The Era of Audio: The rise of podcasts (2025)

Since the rise of the podcast genre, a new field of audio and video creation was established that kept growing slowlysocial media production. Already famous online figures dumped into creating audio and video podcasts with the idea of deeper connection with their audiences and discussing topics that are new for them, but interesting for their followers. new form of influencing consuming.

This paper focuses on the growth of the podcast industry and its development over the years. It untackles the role of social media influencers and celebrities in that growth and the social effects of this new trend. However, podcasts are not only entertaining but also educational. Therefore, in this paper we will look at podcasts as a form of digital literacy and a new innovative way to gain knowledge and impact human behavior.

The history of podcasts

The history of podcasts dates back to 2001 when Apple released the first iPod on the market (Figure 1). The new ground-breaking audio device set the beginning of a new audio medium for audio production and consumption. Three years later, in 2004, the software developer Dave Winer and former MTV VJ Adam Curry found a way to download radio broadcasts and upload them directly to using RSS (Really Simple Synchronizator) software and a program called iPodder (Skinner, 2020).

As the journalist Ben Hammersley observed in one of his articles back in the days, these technological innovations were the necessary ingredients for a new boom in amateur radio (Skinner, 2020). The only thing that was still missing was a name for online broadcasting. People descriptions such as “audio blogging”, but the title “podcasting”a combination of that comes from “iPod” and “broadcasts'', stood the most in people’s minds, and has been chosen as the ultimate name for the audio revolution. That set the beginning of a new audio era that was slowly starting to establish its presence as a new media trend. In October 2004, the first podcast service provider, Libsyn.com, was introduced to the market. The following year, the first DIY podcast called ‘Do-It-Yourself Guide’ was published by Todd Cochrane, who is a podcast producer and founder of Podcast Connect Inc, and Apple introduced podcasts into iTunes 4.9, establishing an unbreakable connection between podcasts and Apple. (Skinner, 2020).

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podcasting with more podcast creators positioning themselves into the industry such as Lance Anderson, who was the first podcaster to present his show with live podcasting called ‘The Lance Anderson Podcast Experiment’

. The same year, the Christmas speech of Queen Elizabeth from Buckingham Palace was the first podcast available to download (Skinner, 2020). However, the significant change for the podcast industry came in 2019 when audio broadcasting turned into a new media phenomenon. Around 165 million people were listening to podcasts causing the major interests of Spotify to compete with Apple for audio share. Podcasts' popularity caused a shift that set a new chapter for the industry, which size was never imagined.

Podcasts as digital literacy

At the beginning of the podcast industry, the first podcastswere mostly amateursince they were crudely recorded and not edited. However, medium that was attractimore people and participants, the world of podcast creators expanded by incorporating more technological and editing skills, as well as, inviting journalists, comedians, celebrities, radio producerstheir show to grow their audiences.

After the boom of podcasts, they were mainly described as a form of media entertainment. However, they are also a form of digital literacy that now has become a new form of learning and teaching method among young generations.

“Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.” (UNESCO).

Digital literacy individuals to understand, interpret, create and communicate their ideas technological skills that enables them to do so in the online space. However, the concept of digital literacies is broader than knowing how to record yourself, edit a video or write a post on Instagram. With the shift of the media into the digital world, digital literacies have become far more complex and dynamic. Digital literacies in the digital world require people’s skills to evaluate context and sources online since digital media represents the world rather than reflects it (Buckingham, 2015).

Furthermore, people, who possess digital literacy knowledge, are those who understand the language and how it works by understanding the different forms of communication in different online environments, and thus implementing that knowledge towards their audiences (Buckingham, 2015). Therefore, their podcasts are digital media mediums, where podcasters present and communicate their ideas bypossessing digital literacy skills to navigate and deliver information across various audiences.

However, podcasts as forms of digital literacy also create digital literacies. The main ideology of podcasts is to entertain, but also teach, and thereby the listeners gain knowledge from them, whether it is knowledge about how to become more productive, learn new languages, or build a business from scratch. There are thousands of podcasts focus on academic studies, business, linguistics, economics,law, etc. As a result, podcasts become an object of academic research as a new form of pedagogy and acquiring academic knowledge.

