Why 2025 Is The Perfect Time To Start Your Podcast

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If you've been on the fence about launching a podcast, this episode is your sign to go for it! We're breaking down why right now is the absolute best time to start a podcast. 

We'll discuss why podcasting is still the least crowded content platform, how technology has made it easier than ever for creators, and bust some of the biggest myths holding people back from starting their podcast. 

We also touch on how independent creators may now be eligible for White House press credentials, a look back on Podfest 2025, and some of the coolest marketing strategies we saw there! 

Links mentioned in the episode: 

• White House Press Application
• Signal Hill Insights: 142 Million Opportunities for Podcasting in 2025
• SNL Podcast sketches: Medcast, Father-Son Podcasting Microphone, Serial: The Christmas Surprise, Banger Boyz, AI Software

Sound-Off Question: What is the creator path you've taken?

Support the show

Contact Buzzcast

• Send us a text message
• Tweet us at @buzzcastpodcast, @albanbrooke, @kfinn, and @JordanPods

Thanks for listening and Keep Podcasting!

Episode Transcript

Kevin (00:00):
Either of you know who Karoline Leavitt is?

Alban (00:02):
No.

Kevin (00:03):
Okay, she is the new White House press secretary.
So for our US listeners, ofcourse you know we have a new
president of the United States.
International listeners may notbe aware, but you probably are.
I'm sure they know Because it'skind of yeah, it's kind of a
thing yeah, we have a newpresident, so we have a new
press secretary, and the newpress secretary said something

(00:23):
very interesting yesterday.
I don't like where this isgoing.
Don't worry, it's not politicaland it's related to podcasting.
Ok, we'll see.
I got a clip, listen up.
Here we go.

Karoline Leavitt (00:39):
Whether you are a TikTok content creator, a
blogger, a podcaster, if you areproducing legitimate news
content, no matter the medium,you will be allowed to apply for
press credentials to this WhiteHouse.

Kevin (00:47):
And, as I OK, did you catch that?
Wow, that is a bombshell.
So are we going to be WhiteHouse correspondents?
Yes, it's the first thing shesaid whether you are a podcaster
.

Alban (01:00):
First thing, it wasn't a TikTok creator was first, oh
well it doesn't matter.

Kevin (01:06):
TikTok's going to be gone anyway, it doesn't matter.
Yeah, they're going to banTikTok.

Alban (01:11):
Then we'll be first.
Wait, by the way, TikTok's back.
I thought it was gone.

Kevin (01:15):
Yeah, it's back.
I think it's back to like Aprilor something, until Mr Beast or
whoever buys it, whatever.
Yeah, don't bury.
The lead Podcasters are nowinvited to the White House.
That's pretty cool.
I mean this has to be becausethis was like the podcast.

Alban (01:31):
The podcast election.

Kevin (01:32):
Yeah, the podcast election.
Yeah, there's a whole bunch ofscrewy politics involved.
This administration does notlike big media and what Trump
calls fake news and all thatkind of stuff, so they are
inviting more independent Ithink, in their opinion, more
aligned journalisms that theythink will give a more accurate
representation and ask hopefullyfairer questions.
But whatever, doesn't matter, Idon't want to get into all that

(01:54):
.
What I want to get into is weneed to immediately go to
whitehousegov, slash new mediaand apply for press credentials.
We cover news, I mean it'spodcasting news.

Alban (02:09):
So you're going to be there raising your hand and go
like what does thisadministration think about the
new Spotify open off thatthey've set up for private
podcasts?
Don't you think they shouldjust use the open podcasting
standards?
I don't like this Swedishcompany coming in here.
They're like oh, I hear you, mrFinn.
Thank you again for thatquestion.

Kevin (02:21):
Yeah, I want to hear the administration's position on
open podcasting.

Alban (02:27):
I think this is great, all right.

Kevin (02:29):
Okay, let's see here.
So whitehousegov slash newmedia interested in joining a
future White House pressbriefing yeah, hell yeah.
Share your information below.

Alban (02:38):
Can I be?
I don't want to be on this call.

Kevin (02:41):
It's not a call, you get to go in person.

Alban (02:45):
There's no way it's going to be you and like 400 people
who are like solo podcasters,giving their hot take on the
news.

Kevin (02:52):
This is so easy to apply for you just need first name,
last name, email, your socialaccount, phone number and zip
code.
Done, done.
This is going to take twoseconds.
Social account.
Is that like our, like our, uh,like our podcast web address,
or something?
I don't think so it says paste alink to your primary social
account.
So I think you could do yourpodcast web address.

Alban (03:12):
Yeah I imagine they're gonna pick people who are the
word legitimate in that quote, Ithink, is gonna do a lot of
work.
It's gonna be like you've gotto be of a certain size and
probably a certain politicalbend, like they're not just
going to pick anybody.

Kevin (03:32):
We'll see, let's find out .
The statement was a legitimatenews source and I think we are
legitimate.
I don't know how you we'relegitimate.
We're a news source aboutpodcasting news.
Whatever I'm applying, I'llkeep you updated.
I think this is big news.
I think this is big news.
Welcome back to Buzzcast, apodcast about all things
podcasting from the people atBuzzsprout.
All right, so let's take a lookback on our experience at

(03:57):
PodFest this year.
We had a blast meetinglisteners, meeting Buzzsprout
podcasters, new podcasters asusual, it's always a good time.

Alban (04:05):
Yeah, it's great.
We take a lot of people, and sowe ended up the first day with
like a line at the booth.

Kevin (04:12):
Yeah.
Right.
So we predicted the key chainswere going to be good.
Yeah, the laser engraved keychains were going to be a hit.
Or there was going to be a fireand we were going to be the
cause of it.
I think those were the twopredictions.
Yeah, there was no fire no no,it was correct.

Alban (04:27):
I mean, day one there was a line and I would walk down
the line and I'd say, hey, whatare you in line for?
People were like I don't knowwhat's up there.
I just saw a line so I got intoit.

Kevin (04:38):
Yeah, I had that too.
I was like, hey, are you inline for Buzzsprout?
And they were just like I guess.

Alban (04:43):
This is such a good thing to remember that if there's a
line, people are like oh,whatever's, the front is going
to be really, really good, and Ithink it made the key chains
better.
So some future marketing stuffwe just need to like,
manufacture a line and thenpeople will be like just hire
extras in the conference.

Kevin (05:02):
Yes, that's day one of the conference.
We go around, we hire extras,we pay them 10 bucks to stand in
line and when you get to thefront of the line, just go
circle back, get in the back ofthe line.
I got to go for a second time.
This is so good.
Yeah, there was a line.
I had predicted that I couldmake a key chain with custom

(05:23):
podcast cover art in two tothree minutes.
The reality was more like fourminutes per keychain, and so it
was hard to make any progress onthe line.
The line kept getting longer,day one, not shorter, and so for
day two we switched things upand we let people just write
down the name of their podcastand then circle back in an hour
or two to pick up their keychain.
That was a much more efficientway, so people don't have to
stand there the whole time.

(05:43):
Yeah.

Alban (05:43):
And we also had Dave there.
He was pulling artwork anddoing some of the design work.

Kevin (05:48):
right, yeah, that was the best way is.
When Dave was there, who's alead designer here at Buzzsprout
, he sat next to me and he tookthe list and prepped all the
artwork and then he would handit off.
He'd drop in a shared folder.
I'd grab it out of the folderand I was just grabbing artwork
printing a key chain.
Grabbing artwork printing keychain that's really cool.
Yeah.
Do we think that we'll do thisagain for future things, or are

(06:08):
we going to kind of tweak it alittle bit?
I think there's someoptimization still to be had.
I don't think this is a setupthat I'd want to travel to.
So the great thing aboutPodfest is it's here in Florida,
so most of the team drives toit.
Of course we have other peoplewho live outside of Florida.
They fly, but I don't thinkthis is a rig that I want to
bring if I have to get on aplane.

