"Last year, I would have argued that this is not a podcast. That it is, in fact, a clip of a TV show. But in 2025, with almost every major podcast now having a video component, the definition of the word "podcast" has become pretty meaningless. A decades-old TV show talk show format is now almost indistinguishable from podcasts like Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe,"
"Scrolling though my YouTube feed, most of the suggestions in the Podcast tab are late-night talk show interviews, host-driven video essays, food reviews, and cable news segments - very far from what we used to use the term for: narrative audio journalism and roundtable discussions. So in 2026, instead of trying to define what a podcast is, I think we need to stop using the word altogether."
Podcast formats have converged with video in 2025, eroding the distinction between audio-only shows and filmed talk shows. Many top podcast releases include video components and appear on YouTube alongside late-night clips, host-driven video essays, food reviews, and news segments. Traditional uses of the word podcast — narrative audio journalism and roundtable discussion — now coexist with TV-style interviews and long-form host conversations on platforms like Spotify and YouTube. The overlap has rendered the label "podcast" imprecise, prompting the view that the term should be retired as it becomes an outdated or cringe relic by 2026.
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