In 2009 McGarr conducted research that identified the three primary usages of podcasts from students - as lectures, supportive materials, or creative usewhile in the same year Hew’s research concludes that the main benefit of podcasts for students is to review materials that have no been understood or missed (Kay, 2012). Other theorists such as Don Tapscott found out that the “net” generation wants freedom over their education, therefore students enjoy podcasts as a method to control what they are learning and when (Kay, 2012).Thus, podcasts signify their role as a form of digital literacy for meaning-making, as well as creators of it.

From audio to video

With the growing popularity of podcasts, creators searched for new ways to grow their audiences and production faster. That is how YouTube podcasts emerged. YouTube is the dominant video platform with more than 30 million visitors a day (Buzzsprout, 2020). In addition to that, YouTube has a bigger audience than Netflix, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, thus creating podcasts the platform began as a way for podcasters to reach an audience that they could not with audio podcasts (Buzzsprout, 2020).

Furthermore, podcast creators comment section on YouTube as a way to interact with their audience and establish stronger connections with them. Therefore, whole podcasts channels began growing on the platform like the ‘Oddvice Podcast’, ‘The Fellas’, and ‘Whitney Cummings’ (Figure 2&3). These podcast channels are focused on interviews with other people, conversations about real-life situations, and . They are solidly based in the genre of comedy and entertainment.

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www.youtube.com

Podcasts' Evolution: Live Podcasts

, it is difficult to imagine that they could evolve even more. It seems that for neither the podcasters nor the audience, the traditional audio or video podcasts are enough.

‘Stereo’ app, also known as the future of the podcast industry. The stereo app is a new social media app that enables people to stream podcasts in real-time. The company describes it as an “audio-based social networking app with the goal to connect and entertain. Social media is great but lacks the ability to have actual conversations with other people, and we want to fix that.” (Iroanya, 2021).

All you have to do is to create an avatar, and the app finds you a partner to start a conversation with. In addition, anyone can join the conversation at any time and ask questions in real-time. For podcasters, this a new level of audience interaction. The app promotes the value of conversations instead of creators' appearances, which is the main reason why the app uses avatars instead of individuals’ photos. The stereo was received with enormous positivity from creators and consumers, as well. Many of them went on Twitter to express their thoughts and excitement about it (Figure 5&6).

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How podcasts are changing people’s lives?

As was broughtup above, podcasts are not only a form of media entertainment, but also a form of teaching and learning methods. Besides that, they also serve as a tool for giving and receiving inspiration and motivation. This how podcasts’ platforms provide a good environment for influencers who want to be ‘heard’, as they can be considered the “audio version of YouTube and Instagram” (Gilliland, 2018).

However, what differentiates YouTube and Instagram from podcasts is the projection of authenticity. Authenticity and transparency are the essential things to consider when forming trust and meaningfulness between influencers and the audience. Within the very commercialized environment of major platforms like Instagram or YouTube, authenticity and transparency become difficult to find online as they are seen as “unique and exciting” (Fadhila, 2018).

In order for the podcast to become successful and viral, it must possess transparency and authenticity. Especially when it comes to inspirational and motivational podcasts. According to many, podcasts do influence their audiences. They change lives, motivate, inspire and teach. Podcasts can be very different and cover many topics, so it is necessary to provide several examples of how differently .

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“Pat showed me how to think differently about my business and soon new ideas were pouring out of my brain. I felt like the neurons in my brain were being rewired. I was learning so much so fast and I loved it. It was revolutionary for me”

As the whole online coaching courses on financial well-being and growth of income became popular, many successful businessmen and entrepreneurs entered podcasting platforms to teach and help others to achieve the same. Pat Flynn is one of the above-mentioned peoplewho shares his experience and philosophies on how to develop a strong and successful business (Figure 7).

He also invites other people whose aim is to explain and teach several related sufficient techniques. One of his listeners is Amy Climer, who claims that his podcast “Smart Passive Income'' changed the way she operates in the business field and even inspired her to start her own podcasting channel. She says: “Pat showed me how to think differently about my business, and soon new ideas were pouring out of my brain. I felt like the neurons in my brain were being rewired. I was learning so much so fast, and I loved it. It was revolutionary for me” (Climer, 2017).

