525. Podcasting’s Big Shift Toward AI and Video Continues | Podcast News

0:05 Good morning podcasters. Today is Wednesday, May 27th, 2026, and today it's our news and comment edition. And we'll discuss how Spotify wants podcasts, more interactive AI Podcasting gets weirder, and Amazon sees video podcasters as an entertainment powerhouse. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button top right hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast, YouTube, etcetera, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. The Podcasting Morning show is powered by Ironic Media, helping podcasters launch, Polish and grow great shows, and by Content Creators Accountant, helping creators build real business behind their content.

1:20 Good morning again podcasting morning show. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronik. And currently on the virtual stage we have Ralphie Steps, Sid Meadows, Dr. Fay, Feel Better and also from the audience Tide Tutoring AKA Nikki is on stage with us. And a good morning to Dave, Jessica and Dan, who are here with us first thing in the morning in the clubhouse room. And I see we have a couple people watching on video as well. So good morning, everybody. Yeah, it's our news and comment day, so we'll get into that in just a minute. First, sometimes it's hard to know what's actually working in your podcast when you're the one creating it every single week.

2:05 That's why we created our podcast evaluation series, not to be confused with the Spotlight series we've been talking about. If you want honest and constructive feedback about your show, submit your podcast at podcastingmorningshow.com/eval and we'll review your application, Listen to your podcast, and if selected, our team will discuss what's working, what could be stronger, and what other podcasters can learn from your show. Again, that's Podcasting morningshow.com/eval. It's 100% free to participate, so submit your podcast today. And with that, a special hello to Sid Meadows, who's back from London. No, he was not at the podcast show in London. He was there on business and also shared some awesome pictures on social media of him and him and his daughter exploring London.

3:00 Very cool to see. Welcome to you, Sid Meadows, and hello to Feel Better as well, who we haven't really talked a lot to lately. Good to have you here. I'm glad that the new time slot seems to work a little better for you. So hopefully we hear more from you feel better today. And with that, let's dive into today's news. And where I like to start is to discuss a little statistics with you. A helpful number to understand in podcasting, well really to understand about the amount of podcast being created is the total number of active podcasts. These are podcasts that are still being updated, therefore actively marketing themselves.

3:47 If you're making podcast episodes, you might consider this number to be your quote UN quote competition rather than the big overall number of almost 5 million podcasts that are indexed out there in the podcast world. So with that, the total number of podcasts updated in this past week is 193,480, which is down .3% from the previous week. And if you want to look at the 30 day picture, the past 30 days we're looking at 363,055 episodes were actively published. So that's down 1.3% from the previous month. And again, these are numbers that I think make the idea of podcasting feeling crowded puts it on a little more perspective. And actually, if you compare how many blogs there are, I mean, these numbers are really, really low. There are.

4:52 The number of blogs is just staggering. Yeah, same with like YouTube channels. Yet it seems like people are fine with starting YouTube channels. They don't feel overwhelmed that there are millions of channels out there. I, I think, and I don't know if it's in the billions at this point. Yet maybe one of these days we should juxtapose these figures just to let people know you know, and give them a perspective. I like that idea. I like that idea. And since we're speaking to you, Dr., How about we dig into our top five lists for. Today. OK, so today's first top five list is from YouTube. The top five podcasts from YouTube, and you know, they're always a little behind. So this is from May 11th to May 17th #5 is Doctor Insanity podcasts #4 is Rotten mango #3 is financial analyst, that's Caleb Hammer.

5:49 Number 2 is Joe Rogan Experience. The number one podcast is the Midas Touch Podcast. Oh, OK, there that one is again. Every once in a while that one pops up on these different lists. OK, so then what's your special list for today? OK, the special list today is the top five Spotify's film and TV podcasts. OK OK so #5 is happy sad confused with Josh Horowitz #4 is the pod has spoken. The pod has spoken with Tyson apostle #3 is now get a load of these SRO were so SEO words boring history for sleep, gentle storyline and ambient sounds. OK, I'm all-wheel #3 good, we did. Thank you #2 is the big picture.

6:41 And the number one podcast is the Rewatchables, which has been up there in the top five forever. Yeah. All right, Very cool. Thank you, Dr. So that was the Spotify film and TV list. Thank you for that, Dr. Let's move into just a couple of events on the radar over this next week, starting with today on Empowered Podcasting live at 1:00 PM Eastern. We're hanging out me and my business partners Jason Zircon and Rich Perry with second year EPC attendee, creator, partner and podcasting morning show Co host BC Babbles, who's also joined us here this morning. We'll talk about how he discovered the Empowered Podcasting conference last year, why he stuck around and his plans to conduct on site interviews at EPC 3. Plus, we'll share some speaker announcements and tease a few new events that we're hosting during EPC weekend. You can watch live at 1:00 PM Eastern today, May 27th at podcastingmorningshow.com/EPC Live. I would love to see those of you that are here with us this morning.

7:57 Would love to see you there to support what we're doing every other Wednesday at 1:00 PM Eastern. It would mean the world to me, so thank you in advance for that. Also, another event for you, how to use music in podcasts. This comes from radio boot camp and the some of the description here. Scoring can make a podcast feel alive. It can shape the pace, add meaning and give a story real emotional pull. But when it's off, it can get in the way fast. In this workshop, award-winning Benjamin Frisch Fri SCH breaks down the basics, from choosing music to placing it with purpose, plus tips on pacing, effects, licenses, and music libraries.