(06:29):
Yeah, it's just.
We already bring so much stuff.
It's already a lot to deal withtravel wise to make sure
everything shows up.
You make plans around all thestuff you're bringing.
Then if something gets delayedor doesn't show up or you forget
one chord or something, you'rerunning around to Best Buy and
everything and trying like.
The hassle involved with thatis is high, it's a lot of mass,
and so I do think we'll do itagain.

(06:49):
But it's this may be a pod festexclusive offering.
That makes sense.

Alban (06:54):
We got some really nice shout outs on social media.
Lots of people in person reallylike them.
But these are two now thatstand out to me.
There was a podcast called the1% in recovery, or two now that
stand out to me.
There was a podcast called the1% and recovery and they said we
don't have like the bestartwork for their podcast.
They're like it's not going totranslate really well to making
a key chain, and so, kevin, youactually designed them like

(07:16):
circular podcast artworkyourself and printed it on this
key chain and they posted aboutit on social media that they're
using it and they're using theQR code.
People are scanning it andthey're listening to the show.

Kevin (07:29):
This was like a day three extra little bonus that we
snuck in for this customer ofours.
We we on day three we were likewe're out of key chains and we,
we totally were.
I had like five in reserve incase somebody came to pick
theirs up off the list and forsome reason it got missed, and
so I was just holding a few back, and that did happen a few
times.
So a few people came up and wehad made a key chain for them.

(07:52):
I remember making it andsomebody else had come and
grabbed their key chain.
And we did.
This was something we did notanticipate happening.
People would walk up to thebooth and we were talking to
other people and I think theythought like, oh, these are cool
key chains, I'll just grab oneand they grabbed somebody else's
key chain.
that was coming back to get it,my key chain was stolen.
Yeah, I think, buzzcast wasstolen too.

(08:12):
We had a BuzzCast one that wastaken too.
Yeah, and so we had to take themall off the table and put them
in a box and like hold them backso key chains would stop
getting stolen.
So I think we did like just doa text version of the 1%
keychain or something 1%recovery keychain.
But it got taken and so I hadto make another one, and Dave
was gone at this point and so Iwas like I'm not making

(08:34):
keychains today.
Anyway, these are just all forpickup.
So I was like why don't youcome back in an hour?
I'll crank out something foryou.
And so, yeah, I did sit therefor you know 15, 20 minutes and
I made like a custom logo.
Yeah, this podcast was fun.

Alban (08:45):
Very cool that you did that.
I love that they picked it upand it obviously meant a lot.
And then we got another shoutout from the two bald guys
sports podcast who also posted.
They use like the Memojis ofthemselves and because they
don't have hair, it translatesreally well to podcast artwork.
And it translated pretty wellto the key chain.

Kevin (09:06):
You know what?
This was the thing thatsurprised me the most with these
key chains, because I reallythought we were sticking to like
font solids only, and thenKevin starts cranking out.
There was one with, like thiswoman's face on it and it looked
gorgeous.
It was like an engraved woman'sface and it had the shading and
it was beautiful and I was justlike, oh wow, I had no idea

(09:28):
that we could do things likethat too.
Yeah, I think that is what setit over the top.
I mean, yeah, the fallback planwas just, we were going to have
a couple different fonts thatyou could I don't know, maybe
choose from, or we would selectone that would kind of go with
the theme of the podcast and wewould just write the name of
your podcast on the front and onthe back would be the QR code.
But at the end of the day, itwasn't.
That didn't take that muchlonger, just to take some

(09:51):
elements from their existingpodcast artwork and do our best
to translate that into.
You know, something that wouldlook good engraved on these
leather key chains, yeah, and soit was an extra minute or so
per and we're like, let's do it.
You know, a minute or so per,and we were like, let's do it.
If we couldn't do it, wecouldn't do it.
But that's what we decided togo for and I think that really
made it more special to peoplebecause it was representative of
the artwork that they wereusing, not just the title of

(10:12):
your podcast, but actually therewere themes, like we were using
the same fonts, we were usingas much as we could, images If
they had, especially if they hadlike a line art logo or
something like that, we couldbring that in.
That would print really nicelyon these keychains, and so
everyone who picked up akeychain it really felt like
this was a custom item built fortheir podcast.
And that's been the goal for along time is trying to figure

(10:33):
out how we can personalize agift for them at our booth.
Not just come and grab asticker, not just come and grab
a t-shirt.
That stuff's all great, we lovethat stuff, but making
something specific for yourpodcast and didn't somebody
write back and say that they'dalready used their keychain a
few times to like share theirpodcast with people, like they
already had people scanningtheir QR code?

Alban (10:50):
Yeah, Claire, friend of the show from Creativity Found,
wrote in and said your freebiesare the best, especially the
keychain.
Already made use of the QR codewhile out and about when people
ask about my podcast.

Kevin (11:02):
I love it.

Alban (11:05):
I do think, kevin, the difference is you actually
designing it, because there's somany times you go to a
conference and I think, becausewe go to conferences, that I,
when I'm you know, just anattendee, I know kind of roughly
how much each of these thingscost.
You know, you can get a penwith your logo on it and people
will grab it.
But no one's like cherishingthe pen, the 50 cent Bic pen

(11:26):
with a logo.
But there are some companiesthat will kind of go all in on a
piece of swag that when you getit you're like oh, I want to
hold onto this for a long time,and I think there's something to
like.
You invest quite a bit more inmaking the key chains.
You invest quite a bit more inmaking a really nice piece of
swag.
Sometimes those have muchhigher return on investment.

(11:47):
Even though the investment isso much bigger, people are going
to keep it.

Kevin (11:51):
Another thing that I think was a lot of fun at
PodFest was obviously theBuzzsprout Podcaster Party.
I heard word on the street waswe had 250 podcasters at this
party.
It sure felt like it because wehad filled that room up.
It was such a blast and we haddrinks and food and a really
awesome photo booth.
People could print out photostrips as many as they wanted.

(12:13):
It had like the Buzzsprout logoand Buzzsprout podcaster party
on it and it was just such agood time.
I love our Buzzsprout podcasterparties.
I do too.
What I really like about themis I think it lowers the
intimidation factor of you're ata conference with a lot of
people.
You know you have podcasting incommon.
It's going to be an easyconnection with somebody, but

(12:34):
then when you go to a talk orsomething, for example, you
start to have a connection withthe people in the room Like what
did you just think of the talkthey gave?
Or how does that translate toyour podcast or something?
This is an opportunity to bringall Buzzsprout people together
in a room.
So even if you don't knowanybody else, when you walk in
there, you know hey, we're allpodcasters, we all use
Buzzsprout.
So it's like there's a coupleof things that are easier.
I don't know.
Conversation starters,questions you can ask like what

(12:55):
do you think of this new featurein Buzzsprout, or something I
don't know.
I happen where people kind ofwalk in.
They might like look around,does anybody look familiar?
They might go get a drink, andthen they they approach a group
or they sit down at a table andthen it's this, this
conversation stuff starts tohappen and I love creating

(13:15):
spaces like that for ourcustomers, or it's easy for them
to I don't know, make a friend,and my hope is that it goes
beyond the conference, that itgoes beyond the one hour
buzzsprout party that we have,that they exchange contact
information, that they can be apodcasting buddy for this person
.
So maybe I came to thisconference and I didn't have a
podcasting buddy, but now I havetwo or three and we connect in
the Facebook group or maybe weswapped phone numbers so we text
each other once in a while, wefollow each other's shows now,

(13:36):
and if that's what you take awayfrom a podcast directly, but
now you have a podcasting buddy,that is worth the price of
admission, that is worthtraveling to this conference,
that's worth paying for thehotel room.
I really think that's one ofthe most valuable things that we
do for our customers iscreating environments for them
to connect with other people.
Yeah, absolutely.

(13:56):
And I love what you weretalking about with people
connecting on Facebook and stuff, because the opposite is true
too.
If you stuff because like theopposite is true too you know,
if you're involved in ourFacebook community group or if
you're involved in, like theReddit group, and so you get to
know these people online, andthen you get to be together at
this party, at this conference,and run into each other and be
like, wait, is that you?
I mean, I've had that happen somany times with some of the

(14:18):
members from our Facebookcommunity group I'll be like, oh
my gosh, we talk all the time.
This is so crazy.
To meet face to face, it's just, it's cool.

