Podcast

Etymology

"Podcast" is a portmanteau of "iPod" and "broadcast". The earliest use of "podcasting" was traced to The Guardian columnist and BBC journalist Ben Hammersley, who coined it in early February 2004 while writing an article for The Guardian newspaper. The term was first used in the audioblogging community in September 2004, when Danny Gregoire introduced it in a message to the iPodder-dev mailing list, from where it was adopted by podcaster Adam Curry. Despite the etymology, the content can be accessed using any computer or similar device that can play media files. The term "podcast" predates Apple's addition of podcasting features to the iPod and the iTunes software.

History

Main article: History of podcasting

In September 2000, early MP3 player manufacturer i2Go offered a service called MyAudio2Go.com which allowed users to download news stories for listening on a PC or MP3 player. The service was available for about a year until i2Go's demise in 2001.

In October 2000, the concept of attaching sound and video files in RSS feeds was proposed in a draft by Tristan Louis. The idea was implemented by Dave Winer, a software developer and an author of the RSS format.

In August 2004, Adam Curry launched his show Daily Source Code, focused on chronicling his everyday life, delivering news, and discussions about the development of podcasting. Curry promoted new and emerging internet audio shows in an attempt to gain traction in the development of what would come to be known as podcasting. Daily Source Code was initially directed at podcast developers. As its audience became interested in the format, these developers were inspired to create and produce their own projects and a community of pioneer podcasters quickly developed.

iPodderX, released in September 2004 by August Trometer and based on earlier work by Ray Slakinski, was the first GUI application for podcasts.

In June 2005, Apple released iTunes 4.9, which added formal support for podcasts, thus negating the need to use a separate program in order to download and transfer them to a mobile device. Additionally, Apple issued cease-and-desist orders to many podcast application developers and service providers for using the term "iPod" or "Pod" in their products' names.

In February 2006, following London radio station LBC's successful launch of the first premium-podcasting platform, LBC Plus, there was widespread acceptance that podcasting had considerable commercial potential. UK comedian Ricky Gervais, whose first season of The Ricky Gervais Show became a big hit, launched a new series of the popular podcast. The second series of the podcast was distributed through audible.co.uk and was the first major podcast to charge consumers to download the show (at a rate of 95 pence per half-hour episode). The first series of The Ricky Gervais Show podcast had been freely distributed by the Positive Internet Company and marketed through The Guardian newspaper's website, and it was the world's most successful podcast for several years, eventually gaining more than 300 million unique downloads by March 2011. Even in its new subscription format, The Ricky Gervais Show was regularly the most-downloaded podcast on iTunes. The Adam Carolla Show claimed a new Guinness world record, with total downloads approaching 60 million, but Guinness failed to acknowledge that Gervais's podcast had more than 5 times as many downloads as Carolla's show at the time that this new record was supposedly set.

By 2007, audio podcasts were doing what was historically accomplished via radio broadcasts, which had been the source of radio talk shows and news programs since the 1930s. This shift occurred as a result of the evolution of internet capabilities along with increased consumer access to cheaper hardware and software for audio recording and editing.

As of early 2019, the podcasting industry still generated little overall revenue, although the number of persons listening to podcasts continued to grow steadily. Edison Research, which issues the Podcast Consumer quarterly tracking-report, estimated that 90 million persons in the U.S. had listened to a podcast in January 2019. In 2020, 58% of the population of South Korea and 40% of the population of Spain had listened to a podcast in the last month; 12.5% of the UK population had listened to a podcast in the last week; and 22% of the United States population listened to at least one podcast weekly. The form is also acclaimed for its low overhead for creators to start and maintain podcasting, merely requiring a microphone, a computer or mobile device, and associated software to edit and upload the final product. Some form of acoustic quieting is also often utilised.

IP issues in trademark and patent law

Trademark applications

Between February 10 and March 25, 2005, Shae Spencer Management, LLC of Fairport, New York filed a trademark application to register the term "podcast" for an "online pre-recorded radio program over the internet". On September 9, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected the application, citing Wikipedia's entry on "Podcast" as describing the history of the term. The company amended their application in March 2006, but the USPTO rejected the amended application as not sufficiently differentiated from the original. In November 2006, the application was marked as abandoned.