8:44 You'll leave with a stronger sense of how to use music as part of the story itself. This is a paid event. It's happening Friday, June 5th at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. I will share a link to this in the show notes, so check that out if you're interested. You know, we talk a lot here about sound and scoring and adding different sound effects, different music, etcetera. I think this will be a good one to really dig deep into that. So check that one out. Again, that's from Radio Boot Camp and I know I hit the music, but I really should have hit this. Quick tip, smart move. Yeah, Content creators business and today's business bite is brought brought to you by the Content creatorsaccountant.com And of course that is yours.

9:41 Well, not yours truly, his truly, Ralph Estep. He is also doing this particular segment as well, but Ralph is a licensed accountant. He's been doing this for 30 years and more recently over the past year created Content creatorsaccountant.com. This is where he's helping creators with their finances, whether it's to help you with your taxes, whether it's to get your budget in order or just get more control of your finances, that's what Ralph does. So go check Ralph out. He's my accountant as well and I am happy to endorse him. Check him out at contentcreatorsaccountant.com. And Ralph, what do we have for today's business bite? OK, I got to start off by saying I'm super distracted today. At midnight last night, my daughter-in-law was admitted to the hospital, which is a good thing. I'm going to be a grandfather probably in the next 24 hours. So I'm sort of sitting here on pins and needles, to be honest with you, looking at my text messages, They're in Texas, I'm in Delaware, so there's a bit of a area between us. But please keep her in your thoughts and prayers today. Should be meeting or seeing my grandson sometime today so. Do we know the?

10:49 Names. We do not have a name yet that is like the that's like locked up in Fort Knox. Yeah, that's been a whole thing, Dr. But we're going to. We know it's a boy, and at this point, that's what we know. So if I seem a little distracted today, I apologize ahead of time. My best friend Jonah, he is a dad later in life and he now has three kids and you all have met Jonah before. We've had him on the show. 1 of the things they won't even tell people, the sex of the baby. And I always get confused by that. I always wonder like, why is it such a secret? Why do we have to if you're going to find out? Although they don't, they actually keep it a surprise to themselves as well. So like if they don't know and then no one else is going to know anyway.

11:30 But I always wonder a question, why are we really keeping this stuff a secret? If we know the name, we know the sex, why not share it ahead of time? But I guess, you know, it's just that big reveal that everyone gets so excited about. Oh, it's definitely twins. And no. One knows about it until they walk into the room right at the same time. Right. Yeah. Well, well, let me get to the real news of today and here's your business bite. Now I'm going to talk about an article of Forbes article was written by Frank Ratchiapi and he says the global podcast economy and late ready for this $9.2 billion in 2025. Now that's a big number, but here's the even more impressive number that's up 23% from the year before. Now, that number is impressive on its own, but here's the part creators really need to pay attention to. The report says the fastest growing podcast publishers are using video not just for discovery, but for monetization. And that matters because for a long time, a lot of ocasors have looked at video as an optional addon or just a way to get Clis out on social.

12:33 But this report suggests that publishers growing revenue the fastest are thinking bigger than that. They're building video into the business model. And when you step back, the growth of podcasting is kind of staggering. Go back to 2016. In 2016, it was estimated around $100 million a year. Today, think about that. According to this Forbes piece, it's at $9.2 billion globally. That tells us podcasting is no longer some emerging side format. It's becoming a major media category. What's really interesting is that while film, radio, and even some streaming platforms are dealing with profitability pressure and audience shifts, podcasting is still in a growth phase. It's smaller, sure, but it's moving fast and attracting some serious business attention.

13:19 So for creators, here's my real take away for today. This is a reminder to think beyond just downloads and think about revenue layers. Think about how your content can work in audio and video, how can work in sponsorships, clips, partnerships and community. The opportunity here is not just to make a podcast, it's to build a more valuable media asset around your voice and your audience. And that's today's business bite. Thank you, Ralph. And you are allowed to be distracted today. Don't worry about it if you're distracted today. And I see you look a little distracted right now. Did you get a text? Yeah, we just got an e-mail here, a text. Let's see here. We're in the waiting game. So she has been induced and we are in the waiting game.

14:01 She is progressing slowly. She's only had one dose of medication. Now. This is too much information. Just tell me. But as this is coming up, it's just if you've never been through this, it is a surreal moment because if I can take 30 seconds. So it's interesting how this all came about. So my son. Well, we know how it came all about. But my son reached out to me like 2 summers ago and he said dad I need some fatherly advice when is the right time to start a family? And I told him there is no right time. I said no matter what happens it's not a right time. So Fast forward to last I want to say September, October. My wife and I were coming home from dinner and my son calls and was really unusual for him to call us in the evening. And he said, well, I'm going to need your help mom. I'm going to pop up.

14:47 And with that, I almost wrecked the truck. I got to be honest with you. And my wife is one of these people that never cries and she lost it. And she starts screaming at me, you're lying to me, you're lying to me. So Fast forward, it's just been an emotional roller coaster. So I, I apologize for being disruptive here, but it's just an emotional roller coaster for me today because I just my, my greatest relationship of my life has been with my grandfather who passed away a few years ago. And I just hope that I can be that for my grandson. I'm sure you will, Ralph, you're a great guy and I know you've got a big heart and that's what it takes to be a great grandpa. So look ahead of time a congratulations to you and keep us posted If we get any news during the show, I want you to I do want you to disrupt the show if you get the news.

