it possible to be your own creator and publisher – giving more people a voice to be heard. But it’s not just individuals who podcast, its institutions, government, business, the arts, religion, non-profits, and education.

The power and reach of the medium are so pervasive that the U.S. Library of Congress has its own podcasts and added podcasts to its archive “as part of its mission to collect and preserve sound recordings,” and is contacting selected podcasters to seek permission to add their shows.

The Smithsonian’s storytelling got a boost from a partnership with PRX. Their podcast, There’s More To That, covers history, science, and culture with journalists from Smithsonian Magazine. Among the first episodes were the backstories of two blockbuster movies, Oppenheimer and Barbie.

Podcasts in EDUCATION

In education podcasts play a variety of roles – encouraging student learning, creation of content, and allowing for greater access to information from the deep research done in academia. Students can download a podcast lecture to a mobile device and get 24-hour access. In today’s fast-paced world students will listen longer than they will watch or read and are able to go back over material they find difficult.

While some educators may want to keep their content restricted to enrolled students, other colleges and universities have created podcasts for public consumption.  A wide variety of topics include business, medicine, law, the environment, enrollment, administration, and a number that feature academic research or revolves around academic stars.

“Deep Background with Noah Feldman” from Harvard explores the news from a historical, scientific, legal and cultural context. “View From The Top” is based upon a Stanford University Dean speaker series. Other podcasts feature students, such as “A Hard Look,” a podcast by the Administrative Law Review that I advised in their startup for the American University Washington College of Law. 

HIGHER ED PODS

It’s now a bit easier to find the wealth of higher education podcasts in one place thanks to a new searchable podcast directory called “HigherEd Pods,” which lists hundreds of shows. The goal of the site is to build a higher education community for those involved in producing and marketing college podcasts.

In addition, the “Continuing Studies Podcast” provides tips and best practices with a spotlight on university podcasters and conversations about admissions, alumni, and explaining concepts such as Podcasting 2.0 with podcast expert James Cridland, editor of the Podnews newsletter.

 STUDENT PODCAST Challenge

For students, NPR sponsors an annual podcast competition for middle and high school students (grades 4-12) and a separate competition for college students, with the winners stories put online. Over six years, stories written and produced entirely by students included 17,000 podcast entries from all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

For college students the Podcast Challenge comes with a $5,000 grand prize scholarship and $500 prizes to finalists. Entries must be between 3 and 12 minutes in length, with the challenge open from Sept. 19-Dec. 31, 2025.  There are both individual students and teams, with entries made as personal projects or from class assignments. Winners have included a deeply personal narrative about a college student with a rare mental health condition, while another explored happiness as a young, single person. Topics among finalists have included climate change, gender and identify, campus politics, and mental health, offering both sound-rich podcasts as well as strong writing and narration.

For younger students there were more than 2000 entries from 30 states, and the District of Columbia. Finalists covered topics from what happens to immigrants when they first arrive, hair discrimination, and what happens when a high school student’s house party gets out of control. The top prize went to teen podcaster with an incarcerated parent.

BRANDED Podcasts

In the vast podcast ecosystem, companies offer their own branded podcasts as marketing and storytelling tools – creating a way to engage with listeners while also sharing brand information. The goal is not just selling products or services but to build brand loyalty by creating a bond with listeners. Quill has a white paper with case studies and measurement of brand podcasts.

Financial services giant like Charles Schwab, have podcasts with advice as well as a look at the political landscape for investments. Sporting goods company REI has podcasts with outdoor enthusiasts sharing their stories on ultrarunning, hiking and bike building and the Sephora Collection has chats about self-image and becoming more confident.

INTERNAL Podcasts Are Growing

In addition, a number of businesses do internal company podcasts, which in some cases replace the company newsletter.

Companies use the podcasts to:

• Keep employees connected, valued, and building company culture
• Keep up-to-date with the latest developments and avoiding screen fatigue
• Do employee training, development, and onboarding of new hires
• Engage in difficult conversations

These private podcasts are done the same way as public ones, but businesses can restrict who has access. Content can be accessed on popular listening apps, but it’s not publicly displayed on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and others. The podcasting firm uStudio has seen its clients now produce an average of 10 podcasts using its platform, according to Digiday.

What Are The TOP Podcasts?

Identifying the top podcasts depends upon which metric is used since there is nothing like the “Top Billboard” chart for music or the Nielsen ratings for television.

When it comes to audience numbers you need to know how to read them.

