It's the 400th episode of The Audacity to Podcast, so I want to address the fundamental
and sometimes contentious question, what's a podcast anymore?
Whether this is your first episode or your 400th that you're listening to, thank you
for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
This fundamental question has been challenged and even abused.
What's a podcast anymore?
There's plenty of misinformation and disinformation out there about what a podcast is.
My efforts to set the definition straight may be fruitless,
but there's more to consider here than only the meaning of the word.
That's why I want to set aside this special 400th episode of The Audacity to Podcast
to address this fundamental question.
Because how we answer this question, what's a podcast,
will affect the future of our content and even of the whole podcasting industry.
So I am planting my flag on this hill.
And if you want to plant your flag on this hill too,
or review the notes for this episode,
they are a simple tap or swipe away inside your podcast app
or at TheAudacitytoPodcast.com/definition.
First, the definition of a podcast.
There are multiple uses for the word podcast.
It is both a noun and a verb, but let's focus on the verb form.
For an up-to-date definition, look at WhatsaPodcast.com, which is a collaboration I started with Todd
Cochran and some other podcasting industry experts.
So here's that definition as of July 27th, 2025.
A podcast is a series of episodic audio or video content that is downloadable on demand
via an RSS, really simple syndication, feed.
and that's it. That has been worded slightly differently over the years, but this is the core
of the definition. A podcast is really a label for content distributed in a specific way. Adam Curry,
the co-creator of podcasting, the podfather himself, even recently said in an episode of
the Podcasting 2.0 show that he would be fine if we define podcasts as only audio. Now, I would
accept that in that definition too, since YouTube pretty much killed video podcasting. And the why
and how of that and video podcasting are topics for a different discussion that I'll address in
a future episode, maybe even the next episode. And as a noun, some people even use the word
podcast to refer to individual episodes of a podcast, almost like an abbreviation, albeit
somewhat ambiguous. For example, someone might say, in my last podcast, or listen to this week's
podcast, or in this podcast I talk about, and in each of these cases, they're really referring to
specific episodes, but not completely separate podcasts, which would be a series of episodic
content. But for clarity, I recommend using the word podcast to refer only to the collective
series and not to the individual episodes. There have been other attempted definitions of a podcast.
Ask average people to define a podcast and you'll get a variety of responses, usually similar to
one of the following. A podcast is an interview show or any audio on the internet or a podcast is
only audio shows or it's an independently created audio or video content or a show of some sort
that's not syndicated through terrestrial broadcasting or paid streaming platforms,
or my favorite one to laugh at,
is anything on YouTube where you can see multiple people talking into visible microphones.
That production aside, at Podcast Movement Evolutions 2025,
Dan Granger, along with Veritone One and Oxford Road,
conducted some research surveys of audiences and then came up with the following definition
that they're putting forth as what a podcast is.
And that is, quote,
an audio-driven, on-demand program rooted in the spoken word,
typically episodic and conversational.
Podcasts cover wide-ranging themes and formats.
They are accessed via open RSS feeds
or other distribution platforms
and often supplemented by video.
Okay.
And then for video podcasts,
they build on top of that definition,
saying then, video podcast is an episodic or on-demand program rooted in the spoken word
where synchronized visuals meaningfully shape the experience. Now credit to them, I do like how
they try to define the experience of a podcast. And I admire that and appreciate, applaud that,
that's great. But in their definition, it's that part of their definition, other distribution
platforms. That actually undermines the definition because other can mean any. So by their definition
and some derivatives I've seen recently, audiobooks are now podcasts. YouTube is now
podcasts. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime are now podcasts. Random apps with audio
are now podcasts. It's kind of the Oprah of definitions. You are a podcast and you are a
and you are a podcast. Everybody's a podcast. But what's wrong with redefining what a podcast is?
I think that by attempting to redefine podcast, Veritone One and Oxford Road and anyone else in
this kind of boat are actually, perhaps unintentionally, erasing what a podcast is.