Alban (14:25):
They almost always recognize Jordan from her laugh.
I've been talking to someoneand they heard it and they go.
Is that Jordan?
I think I just heard and I'mlike, yeah, that's over there.
One of the things I reallyloved was we met at least two
Buzzcast listeners who hadwritten in for our marketing
episode, where we took a bunchof podcasts and we came up with

(14:45):
marketing ideas, and twodifferent ones came up, not only
told us but showed us that theyhad taken the advice or had
modified it a little bit andmade their own thing.
So I feel like we got to gointo both of these.

Kevin (14:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I was very proud and excited ofour listeners when they showed
up with their grill andmarketing tactics.

Alban (15:05):
D Sparkling Life Coach.
So the idea for hers was shehas lots of like essential oils
and she talks about on herpodcast and so there's lots of
things like lavender and sageand all these different things
that are really easy to grow.
And so the idea was seedpackets related to her podcast.
And she came up and she gave usthese little things she'd made

(15:26):
these gifts, and part of it wasseed packets with stuff about
her podcast and all thisinformation and has QR codes on
there and all the informationfor Kevin so that, even though
he doesn't have a green thumb,that he can grow all these
plants himself.

Kevin (15:41):
I love this.
I mean, d is an exceptionalperson.
Of course she's not justsomebody who listens to buzzcast
, but she's just become a friendand we get to bump into her
from time to time and I thinkshe's from the Orlando area, so
it's always fun to see her.
We'd actually one of thewonderful things about these we
knew she was going to be there,so we were able to prep her key
chain in advance for her andbring it, so she didn't have to

(16:01):
wait in that long line.
But I will say this she broughtus each gift bags and they were
incredible gift bags filledwith lots of promotional swag
for her stuff, so that we couldsee all the stuff that she had
done, but also just some nicethings for us, because I don't
know, just because she's anawesome person and I had the
thought that it takes a level ofbravery to bring a gift for

(16:25):
somebody, and I just want to letyou know that if anybody
listens to the show and ifyou're ever going to be at a
place where we are in person,don't be afraid to do it.
I love it.
Kevin loves gifts.
I talked about it all weekendand when Dee walks up and she
has this little bag, I'm just sograteful, I'm so happy, and not
just this podcast, but anypodcast that you listen to.
If you have an opportunity tomeet these people in person,

(16:46):
don't hold back.
Bring them gifts.
They're well-received, we lovethem.
Bring all the gifts you haveand I just want to encourage
more of that.
Not because I want more gifts,but I love connecting.
I do want more gifts, but Ialso just love connecting.
You know that the work thatyou're doing is connecting with
people and they want to meet youand they're grateful and they
want to get back.
I just love this whole thing.
We need more people like D inthe world, and so I just wanted

(17:09):
to point that out and say thatif that's in you somewhere but
you hold back because you're alittle bit shy or a little bit
nervous, you're not sure howit'd be received.

Alban (17:16):
it's received well, I've gone on a bit of a kick with
this lately, Kevin, because it'shard to create stuff when
nobody seems to really careabout your content.
And we make this show now everyweek and pretty regularly.
I'm like, does this reallymatter?
Is anyone really listening?
The numbers don't ever feellike real people.

(17:37):
And then we go to a conferenceand we meet 15 people who listen
to the show and I had peopleasking about the 50K I ran and
different life events I forgotwe'd even talked about to the
show and I had people askingabout the 50K I ran and
different life events I'dforgotten we'd even talked about
on the show and it was soawesome.
So what I've started doing isI'm like how do I become a
better fan of the things Ialready like?

(17:57):
And one of them has been onYouTube, just commenting more on
videos, Because I know when wecreate YouTube videos, like
sometimes you don't get manycomments and I watch these
woodworking videos that are,like you know, less than 1000
views, and if you comment andsay something kind and say like
how well you thought they did,or really like talk about what
they're doing, they alwaysrespond and always positively.

(18:21):
And so now I started commentingand then some channels will
have this like tip jar set upand so when you comment, it can
like send them $5 as well.
And it's so funny.
Like I watch a video, I thoughtit was really good.
I give them $5.
It taught me something that I'mgoing to use in a project and
every one of them is like thisis huge, oh my gosh, Thank you
so much.

(18:41):
And like I feel like I know howit felt to be on the other end
when Dee brings us this littlegift basket and it feels so
embarrassing to write a commentbecause you feel like this is
probably a huge channel.
They would never care, itdoesn't mean anything to them.
But I'm pretty sure from myexperience being on the creator
side and now seeing thereception leaving these comments

(19:03):
, it is a big deal to creatorsand if we want to have better
fans of our shows, I think weshould do our best to be better
fans of the content we reallylove in the world.

Kevin (19:13):
I absolutely agree with that.
I mean, I've had listeners likesend me things in the mail like
books or you know justsomething that they created.
And it's so funny because oneof the first ones that did that,
he and I have actually beenfriends for about four years now
, like really really closefriends, and Caitlin, you know,

(19:34):
she sent you guys likepickleball paddles and then she
came to Boise and I went out todinner with her and we went to
like Universal together and Ijust think that it is one of
those things where you feel likethey're not going to be
receiving, you know, 12 hours ata booth and then another three

(20:08):
hours after.

Alban (20:09):
I mean, the conferences are so intense.
They're not like physicallyintense, they're just like
tiring, because you're talkingall day and having a big thing
of Krispy Kreme donuts.
I was like, well, this isawesome, Get that sugar spike.

Kevin (20:22):
Yeah, exactly.
I do have to say that there'sanother side of this coin.
I love the idea of be the typeof fan that you would want to
have, and I think in podcasting,this is such a great
opportunity, because podcaststypically don't have millions of
fans no Right, they havehundreds.
Big podcasts have hundreds, andso be the type of fan that you
would like to have for your show.

(20:43):
Now there is a line, of courseand I'm reminded because I just
recently saw this but JustinNunley, he's the guy on TikTok
that always starts his his likelittle short TikToks.
He's like listen, did you knowthat?
And he does like somethingfunny and he usually like cuts
in to another video before that.
But he does have millions offans and he has recently had to

(21:04):
deal with people showing up athis house.
Oof, yeah, don't show up at myhouse.
Yeah, I think great advice, butthere is, there is a line, and
so, um, absolutely, and Justin,I thought, said it really well.
It really resonated with me.
He said, like, when he's out inpublic, if he's at a trade show
, even if he's at the mall, he'slike and you see me and you

(21:26):
want a selfie and you want totalk?
Great, I'm in a public space.
Fantastic, let's do this allday long.
He's like but please don't cometo my house, and I guess this
has been happening.
This is not a problem,obviously, that we have.
No, but in general, of course, Ithink that's kind of where I
started was.
I was having the thought of,like be a great fan to people

(21:46):
who are creating content and letthem know you appreciate it and
stuff, and don't hold back,don't be shy, because at least
on the creator side for thisshow, I know that it's really
well received, it's really wellappreciated.
Now, again, there is a line.
So don't show up at people'shouses, don't?
You're talking to us at aconference and we're like oh,
it's late, I got to get up early.
Don't be like, oh, just give me10 more minutes, like, whatever
.
You guys know the rules.

Alban (22:12):
Yeah, I mean, if I showed up your house, Kevin, without
texting or calling you first?

Kevin (22:14):
you'd be like what?
Why are you here?
What are you doing?
That's true.
I do not like the sound of thedoorbell.
I don't either the surprisedoorbell ring.

Alban (22:20):
It could be.

Kevin (22:27):
Um, another marketing tactic that I saw some of our
listeners, uh, sass and sipsthey have like this boozy
podcast where they watch lost orreality shows, things like that
, and she took Alban suggestionof putting their tags on, like
you know, liquor bottles orsomething like that, and she,
she tweaked it a little bit andI love this idea.