15:30 So thank you for. Sharing on that and thank you everybody for your thoughts and prayers. I truly appreciate it. Hey, Ralph. No, Yeah, go ahead. And that's Dan from the audience. Go ahead, Dan. Ralph Yeah. Don't focus on the rest of the show. Focus on what you're going to tell the kid when you meet them. Is it going to be an IRA? What? What do you go with today? When you go talk to this little baby, do you set him or her up with some kind of an IRA account? What? What is the accountant move here? Yeah, we've already started that process. And it's interesting, Dan, when I found out I was going to be a grandfather, I actually wrote a song. I used Suno and I wrote a song about it. And we're already thinking about that 529 plans, Trump accounts and everything else we can figure. So very good point.

16:13 Thank you, Ralph. OK, so let's dig deeper into some of the news. These are our news bites, shorter maybe news stories that are important, but we think may not strike up a huge conversation. But we're usually proven wrong with that. So first, Pod Page just added support for Pod Ping, which means new podcast episodes can now show up on your Pod Page website within seconds of publishing. So instead of waiting for Pod Page to check your RSS feed on a schedule, Pod Ping sends a real time signal when your feed updates so your website can refresh much faster. This is one of those behind the scenes updates that I think actually matters because when you publish a new episode and immediately send people to your website, you want that episode sitting there ready to go. Pod Page says this works automatically if your podcast host supports Pod Ping with hostslikerss.com, Red Circle, Buzz, Sprout, Transistor, Blueberry, Spreaker, and Captivate already on board.

17:18 And if your host doesn't support it yet, Pod Pages, regular syncing still works as a backup. It just means that it'll take a little bit longer for it to pop up on your pod page. The big win here is simple. Less waiting, less checking in a podcast website that keeps up with your publishing schedule. Very cool edition. And I guess that's all part of podcasting 2.0, I believe. Yeah. So with that doctor, you want to take the next one. Sure, So Late night got cancelled and podcasts get the last laugh. Stephen Colbert's exit from The Late Show just recently has is being framed as another sign that late night comedy did not disappear, it just moved platforms. Reuters reports that while traditional late night TV struggles with shrinking economics, comedians are finding bigger reach, looser formats, and better ownership. Remember that word ownership through podcasts and YouTube. Conan, O'Brien, Chelsea Handler, Trevor Noah, Amy Poehler, and rising digital creators are all part of this shift because naturally, the format that networks spend decades controlling is now thriving once people stopped actually needing the networks.

18:37 Reuters also points to a major ad shift, with podcasting pulling more than 30 million in AD spend. And it's pulling it away from traditional TV the last quarter. So here's some three bullet points to remember. Reuters frames the bigger story as the collapse of old late night economics and the rise of comedian LED podcasting. Trevor Noah's show, I just mentioned him. Trevor Noah's show What Now has built a major YouTube audience with Reuters reporting more than 4.6 million subscribers. Yeah, video podcasts are helping comedians bypass network rules, own more of their work, own more of their work.

19:22 There's that thing again. And build direct audience relationships. So my question is, if Colbert can leave CBS and still command attention online, what does that say about the real value of a network time slot? Is that dying? What do you think? Yeah, and it's Colbert, not Colbert. Colbert. Sorry Colbert, sorry I was a foul and watcher when I was watching. That night. I'm sorry. No. I mean, I was actually wondering about this when I heard about his exit and then leading up to the exit last week. And I've been thinking, you know, yeah, why wouldn't some of these hosts of these late shows? Start a podcast and clearly a lot of them already have, but so I was thinking specifically for him, like, I wonder if that's what he's going to do. Sounds like maybe that is what he's going to end up doing. I see a couple people want to chime in on this one. So we'll pause here.

20:14 Alex, you first and then we'll go to Ralph. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean streaming has really killed the game. There is no must see TV in terms of a time slot. Shows are releasing the whole season in one clip. It's harder and harder to these stuff at an appointment time. I mean, I think they'll probably be just as successful on YouTube or the podcast that he decides to do or whatever. It's going to be interesting to see what the major 4 do in terms of programming. And they've kind of did this to themselves. I mean, they sponsored themselves from news to all these different genres to the point that, you know, streaming is going to go to another change, I think.

21:00 I think in general, because you can't end up having 57 different streams. So it's going to be interesting. But yeah, I think that's it's the start of something new. That's right. I think that's a High School Musical song, by the way. I only know that because my wife and I were just reminiscing about our kids watching High School Musical, and so we put on some of the soundtrack. Yeah. Thank you. I found somebody from that generation. OK. Thank you. BC and Ralph, you wanted to comment on this news story as. Well, yeah, I just want to comment two things. These guys just aren't funny and that's why they're not on major network TV anymore. I think that's part of the issue. Second issue, I think network TV is dead. Put the nails in it. It's done. I think that all of us have media companies now, and I think what you're going to and to talk about what Alex talked about, I actually think the streaming networks are going to die soon as well.

21:49 I think people are realizing they can create their own media companies and they can drive people to what they own instead of being on these big platforms. And I think that's great. I think that's fantastic. I think it's going to open up the doors to people like you and I and other, you know, DIY content creators who can be at that same level as them. And if you attract an audience because you're entertaining and you can build relations with people, I think this is the greatest opportunity of a lifetime right now. Yeah. Yep, I agree. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you Do. You follow Mark, do you follow anyone on YouTube? Like a regular podcast that you watch? The one that I've been watching a lot lately and listening to, depending where I am at the time, is Amy Poehler's show Good Hang. I I am hooked like she does.

