Podcast Predictions For 2026 - AI slop, video and more

We share five predictions each for 2026, from defining what a podcast is to why time spent listening will replace reach as the industry’s favorite metric. We weigh video’s upside against its risks for audio, call out AI slop, and back open RSS as the backbone of growth.

We're back next week with our usual show.

Please support us at weekly.podnews.net and click the support button

Start podcasting, keep podcasting with Buzzsprout.com

Chapters

• 1:02 James: the definition of podcasting
• 5:11 James: Mind the gap
• 7:34 James: AI slop will overwhelm
• 11:33 James: Time Spent is the thing, not Total Listeners
• 13:35 James: Video will be massively popular but wiill change podcasting's sound
• 17:52 James: Netflix will cancel its podcasting thing
• 18:25 Sam: Consolidation in the industry
• 24:53 Sam: Netflix, Meta etc will all fail in podcasting
• 27:50 Sam: the rise of stablecoin
• 30:29 Sam: the rise of community
• 33:04 Sam: agentic AI is a thing
• 37:40 How to support our show
• 38:31 Sam's week
• 40:10 James's week

Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

The Pod News Weekly Review uses chapters. And so can you. The last word in podcasting news. This is the Pod News Weekly Review with James Cridlin and Sam Sethy.

Sam Sethi: 0:13

I'm James Cridlin, the editor of Pod News. And I'm Sam Sethe, the CEO of TrueFans. This week, James, it's our turn to give our predictions. I look forward to this actually.

James Cridland: 0:23

Yes, I'm looking forward to this as well. These are predictions for 2026. So what will happen this year and to who? You'll find out what we think. This podcast is sponsored by BuzzSprout with the tools, support, and community to ensure you keep podcasting. One of my predictions this year is that BuzzSprout will continue to be our sponsor until the end of the year. Ting. I think I've got that one right. Start podcasting. Keep podcasting with BuzzSprout.com.

Announcer: 0:50

From your daily newsletter, the Pod News Weekly Review.

Sam Sethi: 0:54

Go on then, James. Let's kick this off. Let's start with your predictions, James. Come on. Yes. What are you going to predict?

James Cridland: 1:00

So five predictions each. My first one is all about the definition of podcasting. I think that the word podcast and the very loose definition that we now have is going to hurt us a bit. I think that the uh the definition of a podcast is now becoming a bit more confused. It's intertwined with video. We can't quite work out on a definition of what podcasting is. And we will, I think, begin to see podcast revenue disappearing into YouTube or into video. And as shows are just talked about as shows rather than podcasts. I worry what that means for our entire industry and what media buyers will think about that. I think that you know, currently we have a$2.4 billion industry. Where will that go in the future? Who knows? But we'll never know if we don't know what a podcast is. So I'm quite nervous about that. That's my prediction number one, Sam.

Sam Sethi: 1:57

I I think we've talked about this briefly as well. I think for 2026, there needs to be a campaign to emphasize the value and the role of RSS. You know, when you say get your podcast wherever you listen, right? Wherever is because of RSS, not because of the word podcast. And I think people miss that part of it. And and I've said it before, I think the marketing teams over at YouTube and Spotify and others and TikTok have appropriated the word podcast because it's shorthand for what they want to say to talking heads. Um they don't like the word YouTuber. That seems to have died. You're no longer a YouTuber for some reason. Or, you know, you're a TikToker. That doesn't seem to be the words that want people want to use. They want to be cool now and say they're a podcaster.

James Cridland: 2:46

I mean, it does remind me of things like Pandora, which uh initially were called Pandora Radio, and Spotify still has Innovaticoma's radio stations in it because people understood what that was, people understood the vague idea, and so therefore you could come along and say, Oh, this is a radio service. It's not a radio service. Pandora Radio has never been a radio service, but nevertheless, you know, you could you could sort of help people understand. I think that's what's going on, but I think that is difficult because you then go along that line of, well, where does the money go? Um, you know, is this just going to appear in the YouTube um budget line at a uh as an ad agency? And what does that mean for audio? So anyway, that that that's my that's my concern uh in terms of number one.

Sam Sethi: 3:35

Okay. Can I just add one last part? All the work that we do around allegedly podcasting 2.0, which wasn't allegedly the name we should have used, but that's what we've picked as a moniker, is not to do with improving the audio particularly. It's all about improving the metadata, the RISS, you know. And I think is RSS now a good three-letter anachronym, you know, really simple syndication. Does that really tell anyone what it does? That's my worry. I think it's changed its role from what Netscape had in the early days to what it does now. And and all that work about location tags and and person tags and chapters and transcripts is to do with the RSS improving, not to do with the general overview of podcasting.

James Cridland: 4:23

Yeah, I think so to a uh an extent. I mean, obviously RSS is a means to an end. It's a means to getting data into podcast apps. Um, but you know, I think this is one of the reasons why I've been very deliberately talking about open RSS for the last year and a half, and I know that Adam hates it because all RSS is open, but the point is that it is open. And that's why I'm always calling it open RSS, because it is, it's it's open, everybody can use it, and that's the thing. And I yeah, I I would agree, I think that there is a uh particularly with YouTube and Spotify, YouTube, you know, obviously doesn't really use RSS particularly much, nor does Spotify really, if you want to remain within that ecosystem. So I do get a little bit worried about people missing the point of RSS. Um, so yeah.