(22:48):
This is so good.
So she bought these like foodgrade pouches with the Sass and
Sips podcast logo on it and, ofcourse, the QR code, and then
they mixed cocktails and sealedthe pouches.
Oh wait, they made thosecocktails themselves.
They made them, they mixed them.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yes, I thought that they hadsomebody make the whole thing

(23:09):
and package them and ship themto them.
Okay, yeah, so they had likethese like little cocktail mixes
and they put it in these likepouches and we're handing it out
at pod fest, and so people wereable to have these like
cocktail pouches with, likethese bendy straws.
It was so cool, oh they're sogood.
Oh, this is the best.

Alban (23:26):
My favorite part of this story probably going to be
Kevin's favorite part too iswhen they came to the booth.
She said oh, I loved that youtalked about the show on the
podcast, but my original ideawas like make a cocktail that's
related to the show and then golike put it on the liquor
bottles at the liquor store.

Kevin (23:46):
Yeah, yeah.

Alban (23:47):
And she was like, had the exact same reaction Kevin did,
which was no, that's illegal,they're not going to let you do
that.
They're going to kick you outof the store.
And she was like I literally wasout loud saying no, I'm not
going to do that.
As Kevin said it so she wasright with you and I think this
is a much better implementationActually making the cocktails,

(24:08):
sealing them.
It's got a big QR code, sassand sips and you've got a nice
drink and you've got a nicepromo there.
Very, very well done.

Kevin (24:16):
It was very well done, yeah.
I have to say that I do feellike they swapped out one
illegal activity for another.
I don't know.
I don't know that it is legalto mix your own alcoholic drinks
, seal them in pouches and thenwalk around a hotel conference
center handing them out topeople.
But, that said, it wasn't soillegal that anybody objected.

(24:36):
No, in fact, I saw a lot ofpeople walking around with those
.
Yeah, everyone was happy toreceive one and no problem.

Alban (24:43):
Another idea that we got from PodFest with marketing was
from the Cycling Men of Leisurepodcast.
So these things called dotcards, which are just like
little stickers which I guesshave a tiny NFC chip in them.
So similar to the podcastbeacon we talked about a few
episodes ago.
But this is just a reallysimple.

(25:04):
It's like a sticker.
It can have a QR code on it,but you just put your phone near
it and it registers the NFCchip and we could go right to
their show.
So really well implemented.
You just had it on the back ofhis phone and I really liked it.
So really well done.
Cycling Event of Leisure.
Those guys were hilarious.
I really enjoyed talking tothem.

Kevin (25:24):
Yeah, they were great.
That's actually a pretty.
It's economical and it'senvironmentally friendly,
because you're not getting awhole bunch of like business
cards and stuff that people aregoing to toss Like.
You just have this card thatyou're going to tap and like
honestly, look at the price here, they're not that bad.

Alban (25:40):
What's the price?

Kevin (25:41):
I don't know.
It's like 20 bucks for a dotcard.

Alban (25:44):
Oh, okay, yeah, so really cheap.

Kevin (25:52):
And I, so that's pretty cool, yeah, and it might be
worth pointing out that theBuzzsprout app does allow you to
do this right from within theapp.
There's a few times when itdoesn't work exactly, and I
don't know if it's like amismatch between the different
versions of operating systemthat you might have on phones or
something, but let me just tellyou how it works.
You can tap straight into theBuzzsprout app and then you can
tap share and then, once theshare screen is up, you can put
your phone near anybody else'sphone, at least, like if they're

(26:13):
both iPhones or if they're bothAndroid phones.
It works more consistently, butthen it would like shoot the
link to your podcast straight totheir phone.
What you didn't know, that youknew, that you've seen us do
this.
No, that's so cool.
Maybe I heard of it, I justforgot or something, but that's
so cool.
Yeah, you can do that.
So if you just want toexperiment with how this type of
thing would work, just downloadthe Buzzsprout app, launch it

(26:34):
and then click the share iconand then hold your phone near
another phone and you'll seeboth phones kind of like, do a
like a weird thing that says I'mpushing one thing from one
phone to another, the otherperson accepts it, and then your
Buzzsprout website with linksto all the different apps and
Apple podcasts and stuff justpops up on their phone.
It's very cool.
But the dot card thing is justa faster way to do it.
So you can start experimentingwith it with the buzz right out

(26:56):
for free, and then if you'relike, oh, this is actually
really cool, I'd like to evenstreamline this even further,
pay 20 bucks and get a littledot card thing.
Okay, so in this episode I wantto talk about why 2025 is the
best time to start a podcast,and the reasoning for this is
that my husband is launching apodcast this week and he was

(27:18):
talking to me about it and he'slike I don't know, I'm feeling
all this doubt because I feellike podcasting is just
oversaturated and you know we'rein a niche that's too big and I
just I had this moment of likeyou're married to me, like you
should know better than anybodythat it's not that.
Like how, how can you havedoubt about launching a podcast?

(27:38):
Right the same day that thishappened, I saw that there was a
piece in Signal Hill Insightscalled 142 million opportunities
for podcasting in 2025.
And I was like, okay, januaryis the time when people are
starting new things or startingnew podcasts, and so I just
wanted to kind of go over thereasons why someone should start
a podcast in 2025.

(28:00):
I like this article.
Jordan Tom gave a stats talk atPodFest.
Did either one of you get topop in and see any of that?
No, I was at the booth the wholetime.
I didn't get to see it.
I was so sad.
Yeah, yeah, same.
Well, I didn't get to go either, but I did get to see some of
his presentation before he gaveit, so I was reminded.
I've seen this number before.
This was an updated version ofthe number, but I'm always

(28:21):
shocked whenever I see this andthat is.
A lot of people talk about howmany podcasts exist in the world
, but very few people talk aboutthe number of podcasts that are
still actively publishingthings.
So there have been tons ofmillions and millions of
podcasts created over the yearsand most of those are still
available somewhere, but thoseare not necessarily publishing
new stuff, and the majority oflistens that a podcast gets

(28:42):
happen within the first coupleof days of publishing a new
episode.
So if we follow that line ofreasoning, we can assume that
the vast majority of podcaststhat are not publishing
currently are not getting muchlistenership.
And so really, if you want tocompare, like, what is the
opportunity, what exists inpodcasting, you want to see how
many shows are activelypublishing episodes, because
that's kind of the pool thatyou're jumping into right, like

(29:04):
those are the people who arereally competing for
listenership, and so that number, like a generous look at that
number, is around 400,000.
There's about 400,000 podcaststhat are actively publishing
content on a regular basis.
That's based on a 90 day window.
We didn't do this.
I just asked Tom real time ifhe could give me a 30 day look
back instead of 90 days, becausein that number, in that 400,000

(29:26):
number, there's still probablya lot of pollution that happens
in there.
Yeah.
Which is mean a lot of peoplewho hop into podcasting publish
two, three, four episodes intheir first four or five weeks
of saying I'm a podcaster, butthen they still die out.
So whatever, maybe it's 10 or15% of that number still isn't
real.
Or the AI ones that just seem tobe spamming, yeah, that are
created all the time, yeahexactly, but I don't think there

(29:47):
is a media channel meaning likeYouTube, podcasting, blogging,
whatever.
That is more tight, andespecially when you think about
how tight it is compared to thelevel of engagement which comes
along with it.
So even if let's just say therewas this other short form video
content thing that popped upthat started to get a little bit

(30:08):
of traction, it's not going tobe smarter than 400,000.

Alban (30:10):
No, for sure.

Kevin (30:11):
And even if it were, you're not going to get 20, 30,
40 minutes of engagement duringthat small little thing, and so
the opportunity in podcasting isabsolutely massive.
Your total engagement numberswill be lower, but the total
engagement time will be likeorders of magnitude higher, and
the pool that you're competingin is much smaller.

Alban (30:33):
Yeah.
So if we're talking about400,000 active shows, compare it
to 51 million YouTube channelsthat are active, 200 million
active Instagram accounts, abillion TikTok creators that are
posting regularly.

Kevin (30:47):
Yeah.

