Podwrecked: The Future is Nigh

The Future is Nigh

Jan 13, 2021

Ep.48 - The Future is Nigh

Tim and Kyle make their third annual podcast industry predictions about the future of podcasting, podcasting companies, and content in 2021.

Episode at a Glance

Tim and Kyle share their 2021 Predictions
Since we hit 75-percent correct in 2019 AND 2020, these predictions are something you should pay attention too
Turns out that Tim and Kyle CAN see the future -- 2-years in a row!

Tim and Kyle's Predictions for 2021

Tim and Kyle are constantly making predictions about the Podcast Industry. Here are the predictions Tim and Kyle came up with before 2021:

#20 – (Tim) Amazon will be a big player and will be the next one to set up a paywall — (Kyle) Amazon enters the content war by challenging Spotify and Apple with “music, podcast, and audiobook” killer apps. [20.1 - Not only a paywall... but one of the first ones to monetize your podcast.]
#19 – (Kyle) Apple will start hosting podcast content and threaten indy podcast hosting companies. This will cause indy podcast companies to start buying out their competitors to form bigger hosting monsters and see the rise of New Podcast hosting companies appearing to support podcasts that have been kicked off of bigger platforms. [Podcast Pontifications with Evo Terra]
#18 – (Tim) Disney will set up a paywall for all of their content (including podcast content).
#17 – (Kyle) Localization and Local Podcast hubs will finally become a real thing. [Mathew Passy's interest in local podcast discovery]
#16 – (Tim) Virtual conferences will increase in attendance outpacing in-person events historically (Podfest Global will beat last year’s record) [Chris Krimitsos' Podfest Events]
#15 – (Kyle) Video podcasts will become synonymous with Audio podcasts. Meanwhile, Audio podcasters will have to adapt to the influx of new “video podcasters” but become pretentious “old guard” elitists.
#14 – (Tim) Clubhouse will be the next big thing (Like Anchor) when it opens up to Android but will fizzle out quickly unless it is bought out by a big player. (Kyle) Clubhouse will die a quick, unceremonious death this Summer when everyone stops caring.
#13 – (Kyle) This arrival of a new standards organization will flip IAB certification upon its ear because it will not be “good enough” for some. The result will create a few NEW standards that will renew the statistics war in podcasting. [Shake-Up at the Podcast Academy]
#12 – (Tim) Samson Q9U microphone will come out this year.
#11 – (Kyle) Adapt or die – The push for an “improved RSS feed” protocol will gain momentum and force the old RSS feed to finally be phased out.
#10 – (Kyle) The number of Spanish-speaking podcasts will overtake English-speaking podcasts in a total number of active shows. [#10.1 - A new iTunes like application will emerge for Spanish Speaking podcasts. #10.2 - A lot more Bi-Lingual Podcasts, and English to Spanish and Spanish to English translations of podcasts.]
#9 – (Tim) Apple Podcasts will hit 2-million total podcasts by November, (Kyle) forcing Apple to FINALLY fix their horrible search engine.
#8 – (Kyle) Tons of active podcasts will DIE and the number of ACTIVE podcasts on Apple Podcasts will fall BELOW 100,000 as the Content Wars put more and more active podcasts behind paywalls. [#8.1 - Tim thinks below 200,000]
#7 – (Kyle) Education-based podcasting will finally formalize to create new and better “podcast universities” where you can actually get a certification or even a degree just from listening to podcasts.
#6 – (Tim) President-elect Joe Biden will have a podcast similar to Roosevelt’s Fire Side Chats (that Tim will produce) as (Kyle) every politician in 2021 running in 2022 (or not) starts a podcast — ALL OF THEM!
#5 – (Kyle) Hollywood will use podcasting to continue to prototype new TV and Movie content creating a whole cadre of podcasters who become showrunners, writers, and producers for REAL production companies. Additionally, these podcasts will feature a tidal wave of known A/B/C level actors. [Actors in audio drama podcast The Oyster]
#4 – (Tim) The first space podcast based in outer space will be started by Space X. [#spaceforce]
#3 – (Kyle) The Content Wars heat up as media companies start buying up podcasters, podcast networks, podcast content, or any audio content not nailed down or copyrighted.
#2 – (Kyle) Content gets EVEN SHORTER to support smart speaker content exclusively and most big podcasters will have a Shorty version of their shows to adapt to this trend.
#1 – (Tim) Podwrecked will reach 75 episodes. [Recount: we actually hit #50 in 2020]

Big Thoughts from this Episode

"2020 was the year that we had to think about the coming changes; 2021 is the year that we now change how we think." -- Kyle M. Bondo

Podwrecked Salvage (Dawg) Team

A Big Thank You to our Podwrecked Salvage Team (Guests and Patreon Subscribers) and Friends of the Show:

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Captains of Delphi

Tim "POD-stradamus" Brien and Kyle "Yo-da-POD" Bondo keep making predictions!

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