Podcasts are a $20 billion global business

Podcasts, an unknown word and means of broadcasting as recently as 20 years ago, now have an estimated global audience of 400 million and the market is expected to be worth over $20 billion by the end of the year.

Podcasts are marked by the casual pace of their interviews or monologues, often interspersed with music, and are used by anyone who wants to broadcast a message or simply their random thoughts on any matter. As with any broadcasting platform, it has been proven useful to politicians for pushing their message or announcing their bold reform plans.

The origin of the word itself is disputed, except for the "broadcast" half. The first half is said to come either from Apple's iPod, a recent innovation that is now mostly past history, or from "portable on demand."

Already well established before the Covid-19 pandemic, podcasts really flourished during that...