Sam Sethi: 5:11

James, come on then. What's number two on your predictions list?

James Cridland: 5:15

Number two on my predictions list is the gap widening between what I've called the podcast industrial complex and the other 90%. Um I think the other 90%, those shows that aren't in the Edison top 50, but those shows that are still very popular, very large, have very good audiences. Um, you know, and I will count us um amongst that um uh list as well. I think that those shows, the the other 90%, will be the main growth engine. Um, the shows produced by people like um Spotify and Sirius and Podcast One will become far more focused into video and showbiz and Netflix, and I think the gap will widen between what they offer and the real weight of the industry, the other 90% that still attract audiences. And uh, you know, I mean they used to say niches bring riches, which uh doesn't really work in an English accent, but um, if we know how to monetize them, I think that that's certainly the case.

Sam Sethi: 6:16

Yeah, and is there anything that we can do to close that gap, though?

James Cridland: 6:20

Um, I think there has been some um closure of that gap over the last year. It's never been easier to monetize your podcast. So people like rss.com launching Paid, which is their um dynamic uh ad insertion, uh Libsyn opening that up to many more people, Blueberry opening that up to many more people, all of that really happened last year. Um, so I think it's never been easier to make money out of your shows, and that's probably a great uh benefit. I do think though that we'll see, you know, I mean, all of the glossy video and stuff um is really only a thing for the top 10%, um, or the top five percent or the top two percent. Um, but I think you know, the majority of podcasts out there, I know you're very keen to do video for this show. Uh have you not seen what I look like in the morning? I'll have to put clothes on. Um but um but uh yeah, you know, so it it's it's just you know, that is an awful lot of hard work for many podcasters, and I think that the benefit of audio only, um, smaller, lower budget shows is probably a very good thing.

Sam Sethi: 7:31

Right, James. Come on then. Number three, what's in your list?

James Cridland: 7:34

Number three, this is my uh last negative one, I think. Um AI slop. Um this is a prediction. AI slop will affect the industry's monetization. Um, I think we're gonna see an explosion of that AI slop. So shows produced and voiced by AI and released without human intervention. That's my uh definition of AI slop. Um uh those shows that hope to benefit from programmatic ad revenue, but you know, just sort of throw as much crap out there. And I uh I would suggest that if the industry doesn't tackle this, it'll produce a race to the bottom in terms of cost per thousand pricing and it'll um uh cause a decrease in ad effectiveness as well, and also podcast apps being overwhelmed by AI slop instead of human curated content. And I think we need to work much, much harder in terms of making sure that what people see in podcast apps is proper human uh content which has been produced by human beings.

Sam Sethi: 8:36

So there's a couple of thoughts that I wanted to ask you here. One was if we don't do anything and the users vote with their ears, and you know, I think you put a post up about in Ireland one of the AI podcasts was in the top, and you nearly walked away from the industry on the basis, I think, of some which wasn't good.

James Cridland: 8:57

It's Cat Talk by Inception Point AI. Catalk is the number one of some Apple um uh you know catalogue.

SPEAKER_00: 9:06

Have you ever wished you could chat with your cat? Turns out feelings are master communicators, spilling secrets through body language, sounds, and sense.

James Cridland: 9:14

And and I and I'm just looking at it and going, really? Really is that a thing? So yeah, yeah.

Sam Sethi: 9:22

We've talked about it in 2025. Self-regulation, i.e., similar to the explicit tax saying that this is an AI uh generated voice. You think that most people will ignore it, so why bother? Um Dave Jones is looking at it as the podcast index and maybe having some method of um tagging them in advance for hosts. Um what did he call it?

James Cridland: 9:47

The crap trap, I think. I think was his phrase.

Sam Sethi: 9:50

Yes, I mean if we don't do anything though, we'll will we eat our own industry from the inside out.

James Cridland: 10:00

I mean, I I I think that there is a bit of a a bit of a worry about that. Yeah. I mean, I think I think if um so you know, if half of the podcasts in the Apple Podcasts directory are AI slop. So, you know, again, what I mean by that is not just using AI, but wholly produced by AI without a human being checking. Um if that happens, then you know, loads of people will just be switched off in terms of what podcasts are, because they don't they don't want to listen to machines, um, they don't want to listen to you know the kind of emotionally under, you know, unfulfilling stuff that you get from an AI uh show. So I think um it it'll cause damage in terms of total consumption, which we'll get onto later, and it'll also cause damage in terms of ad revenue, because if people are listening to the first two minutes and going, oh, it's another AI slot podcast and switching off, then all of the people who have bought the mid-roll and the end role will get no um effect from the advertising that they've bought. So the effectiveness will go down. So I I I just think it's bad for all of us. Uh and of course, it'll cost um um you know Apple uh lots more money to check the RSS feeds, I don't suppose anybody cares, and it'll check and it'll cost Podcast Index lots of of more money to do that as well. So yeah.

