Podcasting Trends to Watch Out for in 2024

Two months into 2024 and it doesn’t look like the world of podcasting is calming down anytime soon. The rest of the year is still ahead of us and it isn’t too late to consider the direction in which the winds of change may be blowing. As any self-respecting podcast specialist knows, trends come and go. Often without warning. Since it always pays to be ahead of the curve, there is no  time quite like the present to take a look at some of the most important forecasted podcasting trends to watch out for in 2024:

An Increase of Video or YouTube Content

The first major trend to report on has its origins on the announced closure of Google Podcasts this same year. With Google owning YouTube, many users will migrate towards the specific platform. Users of YouTube Music will not only be able to listen to their favorite shows there, but the infrastructure of the platform is also practically built to support video episodes. Now, you see where we’re going with this.

Podcast specialists would do well to not only prioritize distributing their shows on YouTube, but it would also be quite wise to start taking advantage of that built-in infrastructure for video episodes. There are many advantages to this, such as being able to easily utilize their own video clips for social media promotion. As far as the topic of growth is concerned, video content is where a bountiful future lies.

An Increase of Educational Content Releases

Turning to podcasts for new knowledge isn’t a surprising trend. If we go by the numbers alone, it was estimated that around 74% of listeners used podcasts for educational purposes in 2019. Just four years later, that percentage grew to a whopping 88% of listeners. Given the upward mobility on display by these statistics, it isn’t a difficult thought to have that those numbers will keep on growing as we go further into 2024.

What’s even more interesting about this trend is how varied it is when you look closer at it. There are clearly several genres of educational content for people to enjoy. Not only that, but there is also a blending of styles that see learning mixed with entertainment, which is sure to help in drawing in that increase of listeners.

An Increase of Mental Health-Related Content Releases

Like education, a greater focus is now on prioritizing one’s well-being for many podcast listeners. Also like education, this trend is a continuous one, since those listening to health-related content has risen by at least 44% since 2019. Even just listening to podcasts in itself has already made consumers feel better in terms of their mental health.

Therefore, it makes complete sense that shows that focus on mental health are going to keep blowing up in popularity. Shows that offer their listeners guidance, personalized mental health stories, and therapy insights have yet to peak, so this is another trend that we can expect to keep going for the foreseeable future.

An Increase of Podcasters Making Use of Professional AI Tools

Podcasting comes with a lot of roles: one can take part in the process as a podcast engineer, as a podcast host, or as a podcast editor, among other key roles. With all the effort needed to keep a single show afloat, much less thriving, it is inevitable that specialists will soon hand over many of those roles to artificial intelligence tools.

Old school podcasters may balk at the thought of it, but those same people will also be able to see the advantages of doing so clear as day. With AI tools becoming more and more available to the general populace, it would make more sense for podcasters to take advantage of them as the industry moves even forward into a more AI-dominated landscape.

Anyone involved in podcast production knows just how challenging it can be to put out quality content, much less content that people are bound to consume in droves. To help ensure that their audience gets the best quality out of your efforts, podcasters also need to be in tuned with what said audience is looking for. That means paying attention to all of these trends and delivering on them.

If the topic of forecasted trends was a compelling read to you, be assured that there are far more topics to learn about by booking a call with Podcast Engineers today! Get your free discovery call and stay ahead of the curve!