Alban (30:48):
Like those numbers are so regularly.
Those numbers are so so muchbigger and the idea that we all
have this.
Whatever I'm starting, it'sprobably too saturated and it's
only because we're comparingsaturation levels to oh, I wish
I just bought Bitcoin 10 yearsago.
I wish I just invested in thatstock that just skyrocketed back

(31:09):
when it was really low.
I wish I'd started the podcastback when nobody was in
competition with me, which, yeah, it would be nice that we all
knew exactly what to do 10 yearsago and had done it.
But in 10 years you will lookback on this moment and you
either did something or youdidn't do something.
You started the podcast, youhung out with a friend, whatever

(31:31):
the thing may be, that couldyield some benefit.
You're going to wish that youstarted, even if you start and
you run it for a year and go.
Okay, that was fun for when ithappened, but I'm going to shut
it down now At least.
In 10 years you'll go oh,remember that fun time where we
had that podcast for a bit.
So there's no downside here.
The only thing is we sometimeswish we had everything and it

(31:53):
was easier and it was better,but like, that's not how it
works.

Kevin (31:57):
Well, and isn't it strange that there's like this
weird attitude towardspodcasting.
Like, you hear people all thetime being like you have to be
on Instagram, you have to be onTik TOK, you, you have to be on
YouTube and you have to makeshorts and you have to do this
and that, and there's somethingabout podcasting where there's
this idea of everyone has apodcast.

(32:17):
So it's not true.
Everyone has an Instagram,everyone has a Facebook, but not
everyone has a podcast.
But I hear that all the time.
They're like oh yeah, like ofcourse I have a podcast because
everyone has a podcast.
It's like no, actually a lot ofpeople do not.
Yeah, real time update.
Just got some numbers back fromTom.
You guys want to guess.
If we take the number from 90days to 30 days with the number

(32:37):
it does, it was 400,000 at 90days.
What do you think it drops to?
We look at 30 days.
I would guess.
I'd venture to guess, justbased on like how many podcasts
published bi-weekly and weekly,that it would be like 300,000.
Yeah, I think I'm with Jordan.
Yeah, you're in the ballpark.
No way 334,000.
Whoa 334,000 in the last 30 days.

Alban (32:58):
Which pretty much says that if you don't publish a
podcast episode for 30 days, youtake a month off, you're
probably going to take threemonths off and then you're
probably going to fade.

Kevin (33:12):
Yeah, I mean, the odds absolutely go way, way up.
There are very few podcaststhat are active, that skip 30
days or more between publishingsomething.
Yeah.
Right, there are a few like weknow, a few like hardcore
history and stuff like that,Like there are plenty of times
when they go more than 30 dayswithout publishing, but that's
not generally what we wouldconsider a cycle of an active
podcaster.
So I think that's a really goodnumber and even if we just had
it a little bit to make up forthose shows that you know only

(33:35):
do episodes once every fiveweeks or more, I think you're
looking at competing with350,000 podcasts Like that's the
size of the active podcastindustry right now.
And Alban, you had mentionedsomething that was really
interesting, saying, you knowlike, oh, we all wish that we

(33:56):
could go back 10 years and havestarted like way back then,
knowing what we know now.
But what's interesting and thiswas mentioned in I forgot to
mention the articles by PaulReismandel but something that he
talks about is, you know, backwhen Serial started, like back
when it had this boom, everyonewas like, oh, I wish I could go
back to 2014 and start mypodcast.
Then Podcast listening has goneup from 42 million back in 2014
to 142 million today.

(34:17):
So it's actually better thatyou start your podcast this year
as opposed to 2014, becausethere's more audience to share.
Alban, do some quick math for us.
Let's just say there was anequal distribution of podcast
listeners across all podcastsand we have 142 million
listeners listening to a showjust one one listen per month,
and we have 350,000 active shows.

(34:39):
How many listens does eachpodcast get?
405.
Wow, is that real?
Yeah, no way, yeah.

Alban (34:47):
I think podcasts like YouTube and everything else on
the internet follow this likepower law distribution, where
most get a smaller number andthen a few of the really top
podcasts get massive numbers.
Yeah, and so the.
You know, for every buzzcastthat's out there, there's 10
other buzzcasts, but there's one, hardcore history, and there's
one Freakonomics radio, and youknow they're.

(35:08):
They're getting millions ofplays, no matter what.

Kevin (35:11):
Oh, and you know what I actually misread this it's 142
million Americans.
Yeah.
But if you look globally, it's464 million people globally
listen to podcasts, so this isway more than that.

Alban (35:23):
I think whenever we talk about I wish I could just go
back and have started then One.
Obviously there's the hindsightbias, but the gear was more
difficult 10 years ago.
There was not as muchwell-written stuff online
teaching you how to podcast.
It was well less known like howto get started.
Podcast hosts were not as good.

(35:44):
There were not as many YouTubevideos about it.

Kevin (35:47):
Host meaning hosting platforms, not talent.
Oh, I felt like the peoplebehind the mic Host, meaning
hosting platforms, not talent.

Alban (35:51):
Oh, I feel like the people behind the mic Buzzsprout
was not as good as it is today,10 years ago, and everything
was harder and the only benefityou got was that it turned out
podcasting kept getting biggerover time.
But the same would have beentrue in 2004 as well.
If you just started then, itwas mind-numbingly difficult to

(36:11):
get started, and yet it turnedout to be pretty valuable if you
started in 2004 as well.
If you just started then, itwas mind-numbingly difficult to
get started.
And yet it turned out to bepretty valuable if you started
in 2004.
The real thing to remember isthere's going to be a 2035 and
it's 10 years out, and in 10years you'll go.
Man, I wish I just started thatpodcast back 10 years ago.
It was a little bit moredifficult than it is now.

(36:32):
I can do all this cool editingand stuff on my phone.
I just talk into it with myfriends.
But it would have been nice tohave done it back then and we
could have started building up alistener base and had a little
bit of a community built.
Well, go ahead and start it nowand see if it's something you
like, and if you don't like it,then great.
You get to go move on towoodworking or something else

(36:52):
that you'll enjoy.

Kevin (36:53):
One of the things that a lot of successful podcasters
have in common is that theytypically have followings across
different forms of media.
So a lot of podcasters that Ifollow now I didn't find them
originally through their podcastthat I follow now I didn't find
them originally through theirpodcast, like I followed their

(37:14):
writing first.
So maybe I found them throughlike the case I'm thinking of,
like through blogging first andthen maybe I followed them over
to Twitter started emerging andI followed them on Twitter and
then from Twitter, maybe theylaunched a newsletter and then I
got into the newsletter spaceand then they launched a podcast
.
I started following that andthen maybe they started a
YouTube channel.
I started following that and Idon't always continue to follow

(37:37):
them everywhere, like a lot ofthe podcasters I follow are
still blogging, but I might justlisten to their podcast now
instead of reading the blog.
I might've just moved, but theystill have me as a fan, as a
follower, and some people wouldstill consume all of it.
So some people will read theblog, subscribe to the
newsletter, listen to thepodcast and follow them on
YouTube and maybe on Instagramand TikTok and everything else.

(37:57):
But wherever you start to buildsome following, it doesn't
preclude you from going intoother areas and it actually
helps translate, like when youlaunch other stuff.
Think about the idea of a lotof people say I would really
like to start podcasting but Iwish I had a following, and
that's absolutely true.
But you can start yourfollowing.
I don't necessarily thinkpodcasting is the best place to

(38:18):
start growing a followingbecause it is harder.
There's no algorithms involvedin kind of surfacing your
content and stuff.
There might be other placesthat are a little bit easier to
start building a following, butif that's not where your passion
is right away, then I thinkyou're going to have more luck
doing something that you'reexcited about doing and
sustaining it long-term thanjust going and saying, well, I
don't really want to create aYouTube channel, I really hate
TikToks, but that's how you haveto build a following, so I got

(38:40):
to do that first.
You're probably going to burnout.
No, I'll stick with it.
But the point I'm trying to makeis that doing anything and
sustaining it for a while.
So maybe podcasting is thething that you're super excited
about.
And then you decide, actually,I want to take some of these
thoughts and go into more depthwith them.
I actually want to write piecesaround them, or something I

(39:01):
want to launch a blog.
Well, that blog is going to bemuch more successful if you have
a podcast following, and viceversa.
And the same thing with I wantto start capturing more short
thoughts and putting them out onplatforms like X or Blue Sky or
Mastodon or something like that.
Again them out on platformslike X or Blue Sky or Mastodon
or something like that.
Again, how do you launch yourBlue Sky account and get 100
followers overnight?
Well, you have other channelsthat you've already invested in

(39:24):
and you've sustained and you'vebuilt some sort of following.
So then when you say, hey, I'mnow on Blue Sky, then boom,
overnight 100 people from yourpodcast start following you on
Blue Sky.