Sam Sethi: 11:29

Okay. Number four, James. Hopefully a more positive one from you this time.

James Cridland: 11:34

Yes, I've got two positive ones to finish. Um, time spent listening is going up, and time spent listening will be the new metric that we should be having a look at. So time spent listening um is hopefully going to be the main podcast metric that the podcast industry looks at from here on in. So I I say that because audience reach is stabilizing. The number of Americans, the number of people across the world who are consuming podcasts, you know, is obviously going to start to flatline. It's not going to go up as fast as it did. So the new industry metric, which by the way, at the moment, 773 million hours per week with podcasts, is what um is what we're all spending uh in America, certainly. Um that new industry metric, total time spent with podcasts, that will continue to go up. That will be a great metric for us to look at over the next 20 years of podcasting. Um so I think it's good news if that if that happens. Um, but but we will spend more time worrying about time spent listening rather than just how many audience members we reach.

Sam Sethi: 12:41

Now, going back to your first one about the definition of a podcast, does that time spent listening include time spent watching?

James Cridland: 12:50

Well, I mean, this is consumption of a podcast. Um, and all the way through this, I've I've been very careful in saying um podcast can have video. That's absolutely fine. Podcast can definitely have video. Um, where something stops being a podcast is if you have to watch the screen. Uh so something for your ears when your eyes are busy. Uh to uh quote a t-shirt of mine. Um so um yeah, so I I would, yeah, I uh absolutely time spent listening, time spent consuming, time with podcasts. Uh yes, absolutely, will be the number that keeps on going up and keeps on giving us great numbers for the next 20 years.

Sam Sethi: 13:31

Okay, related to that, number five then, James.

James Cridland: 13:35

Number five is that video will be massively popular, um, but video will also cause significant upheaval. Um, particularly, I think podcast publishers will be will become to be a little bit cannier and cleverer, realizing that just the audio track of a video probably isn't going to work as a podcast. So I was listening to um The Rest is Politics um earlier today, and uh The Rest is Politics this week. Um both Alistair and Rory are in Moldova. Um and they started the podcast. The podcast starts with a bewildering amount of clips from uh Alistair and from Rory. I'm imagining if you're watching the YouTube version of it, it would have a big caption on the screen saying, Coming up, um, so that you understand that these are clips from the show you're about to listen to. But there's there was none of that context in the audio. So that made the audio a crappy experience. And then Rory starts by saying, Um, you know, it's me, Rory Stewart, and welcome to The West Is Politics. Um, and then Rory ends up saying, So as you can see, we're in a beautiful room.

SPEAKER_03: 14:48

Right.

James Cridland: 14:48

Um we'd we'd we we'd better explain where where we are, and then Alistair says, Oh yes, we're in Moldova. And I'm there going, You uh because I was driving and listening to the audio, I was there thinking, What a waste. You could have said, So i you know, if you can see if you can see us right now, you will see that we are sitting in a beautiful, opulent, gold panelled room with you know, uh marble uh floor and and uh stuffed tiger in the background and all of this kind of stuff and to paint a picture, but none of that was happening because there was a bloody camera in the room. So that that that show's ruined now because you know it's just a TV show, and I'm just listening to the audio of a TV show and going, Oh, I'm missing out now. I'm missing out on this show because I'm not watching it. Yeah. I think it's a I think it's a real worry, real worry. So, from my point of view, I think we need to work out that audio isn't seen as a second-class citizen, but instead we look at audio as a equal choice, if not better, than video. I think that would be a that would be a winning plan.

Sam Sethi: 15:55

I'm not old enough, and nor are you, um, to know when the radio to TV argument would have appeared, right? Because that would have been very similar, I would have thought, when people on the radio were very uh announcating and they were very descriptive, and then suddenly you've got a TV audience. I wonder whether there was a similar sort of um dislike to it to begin with, because people had grown up being radio only.

James Cridland: 16:23

That's a really interesting thought. Yeah, because I'm sure that there would be. I mean, what we need is uh Julia Barton or one of the other audio um historians to uh tell us all about that. But um, yeah, I mean I'm sure that there would have been. I do remember um uh there was something around um what we call here in Australia match calls, but what everywhere else calls live commentary of uh things like football matches and things like that. I do remember that there was um, you know, uh that there was uh uh a real confusion among TV about well, how do we cover a live football match now? Because people understand what it sounds like on broadcast. So how are we going to do that now? So yeah, I think it's interesting, but you know, they're just different. Video is different to audio, and it it concerns me around the content being uh being made. It concerns me that we end up with something that doesn't quite work as video and doesn't quite work as audio, so therefore it's content that doesn't quite work. I'm not sure that we want that, do we?

Sam Sethi: 17:32

We will see now. Uh you got a six. We will see.