With their definition, almost anything could be a podcast now, which means nothing is specifically
a podcast. Thus, with a more inclusive, quotation marks around that, definition,
what makes one YouTube video a, quote, podcast, unquote, but not another one? Or imagine a world
where podcast was universally redefined to include all these types of audio and video content on the
internet, then we would need a new term to label the shows that are distributed only via RSS,
which by nature is open. I've heard some people say open podcasting and RSS podcasting, but
those sound weird to me and redundant. Podcasting is by nature open and based on RSS. So there's not
much different about those redundant terms from saying ATM machine, which is automated teller
machine machine or PIN number, personal identification number number, and please RSVP.
RSVP, by the way, is French and it's short for respondez sifuple.
Pardon my French.
So this phrase translates to please, please respond or please respond, please.
It's redundant.
And a fun aside, I sometimes like to make fun of those kinds of redundancies by jokingly
saying different ones and emphasizing them like as ASAP as possible and for your FYI.
Try it sometime.
It's fun for the whole family.
But that's what you run into when you start trying to add other terms on top of podcasting
that are already implied in the word, or at least the word as it should be defined right
now, or as I'm saying it should be defined.
And consider this.
True podcast distribution and consumption are unique.
The distribution and consumption styles for podcasts are radically different from other
media.
Nearly all other content is built around centralized consumption and centralized distribution.
For example, you can only stream Stranger Things on Netflix.
Most content on YouTube is available only through YouTube,
and other movie and show licensing deals limit how you can watch or acquire them.
While your podcast gets centrally distributed through your RSS feed,
you can take that content to almost any hosting provider.
You could even download the RSS feed code as an XML file and host it on a web server or file serving service, even though that's usually not a good idea.
So the distribution is completely portable and it's invisible to your audience.
Your audience doesn't know if you're hosting your RSS feed and your media with Libsyn or Captivate or Blueberry or self-hosting it, managing it through WordPress or anything like that.
They don't know that.
They don't care.
They don't need to know or care.
You might know or care in this case because you are a podcaster, so you want to know what
other podcasters are doing or what I'm doing.
But your audience probably doesn't care unless your audience is also an audience of podcasters.
But consumption is where podcasts excel here.
There are hundreds of podcast apps, nearly all offering the same catalog of podcasts.
And even if a podcast isn't searchable within that app's catalog, nearly all podcast apps allow you to manually follow on RSS feed, often then bypassing any kind of corporate or government control of the podcast consumption experience.
And yes, there are some exceptions here, whether that be corporate firewalls, country firewalls, or certain things that apps might do or limit.
But in general, you have a lot more freedom and the consumption is radically decentralized.
And that's unique because podcasts can automatically download in the background.
They can be consumed anywhere you can take your podcast app.
On a boat, on a train, in a car, on a plane, mowing the yard, doing the dishes, even on
the job or anywhere your audience wishes.
Podcasts are the green eggs and ham of media or the 800-pound gorilla of media.
800-pound gorilla eating green eggs and ham, if you will.
Other than audiobooks, no other media can be consumed so freely and portably.
I'd even say that audiobooks can't be consumed freely, even though they can be consumed
portably.
So then we have to think about how language works.
And the issue does come up of a strict definition versus a usage description.
I remember an episode of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Better Writing,
full title there, by the way, in which Mignon Fogarty interviewed an editor for Dictionary.com.
He said that oftentimes their job is to record how people are using a word,
which is not always in line with its literal meaning.
but they do that so that other people can understand the usage of the word. And I thought
that was profound. Yes, the meanings of some words change over time based on usage and sometimes
people need to know how is this word being used even though I know what that word means. How do
you mean it when you use it that way? I do not think it means what you think it means. Here are
examples to illustrate this. In the first popular English translation of the Bible, the King James
Version, God tells Adam and Eve in Genesis 1.28 to replenish the earth. Some people have tried to
use that to say Adam and Eve had to repopulate the earth after it was once populated, something bad
happened, and now they have to repopulate it. There are all kinds of theological implications
of that. I won't get into here. It's not relevant. But back when the King James Version was released,
the word replenish meant to fill, but now it means to refill. And there is no word plenish.
