Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
You have to admit: Podcast is a silly word.
With minutes to go,he wrote: But what to call it?
The second word stuck.
I just made up a bullshit sentence, Hammersley would tell me years later.
Honestly, I dont really even remember doing it.
Its a cliche these days to say that podcasting is on the rise, but its also true.
Indeed, its as true today as it was back when Hammersley coined the word in 2004.
A lot has happened in the brief history of podcasting (so far).
The second turning point is happening right now.
Not that we should romanticize the early days too much.
The earliest podcasts were mostly chat-heavy amateur affairs crudely recorded, barely edited, insular.
This broadening of the creative pipeline translated into a greater mix of podcasts for audiences to try out.
(Shout-out to Mailchimp.)
Podcast listening would eventually flatten out by the early 2010s.
Whatever the reason, it doesnt really matter.
Podcasts were already taking off, they argue.
There are ways that it’s possible for you to sharpen that argument.
And maybe if wed never hadSerial, someone else would have become the dominant shorthand of this rising industry.
ButSerials late 2014 debut is nonetheless a strong historical marker.
In the five years preceding 2014, the same metric grew by only 35 percent.
In other words: There was podcasting before 2014, and there was podcasting after 2014.
The years following the late 2014 moment saw an insane flurry of podcast activity.
(Were not.)
Meanwhile, advertising money has begun to pour in to the point that proper accounting can finally be conducted.
Ad revenue is projected to hit $1 billion by 2021, apparently.
Every week yielded another new project, another milestone, another expression of deep ambition.
Things felt like they weremoving, thunderously but to where, exactly, it was unclear.
The New Era: Big Podcasting
And then, earlier this year, we found out.
(Spotify would later also acquire Parcast, another podcast studio.)
These eye-popping acquisitions, with their unprecedented price tags, were immediately followed by a declaration of intent.
Lets call it Big Podcasting for now.
(And there will be more podcasts, so many more podcasts.)
How will they fare?
How will their business positions be maintained?
Who will support them?
(My guess: probably, to some extent.)
What podcasting will look like in 2024 remains very much up for grabs.