22:33 It really is. It does feel like the title A Good Hang. It really does when you listen to those interviews, and I love the fact that she first interviews somebody that knows the guest, so she does like that 10 minutes with that person who knows the upcoming guest and then she brings the guest on. I just think she does such a brilliant job. Yeah. So the one that I watch is I watch a couple. So the one that I watch the most is Chewed Up, which is an an offshoot of a show that was on ABC for a long time called Chewed. It followed the view or the show was called The Chew followed by the view. It was a cooking slash talk show.

23:16 And now the three chefs are on YouTube and they keep reiterating we can say anything the F we want. They don't say F. We can say anything the F we want because we own this show. We own this show, so yeah, it's so good. This is such an interesting time to be in podcasting, that's for sure. Agreed. Yes, BC go ahead. Yeah, similarly, I've been enjoying the tea time with the Raven, Simone and Miranda and someone who grew up with those massive hit shows between the early 2000s and like 12 and 2015. And hearing all the behind the scenes, what it looked like to be a child star of Disney in those days and how that affects people has been a really big eye opener for me as someone who's only been a fan the whole time.

24:04 But with all these other stories coming out, it's been a great Ave. to learn about the real reality of it. As a podcast guy I probably should know this and I don't, but I've been seeing clips of that show recently on social media. Is it a newer show or is it just? Thinking around for a couple of years, I think so. I think they're just accruing more and more attention. I mean, it's Raven Simone issues, but in the industry forever. So she's she's getting all the huge Disney stars on tour show and Nickelodeon stars too. So she's just getting a lot of huge names on the show. They must have just gotten a new social media manager then. Maybe, yeah. Maybe. Yeah. And Raven, she's the one. She got her started originally on Cosby. Show Cosby, right?

24:44 Always since Cosby. Awesome. All right, cool. All right. Thank you, everyone. Let's keep it moving, Dr. with the next story. Right, Amazon has rolled out a new Alexa Plus feature called Alexa Podcasts and it lets users create AI generated podcast episodes on almost any topic in just a few minutes, according to People magazine. You know what? I'm not sure how I feel about this. OK, according to People magazine, these episodes are hosted by AI generated voices. Yeah, I'm hating this. OK can pull from sources like Reuters, Associated Press, Time, Business Insider and more than 200 local newspapers. And users can adjust the length and direction for listening through Alexa app or compatible Echo devices. More to come with Amazon later in the show. But first, OK, this was lifted first. Some more details about the new Alexa features include Alexa podcast will create a conversational AI hosted episodes from user prompts on topics like sports, history, architecture, baking and more.

25:58 The feature gives users an outline first so they can adjust the episodes before listening. Finished episodes save inside and Alexa what finished? Episode save Inside the Alexis. It's a app. Music and more sections. Yeah, yeah. OK. I don't. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy about this. Well, and I saw feel better gave a thumbs down as you were sharing this as well. Phil, are you agreeing with Dr. and if so, why? I am 100% agreeing with Dr. that AI created podcast with an AI voice without any human is the worst piece of AI slop there is.

26:40 I want more. I said it in the chat, more authenticity, like going to the previous story. Why so many non so many comedians going from the late night or even having their own show going to YouTube. It's they're allowed to be themselves. They're not being told you have to act exactly like this. You have to say this. They're allowed to be more human and less controlled by the corporate elites if you will. And getting this AI slop from Amazon is just more crap being put out there that no one probably will want to listen to. So I'm fully against AI podcasts. I don't mind using AI to help in your podcast production, but it shouldn't be just AI. And.

27:22 That's still better using the new colloquial AI slop. Yeah. And that term, well, look, I'm on board with all of you, right. Like I get it. And I, I'd prefer we don't have AI generated podcasts. And do we have the right to just immediately call it AI Slop if we haven't even heard how it's produced? Yet. 100%. We don't have, no, we do not have that right because there are people that are using AI because they have a speech impediment. There are people who are using it for other purposes. And so for us to just dismiss it as AI slot from the beginning. But that feels like for the example you just used, though, that feels like there is a human touch in that.

28:04 That's the thing, Ralph, with people who do have a disability or have that fear of speaking or need to use AI to help them in their speech, they're using, they're still using their human input and using AI as the voice because they may not be able to talk or whatever. I'm not calling those AI slob. And to be clear, I'm talking about the people like I think it's inception point or something like that, that it's nothing but AI that runs the whole production from A-Z. There's not a human who puts it in unless it's the prompt going make a purchase about this. That's not human input. That's just giving directions. When I talk about AI slop, I'm talking about that like it's from A-Z.

28:48 It's nothing but AI. But if you're using AI because you're someone who's mute, can't speak, you know, then that's fine. And you're using AI and AI voice for the speaking. But you've done everything up until that point. That's not AI slop to me, that is someone using an accessibility tool. But if you're just using AI because you're like, oh, I'm just going to put AI podcasts out there and I don't care. That's the slop I'm talking about. Yeah. And to be fair, Ralph, this example, what Amazon's doing, this has nothing to do with people with disabilities or challenged, right? This is just Amazon capitalizing on AI and podcasting. So I think we got to make sure that we separate those two because I think we all agree with you, Ralph, there is a time and a place for AI generated content.

