I think it's been underreported to what extent podcasting (known as audioblogging for the first uneventful 5 years of its life) is an artifact of an advertising bubble. The nature of ads is to chase new formats, so you can tell better stories to ad buyers. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/style/why-are-there-so-many-podcasts.html …
Different business model. Those companies run the casino, they don't sell ad space.