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www.tim.blog/podcast

Another important aspect of humans’ life is physical well-being, more specifically physical shape. Podcasters sometimes are seen not only as unreached successful people but rather as mentors and teachers for their audience. That is how Zach Chen thinks of Tim Ferris. Tim Ferris podcasts usually consist of interviews with world-class performers that are helping to discover audiences’ habits and routines in different aspects of life (Figure 8). For instance, diet, training, investment, and many more. In the case of Zach Chen, Tim Ferriss’s podcasts helped to improve not only his physique but the routine of daily meditation has helped him substantially on his productivity and emotional stability (Chen, 2018).

“One of the points that stuck with me is keeping positive people in your life. My life became so much better when I did this and excluded negative people […]”

Joe Rogan is one of the highest-paid podcasters, who is well-known for his views, humor, and who invites very well-known people to discuss, teach and talk. One says about his show: “There is not one podcast where I don't learn something important about existence or the human condition” (Benjiberigan, 2017). Most people mentioned that after listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast they changed the way they feel and perceive the world, saying that they became “happier” or “more open-minded” (Reddit, 2015).

On Reddit in comments under the question “How has the JRE podcast changed your life?”, a user called Mike07P writes: “One of the points that stuck with me is keeping positive people in your life. My life became so much better when I did this and excluded negative people (ex-girlfriends, ex-girlfriends’ friends, and unmotivated people). Joe and many of his guests have affected me in a positive way. This podcast has become part of my lifestyle, and it is also entertaining” (Reddit, 2015).

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There are many other cases showing the positive influence on people's lives, relationships, habits, physical and mental health that are worth mentioning. It is seen that the podcasting channels can cover many topics or can be very specific and precise. All above-mentioned podcasters and their ways of telling stories are oriented to authenticity and transparency. Talking about their very own losses and wins, successes, and failures, meaningful and truthful experience and knowledge of world-class performers and of people who generally have wise things to tell or advice to others and techniques to teach.

Podcasts influencing businesses and advertising

Podcasts influence not only regular people but also the whole corporations and their techniques. It is important to mention that podcasts sometimes imply ads and promote several products and businesses. They even do it better and more effectively than many other media platforms. There are several reasons why it is so.

First of all, podcast advertising chooses quality over quantity. "Ads on podcasts are well-received because they prioritize user experience" (Danzis, 2020).Such user experience implies listeners' trust towards hosts or that invisible shift from editorial work of the host towards commercials and back (Danzis, 2020).

Second of all, the audience of the podcast is already engaged in the topic, and "for a marketer, the best thing you can do is get in the ear of somebody that is already engaged" (Rice, 2020). One of many things that creates such engagement is the intimate environment of a host-audience podcast.

Areason is the ability to target specific audiences (McKenna, 2019). As podcasts are very different and imply most of all possible topics, businesses can choose the channel that is very related to the product they want to sell. What they get in return audience that is already interested in the topic, hence, there are more chances that the advertised product will be demanded by listeners.

Conclusion

The podcast scene has evolved drastically since2004 when the first podcast version was released. The public interest towards them grew steadily each year, bringing more and more people into consumption. As a result, new formats of podcasts emerged and even new platforms, dedicated entirely to offering podcasters and listeners unique techniques for interaction.

Despite the main interest in them as a form of entertainment, podcasts have been used as a new form of education and accepted as a form of digital literacy. People and students are listening to podcasts intending to gain control over their own education and acquire new knowledge and skills that will boost their professional development.

The emerge of the podcast industry and its implications over individuals, as well as,other professional fields, could only be possible in a globalized world where technological innovations and people's desires to create are combined far beyond our reach. The podcast industry positioned itself on the positive spectrum when it comes to online content. The feedback from listeners about how certain podcasts helped them to create better habits, form new perspectives, and change mindsets, only illustrate the impact that it has.

However, despite the many advantages of podcasts, the industry is another example of how globalization is transforming globalized societies from writing to orality. Nowadays, when we want to express our thought or share the knowledge we have, we do not write it down as we used to do before. Instead, we take pictures, film videos, and record our voices, and upload them to the enormous .

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