Cameron Moll, from Buzzsprout: reflections and predictions

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Cameron Moll, head of design at Buzzsprout, shares insights from their transformative 2024, highlighting a complete brand overhaul and the successful launch of iOS and Android apps. The company also introduced new podcast website themes, an updated embedded player, and manual insertion points for mid-rolls.

Looking ahead to 2025, Moll predicts AI will evolve from being a prominently advertised feature to becoming seamlessly integrated into podcast workflows. He specifically notes the advancement of AI voices, referencing tools like Google Notebook LM and Spotify Wrapped, while maintaining that AI is unlikely to replace human podcasters entirely.

Moll addresses the tension between major platforms like Spotify, Apple, and YouTube and the open nature of podcasting. While these platforms offer vast listener reach, their business models often conflict with podcasting's open ecosystem, potentially affecting the industry's long-term health. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining podcasting's accessibility and reach across multiple platforms.

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Episode Transcript

(00:12):
Hello, James and Sam and PodNews listeners. We are just massivefans of PodNews here at Buzzsprout,
so it really is an honor to contribute to this look back andlook ahead. I'm Cameron Maul. I
manage design for Buzzsprout, so the UI for the tools that ourpodcasters have come to love,
anything brand related, this all falls under my purview as headof design. 2024, well, this was a

(00:36):
banner year for Buzzsprout, how it presents itself to the worldand how we empower podcasters to
present themselves to the world as well. And probably the mostvisible change of all that was
this complete brand refresh for Buzzsprout. A new logo, newcolors, new artwork, a new UI. I was
fortunate to lead these efforts with some outstanding people,both internal and external to Buzzsprout.

(01:01):
You know, we also launched our iOS and Android apps this year.
Huge effort by the team. Both apps havebeen received really well by podcasters. I've done this a few
times in my career, this ideaof like standing up apps, a zero to one effort, as we say
sometimes. And it's no small task. So a tonof great work by the team. There was other great stuff as well

(01:22):
throughout the year. Loads of updates,you know, like new podcast website themes, refreshing our
embedded player, manual insertion points formid-rolls, and a bunch of other great things. Now, looking
ahead to 2025, I've done these end-of-yearpredictions. And I've been building for the web about two and a
half decades, so I've done a lot of these.

(01:42):
And most of them are related to design. And I've learned that Ihave no better than a 50% success
rate, or in some cases, far worse than that, in getting theseright. And I think that's the case
for all of us. But they're a fun endeavor nonetheless. So herewe go. Number one, AI will again be one of the
the years. But what I think we're going to see this year, or Iguess in 2025 will be the tools that

(02:08):
we use as podcasters. They'll be improving in such a way thatAI will be so embedded in the products that
we use that it will start to transition to a role behind thescenes, as it should. This year, you know,
a lot of companies, Buzzsprout included, were eager to promotetheir AI features with like sparkles and

(02:29):
AI labels and that sort of thing. And we're not going to seethis go away next year. And in fact, we'll probably
still see it rise for a bit. But as AI is more naturallyintegrated into these workflows, it's not going to be
necessary to remind people that they're using automatedintelligence. So I think we'll hit peak AI by the end of

(02:49):
next year. But until then, we can probably expect to have AIcontinue to dominate news headlines. And one of the
areas in particular that I'll be keeping a close eye on nextyear is watching AI potentially go from the role of
collaborator to potentially becoming like the talent behind themic. And we've already seen some very fascinating, but

(03:11):
also very concerning advancements with Google Notebook LM andother tools like it. And things like Spotify
Wrapped, which gave users this AI podcast of their Wrappedstats, which was powered by Notebook LM, by the
way. And the voices, the voices for these tools, their intonationsare just remarkably realistic. Not like the

(03:32):
six-fingered, you know, hands we saw with early AI imagegeneration. They're just stunning. And so we can
probably expect that those voices will become only more indistinguishablefrom human voices over time
as the tools improve. But I'm not holding my breath to see ifour bot overlords are going to dismantle the
podcast industry as we know it. I've, again, I've been buildingfor the web a long time and I've seen

(03:56):
countless threats of technology replacing humans that have comeand gone. So I'm not going to lose sleep
over this. I don't think people should, but I'll be keeping aclose eye on this or maybe a close ear
in 2025. Number two, I think we need to be honest here andrecognize that most podcasters want as many
ears as possible, rightly so, listening to the content thatthey've worked so hard to create. And you can't

(04:20):
argue with the gravitational pull of the big players in theindustry like Spotify, Apple, and YouTube because
of their ability to draw in millions and millions of listeners.
But the problem, and this can be a hugeproblem for the long-term health of the podcasting industry, if
not held in check, is that often thesebig players and others have shown reluctance to support or

(04:43):
protect or maybe embrace the open natureof podcasting. And part of that lies in the fact that their
profit models are not necessarily built onhelping you get your episodes in as many places as possible.
They're built on proprietary closed wallplatforms that, you know, tend to maximize ad revenue. So I

(05:04):
think this is something that we need to hold incheck and keep in check as an industry, as a, you know, a group
of practitioners working to further the goalsand aims of, of this beautiful, remarkable vehicle that allows
people to have a voice and to have thatvoice be as, as present as possible in as many places as, as

(05:25):
possible. So I'm really excited to see whatnext year holds for the podcasting industry. I expect nothing
less than our best year ever. So on behalf ofthe Buzzsprout team, thanks for having me pitch in happy 2025
and keep podcasting.