The Great Podcasting Market Correction
With hiring freezes, smaller upfront payments and fewer acquisitions, the podcast boom is feeling like a thing of the past
As the podcasting universe has matured in recent years it has picked up many of the trappings of more established media industries, ranging from a flourishing trade press to its very own awards show circuit. This past year, podcasting finally achieved one of the ultimate signifiers of middle age — an unsettling realization that the best days of its high-spirited youth may now be behind it.
While overall podcasting revenue and listenership continue to grow, the runaway exuberance many felt about state of the medium has dissipated lately, even among some of its most ardent practitioners. “At what point do you have to just call it, and say that rather than being a ‘big thing’ in waiting, it’s just a run-of-the-mill ‘medium thing,’” Nick Hilton, a podcast entrepreneur, wrote in a recent blog post, entitled “2022: The Year That Podcasting Died.”