It's just replenished. And that now means to fill the meaning of the word changed. Or here's another
example. And this one was a little embarrassing. When I hosted a podcast about the TV show Once Upon
a Time, I had a funny realization about something I didn't know while we were live streaming our
podcast recording. What happened is that one of the characters in the show said a magical town
was, quote, lousy with magic, unquote. And I took that and the context to mean horrible with magic.
And I prepared a whole theory and explanation around that line. But that's when I learned,
live in the podcast, that the word lousy can also mean infested. And that, rather to my embarrassment,
completely changed the meaning of the dialogue and invalidated a point I was trying to make.
So it is a fair point that the meanings of words change with usage,
sometimes by irony. For example, it was a wicked delicious cake or the baddest car.
And sometimes they change by cultural use. But I think there are some definitions that should not
be changed because it would muddle the meaning, ignore reality, invalidate or even erase hard work.
and is often outright unnecessary because other words already exist to serve those alternative
needs. We don't need to redefine podcast to include every media because we already have a
perfectly good term, show, S-H-O-W, in case you didn't know how to spell it. There are Netflix
shows, television shows, radio shows, live shows, YouTube shows, and more. But by the way,
please don't say podcast show because that is redundant.
The word show is implied inside of the meaning of the word podcast,
almost any way that you define podcast.
So it is redundant to say podcast show
unless you mean show in one of the alternative meanings.
Like, for example, the live event, the London podcast show,
in which the word show meant more like convention or conference.
Or if you want your head to spin on this one,
You could be technically correct to say the, The Audacity to Podcast show, but I wouldn't
recommend even saying that.
I don't say that either, even though it's technically correct.
Just maybe avoid that.
I've heard some people complain that maintaining a strict definition of the word podcast is
introducing some sort of gatekeeper in podcasting.
They might make the case that it's demeaning or non-inclusive to tell someone they're not
creating a real podcast because their content is only on YouTube or whatever proprietary
platform that is, or that in order to be a podcast, you have to do these certain things.
But I don't think that's the case at all.
I don't see it as demeaning.
Instead, maintaining clear constraints to the meaning can actually be empowering for
people.
Consider someone who publishes their content only on YouTube and you tell them about podcasting,
you suddenly open a whole new world of opportunities for them. Instead of being
only on one platform, you're helping them to see that they can be in hundreds of different
podcast apps, often free from distracting algorithms, connectivity requirements, or
corporate or government censorship. They can reach more people with their content if they distribute
also as a podcast, a real podcast, that is.
It's kind of like if all someone knew of meat was hot dogs
and they considered that to be the definition of meat.
But then you introduce them to juicy hamburgers, crispy bacon, tender steaks,
seasoned jerky, smoked brisket, I'm so sorry if you're a vegetarian,
grilled fish, fried chicken, and more.
Do not expanding their understanding of a word.
You're changing their worldview on meat and on food.
That's what it's like if you maintain constraints on what the word podcast means and includes.
It's actually not a constraint.
It's an expansion of people's knowledge, their worldview on it.
And if you do it well and positively, not passive-aggressively or insultingly,
you can really help them do much more and maybe even relieve them from some stress if they feel
like a podcast means high production value in video on YouTube and you help them understand,
no, actually, it can mean an audio podcast. And that, in fact, podcasting is primarily done
through audio, which is much easier, much cheaper to do. And you can get in hundreds of podcast apps
by doing an audio podcast.
And that's what we call a real podcast
powered by an RSS feed.
So you're helping them,
maybe even relieving them from some stress.
So now it comes to you.
