I listen to a lot of podcasts.

Mainly health and fitness related, but also sports and pop culture.

Yes I listen to Joe Rogan – sometimes. 

Depends on his guest but I find him to be interesting, infuriating, and perplexing - many times in the same episode. 

Maybe that’s why he’s the most listened to podcaster in the world.

Podcasts in general have blown up in the past 5 years.

In 2024 there will be over 500 million podcast listeners worldwide – almost double that of the numbers from 2019.

Podcasts come in all different types of formats but my favorites are ones like Rogan, Marc Maron’s WTF, Peter Attia’s The Drive or the Bill Simmons Podcast where it’s usually just two people talking.

A particular favorite is also from Bill Simmons – it’s called The Rewatchables.

In conceit and execution it’s genius – it’s 2 or the 3 people sitting around talking about a particularly rewatchable movie for over an hour. 

They give out made up awards, discuss where we were in the zeitgeist when the movie came out, and how it’s held up over the years since its release.

It’s the epitome of how friends would sit around a table with a couple of beers or some weed or some blow and talk about a movie – and that’s why it works so well.

It particularly works so well with me because I crave that kind of connection with friends – and I simply don’t get it anymore.

And I believe this is why podcasts have blown up – they’ve replaced actual friends.

For the mid-30s people out there with kids and a family and a career, picking up the phone and chatting with a friend about anything is a rare feat nowadays.

With social media, texting, and even FaceTime to a certain degree we’ve taken away the long form conversation, particularly on a telephone, and put it into our ears during a podcast.

Sure, many of the podcasts I follow are informational in nature. 

But that’s not why they skyrocket in popularity – it’s because the host or hosts builds some sort of connection with an audience and those people feel compelled to connect with them on a daily or weekly basis.

We used to check in with our friends this way – now we check in with podcasters.

Andrew Huberman is a great example of this.

He’s grown into the one of the most popular health and fitness podcasters in the country despite not having a background in health or fitness.

He’s a neuroscientist by trade but because of his seemingly genuine want and need to share scientific information with the masses, he’s gained a cult-like following.

People want to check in with him to see what he has to say, what help he can provide, because he’s a done a remarkable job convincing people that he actually cares.

My question is why do people care that he seems to care?

What void are people trying to fill with podcasts?

For me the answer is these are conversations I used to have with friends at bars or in living rooms or at frat houses that I no longer have.

There is a void there that I’m trying to fill in some way.

So what’s the answer?

Take time away from wife and kids to sit around with some blow and talk about Reindeer Games at 2am on a Thursday night?

I don’t think that’s the right move

But neither is relying on podcasts to connect with people in a meaningful way.