The main reason to start a network is to get better deals on advertising, which implies a relatively sophisticated approach driven by the desire to monetize the

The main reason to start a network is to get better deals on advertising, which implies a relatively sophisticated approach driven by the desire to monetize the format not as a lifestyle business, but as a business business. The entry of savvy, business-minded people marked the end of the wild and woolly first era of podcasting. I'd say the success of true crime as a format (Serial), and the growth of celebrity podcasts characterized the second era. This happened at roughly the same time as bigger, venture-backed networks started forming. There had been networks before, but they were comparatively amateur efforts. This new wave of mergers is just a continuation of what's been going on for years. It's not a new thing. If anything, the main difference is that instead of podcasts being scooped up by networks, now it's that networks are being scooped up by other networks. That's interesting, but more of an evolution of an ongoing process than the signal that we're entering a new phase. By the way, I've been listening to podcasts since 2006, and I'm sort of in the slow process of losing interest in them finally. There are still a lot of good ones, but it's kind of become a wasteland of content (for me, to my tastes) in the last few years. They managed to take a fundamentally shaggy, decentralized platform and turn it into a polished, down the middle knock-off of TV and terrestrial radio.