James Cridland: 17:35

Can I yes, can I have another uh a six? Because last last time you had uh a six, which was an easy obvious one. Right. Um, which I think was more people will use AI, uh, right? So I want the I want the easy obvious one. Can I have the easy obvious one? Go for it. Uh and it is Netflix won't bother renewing its podcast deals, and the whole thing will be a massive waste of time.

Sam Sethi: 17:59

Success. I'll give you that now.

James Cridland: 18:05

Yeah. Uh they're all yearly deals. It'll be a waste of time. Right. Um, let's move over to you. Um uh you have uh five if you look at it. I happen to know. Although they are they are all quite long. Yes. Uh what is what is your number one um prediction, Sam?

Sam Sethi: 18:25

Well, my overall view is that the industry will have a consolidation, um, and I think it will consolidate in three directions. So horizontally, vertically, and technically, let me explain. Horizontally, I think we've seen already, we've seen companies merge, we've seen Liminada audio booms on the market already. Um, PodX has been quiet, so I assume that they're doing due diligence on the next acquisition. Um, Global, interestingly, only this week have acquired a majority stake in the overlap, which is a football show in the UK run by Gary Neville. But it just shows that now not only is Netflix buying um content, but other platforms are beginning to buy content, and I think that's interesting.

James Cridland: 19:11

Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely, I can certainly see that. So horizontal stuff, and you said that PodEx has been acquired. You mean PodEx has acquired lots of lots of people and will acquire more of those? Um, so horizontal, um, what did you mean by vertical?

Sam Sethi: 19:26

Well, I think we saw that at the end of last year. We saw Fountain merge with RSS Blue, we saw Patreon get into hosting along with Riverside, um, we saw Podhome, a host, get into building apps, and and obviously uh my own platform is doing something similar. Now, I think what we will see is companies like D Script. I don't think they will be standalone much longer. I think Riverside, I think Headliner, even Bumper, Podpage. I suspect many of these will be acquired in 2026 because I think we are now getting into a platform. Where it is soup to nuts. You stable us, you go creation, you go recording, you go distribution, profitization, monetization, whatever you want. I think we're going into that verticalization. Um, and that's where the fight will be.

James Cridland: 20:17

Yeah, and I think actually to an extent, some of this has already happened. DScript, of course, uh is two different things in one. Um, it's an audio editor uh as well as a um as well as a remote recording tool after their acquisitions. Riverside is now a podcast host, um, you know, and so on and so forth. So uh I I would certainly see that continuing to happen. I think One Trick Ponies, um, life is too short for One Trick Ponies anymore.

Sam Sethi: 20:47

But I also think D Script, even though it's bought Squadcast last year or the year before, I think they will be on the block to be bought by somebody else this year. I don't think they will survive as a standalone either.

James Cridland: 20:58

Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens there. So horizontal, vertical, and technical consolidation.

Sam Sethi: 21:05

Yeah, and technical, I think we you and I work very closely with lots of good people in the podcasting community on the technical side. And this year we haven't seen any new tags, or I say this year, 2025, last year, we saw no real new tags. We saw updates to the location tag, we saw updates to certain tags, but nothing really new came out. Uh what we did see though, which was a great shout, was Apple adopting some of those tags. And I think what we will see in 2026 is probably no new tags again, maybe one, but we will see many more companies adopting video, live, um, adopting just pod rolls, just going back to some of the basic ones, the funding tag. I mean, I think that's my prediction. I think the industry is consolidating. So, overall, my prediction number one is the industry will consolidate and it will be mergers, acquisitions, and the technology will just catch up to you know all the stuff we've been working on for the last three or four years, will now become mainstream, I guess.

James Cridland: 22:11

Well, I think you've already got that one. Um, because um uh an exclusive that I'm running on Friday, we're recording this on Thursday, but a uh exclusive that I'm running on Friday, Sam Sethi, is that iHeart have told me that they are supporting for their video, which they're about to launch in the next couple of months, video through OpenRSS, they will be supporting the alternate enclosure. Wow. That's a big, big deal because that means that iHeart is supporting the alternate enclosure for video uh in their app, and their app is a top 10 app, albeit not massive, but nevertheless is still a top 10 app in the US. Plus, you've also got the other side of the coin, um, Omni Studio, which is owned by iHeart um through Triton, they have added support for the alternate enclosure. Wow.

Sam Sethi: 23:04

Um didn't say that in 2025, did they?

James Cridland: 23:09

No, um they didn't quite say that, and um, I think that they were being a little bit cagey. My assumption is that they will be less cagey now that iHeartRadio, the app, has said that they will support the alternate enclosure. So that is massive news, and I think um, and the reason why I'm not covering it uh or or I didn't cover it on Thursday, um, is that um you know there's so much Spotify news as the news about Rob Walsh and everything else, um, and I thought it it's it's big news, I don't want it to get lost, so I'm hoping that nothing big happens on Friday, um, so that uh I can actually make that a number one story. But that's massive news. So I think you're absolutely right. I think more podcasting 2.0 features, um, we should probably not call them tags, but more uh uh 2.0 features will definitely come. I would hope that we see a bit more seriousness from Spotify in terms of that. They've never been particularly good players in the open ecosystem, um, and it would be lovely if they bothered um to uh try a little bit of that. But uh who knows what uh 2026 may bring us in terms of that.

