Podcast Power: Is It Still Worth Starting One in 2025? | EP312

Podcasting continues to evolve with shorter episodes and more visual content, yet its core power remains in creating intimate connections through voice. Despite having 4.2 million podcasts worldwide, only 17% remain active, creating plenty of opportunity for business owners to establish their presence in this powerful medium.

• Podcast episodes are trending shorter with 30 minutes ideal for solo shows and 40-60 minutes for interviews
• Visual podcasting is growing, but traditional audio podcasts still maintain distinct advantages
• AI tools now make podcast production significantly faster and easier
• The psychological impact of voice creates uniquely intimate connections with listeners
• Micro-audiences and niche storytelling can be more valuable than pursuing mass appeal
• Business podcasts face less competition than popular genres like true crime or news
• Starting a podcast requires minimal equipment—just a decent microphone and clarity of purpose
• Podcast content remains evergreen, continuing to attract new listeners for years

Get clarity on starting your own podcast by joining the Podcast Clarity Workshop on June 30th at 1pm UK time. Visit donnaeade.com/PCworkshop to secure your spot for just £33.

Your Voice Your Platform: Podcast Clarity Workshop

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Chapters

• 1:06 Welcome Back to the Podcast
• 2:49 What's Changed in Podcasting
• 6:58 Visual Podcasts: Help or Hindrance?
• 11:51 Micro Audiences and Storytelling Power
• 16:39 Spotlight on FEA Create Platform
• 23:11 Myth Busting: It's Not Too Late
• 26:05 Next Steps and Workshop Invitation
• 28:33 Final Thoughts on Podcast Potential

Transcript

Donna Eade: 0:33

You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast, the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, donna Eade. Let's jump into the show. Hello, hello, welcome back to the podcast, everybody, I am so excited to have you here today because we are talking about podcasting. So I have just finished up my six week live sessions and it feels like it's been forever since I've spoken to you guys because, obviously, other than the little intros to those episodes, I haven't really recorded in a while. So I'm really excited to bring you this episode.

Donna Eade: 1:15

And this episode is going to be about whether it's still worth it to start a podcast in 2025, because now the live episodes are out of the way, I'm moving into a new season and I thought it was a good opportunity to sort of reflect now we're in the middle of the year what does podcasting look like now and is it still worth it? Obviously, I started five years ago, so a lot has changed in that time technology-wise and also in the world-wise, if you think about where we were five years ago. So there's a lot, a lot to go through. We're going to be talking trends, timeless truths and why podcasting in 2025 still holds incredible power for small business owners Plus, I shall be sharing behind the scenes. Look at one of the platforms that helps me keep everything running smoothly behind the mic. So let's dive in.

Donna Eade: 2:16

So the first thing I want to talk about is what's changed in podcasting. So over the years, there has been a bit of a shift in terms of the way people are listening to podcasts. So podcasts have been getting shorter, which doesn't surprise me with the attention span that everybody's got. Everybody's scrolling on TikTok and used to like spending three seconds looking at something and scrolling on to the next thing, so our attention spans are getting shorter. However, there is a caveat with that, because podcasting is something that people do. Usually when they're doing other things, people scroll. When they're doing other things, people scroll. When they're doing nothing else. You know, they're sitting on the sofa, the telly might be on and they're scrolling their phones. They're not focused on the telly, they're focused on the scroll. So they're focused on those quick snaps of information that they're getting from TikTok and Instagram and YouTube shorts and things like that. So they're focused on that, whereas a podcast people tend to do it, as I've said before, when they're in the car, driving somewhere, when they're going to the gym.

Donna Eade: 3:25

So the length of a podcast is still going to be longer than those short form pieces of content. However, it is a shorter version that is going to get listened to more quickly than a longer version. So what is long, what is short? So I have always suggested that a solo episode should be around 30 minutes long and that a guest episode should be no longer than 40 to 50 minutes. Push it to an hour, but shouldn't be much longer than that.

Donna Eade: 3:59

Now, if you look at the likes of Stephen Bartlett in the Diary of the CEO, you would be thinking well, donna, you know that's nothing. He can talk to people for three hours, but you have to look at where he is and what he's doing. And if you go back to the originals, you will find that they were a little bit shorter and that he's increased the length as time's gone on. But he is a visual podcast. I first got introduced to Diary of a CEO through YouTube it wasn't on a podcast app. So he has that visual element. And again, he is interviewing really famous people that are famous famous in the UK popular space versus someone like Simon Cowell, who has got a global audience. So these people are the pull that gets people to stop and listen for longer.