Apple trademark protections

On September 26, 2004, it was reported that Apple Inc. had started to crack down on businesses using the string "POD", in product and company names. Apple sent a cease-and-desist letter that week to Podcast Ready, Inc., which markets an application known as "myPodder". Lawyers for Apple contended that the term "pod" had been used by the public to refer to Apple's music player so extensively that it falls under Apple's trademark cover. Such activity was speculated to be part of a bigger campaign for Apple to expand the scope of its existing iPod trademark, which included trademarking "IPOD", "IPODCAST", and "POD". On November 16, 2006, the Apple Trademark Department stated that "Apple does not object to third-party usage of the generic term 'podcast' to accurately refer to podcasting services" and that "Apple does not license the term". However, no statement was made as to whether or not Apple believed they held rights to it.

Personal Audio lawsuits

Personal Audio, a company referred to as a "patent troll" by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), filed a patent on podcasting in 2009 for a claimed invention in 1996. In February 2013, Personal Audio started suing high-profile podcasters for royalties, including The Adam Carolla Show and the HowStuffWorks podcasts. In October 2013, the EFF filed a petition with the US Trademark Office to invalidate the Personal Audio patent. On August 18, 2014, the EFF announced that Adam Carolla had settled with Personal Audio. Finally, on April 10, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidated five provisions of Personal Audio's podcasting patent.

Production and listening

A podcast generator maintains a central list of the files on a server as a web feed that one can access through the Internet. The listener or viewer uses special client application software on a computer or media player, known as a podcast client, which accesses this web feed, checks it for updates, and downloads any new files in the series. This process can be automated to download new files automatically, so it may seem to listeners as though podcasters broadcast or "push" new episodes to them. Podcast files can be stored locally on the user's device, or streamed directly. There are several different mobile applications that allow people to follow and listen to podcasts. Many of these applications allow users to download podcasts or stream them on demand. Most podcast players or applications allow listeners to skip around the podcast and to control the playback speed. Much podcast listening occurs during commuting; because of restrictions on travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of unique listeners in the US decreased by 15% in the last three weeks of March 2020.

Podcasting has been considered a converged medium (a medium that brings together audio, the web and portable media players), as well as a disruptive technology that has caused some individuals in radio broadcasting to reconsider established practices and preconceptions about audiences, consumption, production and distribution. The New York Times reported in 2025 that podcasts have become an alternative to late-night talk show appearances or magazine covers for public figures to promote their projects, owing to its friendlier, more intimate setting which allows the guest to be more candid.

Podcasts can be produced at little to no cost and are usually disseminated free-of-charge, which sets this medium apart from the traditional 20th-century model of "gate-kept" media and their production tools. Podcasters can, however, still monetize their podcasts by allowing companies to purchase ad time. They can also garner support from listeners through crowdfunding websites like Patreon, which provide special extras and content to listeners for a fee.

Types of podcasts

Podcasts vary in style, format, and topical content. Podcasts are partially patterned on previous media genres but depart from them systematically in certain computationally observable stylistic respects. The conventions and constraints which govern that variation are emerging and vary over time and markets; podcast listeners have various preferences of styles but conventions to address them and communicate about them are still unformed. Some current examples of types of podcasts are given below. This list is likely to change as new types of content, new technology to consume podcasts, and new use cases emerge.

Audio podcasts

Video podcasts

A video podcast is a podcast that features video content. Web television series are often distributed as video podcasts. Dead End Days, a serialized dark comedy about zombies released from October 31, 2003, through 2004, is one early video podcast.

Enhanced podcasts

An enhanced podcast, also known as a slidecast, is a type of podcast that combines audio with a slide show presentation. It is similar to a video podcast in that it combines dynamically generated imagery with audio synchronization, but it is different in that it uses presentation software to create the imagery and the sequence of display separately from the time of the original audio podcast recording. The Free Dictionary, YourDictionary, and PC Magazine define an enhanced podcast as "an electronic slide show delivered as a podcast". Enhanced podcasts are podcasts that incorporate graphics and chapters. iTunes developed an enhanced podcast feature called "Audio Hyperlinking" that they patented in 2012. Enhanced podcasts can be used by businesses or in education. Enhanced podcasts can be created using QuickTime AAC or Windows Media files. Enhanced podcasts were first used in 2006.

