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Why Everyone’s Starting a Podcast…and Almost No One Is Listening
Unless you already have a brand, podcasting may be a waste of your time
Got something to say? You should start a podcast!
At least, that’s what everyone who wants you to “develop your own brand” is telling you. (That, and that you should start a Substack, and a YouTube channel, and also you need to grow your community on Threads, and don’t forget Insta…)
But the recent proliferation of podcasts begs the philosophical question: If nobody listens to your podcast, should you still be podcasting?
Podcasting, by the numbers
The number of people who are aware of and who listen to podcasts has been exploding for the last decade. Podcasts have become a hugely popular way for listeners to get their news and entertainment; a survey done in early 2025 revealed that “66 percent of respondents aged 12 to 34 years old had listened to a podcast within the preceding month.”
Further, podcasts reach many millions of listeners per year. In America alone, it was reported in early 2025 that “around 158 million people consumed podcasts of any format in the month prior.” It has also been estimated that the “global podcast audience has grown to 504.9 million” in 2025…