• Download is an episode download that may or may not be listened to
• Listen, or a play, is when a human being has pressed the play button
• Stream normally means a “listen” but doesn’t really exist in podcasting

In the podcast world there are analytics from podcast hosting services like Libsyn or Captivate, from third-party rankers such as Triton and Podtrac, and from podcast apps like Apple or Spotify.

The most complete data comes from podcast hosting services as they have data for all RSS platforms like Apple and Spotify, which has added ‘Listen Time‘ to their podcast dashboard. That is defined as the “the total number of hours people have spent listening to or watching your episode.”

Rankers like Podtrac publish a monthly list of Top 20 Podcasts and of Top 20 Publishers, based on downloads, while Triton does a weekly average. These podcast rankers are produced monthly on a per region or country basis.

In contrast, Edison Podcast Research measures listening and not downloads across all networks, shows, and platforms. They publish quarterly reports of the top 50 podcasts in the U.S., the top podcast networks, top podcasts among women, among Black listeners, for new hits, and even for shows with the highest portion of their audience that listens exclusively.

A podcast app such as Apple Podcasts Connect, Spotify for Podcasters, or YouTube Studio measures only the data on their platform. More about audience measurement in Chapter 10.

Podcast HISTORY Is Humble 

Podcasting is now 20 years old, first taking hold in 2004, and began with three people – a former MTV video jock, a software engineer who pioneered blogging and developed the web feed known as RSS, and a former journalist/writer.

In celebration, Apple Podcasts released what it considers to be the 20 most influential shows, with selections that include the blockbuster Serial, Call Her Daddy, Las Culturistas, Huberman Lab, and more.

In 2001, media personality and entrepreneur Adam Curry, shared an idea in a blog post that led to podcasting. You can now see that post and learn the intriguing story of the first podcast feed, thanks to research by journalist and podcast creator Eric Nuzum.

Curry had met in a New York City hotel room with software engineer/blogger Dave Winer, the pioneer who created the tools that drove blogging and distribution technology. He posted about that meeting, “Adam wants the Internet to be Everyman’s broadcast medium, to route around TV and radio broadcast networks, with no compromise in quality. Now if this were easy, or the solution obvious, we’d already be doing it. But there’s a big sticky problem in the way, the pipes don’t seem big enough,” wrote Winer. However it wasn’t long before Winer had made the code changes to RSS that allowed for audio content to be offered on blogs.

It took another two years for the first podcast by Winer and journalist Christoper Lyden, created after a blogger conference at Harvard University. It became what is now the world’s longest-running podcast, Open Source.

Podnews offers a history lesson on podcasting in the United Kingdom.

The WORD ‘Podcast’

The word podcast comes from the word’s “pod” as in iPod and “broadcast.” It was in 2005 that the Oxford Dictionary named “podcast” as its word of the year after journalist Ben Hammersley coined the term the year before in the first major print publication. Podnews offers a look back at evolution of the word.

In the early days, podcasts mostly came from radio corporations such as NPR, looking for new ways to distribute audio programming. Traditionally, a podcast has been defined as a digital audio file available on the internet that can be downloaded on a computer or digital device and is automatically received by subscribers.

But today, listeners are discovering podcasts in multiple ways, including on YouTube and Facebook rather than podcast apps. While some believe the only true podcasts are downloadable audio, others say it has emerged today to be something more like a storytelling experience whether it be video or audio, or both.

The BOOM YEAR Podcast

It was the launch of “Serial,” that began the boom year for podcasting in 2014. The podcast shattered records at the time and has over 300-million downloads to date. The show was also the first podcast to win the prestigous Peabody Award, which rewards stories that matter.

In that first series, Sarah Koenig’s narrative podcast told a single non-fiction story over 12 episodes, using a narrator. The story was spun off from public radio’s “This American Life” and focused on the 1999 murder of a 15-year-old girl from Baltimore. Her former 17-year-old high school boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted of the crime and spent 23 years in prison. However, the Serial podcast shined a light on the case, questioning evidence and the quality of legal representation. 

Then in another flip in the case, a Maryland appellate court reinstated the conviction in March 2023, deciding the victim’s family did not have enough time to attend a hearing case in person. In 2025 a Baltimore court ruled that Syed will not return to prison, despite the murder conviction, and reduced the sentence to time served. The sensational case that drew international attention is now officially over. 