Alban (39:32):
I'm reminded of the journey we've taken with
Buzzsprout content, because westarted by just writing a blog
and then eventually we were likewhen we send emails, people
mostly appreciate them.
So we started sending emailstelling people when we published
a new blog and that was easierbecause we'd already built a
little following on the blog.
But we've also had written abunch of content and we kind of

(39:54):
found a bit of a voice.
So it's easier to translatethat into the newsletter.
And then when we thought aboutstarting this show, it was
easier because we'd alreadywritten some stuff.
We'd already thought about whatwe would talk about on a
podcast and it wasn't one-to-onebut it made it easier to start
the podcast and then we couldpromote the podcast in the
newsletter.
And then when we startedYouTube well, now those blogs

(40:22):
actually translated into YouTubescripts pretty well, so it's
made it easier for us to startdoing video.
And then when we wanted toexperiment with short form video
, instead of starting fromscratch and filming all the
short form video, we were ableto chop up some of those YouTube
videos and try and eventuallysay, oh, this isn't exactly the
right fit, but we were able todo that experiment because over
time we'd been building up thislibrary of ideas and each one

(40:45):
ends up kind of feeding theothers.
The moral is you've got to startsomewhere.
And if you try to spend allyour time thinking, would it
have been better for me to starton Twitter or Facebook, or
maybe LinkedIn's, where it's atno, I think it's actually
newsletters, or maybe I shoulddo it all at once, it's just
you've got to start somewhere.
And if the one that you'reattracted to is podcasting, well

(41:08):
, 2025 is a very nice time tostart because there's lots of
opportunity.
The tech is easier than it'sever been, there's a good amount
of people listening to showsand people regularly decide to
turn off the podcast.
So if you stick it out for fivemonths, you're going to be in

(41:28):
the top group of podcasterspretty quickly and you'll be
able to start building thelistenership.
And if it turns into a blogsomeday awesome, that's really
cool.
Into a blog someday awesome,that's really cool.
That it helped you get there.

Kevin (41:39):
You know you mentioned that the equipment, like the
tech, is so much better than itwas.
So I mean, when we were atPodFest, shure was a couple
booths down from us and I got tosee the MV7i, which is a
microphone with an audiointerface built into it.

(42:00):
It used to be that you wouldhave to have, like your
microphone, you'd have to learnhow to do the mixing and the
EQing on the interfaces andyou'd have to have, like, all
this setup and it was expensiveand it was bulky and it was hard
to learn how to use all thistech.
I know this from personalexperience.
I'm just not a tech person.
It's hard for me to understandit.
But now it's like they havethese apps that go along with
these USB microphones and nowthis USB microphone has an audio

(42:22):
interface like built into itand so you can do the de-essing
and you can do the noise gateand you can do all the EQ
settings and then, if you wantto have a co-host, you can
literally just plug theirmicrophone into the back of your
microphone.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, can literally just plugtheir microphone into the back

(42:44):
of your microphone.
Oh wow, yeah, it's crazy.
I mean they had like an SM7Bplugged into the back of an MV7i
, like what.
You know what I mean.
It's just been like the lastfive years that tech has
advanced so much to make thebarrier of entry so much smaller
.
For someone who just isn't usedto this background in radio or
audio engineering or whateverthe heck you have to have.

Alban (42:57):
Well, there was a period that all of the editing software
was just repurposed musicediting software, yes, and we
didn't have anything made forvoice.
And now we've got lots that aremade for editing podcasts and
make it a lot simpler.
And there was a period where,if you had the SM7B, you could
not find a single audiointerface that could actually
drive it, so you had to get acloud lifter added into the

(43:20):
middle or a Fethead, and now youcan really get away with it
without having a cloud lifter,because a lot of audio
interfaces can provide enoughgain for the SM7B.
And this is 10 years, and I'mjust picking out ones specific
things that were annoying for me.
But, like you, couldn't everplug two microphones into the

(43:41):
same computer.
It would never, ever work in2014.
It can work now, and there's somany things that have gotten
better and gotten easier.
I mean, magic mastering isprobably maybe the biggest
example.
If you had bad audio, you werejust in terrible luck.
You're going to have to learnhow to master it and try to fix
it, and it probably wouldn't beable to be fixed Now.

(44:03):
You run it through any numberof audio cleanup tools and it
gets better.
And if you use something likeMagic Mastering it gets a lot
better.

Kevin (44:12):
That's huge and it's getting more affordable.
Yeah this is a point that can'treally be overstated that the
barriers of entry in podcastingare extremely low, which I think
makes it a really compellingplace to start to build a
following on your creatorjourney.
I understand there's thisenticement around video, but I
would just say I think Alban,you're going to agree with me

(44:34):
here, because Alban and I havecreated a lot of video content
together and over the years,when you look back at all that
video content that we created,how many times did we walk out
of the recording studio at theend of the day just feeling like
that was fun.
This is, this is so great.
I wish that we got to come inhere tomorrow and do that again.

(44:55):
I think for me it was likenever I can think of one.

Alban (45:01):
You and I filmed a video on microphones.
We were throwing microphonesback and forth.
I remember walking out of thatand being like, okay, I could do
this every day.

Kevin (45:09):
That was fun.
It was hilarious because wewere tossing around very
expensive equipment and Albanalmost dropped really expensive
mics a couple of times.
We should have had anotherperson in the studio.
Yeah, but this was a very uniquecircumstance we were.
We had to record these videos,mike, as as he would talk
through each mic, he had to kindof get it out of the shot.

(45:30):
But we were, uh, this was right.
When COVID kicked up everyoneLike we.
We weren't even really supposedto be in the same room, and so
we were trying to stay at leastsix feet apart from each other.
We were both masked up, or hewasn't, because he was on film.
I was masked up, and so Albancouldn't like hand it to me,
couldn't get, and so we werelike we just got to throw them.
Got to throw them.
Cdc says we can't get within sixfeet, we have to toss them.

(45:51):
And that was a fun day becauseI mean, we kind of made a joke
out of it.
But more often than not, mosttimes, it's just kind of a
grueling process of do that shot.
Did I say the word right?
Is the lighting right?
Oh, I forgot.
You're wearing glasses andthere's a weird reflection.
You can see the lights in theglasses.
Film that again, you said thewrong word here.

