The Problem With Podcasts

Dirty tactics, deliberately using rage-bait guests, promoting questionable products, bad information - this is a look inside the downfall of the overcrowded podcast industry.

The podcast market is overcrowded, with over 4.25 million podcasts available. Apple alone hosts more than 2.6 million podcasts and 87.6 million episodes ready for download. However, the success rate is a mere 0.27%, with the top podcasters—who dominate listenership and revenue—facing their own set of controversies. These controversies range from misinformation to divisive topics meant to drive engagement. Many of these podcasters recycle guests, promote ineffective health products, and resort to controversial figures for rage-baiting tactics.

Beyond the top 1%, 99% of podcasters are struggling to survive. The effort required to maintain a podcast, especially for a limited audience, is proving unsustainable. Even podcasts hosted by celebrities are failing to justify the effort of keeping up with regular schedules and new content.

Listeners are becoming frustrated as podcasts increasingly focus on promoting sponsors and products, rather than providing life-changing information that once made podcasts popular. The supply of podcasts far exceeds the demand, with too many chasing a limited number of listeners.
Podcasts demand a significant time commitment, typically running between one and three hours. While this can be an advantage during commutes or exercise, the average listener only consumes five episodes per week. Super-listeners, who average 11 episodes weekly, are the exception, often driven by long commutes or monotonous jobs.

Interestingly, the average podcast listener is subscribed to just six podcasts. While people may sample many episodes, few subscribe and follow every new release. The top podcasters like Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper, and Andrew Huberman dominate the market, competing for a limited pool of guests. The right guest can make or break a podcast, and there’s a finite number of charismatic, engaging individuals who can sustain long-form conversations.

Eventually, these high-appeal guests reach a saturation point. Once they appear on multiple podcasts, their novelty wears off, and they often repeat the same information. This leads many top podcasts to reuse the same guests or turn to divisive or controversial figures to maintain engagement. Rage-baiting has become a common tactic, with provocative thumbnails and titles designed to draw clicks. This strategy creates a feedback loop of controversy, engagement, and increased revenue.

Podcasts have also become lucrative platforms for product promotion. Modern podcasts are often business operations with significant expenses, and hosts rely heavily on sponsors. Discount codes, often disguised as deals for listeners, are in fact commission codes. Andrew Huberman, for example, promotes Athletic Greens, earning not only from initial sales but potentially from all future orders made by referred customers.

This model leads to potential conflicts of interest. Huberman, while promoting supplements, agrees with experts who argue against the effectiveness of such products. Podcasts today are more focused on monetization than on sharing valuable information.
The lower end of the podcast market, representing 99% of shows, faces even greater challenges. With overwhelming competition and limited advertising opportunities, most podcasts struggle to generate enough revenue to survive. Estimates suggest only 0.27% of podcasts make a full-time income, leading to the eventual closure of many shows. Even celebrity-hosted podcasts are failing, as the effort to maintain a regular schedule and find fresh topics outweighs the returns.

Compounding these issues is the music licensing problem. Smaller podcasts often use unlicensed music, but as platforms improve their copyright detection, this practice will likely face stricter enforcement.

Signs of a podcast recession are already evident. In early 2024, SiriusXM cut 160 jobs, following a previous round of layoffs in 2023. The company is now focusing on safe-bet podcasts with established names like Kevin Hart and Conan O’Brien. Meanwhile, true crime stories continue to be a reliable genre.

Podcasting is no longer the savior many hoped it would be. While companies like Spotify invested heavily in podcasting during the 2020 boom, it’s clear that only a few major stars will continue to thrive. Podcasting offers higher margins than music streaming, making it an attractive business, but the audience remains concentrated among the top names.

The podcast landscape is bleak for many. The boom of 2020 brought with it a flood of mediocre content, much of which has since disappeared as listeners are overwhelmed with choices. Podcasts were once a source of high-quality content and inspiration, but today, they are often little more than tools for promoting products and generating revenue for sponsors.