Serial is credited with opening the doors for other popular podcasts to be consumed by mass audiences in the so-called, “Serial effect,” especially in the True Crime genre. Vox has a retrospective on the role of Serial in the genre boom.

Artificial Intelligence has been around for 40 years, but podcasters today are using AI to enhance workflow – generating podcast story ideas, doing research, creating interview questions, cover art, social media posts, editing, and transcript, among other things. There are both free and paid services. When OpenAl’s ChatGPT launched in late 2022 it grew faster than TikTok and became the fastest-growing ‘app’ of all time. A key rival is Claude and Google introduced Gemini technology.

Wondercraft is an AI-powered audio studio platform that allows written content to be turned into podcasts. The company did a study that says 80% of creators using AI. Co-founder Oskar Serrander says, “AI is becoming less of a shortcut and more of a studio partner, helping creators stay prolific without burning out or compromising quality.”

Podcasts that are entirely created by AI are here. The tech podcast, The Automated Daily, looks for news to generate headlines of the day.

The host is named “Trend Teller” and show length is between 4 and 7 minutes, according to a sampling.

AI Turns Blog-to-Podcast

Written blogging can now be turned into podcasting thanks to a new feature being offered by leading podcast platform, Podbean. AI voices turn the blog into audio with a choice of up to five languages or countries. You can review and edit before publishing. Podbean has a community of over 640, 000 podcasts and the hosting service comes with a free podcast website. You can see how the new AI feature works here.

Transcripts

There are many AI tools to make transcripts and Apple and Spotify now have auto-generated transcripts, but creators should check for accuracy. OpenAI has a tool called Whisper to generate transcripts, including transcripts in multiple languages, as well as translation from those languages into English. Deepgram is a competitor and both are paid tools.

See Ch. 9 for free ways to make transcripts.

Podcast Artwork & Music

For visual appeal there is AI-generated art. Customers of publishing platforms like Blubrry can generate images, show titles and host names. Free and open-source AI art generators such as GIMP have image creation and Dream.ai generates images by turning your words into works of art. However, copyright lawsuits have been filed against other AI art generators because they learned how to create art from images on the internet, without the consent of artists. See Ch. 2 for tips on ways to create your own cover art.

When it comes to music, podcast consultant John Wordock fed some ideas and podcast themes for music in chatGPT to create a song about podcasting in the summer.

Podcast Editing

AI algorithms can improve sound quality by removing remove filler words like “um” and “like” as well as awkward pauses and remove background noise, making editing quicker and easier.

Some examples include:

Descript’s Overdub feature can correct mistakes in speaking and when a host mispronounces something by having AI say it correctly. The software allows you to edit video just like a word document and makes automatic transcripts. You can record and replace a section of audio or video using Replace Selection without interrupting the timing of everything else.

AI Tools To Improve Recorded Speech

While there is no substitute for doing proper soundproofing before you record, if you still have hollow, muffled, tinny sound or background sound from air conditioning that you can’t turn off, there is a free AI tool you can try. I tested out Adobe Enhanced Speech  and found it to be pretty good in removing noise but not always.

Several AI tools are in beta: Regenerate can be used to edit jumpy or abrupt edits or to get rid of sudden noises like a car horn or when a host lets their voice trail off; Eye Contact will rotate your eyeballs to make it look like you are looking directly in the camera even if reading a teleprompter or looking off camera.

• An AI voice cloning tool called Revoice, can create a digital copy of your own voice but it does sound a bit robotic.
• Metadeveloped Voicebox, which generates text-to-speech and can remove transient sound like a dog barking or a doorbell ringing.
• Wondercraft has “Parrot Mode” in which users can tell AI voices exactly how to deliver lines.

More controversial AI uses include creation of entirely AI podcasts, script writing, use of cloned voices, and non-disclosure of AI use.

Deepfakes – AI Voice Clones

The human voice stands out for being trustworthy in podcasts and in radio. People are more than twice as likely to trust a human voice (55%) over AI-generated content (23%), according to Audacy’s Innovation Tracker (June 2024). That also extends to trust in advertising voices.

But, just like AI has built fake videos and lifelike images, voices of the dead as well those still alive have been cloned. In the documentary, Roadrunner, about the life of the late Anthony Bourdain, AI reconstructed three lines to sound like they were said by the celebrity chef-host, a technique not originally disclosed to the public. This technology means that the voice of a familiar podcast host, whether hosting a show or an ad, could actually be a voice clone.