Fiction podcast

A fiction podcast (also referred to as a "scripted podcast" or "audio drama") is similar to a radio drama, but in podcast form. They deliver a fictional story, usually told over multiple episodes and seasons, using multiple voice actors, dialogue, sound effects, and music to enrich the story. Fiction podcasts have attracted a number of well-known actors as voice talents, including Demi Moore and Matthew McConaughey as well as from content producers like Netflix, Spotify, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. Unlike other genres, downloads of fiction podcasts increased by 19% early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Podcast novels

A podcast novel (also known as a "serialized audiobook" or "podcast audiobook") is a literary form that combines the concepts of a podcast and an audiobook. Like a traditional novel, a podcast novel is a work of literary fiction; however, it is recorded into episodes that are delivered online over a period of time. The episodes may be delivered automatically via RSS or through a website, blog, or other syndication method. Episodes can be released on a regular schedule, e.g., once a week, or irregularly as each episode is completed. In the same manner as audiobooks, some podcast novels are elaborately narrated with sound effects and separate voice actors for each character, similar to a radio play or scripted podcast, but many have a single narrator and few or no sound effects.

Some podcast novelists give away a free podcast version of their book as a form of promotion. On occasion such novelists have secured publishing contracts to have their novels printed. Podcast novelists have commented that podcasting their novels lets them build audiences even if they cannot get a publisher to buy their books. These audiences then make it easier to secure a printing deal with a publisher at a later date. These podcast novelists also claim the exposure that releasing a free podcast gains them makes up for the fact that they are giving away their work for free.

Live podcasts

A number of podcasts are recorded either in total or for specific episodes in front of a live audience. Ticket sales allow the podcasters an additional way of monetizing. Some podcasts create specific live shows to tour which are not necessarily included on the podcast feed. Events including the London Podcast Festival, SF Sketchfest and others regularly give a platform for podcasters to perform live to audiences.

Technology (production)

Software

Podcast episodes are widely stored and encoded in the mp3 digital audio format and then hosted on dedicated or shared webserver space. Syndication of podcasts' episodes across various websites and platforms is based on RSS feeds, an XML-formatted file citing information about the episode and the podcast itself.

Hardware

The most basic equipment for a podcast is a computer and a microphone. It is helpful to have a sound-proof room and headphones. The computer should have a recording or streaming application installed. Typical microphones for podcasting are connected using USB. If the podcast involves two or more people, each person requires a microphone, and a USB audio interface is needed to mix them together. If the podcast includes video, then a separate webcam might be needed, and additional lighting.

Global market

The number of Chinese podcast listeners exceeded 220 million in 2023. India has emerged as the third-largest podcast listening market after China and the US, with over 57.6 million listeners. According to The Free Press Journal, in 2021 "India will have 95 million Podcast monthly active users", which is thirty-four percent more than the previous year.