29:36 And but still, I don't think I just think it's dangerous to just blanket statement all AI generated podcast as AI slop because I do think that there are some out there that might not be quote UN quote sloppy, right? It might actually work. Well, I'm not saying that I I can give you an example because I haven't, as far as I know, listened to a lot of these, but I just think it's a little questionable just to blanket statement these shows as AI slop. Let me. Go. I feel good about it. I feel. Good about the blanket statement. Let me go to Sid and then we're going to go to BC. Go ahead, Sid. So good morning. Everybody, so my question, the way I understand this, I understood this news story is this is me saying to Alexa, hey, create me a podcast review of these three topics and it goes and does a personal review goes.

30:31 To all these different sources. And then gives me a morning update on, you know, architecture, finance and entrepreneurship, right? So it's not a public podcast, it's a me podcast. It's only for me. You won't be able to find what I ask it to do. So I'm questioning, is this even really a podcast? Because they used to have a, they used to have a like where you could create it with Alexa, your morning brief or your daily brief or whatever. And they would give you whatever you told it to or whatever time you sent it to give you an update of things. So is this really even a podcast or just a way for you to get information that's important to you without you having to go to all these sources to find?

31:18 It. Oh well, that's interesting. Yeah, and we don't know for sure if this is private or if it would then live publicly somewhere, but I tend to agree with you said, it sounds like based on the article that this would be more of a private podcast for the individual, custom made for them. BC what did you want to add? I was just going to say at this point, for those of you who do not watch the live stream video marking the clip, the moment that Dr. started announcing that story to see mine and Ralph's very, very visual and visceral reaction to the concepts of what was happening in that story. Just in case you under the epitome of how this has generally feels about the idea.

31:58 The suggestion about this kind of podcast content that'll give you unquestionably our answer. Right. So at about 8:30-ish or halfway through the show, go back and watch the video at at. Youtube.com. Slash online. Yep, Yep. YouTube. Yeah. Go to insteadpodcastingmorningshow.com/join us and you can find the video over there. That's hilarious. I missed it, so I'll have to go back and look myself. Janae is on stage as well. Janae, did you want to chime in? Good morning all. This is a fun topic. As you know you guys have been bringing really fun topics this morning. I don't know what it is. So we are.

32:39 Topics. But this is very similar to what notebook LM does for you already. Instead, it's now you're just asking Alexa, hey, go find these topics do a thing for me. So then I can listen to it on a daily basis. And I'm that's what I'm guessing that it's let's you do so daily basis thing. It's almost like your morning report. I'm interested in these topics, pull them together and then just play them to me. So state that it's like A to me podcast more than anything else, but it's your own podcast for your own enhancement of your podcast personal. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, that makes sense. All right. I think that we've gone through enough of this particular story and we do have a lot more to get to 1st. Let me let's see, I'm trying to think where we should go from here.

33:28 I'm going to go to this. So podcasters are doing a lot right now. AI, video, social clips, better tools, workflows, more platforms and more pressure. But according to anewrss.com Podcaster Insights survey, audience growth is still the biggest challenge. So Thursday, tomorrow on the podcasting morning show, we're asking, are podcasters doing too much? We'll talk about what's actually helping creators grow, what's just adding more work, and how to tell the difference. So join us tomorrow morning, Thursday inside the Podcasting Morning show. If you're serious about starting or growing your podcast, you don't have to figure it out alone. So come join us at podcastingmorningshow.com/joinus to wrap up our news bites before we get into our major headlines. Riverside has officially dropped the dot FM from its name and moved to riverside.com.

34:36 I noticed I started noticing this last week and I was curious if I had missed an announcement or not, but it was just an announced a few days ago. This is signalling a bigger shift in what the company wants to be. The platform started in 2020 as a remote recording tool for podcasters, but it's now positioning itself as an all in So I want to get into our first of three, what I'm considering are major headlines this morning.

35:22 Spotify wants podcasts to feel more like an app. And this comes from Spotify. They announced a fresh batch of podcast features at its 2026 Investor Day last week. And the big theme is that the company wants the podcast experience to become more interactive, more personalized, and more directly monetizable. Spotify is pushing for podcasts further into a platform driven experience where discovery, fan interactions, subscriptions and AI generated listening all starts living under one roof. So let me explain. They say first that more than 500 million users have streamed a video podcast, which is up 50% year over year, which enforces how seriously the platform's treating video as part of podcast consumption. And as I said, Spotify's adding a feature that lets premium mobile users ask, well, I didn't say this part. Let's premium mobile users ask questions about the podcast that they're listening to and get answers in real time. This launches first in the US, Sweden and Ireland. So while you're listening to your podcast, you could, if you're on the Spotify platform, stop and ask it a question about something that you're hearing on that show, and it'll provide feedback based on the content of that show. Creator sponsorships are now live for creators and publishers in the Spotify Partner Program,

36:55 giving them more tools to schedule, replace, and analyze brand sponsorships. For video content, Spotify's also introducing memberships, which will let creators build recurring revenue directly from their most engaged fans. The feature will launch with select creators first. Think of this as similar to what you see perhaps on Apple Podcasts where they have that subscription format where you can maybe get episodes earlier than they're publicly released. You can get sensor sensor free content, etcetera, etcetera. So the same idea here for Spotify. Spotify says creators using memberships will have direct access to subscribers, import export options across platforms and audience intelligence tools. And that's an important detail because creator ownership of audience relationships has always been one of the biggest concerns with platform monetization. So that's a cool thing.

