#045: 10 Podcast Predictions for 2025

As of December 2024, in the past month 47% of Americans age 12+ have listened to a podcast. Isn’t that crazy to think about? Almost half of Americans over the age of twelve last month listened to a podcast. That’s the highest number of active podcast listeners ever recorded.

 Needless to say, 2025 will be the year of the podcast.

In this episode we’re talking about my 10 predictions for podcasts in 2025. Ranging on everything from episode length to AI to YouTube, we’ll cover everything I think is going to change podcasting in the next year to help you succeed and make money with your podcast.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Morgan Franklin

Morgan Franklin is a podcast producer, strategist and educator. Since 2020 Morgan has founded and produced multiple top ranking podcasts from the health industry to beauty. Featured everywhere from Good Morning America to Martha Stewart Living Morgan's passion and knowledge for branding and podcasting have helped countless business owners and brands grow their impact and bottom line podcasting. Morgan is the Founder of Podcasts for Profit and Morgan Franklin Media, in addition to host of Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin.

What is Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin | Podcasting Strategy for Podcasters?

If you’re ready to create a podcast that will align you with experts in your industry, position yourself as a trusted leader and create another source of revenue for your business you’re in the right place. Podcasts for Profit will help you create and grow a podcast that cuts through the noise of social media and speak directly to your target audience. Stop letting the algorithm determine your social marketing strategy. Stop letting trends dictate the kind of content you’re able to create. Hosted by expert podcast strategist, producer and educator: Morgan Franklin, Podcasts for Profit is your step-by-step guide to creating a podcast that will transform your business, opportunities and life.

Morgan Franklin: As of December
2024 in the past month, 47% of

Americans aged 12 and over have
listened to a podcast. Isn't

that crazy to think about almost
half of Americans over the age

of 12 last month listened to a
podcast. That's the highest

number of active podcast
listeners ever recorded. So

needless to say, 2025 will be
the year of the podcast. We are

set to surpass every financial
projection and listener Outlook

data. So what can you do as a
podcaster to prepare for what's

coming and not get lost in the
shuffle. Hello and welcome to

podcast for profit. My name is
Morgan Franklin. I'm a Podcast

Producer, strategist and
educator. This podcast will help

you create and grow a podcast
that cuts through the noise of

social media and speaks directly
to your target audience. If

you're ready to create a podcast
that will align you with the

experts in your industry,
position yourself as a trusted

leader and create another source
of revenue for your business.