Ethics of Voice Clones

Platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple have now put rules in place about use of AI. Guidelines for podcast producers have been drafted in a Listener Bill or Rights about AI, by media company WaitWhat.

One advertising company, ADOPTER Media, has issued standards on voice cloning and AI audio use for host-read ads. “Using AI to read a personal endorsement—unless done for accessibility purposes—is both disingenuous and unethical.” The standards were designed to safeguard the integrity of host-read ads and trust in personal endorsements.

Nonconsensual use of AI voice clones is not only a monetary decision but involves ethical and legal issues. At least one podcast was already threatened with a lawsuit after AI generated content imitated the voice and image of NFL legend Tom Brady for the Dudesy podcast.

See Ch. 7 for tips on how to best use your own voice in podcasting.

Podcast Discovery, Research & Planning

AI gave a boost to podcast discovery from Sounder and Podroll. By using these tools you can get personalized podcast recommendations based on listener preferences and behaviors to your next favorite episode, with preliminary data showing a 30% increase in podcast consumption.

For podcast planning and episode topic ideas there are several tools: the free tool ChatGPT or paid tools Jasper AI, and Showplanner can help a podcaster come up with topic ideas, research, guest ideas & interview questions, episode titles & outlines. See Ch. 2 for tips on doing it yourself and look to Ch. 5 for tips on interviewing.

Choose Wisely on AI Tools

However, as the saying goes – just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. The use of some AI tools is not entirely innocent and carries the potential for societal harm. Since artificial intelligence is built from already acquired data, when such information is flawed or incomplete, it ultimately results in reinforcing implicit and explicit bias. You can make up your own mind on whether of AI tools help or hurt the podcast industry but it’s well worth an ethical discussion.

YouTube now requires disclosure of AI if it is used to make a real person say or so something they didn’t say, if footage of a real event is altered, or if a realistic scene is generated that did not actually occur.  Both Spotify and Apple also have rules on AI use.

Regulatory Actions

In Washington, the Trump Administration unveiled it’s AI policy plan hosted by lawmakers, tech investors, and the host of the All-In Podcast, David Sacks, a venture capitalist who also happens to be Trump’s AI czar. The initiatives will scale back AI regulation and kick off investment.

During the Biden Administration concerns over safety and risks from AI prompted the federal government to meet with the most influential companies building AI. It resulted in a voluntary pledge to mitigate risks and to allow security experts to test systems before they are released to the public. It’s not clear what guardrails may now be ended.

YouTube tops Apple and Spotify in podcast distribution – bringing in an increase of podcasts on video and attracting new audiences to the medium. YouTube now competes with video-first social medium platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

The main reason for the increase in video podcasts is that YouTube has 5x as many users as other podcast platforms with a reach of over 2 billion monthly users. The growth is also driven by newcomers to podcasting.

Video NOT Replacing Audio Podcasts

However, despite the growth in video podcasts, audio remains the primary mode of podcast consumption, according to several surveys.

A 2025 study from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights found that 58% of weekly podcast consumers prefer audio, while 30% listen while the video is minimized or plays in the background. Two-in-five say they prefer actively watching podcasts with videos.

Although entertainment journalist James Hibberd told the Hollywood Reporter “it’s got to be on video to break through,” it’s really more the massive reach of YouTube than it is video itself.“ The dominant modality for podcast consumption is still audio – and not by a little, says Sounds Profitable partner Tom Webster.

In looking at the top 50 shows on podcast distributer Libsyn, company vice-president Rob Walch found that dynamic video (meaning real-time), was only used in the very top blockbuster shows, while the rest used a static image or had no video. Giving the audience a choice of audio or video does work in helping to build a loyal following, but that audio cannot be an afterthought.

Other digital video leaders like Netflix, which has already upended the television business, are reportedly exploring video podcasts for their 300 million global streaming subscribers. Production costs are low for video-chat podcasts compare with high-budget scripted entertainment shows.

YouTube Dominates Video Podcasts

While YouTube is number one for consumption, seeing steady growth over the last five years., Spotify has held its own while Apple has seen the most erosion.

YouTube is often used as a discovery tool for audiences looking for podcasts to consume, but a majority of the podcast audience – 61% – most often use a platform other than YouTube.