(46:11):
It's not as easy as justrerecord that one word and we'll
fix it in post.
It's like no, because there'svideo associated with it, I got
to re-edit it.
It's just this grueling, awfulprocess.
I know for me I've said this amillion times, I'm not an
extroverted person the idea thatI would continuously create
content involved with otherpeople and stuff sounds draining
.
And yet every time we recordthe show and I get done at the
end of it, I'm like that was fun, I enjoyed those conversations,

(46:34):
it's life-giving and I thinkthat gets overlooked so often.
When people think about creatinga podcast, how do you make it
fun?
Is it gonna be fun?
Because it has to be in orderfor you to continue to invest in
it and for it to give more thanit takes for me long-term.
And so, yeah, everything isgetting easier, and that just is
fantastic, because the stuffthat's getting easier is usually

(46:55):
the stuff that's a little bitgrueling, that ends up taking
the fun out of the fun thingyou're doing.
Most people start podcasts outof the fact that they're
together with friends, they'retalking about a subject matter
consistently with a group ofpeople and they're like this is
fun to talk about.
We should probably record it.
Other people might want to hearour thoughts on this stuff, and
so many podcasts are launchedin that way.
And so, keeping it fun,reducing the barriers of entry,

(47:18):
taking out the technicalexpertise and know-how that's
required to start podcasting, ismaking huge strides in that
area, while in most cases, thevideo world is going the other
direction.
In order to be successful andto stand out in the video world,
you have to be doing more andmore and more, and so it's
higher production value, moreextreme content.
I mean, mr Beast has pushed itto the most extreme limits

(47:40):
imaginable and beyond.
Yeah, he's got like an Amazonseries now.
Yeah, and so like, how do youstand out in that place?
Some very small likeindependent creators have
started to carve out their ownlittle niches, but it's usually
the short form stuff is wherethey're kind of emerging because
they've kind of found a nichethere.
But the video world like theidea that you're going to create
a compelling 40 minute visualpodcast that is more giving to

(48:03):
you than it is taking and thencompete in the YouTube world of
50 million plus channels thatpublish on a consistent basis is
that is a hill to climb.

Alban (48:10):
Yeah, well, I can think of three different YouTube
creators who I've followed foryears who've recently stopped
posting on YouTube or have comeback and said, yeah, sorry, I
disappeared for months.
I just burned out on YouTubebecause we were doing more and
more.
The production value kept goingup.
Then I started having to hireand I was just kind of burning

(48:31):
the candle at both ends and I'mworking, but then I'm also
managing a team and I never wasgood at managing a team and I
got away from the thing.
That was fun.
It's so easy to be on the otherend of it, the audience side,
and go.
Well, I like the old videos withlow production quality.
Why don't you just keep doingthose and have fun?
And I think it's because videoit's so much more enticing and

(48:54):
it has such a strong pull tohigher and higher production
value.
Where podcasting, you can keepgetting better and better at
podcasting, but a lot of thatare those are personal skills
that you're developing how tobetter tell a story, how to
better craft the episode, how tobetter research, and you can
keep scaling it up and be likeoh, now I'm doing a lot more

(49:15):
work for every interview, butthe level of the team required.
The time requirements there'sso much lower than video and I
don't think I have a singlepodcaster who I've ever heard.
That same story.
I just kept growing the team forthe podcast.
It got so big that I justburned out and I quit.
So sorry, but I'm back.
But that has happened a bunchof times with video and it's why

(49:38):
I'm more and more skeptical ofvideo and the do-it-all approach
, whether the do-it-all is blog,twitter, podcast, podcast,
newsletter, youtube, whatever itmay be Like.
When people say I'm going to doall four things at once, I'm
like, honestly, any of the four,pick any of the four and do

(49:59):
that one and let the other threesit until you're ready to take
something else on, because thegoal is really start something
now and be doing something in 10years and if you can do that
it's probably going to go prettywell.
It's doing too much burning outand then resenting the whole
process.
That is the real failure.

Kevin (50:18):
Yeah, and I think if you still are finding excuses to not
start your podcast in 2025, onethat I hear a lot is, you know
there's already podcasts on thistopic and what am I going to
say?
That's different, and to that Isay that you have your own
perspective, you have your ownvoice, you have your own life
experience, you have your ownpersonality, and there's so many

(50:40):
podcasts I listen to that arejust like other ones, but I
prefer them so much more becauseI like the hosts, and so those
are the ones I'm subscribed to,those are the ones I follow and
those are the ones I share withfriends.
So I think that it's reallyimportant to keep in mind that
you are a unique person and youhave something to say, even if
it might be a little similar tosomeone else like it's not the

(51:01):
same.
So those are all good reasonsto start a podcast in 2025.
All right, so let's get intoSoundOff.
Actually, we have a follow upfrom Steph from Geopats Podcast.
She had talked about how shewas using YouTube, so I know
that we just talked about howhard YouTube was, but it seems

(51:21):
like Steph has found a minimalway to do some promotion on
YouTube, and so she mentionedthat you know what she does is
she started making like YouTubeshorts and all she's doing is
publishing the static image toYouTube through the Buzzsprout
RSS.
So this is doable.
That seems really doable, andshe's gotten more subscribers,

(51:43):
she's gotten more views andwatch time on her YouTube
channel from that, and so that'san easy way to do some
promotion on YouTube.
So I do think there's not a tonof compelling reasons not to use
the RSS ingestion stuff thatYouTube has built out and
Buzzsprout has integrated with,unless you plan.
We have said like the caveat is, if you do plan at some point
to launch a YouTube channel,that it could have some negative

(52:05):
effects on the algorithm'sinterest in picking up your
content, because typically theseshows are low performance,
meaning they're not video first.
If anybody clicks on them, theydo typically click off pretty
quickly and the YouTube side ofit not YouTube music, but the
YouTube side of it is generallynot going to favor this content.
And so if you plan on doinganything more YouTube down the

(52:26):
road, you should probably thinkabout is this the right strategy
for me or not?
Now, if you say no, then whynot?
Why not have your podcast in asmany places as possible?
There's nothing against doingthat, and if it works for you,
if you like launching thatYouTube app, flipping over to
Shorts and just recordingsomething quick and it's low
effort, low energy and it'sgiving you life, have at it.
But I will say that I don'tlove the strategy in terms of a

(52:49):
long-term grow the showmarketing effort only because we
haven't seen a ton of successwith it.
So I love the fact that Steph'swriting and she's saying, hey,
this is something that's workingfor me.
And that doesn't mean I'msaying, oh, it's your, your
unique snowflake, it's not goingto work for anybody else.
But but typically, generally,overall, I've seen a lot more
cases where it doesn'tnecessarily work for people than

(53:09):
it does, but if it does,awesome for you.
Because because effectivemarketing channels are so hard
to find for podcasts.
So I love the fact that it'sworking for Steph, but please
take it with a grain of salt andsay, hey, it might work for me,
it might be worth experimentingwith, and if it does double
down.
But if not know that it's not,I don't think Steph is
prescribing that everybodyshould do this thing.
It's working for me, which isvery cool.

Alban (53:29):
And one of the smart things she did was she actually
split the static channel thatshe hooked the RSS feed up to.
She split it off from thechannel that she puts motion
stuff up on.
So it's nice to keep thoseseparate because you don't want
to give the algorithm the ideathat some of your content is
really not that compellingbecause people click off,
because it's just the staticimage.

(53:49):
Some's more compelling becauseyou're doing full video.
So split those up yeah,probably the best way to do it.

Kevin (53:55):
Yeah, that's great.

Alban (54:01):
All right.
Next up was D Spark, life coach.
Uh, congrats on being cited by.
Tech radar is the best podcasthosting provider.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Uh, thanks D.
Yes, Tech radar um did a nicelittle write-up and they talked
about a bunch of podcast hostsand had both brought up there at
the number one spot.
So thank you.

Kevin (54:13):
Yeah, and that was fun to see on pod news too, because
James Cridland did a little likedrum roll, like best podcast
host is dot dot dot and I openedit and I was just like, yes,
buzzer out.
That is nice.
Those are nice surprises.
It's it doesn't seem to happenall that often anymore.
I don't know why, but like youknow, like wired and fast
company and stuff used to gothrough different categories of

(54:34):
software and stuff on a regularbasis and kind of do a roundup
and kind of give their top picks.
But I guess that content isless engagement driven for them
or something recently, so thatthere are not many people doing
them anymore.
So it's been a little whilesince we've had one of these
bigger publications do a roundupof podcast hosting and it was a
complete surprise to us and sothat's super fun Often.

(54:58):
Another thing that can happenfrom time to time is that you'll
have some of these publicationsreach out to you for comments
or because the person writingthe article doesn't actually
want to do all the researchthemselves.
They want you just to give thema spiel.
And then it gets worse thanthat.
I mean, sometimes they're likeand maybe you should buy a
sponsorship too to our public,and so it can get shady.
This one was not anything likethat.
The author of the article didall the research completely
independently on their own.
We knew nothing about it.