Donna Eade: 5:14

The great thing about YouTube is you can speed it up, and I often do speed it up, but with long podcasts like that, it is likely that I am never listening to it in one sitting. I'm going to come back to it if I come back to it, so it's got to really attracted me and hooked me in to make me come back. Whereas if it's on your phone and it's an audio version, it usually sits there as your last listened to piece. It's just ready to press play when you next plug in and tune in. So you're much more likely to get a complete listen from a shorter episode that doesn't go too far over that hour mark.

Donna Eade: 5:54

80% of people who listen to a podcast are likely to listen to the entire episode, but that doesn't mean that they listen to it in all one sitting. So I would say, given the attention spans, given what we're sort of facing in the world today, with that, keeping it to those times that I said, half an hour for a solo show, an hour for a guest show, is going to get people's or keep people's attention. Should I say so? If somebody's going to the gym, they're likely to spend either half hour or an hour at the gym. They're going to be looking for a podcast that fills that space. If people are commuting to work, that could be half hour to an hour commute they're going to get your podcast listened to either on the way to work or on the way and on the way back, so you're going to get your podcast listened to either on the way to work or on the way and on the way back, so you're going to get that episode listened to quickly. So keeping to those timeframes just allows for those sort of traditional things that people do when they're listening to podcasts to happen and your episode to fill that space for them. So we are moving into the era of more visual podcasts.

Donna Eade: 6:59

I was actually having a conversation with somebody the other day about this, because I have a real bugbear about podcasts being on YouTube in terms of the video podcasts like Diary of a CEO and Mel Robbins Show, etc. Because podcasting is an audio experience. A podcast is an audio experience and therefore, when you put the visual element to it, to me it's no longer a podcast, it's a filmed interview. It's just like listening to this Morning or the News, or you know, this morning or the news or you know something along those lines, where it isn't you know a loose women, it's an interview, or it's somebody just doing a talk show, you know doing their own talking head video. It's not a podcast in the sense of what a podcast means to me. So I have a bit of an issue with that, and one of the things that I've always sort of championed when it comes to podcasting is the fact that you don't have to be on camera if you don't want to, because it's an audio platform. So there is an aspect of it that imagery can help to get people over to listen to your podcast.

Donna Eade: 8:16

However, when I was speaking to this person, she was saying what do you think about video podcasts? And I told her my thoughts, as I've just shared them with you. But I said my thing is is I will often see the clips of a podcast on YouTube, shorts and things like that where they are showing you the interviewee and the interviewer talking, and then when you click on it, it goes to an audio only version or it. You know you have to go and listen to it on the podcasting app or something, it'll have a link in the description to go to the podcast app and then you don't get to see it.

Donna Eade: 8:54

But I've been attracted in by the visual aspect. Now, if I'd have just heard it then I would have been happy to go and just listen to it. But because I've seen the people, I am a visual learner, so I actually really enjoy watching. I've been a tele-addict my whole entire life. Nothing that I like better than to sit down and watch TV. Don't really watch TV much anymore, but YouTube is my favourite platform on the planet. So I do watch a lot of YouTube because I like to see the body language. I like to see the interaction between the interviewer and the guest and see how that happens. So when they show a clip of the video but then the video is actually nowhere to be seen in its entirety, I feel a bit cheated. So that, so you know, it really depends on your comfort level and I still think that there is the opportunity and the ability for you to have a audio only podcast. That's what I have.

Donna Eade: 9:54

I tried doing the YouTube thing. I did it for three months. It really didn't gain me much traction and I was just like it was a waste of my time because I'm too much of a perfectionist. Now, now that we have AI because we didn't have AI in the way that we have it now, when I started doing those because that was way back in 2021, 2022, maybe that I started to do the video options and it just took me too long because I would edit the video separate to the audio, because the audio would be clearer to edit on its own and the video audio isn't as good. So I would edit them separately, which meant I was just doubling my work and my podcast audio was getting you know more than double the listens of my video episodes. So you really have to kind of weigh up the pros and cons with that one for yourself and what you feel happy with.

