Has the world reached peak podcast?

25 February 2023

Phil Siarri, writing at The PhilaVerse, notes the number of new podcasts has declined by eighty-percent globally, compared to 2020-2022, based on data published by Listen Notes.

219,178 new podcasts were created in 2022 as opposed to 337,063 in 2019.

But James Cridland, writing at Podnews, says that while the number of new podcast shows has declined, the number of new episodes has increased:

The increasing number of episodes suggests that podcasters aren’t, as the narrative suggests, “giving up”. Committed podcasters are continuing to release new episodes, at an ever-increasing rate. Far from podcasting being in severe decline, the industry seems healthy and growing.

I can’t go anywhere on the web without tripping over a podcast show, so suggesting podcasting is in decline seems like a big call, even though some data might indicate this is the case. It seems reasonable the number of new podcast shows would fall once COVID-19 lockdowns ended, and people were no longer looking for so many ways to occupy themselves while at home.