According to YouTube\u2019s 2025 Recap feature<\/a>, the podcast I consumed the most on its platform was Seth Meyers\u2019 recurring segment \u201cA Closer Look\u201d<\/a> on his show Late Night. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last year, I would have argued that this is not a podcast. That it is, in fact, a clip of a TV show. But in 2025, with almost every major podcast now having a video component, the definition of the word \u201cpodcast\u201d has become pretty meaningless. A decades-old TV show talk show format is now almost indistinguishable from podcasts like Good Hang with Amy Poehler<\/em>, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard,<\/em> Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe<\/em>, and other shows at the top of Spotify\u2019s podcast charts<\/a>. <\/em>In fact, they are now on the same playing field.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The definition of the word \u201cpodcast\u201d has become pretty meaningless<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Scrolling though my YouTube feed, most of the suggestions in the Podcast tab are late-night talk show interviews, host-driven video essays, food reviews, and cable news segments \u2014 very far from what we used to use the term for: narrative audio journalism and roundtable discussions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So in 2026, instead of trying to define what a podcast is<\/a>, I think we need to stop using the word altogether. \u201cPodcast\u201d is becoming an outdated or even a potentially cringe internet relic, similar to how the phrase \u201cweb series\u201d faded from use online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So what do we call these formats instead? I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to invent a new word, but instead repurpose an old one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bloomberg<\/em>\u2019s Ashley Carman noticed this change in her coverage of The Podcast Show in London this past May<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n …two separate panelists made it clear they do not call their podcasts \u201cpodcasts.\u201d Georgie Holt, chief executive at FlightStory, the company behind Steven Bartlett\u2019s Diary of a CEO , said the team calls their programming \u201cshows.\u201d In a conversation on stage with me, Max Cutler, founder of Pave Studios, said exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Anecdotally I have heard this change of nomenclature from \u201cpodcasts\u201d to \u201cshows\u201d internally here at Vox Media too, and echoed from my colleagues at other media companies as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Using the word \u201cshow\u201d seems to be a more marketable term for advertising, especially when attaching celebrity names to the project. Pitching podcasts to advertisers sounds limiting and niche, but pitching a \u201cshow\u201d \u2014 hey, that\u2019s a place where they can get ears and<\/em> eyes, and a definitive platform where the shows will live. Podcast creators want that Seth Meyers<\/em> money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Because of this, fans will likely begin calling them \u201cshows\u201d as well, the same way consumers started claiming internal marketing terms like \u201cinfluencers\u201d and \u201ccreators.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019re seeing the word fade from the hosts, too. There\u2019s a recurring bit on The Adam Friedland<\/em> Show<\/em> now where guests call the show a podcast<\/a>, and the titular host corrects them instantly, claiming it\u2019s a talk show. Instead of the cliche \u201cFind us wherever you get podcasts\u201d sign-off, I\u2019ve noticed many hosts are now pivoting more to the \u201clike-and-subscribe<\/a>\u201d phrasing of YouTube culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n These podcast shows are all starting to live together with non-podcast shows like Hot Ones,<\/em> Chicken Shop Date, <\/em>the Criterion Closet series, Tonight Show<\/em> clips, etc. \u2014 so why limit them to a term that used to go hand-in-hand with iPods?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Unfortunately, all this also means that a lot of the openness of podcasting is slowly going away and becoming more centralized on platforms like YouTube and Netflix. YouTube says more than one billion people watch podcasts<\/a> on its platform every month. It was reported by Bloomberg <\/em>that Netflix is going to add podcasts<\/a> to its streaming platform, developing its own shows and working with major networks like Spotify, iHeartMedia, and Sirius.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In fact, YouTube is starting to look more like Netflix<\/a>. \u201cTalk show\u2013style podcasts\u201d on YouTube are already considered to be the next generation<\/a> of late night TV, especially with CBS signaling an end to investing in the genre by cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/em> in 2026 (I can imagine a cheaper-made podcast going into CBS\u2019s late night lineup instead) and celebrity press tours prioritizing YouTube<\/a> over traditional network TV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next year, you probably won\u2019t be recommending your favorite new podcast to your friend, but instead something you \u201cwatched on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite all this, I still think the audio-only format will stick around. After all, people still drive cars, and they aren\u2019t typically looking at a screen for the whole three hours of a podcast. In fact, according to Edison Research, most podcast listening is done at home<\/a>. It\u2019s likely, though, that most audio-only podcasts will be from more independently run shows. Media companies will still publish audio versions of their video shows for the podcatcher apps, but they\u2019re not the priority anymore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As a result (and long overdue from the era of the iPod), I think the era of the term \u201cpodcast\u201d is ending. Perhaps in the future, the question \u201cWhat is a podcast?\u201d will disappear in favor of \u201cWhat was <\/em>a podcast?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe need for new nomenclature<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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So what about audio-only programming? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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