By Rob Greenlee
I do not believe podcasting is broken.
I also do not believe podcasting is outdated.
But I understand why some people are starting to say that. The medium is changing so fast right now that it can feel like the old definitions no longer fit what audiences and creators are actually doing.
That does not mean podcasting is dying. It means podcasting has reached a major inflection point.
For audiences, podcasts have become one of the main media habits in everyday life. People listen while driving, walking, working, exercising, relaxing, and doing all the things that make audio such a powerful companion medium. That part has not gone away. Audio remains deeply personal, flexible, and trusted.
But for many creators, the word “podcaster” no longer fully describes what they are building.
They are making shows.
They are producing conversations, video episodes, clips, livestreams, newsletters, communities, events, and social content. The podcast is still part of the system, but it is no longer always the whole identity.
That is the big shift.
The traditional definition of a podcast as an audio-first, RSS-distributed show remains important. It is the foundation of the medium. It gave podcasting its openness, portability, and independence. But that definition is increasingly becoming one part of a larger video-first creator strategy.
This is where some tension comes in.
Audio-first creators will continue to have large audiences. Many of the most trusted and successful shows will remain primarily audio-driven. There will always be room for audio-first storytelling, interviews, news, education, comedy, and commentary. Audio is not going away.
But audio-first alone may no longer be the path to the largest possible audience.
Discovery has shifted. Audience behavior has shifted. Monetization has shifted. Younger audiences often discover shows through video clips, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other social platforms before they ever subscribe to an RSS feed or follow a show in a traditional podcast app.
For many people, the first experience of a “podcast” is now a video moment.
That does not make it less of a podcast. It means the audience definition has expanded beyond the industry definition.
This is why I keep saying we are moving from “podcasts” into a broader “shows” era.
The show is the core intellectual property. The show is the brand. The show is the relationship with the audience. Audio, video, clips, newsletters, and community are all distribution expressions of that show.
That shift has real consequences for the entire industry.
Hosting companies have to think beyond audio file delivery. Apps have to think beyond audio playback. Ad platforms have to think beyond downloads. Measurement companies have to think beyond separate audio and video reports. Creators have to think beyond a single format and a single feed.
This is especially true as HLS video streaming begins to scale inside podcasting.
The Apple Podcasts shift toward HLS video streaming is a major signal. Video podcasting is no longer just about uploading a large MP4 file or posting a version on YouTube. It is moving toward modern streaming infrastructure, adaptive playback, dynamic ad possibilities, and more seamless switching between listening and viewing.
That means some of what we have historically called audio-only consumption may increasingly be delivered through video-enabled HLS streaming systems. A person may listen to the audio from a video podcast stream. They may start with video, switch to audio, or never look at the screen at all. The content experience becomes more fluid.
That creates a major measurement challenge.
The industry cannot keep treating audio and video metrics as if they live in separate worlds. Creators need to know the show’s total reach and value, not just the performance of a single format in a single app.
Downloads, streams, plays, views, watch time, listen time, completion, retention, subscribers, followers, and engagement all need to be consolidated into a single framework.
Right now, too much of the industry is still measuring yesterday’s format while the audience is already consuming tomorrow’s show.
This is not just a technical issue. It is a business issue.
If a creator has 50,000 audio downloads, 100,000 YouTube views, 25,000 Spotify video plays, 15,000 Apple video streams, and millions of short-form impressions, what is the actual size and value of that show?
The old answer was to separate all of that into different buckets.
The new answer has to be more unified.
Brands and sponsors want to understand total audience impact. Creators want to understand where trust, attention, and revenue are being created. Platforms want to prove value. Hosting companies want to stay relevant. Measurement providers want to remain credible.
That requires merged and consolidated metrics.
Podcasting has always struggled with measurement consistency, even in the audio-only era. Now video makes that challenge more complicated, but also more urgent.
The industry needs a better way to measure shows across formats, not just files across feeds.
This does not mean we abandon RSS. It does not mean we abandon audio. It does not mean every creator has to become a YouTuber or video personality.
It means podcasting has to evolve its infrastructure, language, and business model to align with what audiences are already doing.
The audience does not care whether the industry calls something a podcast, a video podcast, a show, a stream, or creator media.
They ONLY care whether it is useful, entertaining, trustworthy, and available where they already spend time.
That is the part we should pay attention to.
Podcasting is expanding.
It is expanding into video. It is expanding into streaming. It is expanding into social/YouTube discovery. It is expanding into creator-led media brands. It is expanding into AI-assisted and generated production and distribution. It is expanding into a world where the show matters more than the format.
The danger is not that podcasting is outdated.
The danger is that the industry keeps defending an old definition while the audience has already moved into a broader one.
The future of podcasting will still include audio-first shows, RSS feeds, open distribution, and traditional podcast apps. Those pieces still matter. But the growth edge of the medium is moving toward video-enabled, multi-format, cross-platform show experiences.
The inflection point.
– The creators who understand this will not stop being podcasters. They will become stronger show builders.
– The companies that understand this will not abandon podcasting. They will build the infrastructure for the next version.
– And the industry that understands this will stop asking whether podcasting is broken and start asking a better question:
– How do we preserve what made podcasting powerful while building the modern show-based media ecosystem it is clearly becoming?
About the Author
Rob Greenlee is a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee and Chair, a global new media leader who bridges podcasting’s human roots with its AI-driven future. As founder of Trust Factor Lab and host of the “New Media Show” and “Spoken Human”, Rob helps creators start, grow, monetize, and future-proof their content. He’s held leadership roles at Microsoft, Spreaker, Libsyn, StreamYard, and PodcastOne, and serves as Chairperson of the Podcast Hall of Fame. Learn more at RobGreenlee.com and join the Trust Factor Lab Creator/Podcast Services.
Personal note: I used AI tools to help organize this article and hand-edited it; the views, clarifications, responsibility, and industry perspective are mine. I have been working in podcasting and platform adoption for more than two decades, and this article reflects my own position. The original word choice was mine, and so is the clarification.
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