References

References

1. "Definition of PODCAST".
2. "Podcast Definition & Meaning".
3. (25 March 2025). "A Billion People are Watching Podcasts on YouTube Every Month". [[Bloomberg News]].
4. (December 27, 2025). "'Painful to hear!' How podcasts' rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens". The Guardian.
5. "Podcast Stats: How many podcasts are there?".
6. (2012). "Podcast Production".
7. "Definition of Podcast in English".
8. Watson, Stephanie. (March 26, 2005). "How Podcasting Works § Podcasting History".
9. Hammersley, Ben. (February 12, 2004). "Why Online Radio Is Booming".
10. Sawyer, Miranda. (November 20, 2015). "The Man Who Accidentally Invented the Word 'Podcast'".
11. Gregoire, Danny. (September 12, 2004). "How to Handle Getting Past Episodes?".
12. Owens, Simon. (February 6, 2015). "Slate's Podcast Audience Has Tripled in a Year, and Its Bet on Audio Over Video Continues to Pay Off".
13. Levy, Steven. (October 23, 2006). "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness". Simon & Schuster.
14. (June 28, 2005). "Apple Brings Podcasts Into iTunes".
15. "I2Go eGo".
16. Credeur, Mary Jane. (September 10, 2001). "2Go is gone after burning through $7 million". Atlanta Business Chronicle.
17. Louis, Tristan. (October 13, 2000). "Suggestion for RSS 0.92 Specification".
18. Pot, Justin. (August 24, 2013). "The Evolution of the Podcast – How a Medium Was Born [Geek History]".
19. (November 4, 2007). "Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Audio and Video Podcasting". [[Apress]].
20. Benson, Richard. (November 14, 2019). "An Aural History of the Podcast: The History of the Podcast (By Those Who Helped Make Them a Thing)". Esquire Middle East.
21. Ciccarelli, Stephanie. (August 27, 2013). "History of Podcasting".
22. [https://www.wired.com/2004/10/ipodderx-speaks/ IPodderX Speaks with RSS] - Wired, 5 October 2024
23. (March 16, 2013). "Podcast".
24. Blass, Evan. (September 24, 2006). "With "Pod" on Lockdown, Apple Goes After "Podcast"".
25. "Breaking News – HBO Renews Animated Comedy Series "The Ricky Gervais Show" for Third Season {{!}} TheFutonCritic.com".
26. Digital, Pinkston. (March 2021). "Pinkston – The Rise of the Podcast".
27. (February 22, 2019). "Everybody Makes Podcasts. Can Anyone Make Them Profitable?". Bloomberg L.P.
28. (April 5, 2019). "The Podcast Consumer 2019". Edison Research.
29. Sawyer, Miranda. (May 3, 2020). "It's boom time for podcasts – but will going mainstream kill the magic?". The Observer.
30. Smith, Steve. (November 22, 2016). "Podcasts: Can They Hear Us Now". [[Information Today, Inc.]].
31. "Podcast Trademark Rejection Documents".
32. Holliman, Russell. (September 26, 2006). "Podcast Ready Receives Cease & Desist from Apple Computer".
33. Heater, Brian. (March 24, 2009). "Apple's Legal Team Going After 'Pod' People".
34. Longo, Jeffrey. (September 25, 2006). "Podcast Trademark Controversy".
35. (November 16, 2006). "Copy of the Letter from Apple Trademark Department". Global Geek Podcast.
36. Nazer, Daniel. (May 30, 2013). "Help Save Podcasting!".
37. (October 2, 1996). "System for Disseminating Media Content Representing Episodes in a Serialized Sequence".
38. Samuels, Julie. (February 5, 2013). "Podcasting Community Faces Patent Troll Threat; EFF Wants to Help".
39. (April 21, 2014). "EFF v. Personal Audio LLC".
40. Nazer, Daniel. (August 18, 2014). "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Adam Carolla's Settlement with the Podcasting Troll".
41. Fung, Brian. (April 10, 2015). "How the Government Just Protected Some of Your Favorite Podcasts". [[The Washington Post]].
42. (April 6, 2017). "How to Change Playback Speed of a Podcast Playing Too Fast or Too Slow – iPhone Life".
43. Berry, Richard. (2015). "Serial and Ten Years of Podcasting: Has the Medium Grown up?". Radio, Sounds & Internet.
44. Berry, Richard. (May 1, 2006). "Will the iPod Kill the Radio Star? Profiling Podcasting as Radio". [[Convergence (journal).
45. Testa, Jessica. (August 14, 2025). "Even Taylor Swift can't resist podcasts, the celebrity safe space". [[The New York Times]].