You're in the right place in
this episode, we're going to

talk about my 10 predictions for
podcasts in 2025 ranging on

everything from Episode length,
to AI to YouTube, will cover

everything I think is going to
change in podcasting in the next

year to help you succeed and
make more money with your

podcast. First thing and just
let me say, while everyone else

was out having fun and enjoying
the last of their holiday break

and wearing out their out of
office, auto responder. I have

been uploading and optimizing
every podcast episode that I've

ever published to put on
YouTube, and figuring out how to

start doing a video component
for this podcast is my first

projection is YouTube is going
to be the next major platform

for podcast listening. I mean,
it's already here, but the total

takeover has been a long time
coming. I mean, after Google

podcasts finally bit the dust in
April of 2024 and consolidated

with YouTube podcasts, I knew it
was only a matter of time before

we were forced onto YouTube and
we had no other choices,

podcasters, I'll start with why
I think you should take the time

to make a YouTube channel for
your podcast, if you haven't

already, this is an investment
in your brand and the growth of

your podcast. Think about how
often you search for something

on YouTube. I jokingly call it
YouTube university, but like you

know when you start watching a
video and you click onto another

and another and another, if you
aren't where the listeners are,

you will never get those
listens. You have to be where

the listeners are, and you have
to be where they are actually

searching for your podcast. I'd
say that there's just as good of

a chance that someone is
searching for your podcast on

YouTube as they are on Spotify,
and if you aren't actively

posting, or you aren't at all on
YouTube, you are missing out on

the chance to reach that
listener. Another thing, not

everyone is going to take the
time to do this, and this is

going to tie into my next point
about making a video component

for your podcast, but there are
so many lazy podcasters out

there, just because they make it
past that seventh episode, or

whatever that statistic is
about, when most podcasters quit

their show, that does not mean
that they are putting out high

quality content. It doesn't mean
that they're taking the time to

optimize episodes and to make
sure that they're on all

platforms like YouTube, you have
to be the one that's putting in

the work that other people
aren't, so you can get the

results that they don't have one
other thing on YouTube before we

move on. When I say video, I
don't mean that you have to have

a live recording of you
recording your podcast. You can

just do a graphic that you
upload the audio onto. Now, will

that be as effective as having a
live visual of you talking and

recording the episode? I don't
think so, but it's better than

you not having anything. And if
it's all you can do, that is

okay. I always say this, but
doing what you can do

consistently is better than
doing what you don't have the

capacity to do once in a while.
But either way, you should find

a way to upload your podcast on
YouTube. My next prediction, as

I said, is the importance of
video components for your

podcast. This is one of the most
asked questions that I get as a

Podcast Producer, and I'm gonna
stand by what I've always said

on this podcast, Master Audio
first and then worry about

video. If you don't have the
time or money or knowledge to do

video, Don't pressure yourself
into. Doing it. Take baby steps

as your podcast improves and
grows and makes money. Don't let

that hold you back from making a
podcast. However, if you do have

that said, time and money and or
access to equipment and

knowledge to edit the video, you
should be doing it. When I went

to the last virtual creator
event for Spotify, I realized

just how big of a deal the video
is about to be on Spotify, and

you know, that's probably gonna
leak onto other platforms like

Apple podcasts. And do I like
it? No, I do not. No, I don't

like it. I love podcasts because
you can listen to them and you

can do something else. You can
be multitasking while you're

listening to a podcast. I
personally have no interest in

watching someone talk, but
that's not what the platform

wants to see. And you know,
really, that's all that matters.

We have to give them what they
want so that we can perform

better on their platform. The
truth is, you are gonna have

more opportunities to make money
with your podcast if you have a

video component. I mean, Spotify
has already said that they are

going to prioritize the native
videos, which is meaning videos

that you take the time to upload
in Spotify creator and podcasts

that are uploaded to their
platform. So just keep that in

mind, they are not only going to
be recommending those podcasts

more, they're going to be paying
out more, and when I say more, I

mean it all because they are
only paying out for content that

is natively uploaded to their
platform. Specifically, you have

more material to chop up into
marketing content. If you have a

video component to your podcast,
when you have a video, you can

cut it up into clips and upload
it onto social media and YouTube

and even Spotify, whereas if you
aren't videoing, you don't have

that opportunity, you just don't
have that content. Now, while I

don't think that just chopping
up stuff and putting it on

social media is a perfect way to
market your podcast, some shows

do that, and they have a great
success, but I personally think

that your listeners deserve more
than just chopped up clips of

your episode, so make sure that
you're keeping that in mind too.

Is like if you are investing in
video for your podcast, will

that also leave you with the
budget and the time to be able

to do the other kind of
marketing that you need to do to

drive new listeners to your
podcast. My next prediction is

the rise of micro podcast
episodes. Now this is what I

like to listen to 30 minutes or
shorter before ads. So listening

to a three hour long podcast
episode, to me and to many

others, is exhausting. You know,
some people love it, or they

love it once in a while when
there's a guest that they really

like, but I think that we're
gonna see a really big uptick in

30 minute or less podcast
episodes, especially as we see

the rise of YouTube podcasts and
other short form platforms,

especially if Tiktok gets
banned, there will still be a

place, of course, for those
multi hour long episodes, but

retention and growth as a
podcast, I think is going to be

those shorter episodes getting
even more popular in 2025 next

interactive in person or
immersive experiences. And I

think that 2025 is the year of
bringing online offline, because

think about the online pop
culture that went offline in

2024 when I think about this, I
think specifically about things

like the brat tour and just brat
in general. People wanted to be

part of the culture offline and
to go to these events and to

wear green and to be brat,
whatever that meant for you.

Listeners want to interact with
your show in a mutual way. You

know, I'm thinking about a
podcast I was listening to this

week that had a poll about what
the next episode should be

about, and I thought that this
was such a cool way to engage

with the audience in a way that
like I don't normally see. And

this could be done a lot of
different ways. You could just

link it back to your episode and
have a poll there where people

can vote. But I'm predicting
that listeners want more

interactions with hosts and
podcasts in 2025 I don't

necessarily mean live recording,
because live recordings really

aren't interactions. What I'm
more talking about are listeners

having the opportunity to have
in person community with other

listeners of the podcast, or to
experience something immersive

that is provided by the podcast.
Next is niche and edutainment

content. You can never be too
niche. I feel like I say that in

every episode, but you can't be
too niche. I remember I did a

podcast recording. It was
probably about two years ago.

Now, feels like yesterday, but
it was probably about two years

ago, someone that was opening a
plant store. She said that she

listened to a podcast about how
to open a plant store while she

was trying to figure out how to
open her business. And I

thought, wow, that is really
specific. And yes, it is, but.

That was what she was looking
for. That's what I want to see

from you. I want people to come
up to you and say, oh my gosh,

your podcast is literally the
exact podcast I was looking for.

