010 - James Cridland - Podnews

010 - James Cridland - Podnews

From Talk That Pod by Sebastian Arciszewski

May 20, 2026 · 1h 1m · Episode 10

About this episode

James Cridland discusses the evolution of Podnews and the current state of the podcasting industry.

James Cridland of Podnews --- SUMMARY James Cridland, founder of Podnews — the podcast industry's go-to daily newsletter and podcast with over 33,000 subscribers — joins Sebastian for a wide-ranging conversation about nearly a decade of covering the podcasting world. James pulls back the curtain on how he's built a sustainable, editorially independent media business, why he deliberately keeps Podnews at its current size, and the ethical tightrope of reporting on companies that also advertise with you (including one memorable story of a sponsor trying to buy his silence). The conversation moves into the current state of the industry: the rise of YouTube as a podcast platform, the video-versus-audio debate, and a frank takedown of AI-generated podcast factories like Inception Point AI. James and Sebastian also dig into podcasting's role in politics, the right-wing dominance of podcast charts, and why the democratization of audio remains one of the most exciting things happening in media today. --- IN THIS EPISODE [00:00] Introduction Sebastian introduces James Cridland and the Podnews newsletter. [00:31] The Origin Story of Podnews James recounts how Podnews was born from a single…

People in this episode

Host: Sebastian Arciszewski

Guest: James Cridland

Topics covered

  • podcasting industry
  • media business
  • YouTube as a podcast platform
  • AI-generated content
  • politics in podcasting
  • democratization of audio

Keywords

  • Podnews
  • podcasting
  • media business
  • YouTube
  • AI-generated podcasts
  • politics
  • audio democratization

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Podnews

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