5 Predictions for Podcasts in 2021

Success — is it just around the corner?

Ok, it’s now 2021 which means it’s time to cast the eye forward over the next 12 months in podcasting. What will it bring? Will this be a tough year? Or are we finally about to experience the proverbial ‘big year for podcasting’?

Here are 5 predictions that you can hold over my head next December…

1) Apple Awakens 

This is an easy prediction to make because, to some extent, it’s already happened. They’ve done some work in original podcasting and I would expect that to continue, along with a few exclusivity deals.

But I’ll be more ambitious with this prediction and say that 2021 might be the year that Apple finally revamps the podcast UX for both creators and listeners, and tries to solidify its market position ahead of challengers from Spotify, Amazon and every other media company on earth. Their decline has been incredibly slow, given their total ambivalence, but I think there are enough bods at HQ who know that a few simple manoeuvres could put the brakes on Spotify’s charge. So that’s the first prediction for 2021: Apple will do something to show that podcasts are still part of its long-term plan.

2) Curation Battles 🔎

I am getting a lot of emails — some from PRs, some from companies exporting email data from RSS feeds — about…