Sam Sethi: 24:18

I I predict they won't. I predict YouTube and Spotify will do nothing with um that space. Um the the one thing with video, I think we all hold out hope is that Apple supports its own technology, which is HLS, and starts to support video again properly. Um that would be really a game changer, I think.

James Cridland: 24:41

Yeah, I think Apple supporting video would be really interesting. Uh we will see quite how they do that. Um so that was only number one. Gosh. Yes, sorry. They will be shorter soon. Okay, number two.

Sam Sethi: 24:53

Netflix, Meta, and TikTok will all fail with their TV shows.

James Cridland: 24:57

Um, there you go. Yes. Similar to you, sir. Yes, I hadn't read yours before I put I put mine in. So I should just point out. So there we go. Good.

Sam Sethi: 25:08

Uh yes, we uh we we have aligned our brains on that one. I think we've seen this before, Twitter and Facebook saying they're gonna do podcasting than they didn't. I think uh Matt Medeiros in the prediction show came up with a lovely idea of you know Facebook doing podcasting again. I think you know when you look at um what Adam Curry's doing with um his godcaster, it's hyperlocal radio or hyperlocal podcasting, I think Facebook's missed a massive opportunity. I think Facebook's dead anyway, but um the the idea of having Facebook pages, community pages, which we still have where I live, I'm sure everyone else has their local Facebook page. Um imagine having that with a local person who wants to put a podcast into that community page. That would be really interesting, that would be closest to hyperlocal radio, but I don't think Facebook's gonna even bother with that. Um I don't see you know them really getting into it. I know that Threads has announced that they're gonna do some podcasting support, um but fundamentally I agree with you, James.

James Cridland: 26:13

It's still meta. Uh so why do you think Netflix will uh fail? I I I I've kept on, by the way, trying to remind people that Netflix is only launching podcasting in the US. And there are another 179 countries in the world, and it would be remiss of me to point out that Netflix has no podcasts in any other country. So today uh yeah, today. But where do you where do you see why why do you think that Netflix's stuff will fail?

Sam Sethi: 26:40

Because I think people um don't like change. I think um they won't switch naturally from Netflix to podcasting within Netflix. They they have their favorite app, they have their favorite location. I think YouTube is it becomes that Pavlovian behavior, right? Um you want to go and watch a video, you go to YouTube generally. Um you you want to watch a short, you go to TikTok. Um I think Netflix is that, you know, uh lean back evening. I would love to know the data on how many people watch Netflix during the day as opposed to the night. I tend to look at Netflix as an evening platform. I don't look at it as a daytime platform, I don't sit and watch the telly and Netflix. Um and podcasting for me is much more of a daytime operation where I, you know, walk the dog or go to the gym or do whatever I do.

SPEAKER_05: 27:29

Yeah.

Sam Sethi: 27:29

I don't think the two are complementary. I think they are juxtaposed.

James Cridland: 27:34

Together, I think that Netflix is a Netflix and chill thing. Yeah, you know, it's a it's a part of the day. It's not a background, you know, it's not a background thing.

Sam Sethi: 27:43

Yeah, and that's why I think they'll fail.

James Cridland: 27:46

So that was number two. Uh what's your third prediction?

Sam Sethi: 27:50

Uh commerce. So consolidation and commerce are my overarching themes, and commerce micropayments sadly will not go mainstream again in 2026. We probably have to wait till 2027, and by that time, I suspect stable coins will replace Bitcoin as the mechanism of micropayments.

James Cridland: 28:10

Right. Gosh. So Bitcoin's going away, is it?

Sam Sethi: 28:13

No, I think people are beginning to use Bitcoin as a store of value. So I think people are going, oh, that keeps going up in value. I don't want to give that away. I don't want to keep giving that money to people. Whereas stable coins linked to your fiat currency are not really going to go up in value too much because they're pegged by the currency. So I think we're going to replace Bitcoin micropayments with stablecoin micropayments. And we saw at the end of last year, YouTubers started paying creators with stablecoin via PayPal. So I think you're beginning to see that you know that is the way forward. I know so.

James Cridland: 28:52

What's the benefit? What's the benefit for you if you're a YouTuber, as they used to be called, apparently. Yes. Uh what's the what's the benefit for you to be paid in uh PYUSD, PayPal's dollar pegged stable coin?

Sam Sethi: 29:06

I mean, i if it's lower fees is the only thing I can think of.

James Cridland: 29:10

Is it literally lower fees? Because YouTube, YouTube themselves are still sending US dollars to PayPal. Yes. Uh and so it's just lower fees in terms of so why couldn't MasterCard and Visa go um go get out get out of our of our playground? We'll just lower our fees.

Sam Sethi: 29:30

Uh innovators dilemma, I think, is the answer to that one.

James Cridland: 29:33

I think listen to you with your with your with your quotes.