Donna Eade: 10:51

I teach people audio only. You can use things like Riverside, which will record the video for you, and then you've got things like repurpose IO, which will disseminate that into smaller video clips that you can put on social, et cetera. There's lots of AI options to help you to break that down and make it impactful. That's not going to take up loads of your time, and that brings me on to the other thing that has changed is the AI tools. So back when I started podcasting, there was no AI facilities, you couldn't use AI to help you with your scripts. You couldn't use AI to help you with your show notes. You couldn't use AI to edit your podcasts. Now all of that has changed. So that means that it actually can take a lot less time than it used to take me to get an episode from from idea to published, which is fantastic. And if you have a virtual assistant as well that can help you implement some of that AI tool resource, then you know you're going to save even more time tool resource, then you know you're going to save even more time. So those are, you know the changes. I think the AI tools is a great change. That's happened.

Donna Eade: 12:06

Not so happy about the visual stuff myself, just because I love it as an audio thing, and I'll come on to something a little bit interesting about the audio stuff later. And then, yeah, shorter episodes, so sticking to that 30 minutes to an hour. The other thing that is on the rise is the micro audience and niche storytelling. So some of the more popular genres of podcasting are sort of the true crime podcasts, et cetera, and I'll cover some of those later as well. But if we are in business, it is really important to be pulling on those stories and to really make them interesting, because that is what podcast listeners are looking for. They are looking for the stories and the micro audiences. You know, when I started, my podcast was aimed at wedding professionals in the UK. That was a hyper niche. Only 400,000 people in the entirety of the world were ever going to be interested in listening to my podcast. And because they were in the UK and it was 2020 and we were only just learning what podcasting was, most of those 400,000 didn't even know what a podcast was, so I was really working with a small audience.

Donna Eade: 13:19

But the thing is is it really depends on the purpose of your podcast and what you want it to do for you as to whether that's a problem or not. Because if you are looking at it as a money making venture, you know you want to go in there, you want to get sponsorships, you want to get brand deals, you want your podcast to be that then business podcasts probably not going to get you there and your audience size is likely not to be as big as you need it to be Now if it was in a different genre. So if you've got a business, for example, the health and wellness space is a huge genre in podcasting. So if you've got a business, for example, the health and wellness space is a huge genre in podcasting. So if you are a health and wellness professional and you do a health and wellness podcast, you've got that opportunity for your podcast to have a really big audience. But talking about micro audiences, in this instance, you know micro audiences can be really powerful because if you can get a real loyal listenership, even if it's tiny, you can really use that audience well in terms of generating leads and generating income for your business.

Donna Eade: 14:30

I'll never forget that Amy Porterfield once told us a story about how there was a day, a dark day in I don't know 2017. I don't know what date it was where Facebook went blackout for 24 hours and everybody was freaking out because they were all running their businesses through Facebook, had their websites and stuff, but they were really focused on Facebook at the time and Amy happened to have in her email system an email that went out to a section, a small section of her audience, offering them something that was 97 pounds or something, and she made something like and I don't quote me on the numbers because I can't remember exactly, but it was something like $97,000 or $17,000, whichever, it doesn't really matter what the number was. She made all that money on that day and it was thousands and thousands of dollars that she made on that day when everybody else made nothing because they couldn't talk to their audience. And that is the power of having a strong podcast with a strong call to action to get people on the email list, which leads me to say, guys, get on my email list. If you go to any of my blog posts donnellycom, forward slash blog get onto any of those pages, you can sign up to my email list. You will get a weekly email from me that will talk about the podcast episode. What's going on in my life? All sorts of jazz goes on in that podcast episode. But I have got two bonus episodes that are only going to be available to my email list and they're going to be coming out soon. So if you want to get those, you need to be on it. I'm going to talk about those more another time, but if you want to be on my email list to get those bonus episodes and believe me, they are so worth having then get on my email list, go to my website and get on there. So having a strong podcast and a strong email list means that you don't have to worry about those things. So a micro audience can be really, really valuable.

