A short history of podcasting

Podcasting is younger than the web but older than the smartphone. Its story is mostly about one small idea, attaching a media file to a feed, finding the devices and apps that made it easy.

2000–2003: audio files in feeds

Blogs and news sites were already publishing RSS feeds so readers could follow them in feed readers. Around 2000, developers proposed letting a feed item carry an attached media file, and the RSS 0.92 format added the <enclosure> element to do it. A feed reader could now download audio in the background, ready to play.

Early experiments included recorded interviews and talk shows published this way. The pieces existed, but downloading files and copying them to a music player was still fiddly.

2004: a name and a boom

In early 2004 the word “podcasting” appeared in print, as one of several suggested names for this new kind of amateur radio. Through 2004, small programs appeared that fetched new episodes and copied them to an iPod automatically, and hundreds of independent shows launched. Many were made by hobbyists with a USB microphone and free software.

2005: podcasts go mainstream

In June 2005 Apple added a podcast directory and subscriptions to iTunes. Subscribing became a single click, and listening grew quickly. By the end of the year “podcast” was a dictionary word of the year, and broadcasters, newspapers and universities had started their own feeds. Tutorials like this one helped a wave of new creators learn to record, edit and publish.

2006–2013: the long middle

Podcasting kept growing, but quietly. Listening still mostly meant syncing a device to a computer. That changed as smartphones arrived: apps could download episodes over the air, and in 2012 Apple released a standalone Podcasts app. Comedy, tech and public-radio shows built large, loyal audiences.

2014–2019: Serial and the money

In 2014 the investigative series Serial became a global hit and brought millions of new listeners to podcasts. Advertisers, networks and venture capital followed. Spotify began adding podcasts to its app and later bought podcast studios and creator tools, betting that audio would sit next to music.

2020 onwards: video, platforms and open feeds

Video podcasts, recorded with cameras as well as microphones, became common, and YouTube became one of the largest places people watch and listen. Some shows went exclusive to one platform; many later came back to open feeds. Meanwhile, open-source developers extended the RSS format with new tags for transcripts, chapters and funding links.