Christmas brings a new era for podcasting?

• In Germany, Hypecast - which makes software for corporate podcasts - looked back at its year, noting in an email that the company started 2025 saying “we will have to be laser-focused to not get distracted from all the things happening around us” - advice perhaps we could all gain from for next year. The company opened a podcast studio in Berlin in 2025, will expand to video next year, and gave us the present nobody else did: a decent picture for the top of today’s newsletter! Fröhliche Weihnachten!

• Amplifi Media’s Steven Goldstein suggests that 2026 is a new era in podcasting - the year of liquid content, “defined by how audiences behave—not by how the industry wishes they would”.

• USA Today covers “how to find your next favorite podcast”. “Look at the charts,” try the recommendations", and “ask AI” are in their list; the example app used is Spotify.

• YouTube has a “firm grip on daytime TV”, says The New York Times. Netflix, etc, acts as more of a competitor at prime time, not during the day, says the data.

• The Guardian posts its 20 best podcasts of 2025. Lots of less-than-obvious stuff, from this British newspaper.

What’s next: 2026 in podcasting

Jordan Blair, Buzzsprout:

I’ve been thinking a lot about AI and podcasting heading into 2026.

On the one hand, AI is such an incredible tool for creators. It makes sense that creators are embracing AI as a creation and a workflow tool. Over 80% of creators told Adobe that AI “helps them create content that they otherwise couldn’t have made”. And to me, that is seriously cool. I love that independent podcasters can create something that they may not have previously been able to do.

But here’s where there’s tension. Consumers are starting to hit an absolute brick wall of AI fatigue. When people know something is AI generated, they they like it less, they don’t trust it, they’re less likely to engage. People are being turned off by content that feels inauthentic. The novelty of AI is completely gone. There is going to be a really strong pushback from listeners against anything that even smells of AI.

My hope for 2026 is that the “AI slop” podcasts fall to the wayside, and fade into obscurity; while podcasts by independent podcasters, who put their heart and soul into their shows, continue to grow and monetize their podcasts through real connections, and through humans supporting each other.

• Hear more in the Podnews Weekly Review

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