Video Partnerships with YouTube

YouTube sought out established podcasters and created partnerships with NPR and Slate to bring over 20 top-performing podcasts to the platform. “Following the global success of our Tiny Desk Concerts, we are excited for our podcasts to reach new audiences on YouTube,” says Anya Grundmann, SVP of Programming and Audience Development at NPR.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) started its partnership with YouTube using artwork for a dozen audio podcasts into its YouTube channel.  They will expand to video podcasts with live elements. ESPN has dozens of shows on YouTube, grouping them into topics by sport – such as basketball, soccer, and MMA.

When Ringer’s Talk the Thrones podcast added video, followers reportedly increased by 70%, according to The Media Leader.

Spotify now lists over 100,000 video podcasts on its platform but that is only 2% of their total podcasts. The company is actively trying to get more video podcasts, with Spotify for Podcasters, replacing the podcast publisher Anchor. Executive Julie McNamera told The Verge “video podcasting is one of the fastest growing areas of podcasting, and we expect that growth to continue.” The company sees a growth in podcast consumption translating to more ad dollars.

Find tips on creating a video podcast from Resonate Studios and tips for how to do an audio and video podcast at the same time from Justin Jackson.

Pros of Video Podcasts

Video podcasting works in one of two ways – either having true video where there are talking heads or posting audio as a video by putting up a static image, which podcasters hope will lead to new listeners discovering their show. In addition, surveys show that minority populations want to see and well as hear their own communities.

Google data says that showing your face does help as 80% of the most successful video podcasts feature the host and get twice as many views as those podcast with only static images.

Since YouTube is owned by Google, the world’s biggest search engine, podcasters might see additional audience growth by adding video and could create a new revenue stream. In addition, YouTube is making a home for podcasts as Google shutdown their podcast app. Video may also attract an audience that doesn’t use podcast apps. However, you can also now listen to YouTube podcasts on YouTube Music and switch between audio-video versions for on-demand, offline, and background listening.

Chat podcasts make an ideal platform for video podcasts but I remain an audio-only podcast consumer because I thoroughly enjoy the art of audio storytelling, the craft of sound design and want to get my eyes off screens. See Ch. 6 on Scripting to learn simple ways to add additional sound to enhance your storytelling episodes.

Cons of Video Podcasts

For creators, however, doing video is more complex, more expensive, and time-consuming to do well. While video works extremely well for Joe Rogan and other celebrities, for other podcasts the audience may not want to watch talking heads for very long.

Audience retention is the biggest reason to do audio, according to Pat Flynn, an entrepreneur and host of Smart Passive Income. He says if you are holding attention in video for minutes that you are doing pretty well, but in audio you can hold attention for 20 minutes or more and thus build a strong and trusting audience base.

Another strategy for video podcasts would be only to use video as a supplement to an audio-first podcast by taping a few video episodes but only uploading five-minute snippets of the show to YouTube to help attract an audience to the full audio episodes.

Five podcasters who made the transition from audio-first podcasting to adding video production discuss their experiences with Colin Gray of The Podcast Host – talking about what worked and what did not. Some found it worth their while while others did not like the hassle.

TikTok Podcasts

The social media app TikTok, with over 1 billion monthly users has added podcasts. Invitations about how to add podcast feeds to TikTok via RSS, have a message that says, “Viewers will be able to listen to your podcast episode from the linked videos.”  Here’s some advice on how to promote your podcast using the app.

This comes at a time when the U.S. government, some states, local school districts, some colleges, and foreign governments banned TikTok use on official devices because of spying concerns over the Chinese-owned video sharing app.

Podcasts have become political must-do’s for presidential candidates hoping to win public office, usually on shows not known for politics.

In what some called the ‘Bro Podcast Tour,” then-candidate Donald Trump went on a series of podcasts popular with male audiences, adding up to more than 50 million views, according to Forbes. He traveled to Texas to be on The Joe Rogan Experience for three hours, the most popular podcast in America, and talked about election fraud theories and the 2020 election.

His opponent, Kamala Harris could not come to terms for going on the Rogan podcast but did spend 45 minutes on Call Her Daddy, another top show, especially among young women, but not a podcast known for politics.

Both are turns away from legacy media, which are losing audience. In contrast, podcast audiences are growing, allow for extended conversations without much editing, they create a one-on-one listening experience, are available on demand, and podcasts are narrow-casting – aimed at a more precise audience.

Now, even with the 2028 election years away, politicians like California Governor Gavin Newsom, a probable Democratic contender, has an iHeart audio and video podcast that is on YouTube. He makes a point of having conversations with people he disagrees with, like the late Charlie Kirk and provocateur Steve Bannon.

