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When did paid podcasts become a thing? (self.technology)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by reddig33 to c/technology

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Half the podcasts in my queue have suddenly become paid subscriptions. Meanwhile the overall industry is losing listeners. Seems like a lousy business model to not offer a free with ads feed. What a bizarre trend.

https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2023/2/9/23592684/decline-of-podcasts#:~:text=Monthly%20listenership%20to%20podcasts%20seems,podcasts%20has%20fallen%20as%20well.

https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2022/03/28/monthly-podcast-listening-is-down-for-the-first-time-in-almost-a-decade-according-to-study

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I've noticed a lot in my feed making that move also. I agree this may end poorly for a lot of good podcasts.

A lot of people are already sick of everything being a subscription based product. I know I pay for too many. There are so many ways to consume media you just move on to the next thing that looks interesting and is free with ads (for now). Podcasting loses listeners, podcasters move on or go free with ads again with a much smaller audience.

People want to support quality media creators, but there's only so much in the budget. Kinda like you pay for Netflix as entertainment but podcasts are more like radio, something you listen to but could start listening to something else if need be.