46. (2020). "100,000 podcasts: A spoken English document corpus". International Committee on Computational Linguistics.
47. Martikainen, Katariina. (2020). "Audio-based stylistic characteristics of Podcasts for search and recommendation: a user and computational analysis". University of Twente.
48. (June 2022). "Report on the 1st Workshop on Audio Collection Human Interaction (AudioCHI 2022) at CHIIR 2022". ACM SIGIR.
49. Ugwu, Reggie. (April 26, 2024). "With YouTube Booming, Podcast Creators Get Camera-Ready". [[The New York Times]].
50. Bernstein, Joseph. (July 20, 2025). "Who Is Watching All These Podcasts?". [[The New York Times]].
51. Ellis, Jessica. (2008). "What is a Video Podcast?".
52. (January 2010). "Students use of Laptops in Large Lecture Classes: Distraction, Partial Attention or Productive Use?". Aurora.
53. (2010). "2010 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference".
54. "enhanced podcast".
55. "Enhanced-podcast Meaning: Best 1 Definitions of Enhanced-podcast".
56. "Definition of enhanced podcast".
57. Breen, Christopher. (December 12, 2012). "How to Create Podcast Chapters".
58. Breen, Christopher. (March 28, 2013). "How We Produce Our Podcasts".
59. Breen, Christopher. (March 28, 2013). "Producing the Macworld Podcast".
60. Frakes, Dan. (December 12, 2006). "Podcasting Presentations".
61. Etherington, Darrell. (August 8, 2013). "Apple Developing Audio Hyperlinks, A Way For Audio Streams To Link To Other Media Or Control Devices".
62. Campbell, Mikey. (August 8, 2013). "Apple's 'audio hyperlink' tech can control devices with inaudible sonic pulses".
63. "United States Patent Application: 0130204413".
64. Petricone, Elena. "Cast away: Incorporating slidecasts into your online presence can distinguish your business from competitors". Emerson Consulting Group.
65. Weller, Marxtin. (April 29, 2012). "The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity".
66. (2009). "Use of Slidecasts in Higher Education Settings: a Pilotproject".
67. (February 11, 2008). "Podcasting Bible". John Wiley & Sons.
68. (January 7, 2008). "Expert Podcasting Practices For Dummies". John Wiley & Sons.
69. (September 13, 2019). "So, What Is an Audio Drama?". Penn State University.
70. Skinner, Oliver. (July 30, 2020). "Fiction Podcasts: The Medium Giving Rise to a New Generation of Audio Storytellers". Voices.com.
71. Kornelis, Chris. (December 25, 2020). "From Demi Moore to Matthew McConaughey, Screen Stars Are Turning to Podcasts". The Wall Street Journal.
72. (November 1, 2019). "Netflix Creates Its First Scripted Podcast, As An Extension To TV Show". Inside Radio.
73. White, Jordan. (May 30, 2018). "Wolverine: The Long Night opens up the possibilities for a Marvel Podcast Universe". The Verge.
74. Jennings, Collier. (July 18, 2020). "DC, Spotify Cut Deal for Multiple Scripted Podcast Series".
75. (2 June 2020). "This surround-sound thriller podcast is perfect for pandemic walks".
76. Florin, Hector. (January 31, 2009). "Podcasting Your Novel: Publishing's Next Wave?".
77. Cadelago, Chris. (April 5, 2008). "Take My Book. It's Free".
78. Newman, Andrew Adam. (March 1, 2007). "Authors Find Their Voice, and Audience, in Podcasts".
79. Gaughran, David. (September 5, 2011). ""Free" Really Can Make You Money – A Dialogue with Moses Siregar III".
80. Arboine, Niellah. (August 21, 2019). "How to Get 20% off Tickets to the London Podcast Festival".
81. Cristi, A.A.. (December 6, 2019). "SF Sketchfest Announces Additions to Festival Lineup".
82. "Technical history of podcasting".
83. Van De Walle, Dieter. (July 5, 2021). "How to host and distribute a podcast".
84. Chan, Tim. (March 30, 2020). "How to Start a Podcast: 7 Things These Experts Say You'll Need".
85. Hall, Parker. (February 18, 2022). "Here's the Gear You Need to Start Your Own Podcast".
86. (April 28, 2021). "The Rolling Stone Audio Awards 2021".
87. "China's podcast industry flourishes with growing listeners".
88. Rego, Natasha. (May 29, 2021). "Hear and Now: Inside India's Podcast Boom". [[HT Media]].
89. (December 13, 2021). "India to See 95 MN Podcast Users by 2021 End; Up 34%: Report". Indian National Press.