Donna Eade: 16:33

So what hasn't changed in podcasting? Well, one of the things that I absolutely love about podcasting is that human connection through voice. I have said it before, I will say it again there is nothing more powerful than a podcast listener listening to your podcast, because nine times out of ten they're listening with their headphones in, and if they're listening with their headphones in, and if they're listening with their headphones in, it means that you're whispering in their ear, which means that you are just building that know, like and trust. It's really quite a vulnerable space when you think about it. I, as a podcast host, I've got no idea who's listening to me. I have got no idea if they're friend or foe. Yet I get quite vulnerable in this space because I'm on my own in my office talking to a microphone, you know, so I can be a little bit more open. But there's a vulnerability there because I don't know who's listening. Equally, the people who are listening can't see me as I'm talking, yet I'm talking very closely to their ears, you know. So there is a vulnerability there for them. So it's an exchange of vulnerability which helps you to build that know, like and trust really, really quickly. So that is something that has not changed and won't ever change.

Donna Eade: 17:48

Evergreen content your podcast is evergreen, so I still get people downloading and listening to episodes that I did four years ago. It's quite crazy, but it is really really powerful, and this is one of the things that I think we need to plug more to our guests is how this is an evergreen piece of content that they can use again and again and that you know, without you even promoting it, people are listening to it years down the line and finding them. So it's really important that the links they give you are links that are going to be set for you know a good long time and that they understand the importance of actually marketing the episode. So evergreen content really, really powerful and really great for you to be able to go to your clients, to your listeners, to anybody who comes up to you and asks you a question. Oh, I've got a podcast episode on that. Let me send it to you and send it over to them. It's a great way of using that content, Visibility and trust as business tools. So, as I said, it really does amplify that trust factor and, although not visually visible, amplifying your voice and your message in this way, I think, is a stronger call to action than when we are on social media, which is such a noisy, noisy space.

Donna Eade: 19:08

So before we dive in to the next part, which is the myth busting section, I wanted to take a moment to share a tool that has been an absolute game changer in my business, and that is the platform FEA Create. I've been using FEA Create for over three years now and, honestly, I do not know how I actually managed to run a business beforehand, because I run my entire business through it my websites plural, I'll come back to that my funnels, my email marketing, my CRM, my invoicing, my online programs everything is there. There is a blog function that donateecom forward slash blog is the blog function. There's e-commerce now involved. You can have a shop on there. There's a webinar system built in and I haven't even tapped into everything yet like because they keep adding new things. So every time I think, oh yeah, I know what's on there. I log in and it's like new tab next to something that I didn't know was there. So I'm always discovering new things that are helping me to save time and save money. So one of the things that I really love about it is the fact that it is all in one place and I don't have to have multiple subscriptions going out to different things.

Donna Eade: 20:26

Now, when I first started, and just as I bought into FEA Create, I was in a position where I couldn't afford to upgrade my business the way I wanted to pages lead pages or click funnels. I couldn't afford that on top of my website. I couldn't afford to plug more money into MailChimp to allow me the extra automations that I wanted. I didn't have an invoicing system at all. I was using Canva to produce invoices and doing it all manually. You know, I didn't have any of that kind of automation in there and I couldn't afford the tools that were going to allow me to do it.

Donna Eade: 21:09

Fea Create came along and actually it costs a lot less than all of those tools that you could buy and it's all together. So when I log in, I only have to log in once. I'm not logging into multiple platforms. I'm not having to try and link this and link that to make them work together. It's all in that one platform. It's nice and easy to navigate. They have got such a great suite of tutorials that will walk you through setting everything up, but also they've got great customer service. So if you need them they're there kind of 24 seven almost, I think. You can just log into the chat and speak to somebody. There's a Facebook group for support as well. It is a really beautiful platform to use and I absolutely love it. So as a podcast and mentor, having everything in that one place is not only efficient, it is sanity saving. So if you're building a business, then I highly recommend you check it out. I do have an affiliate link but, like I say, I've been using it for three years and I would not promote it if I didn't enjoy using it, and I obviously wouldn't still be using it if I didn't enjoy using it. So I will leave a link in the show notes for you If you head over there and you can grab it. Or you can go to donnaecom forward slash F-E-A and that will get you over there.

Donna Eade: 22:33

So on to the myth busting it's not too late and it's not too crowded. I have got some stats for you that I've pulled up here 4.2 million podcasts available worldwide, but only 17% of them are active and to be considered active that means that they are being updated regularly and from what I remember from before, when I looked at this, it was like regular was uploading at least one episode in the last 12 months. So only 17% are active and podcast is growing. So although 17% of 4.2 million is a lot, there are so many different genres. If you actually break it down into what your genre is, then you probably got a lot less competition than you think. So the most popular genres are news, true crime, sport, health and fitness, religion and faith. So those are your harder to gain traction in.