Let me give you an example.
Let's say that you have a

podcast for women on dating in
the digital age. I mean, that

seems pretty specific, right?
But if I was working with you,

I'd say you need to get it so
much more specific than that. I

want you to tell me that it's a
podcast for women in their 40s

in the digital age, looking for
Mr. Right instead of Mr. Right.

Now, divorcees, widows, single
moms are all welcome see how

much more niche and specific
that is. If you tell me it's

just about dating and women, I
mean, that's like 10% of the

American population, right? How
would I know if this podcast is

for me, you need to get
specific, and this is exactly

what I created my one hour
coaching session for if you need

someone to help you. Get
specific like this, all of the

information for my exploratory
call will be in the episode

description, so make sure that
you check that out next. I think

that we're going to have a lot
more opportunities for

programming sponsorship in 2025
and now, what do I mean by that

atrocious word? You know how
dynamic ads are inserted into

your podcast at the beginning,
middle and end, and they aren't

read by the host. They're just a
it's kind of like on YouTube

when you click on a video and it
plays whatever ad it is for a

demographic, but it just kind of
plays an ad. That's what I'm

talking about when I mean
programmic sponsorship. So

there's already options for this
on Apple podcast and Spotify for

people with a large enough
audience, and I think that

everyone is going to start
getting a slice of this. Slice

of this pie in 2025 you can
think of it like kind of a

creator reward program from
Tiktok or Instagram, but instead

it's for podcasters. So start
working on your number of

subscribers and your retention
rate. Basically, pay attention

to any numbers that you can
figure out about your podcast,

and start trying to improve
those so when those

opportunities come available,
you can be qualified for them.

Next, there's going to be a lot
more competition between

podcasting platforms. So think
Apple podcasts, Spotify,

YouTube, etc. They're going to
want you to host your podcast

with them, and they're going to
want listeners to want to listen

on their platform. And I think
that this is going to make it a

lot easier to have exclusive
content on different platforms,

and they're going to be offering
creators different things for

hosting with them. So it's kind
of like social media, if you

have enough attention, they're
going to pay you to prioritize

their platform. So you need to
pay attention to this and make

sure that you know where the
majority of your listeners are

and what platform they're using,
and that is going to lead me to

my next prediction. My next
prediction is data driven

content for Far, far too long,
US podcasters have been in the

prison of our own making,
relying on downloads to tell us

somehow everything that we are
supposed to know about the

success of our podcast this year
is going to be the data

revolution for podcasters,
especially now that so many

platforms are trying to get our
attention and our listeners,

there is going to be listener
data like you have never seen

before on all of these hosting
sites. I predict that this is

going to be the most
consequential year for podcast

data and listener analytics that
we've ever seen. And thank you

to Apple podcast and Spotify for
getting that ball rolling next

and I know that this has been
relevant for a while, but it's

going to get moved up to the
next level, with platforms all

trying to get in front of
listeners like we talked about,

there's going to be so much more
subscriber and exclusive content

in 2025 and so whether it's
provided through a podcasting

platform like Apple podcast, for
example, where you have a

subscriber subscription, or
maybe even a third party, like

Patreon, I predict many more
podcasters are going to be using

exclusive content to make money
and to build community with

their audience, and I don't
think that it's all about making

money. It's about being able to
provide more content and a

better experience to listeners.
So whether that's through ad

free listening or exclusive
episodes or early access to

episodes, paid subscriptions are
gonna be everywhere. Last but

not least, my final prediction
for podcasting in 2025 is the

use of AI and whether it's
helping you to write show notes

or optimize episode titles or
just transcribe an episode, AI

is here to stay for podcasters
and even podcast listeners, my

best advice to you as a
podcaster is try to find small

ways to incorporate AI into your
podcast workflow. Is like I

always say, AI will not replace
you, but people who use AI will,

so make sure that you're taking
advantage of all the things AI.

Can do. I actually have a free
download with four prompts that

you can use on chatgpt. They're
the prompts that I use every

week on my podcast. Oh, and I
have a whole episode that is

teaching you about them and
telling you how to use them.

I'll link that in the episode
description. But look at your

podcast workflow and see what AI
can help you with. Because while

you're spending hours and hours
and hours doing this work,

someone else is using AI, and
they are about to outperform

your podcast in every single
area. If you want to know more

about how AI can be implemented
into your podcast workflow, my

contact information for a
complimentary exploratory call

will be in the episode
description. I have a one hour

coaching package that will be
absolutely perfect to show you

how to use AI in your podcast.
That's one hour that will

literally save you hundreds of
hours in the future. If you have

any other questions about what
to expect for podcasting in 2025

please send me an email. It's
Morgan at Morgan Franklin dot

media that will also be in the
episode description. Happy New

Year, and as always, I can't
wait to listen to your podcast.

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