37:52 And Spotify's prompted playlist for podcasts have already helped more than half of users who tried the feature discover who tried the feature discover a new show, according to the company. That matters because listener intent may become a bigger part of podcast discovery. We use, although I need to update it a bit, we use here at the podcasting morning show a playlist that we connect to the podcast. Here it was, and I think it's a bunch of songs that we all once did a couple years ago now. We all chose different songs that would represent our podcast. It was just a fun throwaway episode that created a really awesome playlist of music. So that's what we've attached currently to our show, but another great way to use it is create a playlist of your favorite episodes from your podcast and attach it to your podcast.

38:44 We could probably do a whole walkthrough of that, but we're not going to do it right now. The bigger take away is Spotify's moving podcasting closer to a customized AI assisted interactive media feed. They could create discovery that could create discovery opportunities, but it also means creators may need to think harder about how their show gets surfaced, summarized, recommended, and monetized inside Spotify's eco system. So I'm curious what you all think. Does this move toward an interactive podcast consumption make the experience better? Are you excited about it? Do you think your audience is going to be into that? Or does it start to change what a podcast even is at this point? I'm curious what you guys think.

39:30 I'm personally excited about this idea. I like the idea that people can interact with the podcast more because when we talk about attention spans, even with video, we know that they're short. And being able to create a way that people can engage more with the podcast other than maybe leaving a comment, leaving a review, they can now ask it questions. I think that there's something valuable to that. I love the idea and I have a feeling we're going to see more of this on other podcast platforms moving forward. No one else has any thoughts on that? You want me to keep moving? What is Spotify again? I don't have anybody over there. So for me, is it even a podcast platform? Is it a place to listen to music? And I say that being funny.

40:13 I just, when I look at my stats, I just don't have anybody on Spotify and I don't know why that is. Do you think that if we encouraged it, it would change things, right? Like if we talk to our audience and say, hey, I really would love you to check us out over on Spotify. I'm trying to grow my presence over there. Just being completely transparent. I'm curious if that would work. Tide wants to chime it. Chime in first. Let me go to Tide. Go ahead. Good morning. Good morning. I was. Just going to ask the question, what does an interactive podcast look like? I can't quite conceptualize it because it reminds me of training videos that I have to watch for work and you know how they. Pause. You know, they pause in the middle of the video you're listening, and then it'll have like some question that you have to answer. I'm like, is that what we're talking? Oh God, I hope not.

40:55 Well, isn't this kind of an interactive podcast? I mean, we are talking to different people on stage. We are reading the comments that are in the chat for reading the comments that are on YouTube. Isn't this kind of an interactive? Yeah. Podcast just a different kind of interactive than what we're describing here. And to answer Tide's question, yeah, I think what this is, it's basically you inside the the Spotify app, you've got the podcast open and there are just some additional features when the podcast player is playing that you can interact with. Like maybe voting voting on a. Yeah. And they already have voting. They already have some of that already.

41:36 So so yeah, this is just more specific to being able to engage with the podcast. Quite literally, if you heard can ask it questions. All right, we got lots of people off of mic. So let me let me reel this in for a second. I want to go to Dan 1st and then we're going to check in with Alex. Go ahead, Dan. Thanks. Yeah, we totally changed how in one of our shows that we've created a ton of engagement through Spotify. And I just started noticing at the beginning of our last season that wow, we're getting, I didn't even know what these were. I didn't know you could comment. We have the vast majority of our listeners on Apple and Overcast and different players like that. But you know, we have an OK, a fair amount from Spotify, but all of a sudden we started getting comments. I started realizing like what if we just because it seems really simple to comment if you are a Spotify listener. So now we specifically before we start recording, we kind of come up with that, well, what are we going to ask or what we should have like a question we can throw out there. So whenever we ask anything or even as we're rambling through our BS and we're talking about whatever we're talking about, if we come up with something like and we want to get listeners engagement, we literally will say, Hey, well, you know, we call our listeners the scary book people. We go, hey, scary book people, we want to hear from you like what blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Easiest way to answer, just leaving us a comment on Spotify or you can go to ourpage@youknowblahblahblah.com/sound off.

43:01 And there we have, you know, speak pipe or the pod page version of Speed Pike. And it's just, we really make the engagement super simple for everyone not on Spotify by just giving them a web page to go to, but really by mentioning Spotify first, by leaving us a comment on Spotify, Spotify, it just triggers the Spotify people to like, oh, I am listening. They start to comment. And then we noticed that I guess actually last year because when they do what is it thing they do at the end of the year? The Wrapped Spotify. The wrapped yeah all of a sudden, like we noticed like you and we weren't even doing it St. specifically telling people to comment, but we noticed like wow, our engagement from, you know, the previous year on Spotify like blew up and like, you know, I think we had like 4 comments.

43:49 They're like you've improved 437,000% That's in the top. Like OK, great, we have 5 listeners. Hey, wow, fantastic. But I mean I'm downplaying it. It was an insanely impressive thing. And Dr. you just said something cool about the polls. I don't I know that's an option. Don't know how to do it. I don't want to get too heavy into Spotify because I don't know. I mean, I want to focus on like delivering the content that we want to deliver. I mean, that's there's just two of us. And I just want to make sure we're focusing our power or our effort on making the show better and not kind of worrying so much about the different platforms because really do think whatever platform you're on, if the content is good, that is like the key to growing, you know, be so good that it forces people to kind of pay attention. And can you use that feature that Spotify has to ask your audience, what do you want to hear? Yes, of course.

