Fatima Zaidi

2025 in Podcasting: A Year of Reckoning2025 was a year of big shifts and even bigger headlines. We saw companies close, new ventures launch, and familiar players rebrand or pivot. Video podcasts continued to grow, bringing shows to streaming platforms, theaters, and even the Golden Globes stage. Revenue models evolved, AI loomed large, and creators explored new ways to connect with audiences, from premium content to live events and derivative IP.Despite all the change, the podcasting community remains vibrant, and many companies reported record revenues. Optimism is high, and opportunities for creators are abundant—whether you’re experimenting with video, exploring new formats, or building the next breakout show. Our guests had some thoughts of their own.

To help make sure your podcast interview is memorable (for the right reasons), Fatima Zaidi (Founder/CEO of Quill) and her co-host Quincy de Vries (Senior Producer at Quill) brought together experts in audio – including The Podglomerate’s own Founder and CEO Jeff Umbro, as well as JAR Audio’s co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Moss and Lower Street’s Head of Strategy and Development Annalise Nielsen – to share their tried and true tips for guest sourcing, interview prep, question planning, and promo asset creation.

As we look towards the New Year, we’ve gathered some of the brightest minds in podcasting to reflect on a transformative year. From indie creators to network executives, our guests share their most humbling lessons, unexpected wins, and the moments that made them rethink everything. Plus, they reveal what’s keeping them up at night – and what’s getting them excited – as we head into 2025.

How do you reach your target audience? While this is a challenge for all podcasters, it’s especially important in the branded podcast space, where it’s often not always obvious who your listener is, let alone how to make a show they’d want to listen to. Quill and CoHost founder and CEO Fatima Zaidi is tackling this challenge. Quill is a branded podcast agency that produces, distributes and markets shows for Fortune 500 companies. CoHost is a podcast hosting platform (and recently a prefix) that provides analytics specifically designed for brands.