The Golden Age of Podcasting at SXSW!

There’s no doubt that we’re in the “Golden Age of Podcasting,” especially with listenership on the rise - 40% of Americans 12+ say they listened to a podcast at least once in their lives, and 24% say they listened to one in the past month. New podcasts come out daily, and the medium is finally getting the love it deserves - while podcasting emerged in the mid 2000s, it only started getting more attention when Serial took the world by storm in 2014.

According to Edison Research, podcast listeners tend to be big consumers of on-demand content and live radio. Since iHeartMedia is an industry leader of audio distribution, it’s no surprise that our game is strong when it comes to podcasts. We even decided to conceptualize our SXSW 2018 speaking panel proposal around the medium. The Golden Age of Podcasting: Why Now? will tackle the question of why podcasting is having such a cultural moment and will unpack the reasons that led us to the renaissance we’re currently experiencing. Leading the panel discussion will be a series of industry leaders including: our own Chris Peterson, SVP of Podcasting for iHeartMedia, Caitlin Kenney, VP of Programming and New Show Development for Gimlet Media, Jason Hoch, Chief Content Officer for HowStuffWorks, and Nick Quah, the founder of Hot Pod Media and arguably the most influential podcast journalist out there today.

Voting for the SXSW 2018 PanelPicker is open now, and you have the power to help us get selected to bring The Golden Age of Podcasting: Why Now? to life at next year’s event. Anyone with a PanelPicker account can vote - you can easily create one in a few moments here - and we’d love your help! You have until August 25 to vote here and help bring this panel to life - every vote counts!

Until then, take a listen to some of our favorite podcasts like The Thrive Global Podcast, iHeartRadio's Label Defiers with ZICO Coconut Water and more!