The Power Of Podcasts

The monumental rise of podcasts in recent years is something to behold, but where exactly does the power of podcasts lie?

- Georgia Nelson

It’s been a decade of perpetual arrival for podcasts, but they’ve well and truly established themselves among the ranks of mainstream media. What began as “audio-blogging” in 2004 has gone global, with over 1.75 million podcasts and 43 million episodes available to stream across a variety of platforms as of January 2021. But let’s go back to the mid-2000s for a minute. Chances are you may remember scrolling through an early-gen iPod, seeing the “Podcasts” tab and scrolling right past on your way to shuffle your latest (probably pirated) music downloads without giving it a second thought.

Now podcasts are hailed as one of the most innovative and effective communication platforms. Companies are launching internal podcasts to engage with their employees and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rise in both the consumption and production of podcasts. One survey conducted by Edison Research found that podcast listenership more than doubled in 2020, and Podcast Insights reported that 850,000 active podcasts in January of 2020 — which have since been joined by almost a million more.

Podcast producer, host and academic Siobhan McHugh notes that as radio’s first cousin, there are certainly similarities. Podcasting offers “a whole new cultural space,” she says. Where radio thrives in spontaneity and personality, podcasts take the listening experience to another dimension. Listeners are able to search for a show or episode that fits exactly what they’re in the mood for, catch up on their favourite radio shows, listen to news and engage in almost any niche their minds desire (think pens and pen accessories, the mystery of McDonald’s pizza-selling days and the banter of two comedians as they watch all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls).

Audio magic