Podcasting Means Business
This year was my fifth time at The Podcast Show and for the first time it felt like the event had a clearer sense of what it wanted to be.
Back in 2022, The Podcast Show felt like it was trying to be a lot of different things at once: part creator conference, part trade show, part fan event, part industry networking space. Over the years, that mix has not always sat comfortably together - though, to be fair, serving every part of the podcasting world is no small task.
Creators, commissioners, platforms, production companies, agencies, brands, advertisers, freelancers, suppliers and fans all come to podcasting from different angles. Bringing that many people into one building is still one of the event’s biggest strengths, but in previous years I have often left unsure exactly who the show was really for.
This year felt different. Perhaps it was the hours of preparation I put in, working out who would be there, why they might be good to speak to, and how best to meet them. Or perhaps it was because the show itself seemed to be trying less to be everything to everyone.
This year, The Podcast Show felt like a focused industry gathering for people working in and around the business of podcasting.
It was unapologetically about commissioning, production, advertising, distribution, monetisation, technology and strategy. And while that sharper focus may not serve everyone equally, I do think it made the event feel clearer.
A show for the business of podcasting
There were still creators there. The Creator Stage was busy whenever I passed it (although its position near the entrance meant it was sometimes difficult to hear properly when the surrounding space was noisy).
Independent podcasting remains one of the places where some of the most original, thoughtful and inventive work happens. Many brilliant shows are made by people working outside big companies, often with small teams, limited budgets and a huge amount of care.
I missed seeing some of the regular faces this year - people who have created podcasts for personal, creative, community or small business reasons, and people who have supported others to find their voice through the medium. Last year I met the creators of an unofficial Archers podcast that was giving the BBC a run for its money.
This year there were less chats with people working on passion-centred podcasts, and that is a loss for the show. I get it though. I’ll admit I had second thoughts about whether to head back this year too - I am fed up with stepping outside on Thursday lunchtime feeling like I’ve swiped round the head the podcast industry with the volume turned up to 11.
Less noise, better conversations
The Business Design Centre felt quieter than usual this year and at first, I wondered whether that was a bad sign. But the more time I spent there, the more I thought it actually improved the experience.
More space, less noise, fewer moments where you had to stand in the exhibitor area shouting over a wall of sound while trying to have a useful conversation. It was less physically exhausting, and that made it easier to properly listen.
The most useful conversations seemed to be between people working in and around that world: producers, commissioners, platforms, agencies, brands, advertisers, suppliers, production companies and freelancers.
The companies with budgets are inevitably shaping much of the industry’s direction. For anyone working professionally in podcasting, that makes the show a useful place to understand where attention and investment are moving.
Planning for the show
Last year, I wrote that I had stopped expecting The Podcast Show to be something it wasn’t and had started to make it into the event I needed. This year, I took that even further and barely left anything to chance.
Before the event, I spent time working out who I wanted to meet, why I wanted to meet them, and what I wanted to say. I had a spreadsheet. I used the app. I booked one-to-one meetings. I went in with a plan rather than hoping I would somehow bump into the right person while wandering around feeling overwhelmed.
For me, I think it was that preparation that made all the difference. I gave out more business cards than I ever have at an event. I followed up promptly when I got home. And, for once, I came away feeling that the connections I had made were meaningful.
A cold email can sit unread in an inbox. A LinkedIn message can disappear. But a conversation gives someone a sense of who you are, how you think, and whether they might want to work with you.
It also gives you confidence. At one point, I heard myself telling someone I was the best editor they would ever work with, and asking why they were not working with me already.
If you know me in real life, you will know this is not my usual approach.
But after five years of attending, learning, listening and wondering what might come of it, this year felt like the moment to be more direct about what I do, what I care about, and where I know I can help.
No golden bullet - but plenty to notice
I did make it to a few talks and as with any industry event, some sessions landed more strongly than others. Conference stages are rarely where the most specific commercial insight is shared. The value is often in the themes they reveal, and the conversations they spark afterwards.
If you go to The Podcast Show hoping someone will hand you the one golden bullet - the single thing that will grow your audience, win a commission, fix your workflow or transform your business overnight - you are going to leave disappointed.
But if you go looking for signposts, there is a lot to take in: the stands that dominate the floor, the companies that are most visible, the language people are using, the technology being sold as the answer, the problems people keep returning to, and the formats everyone is trying to understand.
And this year, once again, video was impossible to ignore.
Podcasting, video and the danger of calling everything content
Over the years, The Podcast Show has been a useful snapshot of where the industry’s attention is.
Over the years we’ve seen a see-saw of YouTube branding - from everywhere to nowhere - sessions around web3, synthetic voice and AI, conversations about using ChatGPT to speed up ideation and show notes, and questions and various start-ups wanting feedback on the latest way to clip your show for socials.
This year, video was again very present, with high-end camera setups and polished visual production occupying some of the main spaces. But the conversation no longer feels as simple as “audio versus video”. It is much messier than that now.
It is audio plus clips. Long-form plus short-form. Podcast plus YouTube. Interview plus newsletter. Show plus social assets. Increasingly, everything is being pushed into one big creative content bucket.
I understand why. Audiences discover work in different places and brands want more from every recording. Platforms reward different formats and producers are expected to think about video, social, distribution, audience growth and monetisation almost from the start.
But I also think something gets lost when audio and video are treated as interchangeable outputs - because both are crafts.
Audio is not just what you make when you do not have cameras. Video is not just a promotional wrapper for the “real” podcast. They ask different things of the producer, the editor, the host and the audience.
As an audio first editor I will never stop talking about how a pause can tell you something, a breath can change the meaning of a sentence. A tiny shift in tone can reveal uncertainty, warmth, humour or tension. The right edit can bring a listener closer to a person, not because they can see their face, but because they are properly listening.
And as podcasting becomes more commercially mature, more platform-led and more visually driven, I hope we keep making space for that craft too.
Maybe the show has grown up
For years, I have come away from The Podcast Show with a slightly nagging feeling that something was missing, but this year I did not feel that.
Not because every part of the show worked equally well (no industry event can do that). But because the purpose of the event felt clearer.
If I’m honest, the biggest shift for me this year was not just in the show, it was in how I showed up.
I went in prepared. I knew what I wanted. I made the most of the room I was in and I left feeling that, after five years, The Podcast Show had finally given me something useful - because I knew what I was there to find.
Industry events are busy, imperfect, expensive, occasionally frustrating spaces full of people trying to work out what comes next. What I learnt this year was that knowing why you are there, gives you a much better chance of finding the conversations that matter.
