The Ghost of Podcast Future (2024 Edition)

The Ghost of Christmas Future, or Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, exists in A Christmas Carol to serve as a grim warning of what will happen to Scrooge if he doesn’t change his ways.

But as Scrooge points out, the spirits wouldn’t be visiting him if he were, “…past all hope!”

Last year, I simply made predictions. I don’t want to do that again this year.

But I also don’t want to end Podcast Advent on doom and gloom. After all, Scrooge did change. It’s a story about heeding warnings and changing for the better.

In Podcast Past, we explored what podcasting was — how it came to be, what was expected then, and how it affects our view of what a podcast is.

In Podcast Present, we explored some bigger questions surrounding podcasting today. What’s going on with analytics? Is RSS at risk? Do we need video?

Where is Podcasting Going?

All of this has culminated in podcasting being at an interesting crossroads. It’s not new that celebrities have embraced it, and pundits have been podcasting forever. But this year, it had a noticeable effect on the 2024 US Election. Both presidential candidates did podcast interviews instead of traditional (or “legacy”) media. President-elect Trump is even considering adding podcasters to the White House Briefing Room.

This is a massive development in the space.

On the other side of the coin, businesses are seeing more value in having a podcast — especially as video rises to prominence in the space. I’ve long advised my coaching clients that podcasting can be a great starting point for a larger content strategy.

I’ll be implementing this myself more fully in 2025.

Between falling prices in gear and AI tools maturing, podcasting is easier than ever. Granted, I mean this in the same way Apple says every year’s iPhone is the “best iPhone ever.” From a technological standpoint, producing a podcast is unlikely to ever get harder than it is today.

But from a content standpoint, it feels a lot harder. The biggest podcasts are making all the money, and growing has been challenging. My show’s downloads are down, and I’m not the only one.

Given all of this, what does the future hold for podcasting?

Podcasting’s Growing Influence

When I first made my note for topics to cover for Podcast Future, here’s what I wrote:

Will we see a degradation of the Fourth Estate?

If politicians can start their own shows, or have way more friendly shows to go on, will they face fewer direct challenges and consequences? Or will it even the playing field?

If you don’t know the term, the Forth Estate refers to the press and news media, and are tasked with informing the public and holding those in power accountable.

I wish I could tell you why this was so top of mind for me when I opened Apple Notes.

It could be that the news about Trump inviting podcasters to the briefing room broke. Or that I started thinking about how both major US election candidates went on podcasts instead of traditional media outlets.

It’s no secret that podcasting is having a moment similar to blogs 20 years ago, regarding ubiquity, opportunity, and influence. And truth be told, I could focus the rest of this piece entirely on politics.

I nearly did. But podcasting isn’t just about politics — especially not just American politics. And podcasting’s growing influence transcends any one niche.

Instead of picturing a world where we’re all stuck in information silos on a steady diet of groupthink, we could picture one with a diverse set of easily findable worldviews from thought leaders, experts, and aspiring pundits of all kinds.

Giving people a voice also gives listeners options — and having options is crucial to getting a more balanced perspective.

We’re seeing it happen now, just like we did then with blogs; except that was done in a world where the only algorithmic discovery was Google, in a revolution driven by RSS readers.

Can the Future of Podcasting be much different?

Distributing Podcasts

As a 12-year-old boy when Titanic came out, I hated Leonardo DiCaprio. The reason was simple. Every girl my age, including the one I liked (like, like liked) loved him.

In other words, my resistance to Leo was unfounded, and kind of silly. When I finally ended up watching another movie starring him, it was The Departed, nearly 10 years later. In that time, I missed out on some great movies (that I later rectified):

• The Man in the Iron Mask

• Gangs of New York

• Catch Me if You Can

• The Aviator

Why tell you this? Because, due to my stubbornness, I missed out.

In the article about Podcast Present, I warn about the voices so who vehemently argue that RSS is a required component of a podcast. Or that video disqualifies content from being considered a podcast.

The future I described above — where anyone has a voice to influence — has to be driven and sustained by something. Here’s what it could look like.

A friend of yours discovers a new podcast she thinks you’ll enjoy. So she sends you the YouTube link — after all, that’s how she found it. You have a listen, and leave a like and a comment. The host will eventually respond.

And as you’re listening, the host encourages you to subscribe — except it sounds like this:

“Since you’re listening on YouTube, you can subscribe right here. Or if you want even more content, you can subscribe via our RSS feed, in your favorite podcast app.”

Dynamic ads not only know your location, but the platform where you’re listening, and the call-to-action is customized based on that.

In other words, podcasting can be driven by the platforms that are investing in the podcasting space now: YouTube and Spotify.

But it will still be sustained by open RSS, just like blogging.

As a podcaster, you’ll need to leverage both to be heard. Don’t let your stubbornness get the best of you, like it did for me with Leo DiCaprio. Because by the time you come around, it may be too late.