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After the podcast worldsyear from hell, many are looking to the New Year for a fresh start.
Have we hit bottom yet?
After wall-to-wall bad news last year, everybodys looking for a fresh start.
The annoying answer is that it depends.
(Talkhouse was the lone shop that agreed to go on the record about this.)
When I approach this question, I think about it along two lines: Will there be more layoffs?
On that note, Ive started to hear optimistic things about the former already.
The latter, meanwhile, had always been relatively steady.
As for layoffs, I dont think were done seeing more of them.
For one thing, Audacy just filed for bankruptcy, which portends some amount of restructuring.
Think tech is safe?
So … YouTube?
Speaking of which, thats the other thing everybody seems to want to talk about.
Should I be on YouTube?
Am I leaving audiences and money on the table?
Is it even appropriate for the stuff Im making?
Am I now old?
Unmoving in my mental models?
Live by the algorithm, die by the algorithm.
Do the image-thumbnail thing: provocative face?
Its a brave old-new world.
How will the industry reorganize itself?
I wouldve said that the emphasis going into this year is on sustainability, but that isnt terribly precise.
News of Pitchforks obsolescence instigated extensive discussion about the kinds of media operations that are possible these days.
The middle is where a lot of great journalists are found and trained.
The middle is where local reporting happens and where culture is made rather than discovered.
Can AI sling hot takes?
Yeah, yeah, its the shiny new thing of the moment.
But the shadow of artificial intelligence looms over all creative work and podcasting is no different.
Whether its actually pleasurable or effective to listen to, I dont know yet.
Lets say the quiet part loud.
Part of the challenge navigating this thread is discerning whats actually material and whats just performative mumbo jumbo.
Im still thinking aboutthe interview I conductedwithWho?
Weeklys Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger earlier this month about their AI stunt.
But technology moves quickly.
What shows, genres, formats, creative trends, and programming focuses will define the year?
This is the perennial question most pertinent to me.
But its not just the United States were talking about.
(Voxs write-up on the matterfeatures a chilling subhed: Will democracy survive it?