Sam Sethi: 29:38

Wonder what I did for Christmas. Um I think you know, uh I think those payment mechanisms will either have to adopt or die. I think um we've seen it with Xerox with a photocopier, you know, they they didn't adopt uh new technologies. I think we PayPal will put pressure on them. Um I think Stripe will put pressure on them. I and if they don't jump in and compete, then you know they're just a um an inevitable end goal for both of those payment mechanisms.

James Cridland: 30:14

Well, the Elon Musk fascist fascist coin, I think, will uh fix all of that. Oh absolutely. Uh so uh Clayton Christensen, gosh, there's a thing. Right, uh number four is community.

Sam Sethi: 30:30

I think um we will see premium paid content outstrip advertising revenues. Patreon, Substack, Beehive, Apple Channels, Spotify's recent videos. I think we're seeing YouTube membership. I think more money is going to go into premium content around building community, so uh monetising of fandoms than we will see in advertising. I think you have a a great story on Pod News Daily, an exclusive about a company that is stripping out ads and reselling it illegally, I assume that's illegal. But you also had a quote from somebody saying that fundamentally, if we have ad saturation, then uh people will naturally look for tools like that. But I think people are actually willing now to pay. I I look at my own behaviour, and and and I assume yours may be similar. I pay for Netflix, I have Prime, I have Apple TV, they're all non-ad driven because I've paid the subscription. In fact, I very rarely see ads, I think now. Um advertisers aren't getting the return. I think you talked about the AI slop, you know. Um I think advertising is under a lot of pressure to deliver value, or people are gonna have to look elsewhere. And I think people are saying, actually, I'd rather not have the ads, I'd rather go and pay. And I think that's where I think it's close now. I you can tell me better than I can. But the ad industry in the US is 2.4 billion, and I think Patreon on its own paid out two billion last year to creators. There isn't a big gap then.

James Cridland: 32:11

No, you make it you make a good point. Although I would point out that the CEO of TrueFans, which um talks about monetizing fandom, thinks that the future is going to be monetizing fandom. There may be some wishful thinking.

Sam Sethi: 32:24

Okay, I I I I note that phrase. I will I will take my hat to that. Yes, that is a phrase I use.

James Cridland: 32:29

But yes, but but no, I I I do agree, and I think that we will see less reliance on on advertising, more reliance on um on other content revenues, and I like the idea. I hadn't realized that it's so close. Now, that Patreon money is probably global, whereas the um US um uh money for correct ad revenue is 2.4 billion in the US. But I I still think that um yeah, it's still pretty close, and uh yes, that would be very interesting, wouldn't it? And what's your fifth and final one?

Sam Sethi: 33:04

Uh yeah, I think agentic AI. Now we talk about AI slop and I don't like AI voiced content, but um AI voiced interfaces maybe where I think we go, and I think um I'm playing with Spotify's um Spotify DJ, it's an AI interface. Now it's fairly rudimentary, but it has some interesting parts, it's picking out um music that I haven't listened to maybe for a while from my playlists. I can see this becoming much more um useful. Um we've looked at playing with it ourselves, and I know other platforms have. Well, you know, you can you we are a voice-based medium, and uh you often listen hands-free. You know, you're running, you're you're in the car, you're you're doing something else, as you say, something for your ears while your eyes are busy. Well, I would add something for your voice while your hands are busy, because there's a new t-shirt for you, James. Um I think I think we will see that. We've seen um you know AI being used as an assistant to I don't know, creation. So we've got D scripts, Overlord and Riverside and and other platforms, but I do think we're gonna see voice-related interfaces where I can talk to my podcast app and say, ooh, play me the latest episode of, or how many new comments have I got this week, or read them out to me. I think also last part of that is as I listen. I think SNP does some of this already, where I might be listening to a podcast and I don't understand the term or I don't understand what they mean. And I can ask my agentic AI, tell me more about that, pause the audio, find me the understanding, then come back to it, or record that part for me as a clip, or remind me about that later. I think AI voice interfaces will become much bigger in 2026.

James Cridland: 35:06

I think it'll be very exciting to see what happens with AI voices, and certainly, you know, uh when you're playing around with Siri, which is not the world's most um forward-looking AI voice these days. Um I'm looking forward to seeing what Apple does with that, what Google does with um Gemini, which they've kind of put a a bit of a half-assed version of into some of their smart speakers right now. Um, and I think it'll be very interesting to watch what happens with uh both of those. So, yes, absolutely. Will all of this will happen on your on your weird sunglasses, then, will it?

Sam Sethi: 35:44

Um actually, weirdly, uh Facebook released Orion, which was the video uh sunglasses, so you've now got a heads-up display within them. And they've had so much demand that they've actually not gonna sell them outside the US for the first six months, I think. But what's right, what's in there?

James Cridland: 36:04

That's another trip for you.