(55:19):
It was just a fun surprise.
We popped up in pod news, sawthe article click through and
our team was super excited.
It's fun to see these thingsonce in a while.
All right.
So our standoff question lastepisode is what part of your
podcasting process will younever automate Do you not want
to remove with AI?
So Fernando from Travel's Planspodcast and Fernando says that

(55:39):
he's fan number one ofBuzzsprout but you'll have to
fight off D for that spot.
He says recording AI theprocess is I'll never automate
is editing.
People keep saying that AI willgive creators more time to
create.
For me, editing is the moment Icreate.
It's when I put together astory and soundscapes for my
audience.
I need and want completecontrol of that process.

Alban (56:01):
I love it.
Thank you, ferdando.
Damien, the DM, wrote in.
What I'd love to automate isaudio cleanup, especially the
crosstalk and other tracks,because we record in person.
I'd also love if AI couldrecognize change in conversation
and make markers when we driftoff topic and away from the
story.
What I never want to automateis the actual story and content

(56:22):
editing so interesting, we'vegot two for editing.
Yeah.
I don't think I could ever letanother person control the
actual content edit.
I love that idea of AIrecognizing when you're kind of
getting off topic.
That would be useful in theediting process.
It was like it seems like youdrifted for about 10 minutes
here but then you circled back,so this may be a potential edit
area.

Kevin (56:42):
You know where I would actually prefer, that is, in
Riverside.
When we're recording, a littlelike alert shows up and it's
like rabbit trail alert, rabbittrail.

Alban (56:52):
Oh you want it real time.
It just said alert.
It's like bring it back, Alban,Don't do that.

Kevin (56:58):
Steph from Geopats wrote in and said I do AI sound
cleanup but I'll never let AIedit, meaning like make cuts in
my episodes.
I'm a control freak at heartand keeping the pace of the
speakers, I doubt AI would everget that skill down.
Heart, heart, heart.
Ai for show notes, drafts andtitles.

(57:21):
Love all that stuff.
Thanks Steph Lamar's Iowa.
We have been using notebook LMto compile research-based
resources into an outline to getus started in script writing
for the science of parenting.
We also use AI to help uscreate podcast descriptions and
social media posts Awesome.
I also use notebook LM a lot.
I love it so much.
It has helped save me hoursupon hours of researching topics
.
I mean, it's just amazing.

Alban (57:42):
Jacob, producer from Got Any Cows, said what I refuse to
allow AI to take over in mypodcast is the authentic
interactions between people onthe podcast.
I am 100% with Jacob on this.
I can give up the editing,probably because I've given away
the editing on this showforever.
I've never edited this show,but what I really love is, like

(58:03):
you know, the person to personinteractions.

Kevin (58:05):
So thanks, jacob and said that he had really enjoyed
listening to the latest episodewhat AI should and shouldn't do
in podcasting and currently usesAI for two parts of the
workflow, which is episodetranscription and the episode
summary, and says that AI givesa great first draft which I

(58:27):
rewrite, which is exactly whatyou should do with AI.
And then it was interestingbecause Gabriel went on to say
that he went in and used Geminito create a podcast episode of
his own where he had Gemini comeup with a good podcast episode
and then argue different pointsin it, and I went and listened
through the episode.
It was very interesting.

(58:48):
So thank you so much, gabriel,for sending that in.
This is great.

Alban (58:52):
It is interesting We've got such different views.
I feel like Gabriel and Jacobare on different ends of the
spectrum here, where Jacob wouldsay, no, I want the
interactions to be alwaysbetween people, and Gabriel is
looking at adding Gemini intothe mix there.
Another thing Jordan, you pointout the Accidental Bicycle
Tourist podcast.
I read that and in my brainread Cycling Men of Leisure.

(59:15):
So we've got multiple cyclingpodcasts out there.
We need to connect all of you.

Kevin (59:21):
Yeah, I got to do some cross promo, all right, and so
what should our sound offquestion be for the next episode
?

Alban (59:28):
Well, we talk a lot about the value of starting something
now and Kevin talked about youknow this.
There's a path where you listento somebody on a blog and then
you end up following them toother mediums.
What is the path that you'vetaken that got you to podcasting
now?
Did you start by creatingcontent on LinkedIn and then you

(59:48):
went to a blog and then theblog turned into a podcast?
What did that journey look likefor you?
And you know just you knowshort what things they were and
why you.
Maybe why you started becauseI'd love to hear those paths,
because they could help newcreators find.
Okay, there is a bit of aevolution along the way.
I will change, so don't feel aslocked in.

Kevin (01:00:09):
I love that.
All right, so have yourresponse featured on our next
episode.
Go ahead and tap the Texas showlink in our show notes and
we'll read your response nexttime.
So until then, keep podcasting.
Did you guys see that there wasa skit in SNL called Medcast?

Alban (01:00:30):
Yes, I think I watched two or three and I saw this.
Yeah, I did, I did see this.

Kevin (01:00:36):
I thought it was so funny .
I did not like this.
Why not?
Did you take personal offenseto it?
Was it just too close to home?
Well, yeah, I don't know, Ididn't think it was that funny
and I think that I'm fine withpeople taking jabs at podcasters
and podcasting and this wholegenre that we love if it's funny

(01:00:58):
, but at the end of the day,this particular skit I didn't
think was funny enough for me tobe okay with them poking like
taking a jab at podcasting.

Alban (01:01:08):
I mean like the line.
So, for anyone who hasn't seenit, the setup is some men my age
, like 35 to 50 men are notgoing into the doctor enough, so
we pretend it's a podcast.
So you go in there and you'reinterviewed by a doctor and his
buddies and they treat it likeit's a podcast episode and
they're getting all your medicalinfo and giving you advice and

(01:01:29):
there's some pretty good linesin there.
He's like he's like man, we'regoing to party today.
We're having a great time.
By the way, like how often doyou party?
He's like oh, yeah, I party.
He's like okay, how many beerswould you say in a typical week?
You're partying?

Kevin (01:01:44):
He's like uh.

Alban (01:01:46):
And at the end, like they're trying to schedule the
follow up and they're like, wow,it's been a great time.

Kevin (01:02:03):
We'd love to bring you back on the pod like three to
six months.
Does that sound good?
It's like, wow, you'll have me.
There's some good lines, see.
That's what I thought was sofunny is because, like, they're
making the appointment fun andit's more like a podcast
interview than going into anappointment, and I actually
think it's pretty smart, becausea lot of people are like taking
medical advice from podcastsyeah lands of podcasters and hot
water in the past yeah, I well,I think that's the part that
bothered me a little bit is thatI do think there's a bunch of
advice happening on podcaststhat you should not listen to,

(01:02:25):
but I also think there's a lotof good stuff and I I did
chuckle a couple times, like Iadmit I did chuckle a couple
times, but I didn't like at thebelly rolls that I got.
So they've done couple of otherpodcasting skits on SNL and I
laughed a lot more at those.
The.
Uh, the original serial onewhere they had like Chris
Kringle was somebody that theywere looking into in a serial
style podcast.
I thought it was hilarious.

(01:02:47):
It probably didn't get theresponse like from the audience
of non podcast fans that theygot from like real podcast fans,
because they nailed like thevoice of Sarah Koenig and her
interview style and like somenuance and how she says stuff.
Like the impression was reallygood and the editing that they
did was very much in line withserial and so that's the stuff
that I thought was hilarious.
But for a general audience thatwasn't a serial fan they might

(01:03:09):
not have thought it was thatgreat.
And then they did the one withthe two podcast mics for the
father-son to have conversations.
Yeah, the the father sonpodcast set up.
Oh, I didn't see that.
Oh yeah, we got to link allthese in the show notes.

Alban (01:03:21):
It's like, basically, a podcast is not hooked up to
anything, that you're just likechatting with your dad and it's
a way for guys to talk to theirdads.

Kevin (01:03:30):
Right, yeah, I thought that was really good too, like I
do want to see more podcast funcontent coming into mainstream
stuff like SNL, that's very cool.
This particular one, I don'tknow, missed a little bit for me
.