Should you really call your content a podcast?
You can probably anticipate where I'm going with this.
I've said for many years,
especially in episode 184,
11 years ago, back in 2014,
that although I think we should maintain
the definition of a podcast
similar to what I've shared in this episode,
and on WhatsaPodcast.com, we should not limit ourselves and our content by calling them
podcasts. Instead, use a more descriptive label like talk show, interview show, audio drama,
and such. Because even though we no longer have to explain what a podcast is technologically to
people, we still kind of have to correct their potential misunderstanding of what a podcast is
now because things have flipped the other way, that the word means so many more things.
And I'll share more in a future episode about why I think that's happened and why I think
certain surveys are pointing in certain directions, especially in regards to video and video podcasting
and such.
But that is a topic for a different episode that I will address soon.
But now we have this issue where people might be thinking, oh, you do a podcast that means
you're on YouTube, two people sitting facing each other with microphones in front of your
faces.
And that might not be at all what it is.
Or they might think, oh, so you're like Joe Rogan, or you're like Call Her Daddy, or whatever.
Now we're battling different ideas of what a podcast is.
So instead of just using that word and assuming it means the same thing to the person you're
talking to, as it does mean to you, use those descriptive labels like talk show, interview
show, audio drama, and such.
And as you can tell, I especially like the word show.
Because it's not limited to any distribution method.
You could have a show on YouTube, on a stage in front of a live audience, broadcast on
radio or TV, in paid streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, or whatever, burned to CDs
if you still want to use those, or put on a flash drive, or share it on X or TikTok,
live or time-shifted, and more, or even as a podcast.
So if people ask what you do, I recommend that you lead with the main value first,
not the distribution method, which is podcast.
Instead of saying, I host a podcast or I have a movie review podcast,
you could say instead something like,
I have a weekly talk show reviewing movies for families.
See, you're leading more with value there,
not just saying podcast and assuming they know exactly what you mean by that.
you could then add how people could get it by saying in whatever is most relevant and applicable
to you. But you could say something like, you can watch it on YouTube, you could listen to it as a
podcast, or you can get it from my website. So see, you've given them three simple options that
then they can relate to one or the other. And if you're not on YouTube at all, or they can't watch
it on YouTube, maybe they'll recommend that. But if you do put video on YouTube, or maybe fake
video on YouTube, you could add to that. So in case they're of the mind that YouTube is a podcast
app, which it's not. But if they think that and they think, oh, I want to get a podcast on YouTube,
they might be able to find your content there. But see, what you're doing is you're simplifying it.
You're really leading with the value and not relying on people's definitions or understandings
of a particular word. So you see, we live in an incredible era where you can, from literally your
closet or basement. Distribute a message that can be consumed anytime, anywhere, by anyone.
That is the audacity of podcasting. If you've liked this episode, it resonated with you,
maybe you have your own disagreements, I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode or
for you to share this episode also with others. You can get that a simple tap or swipe away inside
of your podcast app or at TheAudacitytoPodcast.com/definition. Thanks to Bryan Entzminger,
Dreb Scott, and Steve Webb for streaming support to The Audacity to Podcast, totaling about 4,500
Satoshis. So that's very generous from all of you. Thank you very much for that. If you love
The Audacity to Podcast and value the podcasting inspiration and education, and maybe the
controversies that I provide here and there, would you please consider giving back? What it's worth
to you. You can go to TheAudacitytoPodcast.com/giveback. Or if you're in a modern podcasting
2.0 app, you could stream some to Satoshis, which are small portions of Bitcoin back to the show.
And I would really appreciate that. And I'd love to give you a shout out and a thanks for that.
And now that I've given you some of the guts to stand firm on what a podcast actually is,
feel empowered by that and taught you some of the tools. It's time for you to go start and grow your
own podcast for passion and profit. I'm Daniel J. Lewis from TheAudacitytoPodcast.com. Thanks for listening!