Donna Eade: 23:38

And I'm not saying it's impossible at all. I think it's totally possible. In fact, nicola Tonsaga, who was on the podcast six weeks ago now, who was at my live event, she launched her podcast being so Confident with my launch strategy and she is in the spiritual, religious, faith-based realm and she got her podcast to like number 12 in the Apple podcast charts for that genre. So it is not impossible to break into those genres. However, business is a less popular genre, which means that the difference is the listenership. So there's more people listening to those podcasts, which means actually there's more listeners to go around, whereas in the business niche there's less people listening to business podcasts, which means you are fighting a harder battle in the business sense.

Donna Eade: 24:30

But remember what I said about micro niches people looking at those micro audiences rather than trying to appeal to everybody. So it's not too late and it's not too crowded because, like I say, lots of people start podcasts but they don't necessarily continue it. So, although it's ever too late and it's not too crowded, because, like I say, lots of people start podcasts but they don't necessarily continue it. So, although it's evergreen, and as long as they've got an active podcast subscription host or they're on a free platform, it'll be there for always. If they aren't updating it regularly, if they're not active, then people are going to drop off and go and find something that is.

Donna Eade: 25:05

So there's that you don't need fancy gear to start. A lot of people think that they need the fancy microphones and the boom arms and you know, the lights and the switch boxes and all of this jazz. Well, I'm just sat here with a microphone that is in a stand on my desk and there's nothing else. It plugs straight into my laptop and away I go. So it's much easier to get started than you think and you can be guided through it. So it's not something that you have to step out and do alone. There is help out there.

Donna Eade: 25:37

So your first steps into this podcasting world I would love for you, if you are interested in starting a podcast, if somebody has turned around and said, oh, you should have a podcast, or it's just been something that's been niggling at you. It's been on that to-do list for way too long. I would love for you to come and join me in my podcast clarity workshop. It's called your Voice, your Platform, and in there I'm going to take you through what I do with my one-to-one clients, which is to really dig into your business, your goals. What a podcast would do in relation to that? How would it fit in? How would you fit it in time-wise, what would it look like? How would you put it up? Talk to you about the questions that you have about podcasting Now, usually with my one-to-one clients. This is £250 for 90 minutes, but I'm going to take a small group, no more than 20 people, through the same exact workbook and we're going to do it for a 90 minute session. You're going to get to ask me questions, it's going to be interactive on Zoom and it's just £33. So if that sounds like something you would like to do, I would love to invite you to join me on June, the 30th, at 1pm, uk time, for this podcast clarity workshop. As I say, spots are limited, so if you head to donnaecom forward, slash PC workshop, all one word. There will be a link in the show notes for you. You can go over there, you can book on and I will see you on the 30th. So that is it for this week, guys. I hope you found that interesting.

Donna Eade: 27:26

I think the podcast that's always interesting to read. It's really. It's amazing to see how many podcasts are out there yet so many people have what we call dead podcasts. It's actually crazy. So if you can be one of those people that sticks with it, then that can have a real big difference. A series that is just like these pillars that you talk about in your business, that are really hyper-focused and you want to just really do a talk on each of those things, then a series might be all that you need. So, although you would be considered one of these dead podcasts in terms of your uploads, you could be sharing those podcasts all the time to the people who need to hear what you've got to say about it.

Donna Eade: 28:25

If somebody asks you, for instance, if you are a health person, you're in the health and wellness space and somebody comes up to you and asks you about these GPL1 injections or something, you can have a whole episode on that that dives into your thoughts and your feelings about it, your advice to people in general. You could send them there. Go. Go and have a listen to this podcast episode. If you've got any questions, come back to me and let's chat and that's how you could use it. So it's constantly there feeding your clients, warming them up to you before they start working with you.

Donna Eade: 29:05

So that is it from me this week, guys. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you come and join me on the podcast Clarity Workshop and do check out FEA Create. Honestly, it's an amazing platform. I've absolutely loved having it and being on there and creating, and it's so much fun to use that I could actually get lost in there doing that and not doing my actual job. But that's a talk for another day. I will see you in the next one, guys. Bye for now.