He’s not the only one as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has a podcast on SiriusXM, and he also says he want the podcast “to be a space to bring people together.” He’s a Democrat in a red-state. Other candidates don’t yet have their own podcasts but go on podcasts and talk for extended periods of time.

Podcasts became a “safe space” for spread of the 2024 election fraud theories, according to Brookings Institute Fellow Valerie Wirtschafter, because hosts have an intimate trusted relationship with listeners. Brookings is a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Wirtschafter told The Washington Post, that unlike the 2020 election, podcast voices are no longer fringe. “The microphone is bigger, the audience is larger and the trust is even deeper.”

Podcast Host Ecosystem

However, the podcast ecosystem has also been an echo chamber for false or misleading information, spread by non-journalists. While Fox News host Tucker Carlson was fired for spreading conspiracy theories, among other things, he is back with a top-rated podcast.

Spotify’s star podcaster Joe Rogan questioned the risks of vaccines for healthy young people and took lots of heat before he backtracked and said he’s “not an anti-vax person.” With more than 14 million listeners his reach is massive and influential. He hosted guests like far-right conspiracist Alex Jones and others who promoted coronavirus misinformation among other lies and it created lots of headaches for Spotify. The company subsequently pulled multiple episodes of Rogan’s podcast.

The Murky World of Political Podcasts

But the problem is bigger than Rogan according to Wirtschafter. Her study of popular political podcasts concluded that one-tenth contain potentially false information. Since podcasts operate via RSS feeds, no federal license is needed so anyone can be a publisher/broadcaster. She calls the medium “an ideal tool to inject false or misleading information into the mainstream discourse while going undetected.”

The research found that 10 prominent podcasts were responsible “for the majority of the false and misleading content.” The hosts lean politically conservative and reach more than 28 million people on Facebook and Twitter. Steve Bannon’s War Room was found responsible for nearly 70% of conspiracy claims and a quarter of unsubstantiated COVID-claims.

Generational Divide on New Media

New media platforms are also blurring the lines on who is seen as a journalist, with a widening generational divide on how journalism is viewed in America.

A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that young adults are far more likely than older ones to say that people who report on or host a news podcast, write for newsletters or social media qualify as a journalist. One Millennial said, “I can rely on these podcasters and influencers who are actually reporting on every little thing that’s going on that I didn’t know was going on because mainstream didn’t tell me about it.” Gen Z and Millennial audiences are also more tolerant of journalists opening sharing their perspectives. The bad news is that less than half of adults (45%) say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in journalists to act in the best interests of the public.

Still, the overwhelming majority of listeners believe the news they hear on podcasts according to an earlier Pew study, which is a much higher level of trust than in other sources of news and information.

Podcasts resonate with diverse audiences – Black, Hispanic, and Asian populations, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, females, and younger audiences – and they are all looking for content that reflects their lived experience. Surveys show there would be even more listening if the podcast host reflected that diversity. Edison Research data shows the racial breakdown of monthly podcast listeners, “is almost identical to the spread of the U.S. population.”

iHeart Media as the largest audio company in the U.S. has multiple LGBTQ podcasts that cross cultures and ages with a far-reaching range of topics from gay history to sex, pop culture, transgender, and conversations with inspirational people in the LGBTQ+ community.

There is also an increasing number of podcasts about disability, with shows that are hosted and developed by the disabled. They provide transcripts for the deaf or hard-of-hearing and the growth of AI in easily creating transcripts creation is a big boost. If you use English, the Apple iPhone now offers live captions on podcasts and there are also live captions for some Android phones or on your computer if you use the Google Chrome browser. See Ch. 10 for transcribing resources.

The PBS documentary series, FRONTLINE, offered a limited podcast series in American Sign Language (ASL) for each episode of its podcast about the worst mass shooting of deaf people in Maine history. The ASL-interpreted videos traced how deaf victims faced information barriers after the deadly shooting in Lewiston. It took eight hours to produce each 30-to-40-minute podcast episode. 

The Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund supports independent BIPOC, Queer and Trans audio producers in submitting their work to media/journalism competitions with reimbursements up to $200 for awards and $500 in education/training.

Other underrepresented voices are finding new opportunities in podcasting with opportunities for training, fellowships, mentoring, funding, professional trade organizations, and podcast conferences.

