"This is it. I'm calling it. The "What's a podcast?" era is over. 2025 was the year the podcast world finally acknowledged the audio landscape had shifted for good. While the industry debated definitions and formats, audiences simply kept moving to new platforms, new screens, and new behaviors. The podcast industry is always changing. Throughout the years in the Amplifi Thought Letter, and in my NYU Business of Podcasting class, we've tracked this journey across three distinct eras."
"Then came the rush. Big business discovered podcasting. Expansion and experimentation followed. Everyone from Amazon to SiriusXM, Spotify, and Sony-everyone raced to acquire networks and IP. Money flowed. Ambition spiked. Experiments multiplied. Some shows soared; many didn't. It was messy, and while some things stuck, a lot of spaghetti oozed down the wall. Regardless, this era professionalized the industry and expanded its creative boundaries."
"For the last few years, we've been right here - the identity crisis phase. Conferences became group therapy sessions. Articles and agencies debated the definition of a podcast. So much hand wringing. Can a podcast be video? (See Joe Rogan). Meanwhile, audiences simply watched our content on YouTube and wondered why more podcasts din't have video. The audience led the industry. And yet today we know podcasting is not audio or video, from research we did with Coleman Insights, it's both"
2025 marked a decisive shift in podcast consumption as audiences moved to new platforms, screens, and behaviors. Podcasting evolved through three eras: an early intimate, audio-only phase dominated by public radio and host-read ads; a messy expansion driven by big companies that professionalized the industry; and a recent identity crisis debating whether podcasts must be audio or video. Audiences increasingly consumed shows on video platforms like YouTube, demonstrating that podcasting functions as both audio and video. In 2026 the industry enters a Liquid Content era that embraces cross-format content and adapts to audience-driven platform behaviors.
Read at RAIN News
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