Although many people listen to podcasts daily, it wasn’t that long ago the word was nonexistent.
As the host of two shows, Vegan Visibility and Plant Based Eating for Health, with combined episodes of over 350, the history of podcasting intrigues me. As well, I’ve been invited on to hundreds of shows.
Whether you host your own show, or utilize the platform to gain visibility, podcasting is here to stay.
Without a doubt, appearing on both sides of the mic has many advantages and is an incredibly effective way to increase market reach and influence.
The First Podcast
The first podcast came on the scene in 2004 with Adam Curry, host of The Daily Source show. However, Curry didn’t call the show a podcast.
The term “podcasting” was actually coined in 2004 by journalist Ben Hammersly in a newspaper article for The Guardian.
He was writing about the potential for a boom in amateur radio, arguing that the ingredients were all there: blogging – popular, production software – cheap, and MP3 players – all the rage.
Popularity Continues to Increase
There was relatively steady growth for many years, with a huge surge from 2020 to 2022 due to the pandemic.
With people confined to their homes, many have turned to podcasts for entertainment, news and simply a way to pass the time.
According to PodNews, there are well over four million podcast shows on combined platforms such as ApplePodcast, Spotify and other popular platforms.
Based on The Podcast Index’s database this is the growth…
Podcasts “today” 4,426,399
Podcasts as of Nov 24, 2021 (one year ago): 3,479,072
Podcasts as of Nov 24, 2016 (five years ago): 547,969
Podcasts as of Nov 24, 2011 (ten years ago): 168,651
Podcasts as of Nov 24, 2006 (fifteen years ago): 90,340
Podcasting has become so popular that September 30th is International Podcast Day.
If you search #internationalpodcastday on Twitter, you’ll find quite a few posts, mostly from show hosts.
Granted, many hosts start a show, only to end it very quickly due to the amount of time and energy it takes to keep a show going. Yet, when you consider how many active shows there are, being featured on shows is a great way to gain visibility. 
Not sure how to get on shows? Access the Influencer Guide (at no cost to you) by visiting www.VeganVisibility.com/influencer to learn how to get noticed by hosts.
The very hosts who may be looking for someone like you to have on their show.