Since 2018, Spotify’s Sound Up Program has helped podcasters in underrepresented communities with “educational opportunities, resources, and access to industry experts.” The program is open in 12 markets, (Japan, Italy, the U.S., U.S. LatinX, India, Mexico, Australia, Sweden, the U.K., Germany, Brazil, and Argentina). Participants go through four weeks of training in storytelling, audio production, and workshop their ideas.

Now Spotify’s NextGen Audio Program, which showcases creators from underrepresented communities in the audio industry, has expanded to historically Black colleges and university(HBCU) campuses in the U.S., started with Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Explosive Growth in Female Listenership

In the U.S., female monthly podcast listening has tripled in the last 10 years, estimated at 60 million. Consumers tend to be younger (39% between 18-34), have college degrees, and higher incomes (29% with incomes over $100K).

The Women’s Audio Report, by Edison Research and SiriusXM Media, shows a remarkable growth story of women in podcasting. Across audio and video formats, podcasts reach 52% of all women.

Melissa Paris of SiriusXM says it’s smart business to invest in authentic female voices. “Women’s voices deserve to be heard and supported as the powerful market force they truly are.” However, women remain a minority when it comes to podcast hosting. Women are particularly interested in female stories and perspectives on self-care, mental health, and friendships, and seek out podcasts hosted or produced by women.

The best hope for change might be the podcast networks that are now run by and for women.

Lemonada Media launched in 2019 as a woman-owned podcast network that produces content that “makes life suck less.” Cofounders Stephanie Wittels Wach and Jess Cordova Kramer connected after they both lost little brothers to opioid overdoses and wanted to give everyone a platform.

Lemonada shows are diverse, from Add to Cart with Kulap Vilaysack and SuChin Pak, to Blind Plea, a true-crime story about domestic abuse, and a show talking with older women, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus which was Apple’s Podcast of the Year in 2023.

In 2025 some growth in female podcasting from Audacy, (the free broadcast and internet radio platform), which has launched its first broadcast series for women’s sports with a new weekly show that is also available as a podcast. “Women’s sports are experiencing a cultural surge – and fans are demanding more, says Audacy VP Chris Kinard.

In the world of fiction, Emerald Audio is a premium podcast network with a female storytelling focus. “Fiction, particularly female-driven fiction, is at the very beginning of its growth in that area, and there are so many opportunities for strong, powerful stories aimed at women, says Co-founder and Bestselling author Jane Green. There will be a collection of nationally recognized storytellers.

Live podcasts are coming to an auditorium near you in what is proving to be a booming live podcast circuit. Pollstar reports that the first podcast ever broadcast from Madison Square Garden, Kill Tony, made $3.8 million during a two-day sold-out gig. The comedy podcast sold 19,000 tickets. Comedies are big draws for live shows, drawing large crowds with minimal expenses for a crew or set, so they produce huge profits. Ticket vendors now have event schedules where you can select podcasts.

Over the past two years podcasters such as the political talk show Last Podcast on the Left, true crime hit Crime Junkie, and Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper are among the successful podcasts to bring their shows on the road. Ticket prices range from $50 to hundreds of dollars and podcasters can make six figures in a single night, according to a talent agent quoted by Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman. The true crime, creepy history podcast Morbid, “hosted by an autopsy technician and a hairstylist,” reportedly sold out in Boston in two minutes. Carman reports the live podcast trend is worldwide, as a UK-based podcast, The Rest is Politics, sold out a London arena.

There is also plenty of podcast show merchandise to sell to hard-core fans, from $30 hoodies, to $40 dollar hats, or $13 dollar keychains.

Podcasts Taking Late-Night Mic

Podcasts are also playing a role in changing the late-night TV talk show eco-system, which emphasized comedy and talk. Younger viewers have left appointment TV in favor of on demand platforms, while podcasting is the new talk radio and television medium for those 18-34, younger than any other major media platform. It’s more intimate and unrehearsed, allowing guests to have longer conversations and attracting A-list celebrities.

Former late-night TV host Conan O’Brien was one of the first to make the transition back in 2018. By the end of his TV show he had only 280,000 viewers, but he now has a top-ranked and far less expensive podcast to produce, with 1.3 million downloads per episode. He later sold his Team Coco production company and podcasts to SiriusXM for a reported $150 million but remains as a host.

In contrast, Stephen Colbert’s The Late Night on CBS, has seen a drop in viewership of 30% over five years, and is set to end in May 2026. His TV show is reported to cost $100 million a year, with a staff of 200. The shift in media has podcasters taking the mic.