44:49 Totally, Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So I mean, just honestly all in my opinion is if you ask any question is literally lead with the easiest way to answer is just leaving us a Spotify comment. Or you can go to bandcamppodcast.com/sound Off or whatever. And it's just super easy, super, you know, reduces so much friction. And as soon as you say that, the Spotify people are like, oh, I'm on Spotify, wait, I can comment and all of a sudden they start commenting. I think we should start doing that, Mark. First of all, let's just say to Dan way to put that little, that little 2 minute plug podcast. Then I got to tell you, you should be giving me $0.50 for that. But no, listen all I'm trying to say, Alex, Alex, I'm just trying to share a podcast tip.

45:41 And one of the best ways to learn that tip if you're interested in banned books and why they're banned is just by listening the band camp podcast. It's so simple trying to share, no listen, trying to share some knowledge for. That guy No, no, but honestly, you make a really good point and this is the point that I wanted to make before, you know, we talk about new podcasters and we talk about old podcasters. It really doesn't matter. It's about where do you want to put your eggs? And I say that because there's so much out there. I don't. I'm not like Dr. Who likes to go on different platforms. And I'm not saying that as a bad thing. Dr. You love to just find new ways to not go on Apple, and that's fine. You know, and I'm being all serious, it's like there's other platforms that are out there that people enjoy their podcast. And if you want to put the effort into Spotify, they have a more robust platform than they used to. And I think if people are starting out, that's a great way to start because you have all these features. The hard part is when you're old, when you've done this for more than a couple of years, you get in your routine and you don't want to screw it up.

46:50 And it's about being brave and trying to figure out what the latest and greatest is. And I think then you're absolutely right. When you go to your website, what was it again? And you do that have to go to get your monetization from your content creators thing from Ralph, you know, then you've got something and I think that's a really important thing. Take your time with this. You know, if you want to put your toe into the water, put it in. But if you're not doing it, it's not the end of the world. Right, don't I would say don't ruin your content to, you know, placate the different platforms. Like I just realized that, wow, we're getting some comments. What if we just ask because it's it's not like, you know, it's, it's hard to get podcast listeners to do damn near anything, right? I mean, it's hard to get engagement. Except find your steps on your podcast. I mean, listen absolutely when you have something is tried and true.

47:42 No, it Dan, it's true. It is hard to get people to do stuff. I mean, you know, we've thankfully we have gotten some submissions for the Spotlight series, but that's been a challenge. We we ask all the time and we're not getting nearly the kind of response we thought we would for that, for a free service to promote a podcast. You know why I think that is? I think because you're trying too hard to make it so slick in such a systematic framework. Like I, I don't want to tell you how to do your show, but I think I think what I would do is like, hey, you know, thanks for listening there. You know, whatever. I'm people always suck at doing the small talk in an example. I'd say thanks for listening. Oh, hey, welcome to the podcast. I mean, I think you just have to basically throw out there. We'd really love to hear about your podcast. Shoot me Adm Maybe we can feature on our show for free. I just, we'd love to, we'd love to give you a plug message me. We'll try that.

48:32 Because otherwise it's kind of scary, I think sometimes. Yeah, it can be. I get that, I get that. But. And just as an aside, whenever I hear Dan say the name of his podcast, I immediately get a vision of a fourth grade clarinet players sitting on a chair. I realize that. Yeah, it's not. BAND it's BANNED. Literally, we've been doing a ton of sponsor outreach and we're getting a bunch of sponsors and stuff. But even when I'm talking to normal, that's not a humble break too, Alec. But I'm just saying like, you know, when I'm reaching out to like bookstores or even to our audience, like we just start, we just cut our new promo for the new season and we literally have to go, you know, blah, blah, blah, fine, you know where to find us.

49:16 It's band camp. And that's banned. Like books that are banned, not banned, like tubas and snare drums. It's like we literally have to say that. And even though I'll be talking to a bookstore, it'll be like, hey, we're the number one comedy band books podcast on Apple and Spotify. What would you guys talk about? Like band, like I'm calling a bookstore, it's a banned book podcast. They don't get it. It's like you got to really sometimes be so super clear. Clarity is the other big tip on how to win in podcast. Agreed. I think that's very key. Yes, thank you, Dan, and thank you for giving us an example of, you know, I said maybe we need to ask more if we want people to use Spotify more and Dan just shared a great example of that. So thank you, Dan.

49:59 Appreciate it, Ralph. You've got the next story here, and it's on this topic of AI podcasting. Yeah, here we go again. AI podcast just got creepier at London's podcast show last week, Inception Point AI. Now don't start booing me, I'm just reading the story says it's going to stop creating AI generated podcast hosts that claim to be licensed doctors or health professionals after James Kridlin at Pod News proves he called attention to the issue. But the company also says it's not going to takedown existing content. It is already published, even if those shows included AI voices resenting themselves as medical doctors. Now for Indy Podcast, this story raises some big questions about trust, about disclosure, platform responsibility, and what happens when AI content starts flooding the same spaces where human creators are trying to grow in. So this is a big deal.

50:56 And so again, Inception Point says they're not going to claim to be doctors anymore. I was like, oh, that's fantastic. That's good. The company will still allow AI personalities to describe themselves as experts or being well read and well studied, as long as there's disclosure. CEO Janine Wright said the company hasn't taken down any content it has ever made, including older shows where AI voices claim to be medical doctors. Here's a great one. The company says it's producing 10,000 episodes a week and reaches more than 1,000,000 listeners per month. Wright announced that what she called the world's first totally autonomous podcaster, meaning an AI system that can decide what shows and episodes to create, who to target, where to place the ads, and eventually may publish with little or no human review. Now this is Ralph's commentary.

