The Podcast Accelerator: How to Grow Your Podcast · Mark Asquith

Podcast Industry Perspective

·40 min·2 clips

Mark says the industry must stop “crying about YouTube” and “crying about Spotify.”

1. The Podcast Accelerator: How to Grow Your Podcast episode “Podcast Industry Perspective” is Mark Asquith’s view of how podcasting has changed across multiple industry phases. 2. Mark Asquith, the MD and co-founder of Captivate.fm, hosts solo and uses Captivate.fm, Podcast Websites, and other company examples to ground the discussion. 3. The episode asks what podcasting is “for” now that it has grown from a cottage industry into a media business. 4. Mark says the early “curious technology tests” ran from about 2014 to 2017, with Podcast Websites, Clamor, Zencastr, and Alitu trying to lower barriers. 5. He contrasts those newer tools with incumbents like Libsyn, Blubrry, and Buzzsprout, which he says were “fine” but not built to challenge assumptions. 6. Mark places the next phase around 2017 to 2019, after Serial, when Wondery and other startups focused on highly produced audio with IP that could move into TV, books, tours, and live shows. 7. He also names Grim & Mild, Aaron, Jordan Harbinger, Himalaya, Captivate, and Transistor as examples of brands and creators that scaled by building marketing and production discipline. 8. Mark describes a boom period around 2019 to early 2022, when Spotify made large investments, technology companies were acquired, and production companies were bought by Amazon. 9. He cites Stitcher, Simplecast, Megaphone, SquadCast, The Ringer, Joe Rogan, and the reported Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and Obama deals as part of that acquisition wave. 10. Mark says the current “questioning phase” started around early to mid-2022, when acquisition pace slowed and people began asking whether podcasting dollars were being spent well. 11. He says the slowdown exposed weak business plans, especially around minimum revenue guarantees and acquisitions made mainly for PR. 12. Mark argues that measurement is now central because brands will not keep funding podcasting without proof that the spend works. 13. He gives The News Agents, Global, Captivate, and Persephonica as an example of a highly measured show with “immense talent” and clear business logic. 14. He says a new wave of tools is recycling earlier ideas, including clip platforms and AI show-notes tools built with Whisper or ChatGPT. 15. Mark calls the “not a podcast if it’s not RSS” argument silly and says everyday listeners care more about whether they can hear or watch a show on their phone, computer, or TV. 16. He says the same applies to YouTube and Spotify, because the original barrier to podcast growth was ignorance, not competition from walled gardens. 17. The tone is blunt, argumentative, and personal, with repeated asides, self-correction, and direct address to listeners and critics. 18. The format is a solo monologue with no guest, built as a long-form industry rant rather than a formal interview. 19. People working in podcast hosting, monetization, measurement, and conference programming will get the most from it. 20. People wanting a calm, neutral product review or a short tactical how-to may skip it.

As heard by us

A blunt reset on podcasting's power shifts and what the market now expects.

Mark Asquith frames podcasting as something bigger than a cottage industry now, and the real interest lies in the friction that comes with that growth.

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Why you'd press play

Need a clear-eyed take on podcasting's fast-changing power shifts, gatekeepers, and why the industry keeps forcing new playbooks?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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