Sam Sethi: 36:05

Yes. But what's interesting is they've opened up the SDK, and I seriously do think that there's gonna be an app inspion within that. So um, you know, Calm, for example, was one of the only ad uh apps that was allowed on the Facebook Meta sunglasses, but it shows that there is a capability outside of just Meta to have third-party apps, and I think now you could see podcast apps, you could see, you know, last year one of my predictions was about location and AI, and I still think podcasting with location and AI is going to play. So, you know, I'm in the Louvre, I've got the glasses on, I have a location. We we interviewed uh Ian Forrester a couple of years back um from the BBC about a technology called SMILE, which is an XML interface for you know location-based. Um I think all of that's gonna come to fruition. We just haven't got all the parts connected yet. We've got the location tag now, we've got the podcasting, we've got the subject element. I think AI within that and um the ability to detect where you are, I think is gonna come together.

James Cridland: 37:12

Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating to end up watching. So those are your five um predictions for 2026, and you've heard my five predictions for 2026. If you would uh like to agree or disagree, then you can use our feedback, uh, our fan mail. Um there's a little link for that in our show notes, or of course, lots of other ways of getting in touch, including emailweekly at podnews.net uh is the place uh to go there. Let me uh tell you if you're a fan of this show, how to support this show, because that's kind of vaguely important as well. We have 22 power supporters, uh people like Will Clark and Martin Lindescog and Seth Goldstein. Thank you very much, Seth Goldstein, Goldstein, Goldstein. Goldstein I'm gonna go with Goldstein, yes. Um you can find him at podmastery.coach, and uh he is um our latest uh power supporter. There are plenty more of those. Uh it really helps us, and uh it means that Sam uh can eat um and it means that I can drink. Uh so that's uh that's an important thing. Um uh but it really helps us if you wouldn't mind popping over to weekly.podnews.net uh and click on the uh support button there. Uh that would be uh super kind and thank you to the many people uh who are doing that. Uh what's your week been this week, Sam? How's the week been?

Sam Sethi: 38:35

Pretty quiet, actually, I have to say. Um just picking up, played a paddle tournament and won that, which I was.

James Cridland: 38:41

Oh, well, you of course you did. Yes.

Sam Sethi: 38:42

But it was minus six, James, on the court. Oh my god. Oh, it was cold, it was cold. Oh, yes, yes. Um, that's been nice. And just getting back into it.

James Cridland: 38:53

Did you have lots of snow?

Sam Sethi: 38:55

None, no, we do it today. Uh the weather prediction is the UK will be covered in snow. Um, and I'm off to see um the ABBA experience with my daughters tonight. So um God help us in both cases.

James Cridland: 39:12

You'll get into London, you won't get out again.

Sam Sethi: 39:14

Yes, and I'll be stuck on a loop of uh Mama Mia, will I? Um my god, help me.

James Cridland: 39:20

Um that'll that that'll be all right. I I've I've heard it's a very good show. I I've heard that that's a very good show. But yes, getting there and getting back. Um the the the the tubes are fine because they never go down when it's snowing, but uh my goodness, the the uh the others, the others not so much.

Sam Sethi: 39:36

Yes, one flake and it's all gone. Um the original slow f snowflake generation, that the train industry. Um now um what's that?

James Cridland: 39:45

Have you had a yellow snow warning yet?

Sam Sethi: 39:47

Yes, yes, that's come out this morning. Yes.

James Cridland: 39:50

I I love this. This is something that the UK started doing after I left. But a yellow snow warning is actually an official thing in the UK. It's it's not it's not just Talking about people having a wee. It's actually an official thing. It's very strange. But anyway, we'll take care of the snow, uh, is all I'd say.

SPEAKER_03: 40:09

Exactly. So, what's happened for you?

James Cridland: 40:11

Uh, I have uh the only thing that I have been doing. Well, firstly, I cannot believe how busy I am already. Why am I so busy already? Normally, January is supposed to be nice and quiet, and you know, and you ramp slowly up to working again. No, no, no. Tuesday. Tuesday this week was oh, it's so busy. All all you know, loads of PR companies mailing me, loads of uh stories, everything else. I was thinking, really? Why? Why is it so busy all of a sudden? But it it is busy. That's good, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, I I guess so. Um, I've been preparing for Podfest next week. So I've been firstly going to get a haircut. They've cut too much off, but that's okay because I had it done two weeks before I need to stand uh on a stage. Uh so that's okay. And um the uh I've taken my suit in for dry cleaning Sam.

SPEAKER_03: 41:00

Um remember to get it out then.

James Cridland: 41:02

Glad to know, yes, exactly. It's available on Saturday. Um, and also I did a trip to IKEA. Um, people have James, this is not a revelation. Yes, well, IKEA where I believe it's called IKEA in in some countries, but IKEA uh have just started selling um brand new smart home equipment. Um, I mean just started selling it, and it's really, really cheap. So they've got this thing um which is just a sensor to tell you if you've left the window open or you've left the door open, right? And seven US dollars, 7.99 US dollars um for this thing, it's uh$12.99 Australian. Um before today, or before this week, the cheapest one that I could have bought here in Australia was$55, and that's even including things like AliExpress and all that kind of stuff. Um, yeah, so I went up to IKEA, I realized that they were that they had just been shipped in. I went up to IKEA and I bought seven uh of these things, and I've now programmed that that the house so that if it's going to rain and the window is open, then I'm gonna get a message on my uh on my phone saying it's about to rain and you've left uh one of the windows open in the office, um, which you have no idea how useful that's going to be. So that's good.