51:44 There is a market for this. This is my, this is the hardest part for me. I'm a free market capitalist guy. So clearly there's a market for this. Oh man, I don't know who's listening to this stuff. And when you start claiming that you're a medical doctor and it crosses me because I spent a lot of money to become a licensed professional. And if they start putting out accountants who are licensed accountants, I'm going to lose my stuff. So what does everybody else think about this? I, I, you know, I 10,000 a week. Just think about that number. That number is staggering and you know, I know we had Rob Greenlee on the show and Rob's big thing as well. We just need to have AI disclosures. I don't know that's going to fix this.

52:25 I don't either. I think it's a great I. I don't know if they're going to see it like or users even going to see that disclaimer. It needs to be really prominent for it to work. Like you got to say it during the show at the top of the show right away as part of a disclaimer or something to make sure that most people actually understand that. Because if you're going to hide it in the show notes, no one's going to see that. But Mark, my question is, do people care? I think that they do, but let me first hear from BCBC has his hand up. Go ahead. I think unfortunately it'll be a big spag of who does doesn't care, but I think hopefully we'll teeter on the side of more care when it comes to lawyers, doctors, whatever these AI person personas are theatering themselves off to be.

53:09 And I know I had another thought and I completely lost it during our initial reaction there because I went back. Let me know. Yeah. But I think that this is just like, like you said, Mark, this needs to be upfront, especially if they're not, I don't know how it's legal for them to not change older content. That's what really what I'm kind of caught on here is 1. How were they able to do that in the 1st place? How was that not already tagged as illegal? And how is it not at this point with this particular pivot, still not illegal for them to have AI personas that claim that kind of professionality? That's actually a really good question. I'm surprised whoever the powers that be haven't come after them for making false claims originally. And yes, great, good.

53:51 Good on them for changing it up now moving forward, but the fact that they're not going to take down the old stuff is questionable at the least. And it's got to be illegal, like you're saying. Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of that. And maybe at some point somebody will come after them and that will be the way that Inception gets taken down. Who knows? But ER, you wanted to comment. Well, that's what scares me the most when it comes to AI and the amount of influence it has, because I think it opens the door for the FCC to say, hey, we need to get involved in podcasts. Right now they are not but in check, you know, tomorrow, let's see if let's see if it happens. If it happens.

54:38 No one here wants that, right? No one here wants that. But it feels like the more AI gets involved, the more stories we hear about false claims that there's got to be an overseer, there's got to be someone that says no, don't do that, you know? But Dr. That's kind of already happening because in other countries and in certain states now there are organizations coming up that are talking about AI content. And that worries me because whose right is it to say, well, this is good content, this is bad content. So that's the problem is I think we're just going to have to endure this AI stuff and try to sort through it. And I think it's going to come down to a free market thing. I really do.

55:21 I think people are going to need to make a decision of whether they want to listen to AI or they don't, but that's the. Problem is that you don't know that you're listening sometimes. People don't. Know. Like like Ralph, you know, I know you make a lot of music content and you make it clear that you create it with AI, but I know there's also a ton of music on Spotify that is all AI generated and people don't know what they're listening to. I've actually caught my wife listening to some of that AI generated music and I call it out. And to answer your question, when I say, you know, does that bother you? At the end of the day, it didn't bother her. She didn't mind because she was enjoying the music. And that's my whole point is it comes down to if AI can create content that is factual, if AI can create content that people get entertainment from, then what's the harm? That's my concern because if people are getting value from it, if they say well, we're a doctor and they're not a doctor, but the information is correct, I'm not sure there's an issue there.

56:18 And I know that's a lot of popular. Position. Well, that's a whole different story, Dr. And I agree with you then I think they're. Delivered. The way it's being delivered is so sharp and polished and shiny that it's very difficult to discern what's real and what's not real, what's fact and what's fiction. Dr. There are people out there on regular TV shows that do the exact same thing, that aren't AI, that are putting out misinformation too. That's my counter. Yeah, The only thing I disagree with is that I don't care whether it's an AI or a human. We shouldn't be making claims if that we're doctors if we're not, right. I just I just regardless, regardless of whether or not the information is factual.

57:02 I agree with you 100%. I think there is a place for and that's going to take one of these boards of physicians or boards of something to go file suit against somebody. Until they do that, this is going to continue. When they do that, they'll stop. Just like in my area, if somebody puts out a shingle that says they're a licensed accountant, there's a board of accountancy in Delaware that'll go after them if they don't actually have a license. I think that's the way you solve this problem, especially if they're going to say they're licensed professionals. You and I agree with each other. Yeah, and Dan, sorry, Dave in the chat on Clubhouse says can't wait for the AI Podcaster Hall of Fame and Podcast Awards. Will they write their own acceptance speeches? And Dan says Dave Campbell for the win this morning. Let's wrap it up right there This morning, a reminder that tomorrow we're going to ask that question. Are podcasters working too hard?

57:54 And we're going to discuss this based on in a blog from rss.com that came out recently. So come join us tomorrow, 8:00 AM Eastern Time as we do this every Monday through Friday at that time. So until then, make it a great day. Everybody take care.