Is it too late to start a podcast in 2022? Everyone is starting a podcast. I have a podcast, you’re thinking about starting a podcast, your friend from high school probably has a podcast, and now every other celebrity has a podcast. So is it too late to start a podcast? Is podcasting oversaturated?

Short answer- no! It is not too late, in fact I believe this is only the beginning for the podcasting medium. So stick around because we’re going to talk about why.

The Stats

So let’s talk about how many podcasts are there. According to Podcast Insights, there are currently 2 million podcasts. 2 million, and that number is growing every day. For context, in 2018 Apple reported that there were 550,000 podcasts on Apple Podcasts. Huge jump! Podcast growth is rapidly accelerating. Now you might be thinking, ya Ari, 1.5 million is a ton of podcasts, that proves its oversaturated. But for comparison, let’s look at YouTube.

YouTube 

There are 31 million YouTube channels. There are 30,000 hours of content uploaded every HOUR to youtube. If anything is “oversaturated” then it’s YouTube! Right?

Every day, new YouTubers are building successful channels. So if that’s true for YouTube where there is drastically more content and it’s WAY more oversaturated, why wouldn’t that be true for podcasts?

Now, I do want to say, podcasts and YouTube videos are very different, and you have to have a different strategy to succeed on each. 

Celebrity Podcasts

So what about celebrity podcasts? It seems like every day a new celebrity is starting a podcast. Now instead of looking at this as competition, I would encourage you to look at this as podcasts going mainstream. The more celebrities that start podcasts, the more people that will start tuning into podcasts.

According to Edison Research, in 2020 55% of Americans have reported to ever listened to Podcasts, and 37% say they’ve listened monthly. 37%? I hear that and I think, that means there is a ton of room for growth in America alone.

Growth in Podcasting

Now while we’re on the subject of growth, let’s talk about what’s happening in the podcast space.

Spotify is making major, exclusive deals with people like Joe Rogan, Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian. And they’re also acquiring companies left and right! They own production companies like Gilmet Media and the Ringer. In 2020 they acquired Megaphone. Megaphone offers podcast hosting and ad-insertion capabilities. You know how when you listen to a podcast, you hear an ad that’s a part of the episode, then you go back a year later and it’s the same ad? In the future of podcast advertising, ads will be targeted to you, and ads within episode will update. This is already happening, it’s called dynamic ad insertion, but this deal between Megaphone and Spotify has the potential to change the game.

 And if you didn’t know! Spotify also owns Anchor! And they’re even dabbling in video podcasts. 

So Spotify is investing a ton of money into podcasts. Now, I don’t know anyone that works at Spotify, but I’m guessing they’re some pretty smart people. Personally, I don’t think they’re looking at podcasting and thinking, “well! Podcasting has plateaued, it’s hit it’s peak, so lets invest a bunch of money into it.” No! They’re thinking, oh this is just the beginning, let’s get in on this. So that is the attitude that I think you should take- this is just the beginning and you should get in on this.

And to really hit this point home, this year, podcast advertising revenue is expected to surpass 1 Billion dollars. Not only that, the iAB is forecasting a 35% increase in advertising revenue in 2021. Growth is happening. It’s not too late, because it’s only the beginning. 

You’re the only you! This is going to be true for any kind of content you create whether that is a podcast or a YouTube video or a film or a book. You are the only you, and

How to Start a Podcast

I have other posts detailing how to start a podcast (like my Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Podcast in 2022), so I won’t go into too much detail. However, to start a podcast, you need a good microphone and a good hosting service.

The podcast microphone I use and love is: The Audio Technica ATR 2100x ($99)

This is a Dynamic microphone with both USB & XLR capabilities – so you can plug it directly into your computer or into an audio interface!

The podcast hosting service I use and love is Buzzsprout. And if you sign up using my link, you’ll get a free $20 gift card to Amazon (which you can use to buy your mic 😉).

Life is short, so start your podcast.