Sam Sethi: 42:32

And then when you're driving, because that's probably where you got the message, how do you then close it?

James Cridland: 42:39

Well, yes, that is going to be the issue. But I do normally close the windows before we go out. Right. But it's more a case of um, yeah, there's another one where um uh when I turn off the lights in uh at night at the end of the evening, um now it's going to tell me if there are any windows or doors. Nice. Oh that's useful. Yeah, you don't have to walk to every room. So yeah, exactly. So so uh yeah, so that's been that's been very good. So uh yes, but apart from that, um oh, and yeah, and I had to go back to the gym today, of course, because it's gym day and uh first time in the gym for three weeks. Ouch. That wasn't that wasn't fun. Not fun at all. Uh there we are.

Sam Sethi: 43:19

So have you got a program being given to you, or do you do you randomly walk between machines and just see what you can do?

James Cridland: 43:27

No, I have a uh I have a fitness expert who's uh who's a man called Hayden. Yes. Uh that's uh that that's that's that's the thing. I have just updated my health insurance um so that I think it's gonna cost me an extra six hundred dollars a year, um, but I'll be able to claim back uh the these uh gym things because they're medical gym things. Right. So I I get I get to claim those back, and those just for me is uh I think that's about$750 that I'll get back. Oh you quit it. So actually it's yeah, so it's worthwhile me doing, but um, yeah, and then it also benefits you know the rest of the family as well. So uh yeah. So but yes, so gosh.

Sam Sethi: 44:10

So hang on a minute, just just be very careful, right? And I'm just gonna warn you now going to the gym could end up with you putting on muscle, which might mean you need a new set of clothes.

James Cridland: 44:21

Well, yes, um, I have worked out can I still put my waistcoat on or my vest if you're listening in Australia or America? Uh can I still put that on uh under my suit jacket? And the answer is yes if I breathe in. So uh so I'm going to be wearing that to pick up my Hall of Fame um statue next week. Um, as well, it's not statue, it's a lump of a lump of plastic. So I'm gonna be uh wearing that and uh hopefully we'll still be able to breathe in enough to to to read my speech out maximum of four minutes, says Mr. Greenley. Um yes, well, yes, exactly. So very much looking forward to being at um Podfest next week, and of course, um this show I will be recording um bits of it. I'm not quite sure where we'll record next week. It may be um just me in a hotel room, um or uh Sam, it may be me wandering around the expo hall. Okay. Um and doing a little bit of that. We will find out, but uh I will wear I will use the right microphone, I promise, instead of instead of podcast movement, which was almost almost uh almost a fail. Well uh if you haven't seen Mr.

SPEAKER_03: 45:36

Rob Walsh, you obviously you don't get the interview exclusive.

James Cridland: 45:40

Well, uh I will be seeing him actually because he he and I are sharing a table at the Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_03: 45:46

Wow, and wows us okay.

James Cridland: 45:48

Yes, and and uh as you may have noticed in the podcast 411 show, which he does, um he ended up um uh being very polite and uh congratulating everybody that's become a Hall of Fame uh Hall of Famer this year, and he actually said yes, including you, James. Like, oh wow, there you go. So I'm going to, I mean, in all in all seriousness, um, in all seriousness, he is you know, there is nobody, as I said yesterday in in the newsletter, there is nobody that knows about podcasting more than Rob. Um, he's a very, very knowledgeable person. And um, you know, I think it'll be really interesting to uh, you know, to see what he does unfettered by Libsin and see how he uh changes the world, uh, as I'm sure that he will. But I'm I'm genuinely looking forward to um to to uh saying hi. I'm even going to bring him a little gift. So there's a thing. There you go.

Sam Sethi: 46:49

2026 starts off in a good vein.

James Cridland: 46:52

I know. And that's it for this week. We're back next week with our first proper Pod News Weekly review of the year. We've got quite a lot of news to get through, as you can possibly tell. Um, but that should be fun.

Sam Sethi: 47:03

Uh you can still support this show using streaming stats. Yes, they still work, uh, although they might be called Bitcoins next year. I'll tell you more about that next week. Uh, you can also give us feedback using the BuzzSprout fan mail link in our show notes. You can send us a super comment or boost, or better still, as James said, become a power supporter like the 22 Power Supporter at weekly.podnews.net.

James Cridland: 47:24

Our music is from TM Studios. Our sh voiceover is Sheila D. We use clean feed for our main audio, and we're hosted and sponsored by BuzzSprout. Start podcasting, keep podcasting.

Announcer: 47:37

Get updated every day. Subscribe to our newsletter at podnews.net. Tell your friends and grow the show. Support us and support us. The pod news weekly review will return next week. Keep listening.