This is Here Me Out. I'm Celeste Hedley. Our first episode was a discussion on whether we can talk to people we disagree with and have a genuinely productive conversation that both parties feel good about. Throughout the show's run, we've

really tried to provide a proof of concept for that idea. You probably haven't

agreed with all or even most of our guests. I sure haven't, but we like to think we've done a pretty good job showing

you that discussion is possible. As of this week, Hear Me Out is over. So for our last episode,

we'll zoom way out for a look at the podcast industry.

This show might be dead, but is the podcast, writ large, dead as well?

Every production company is just trying to find talent because they know that's the only way they can sell advertising in advance of production.

And this kind of comes back to the point about cereal and whether you could make cereal now.

All the advertisers want is Jason Bateman talking about your salad box.

Nick Hilton joins us for the final episode of Hear Me Out in just a moment.

For the last time, stay with us.

Welcome back to hear me out. I'm Celeste Hedley. If you are not in the podcasting and audio journalism business and we assume most of you are not. The mechanisms

through which this business survives might be a little mysterious. Surely those

ads for therapy and meal kits and insurance and dog food can't be raking in the dough, right?

Well, the answer is complicated and it varies wildly depending on the show, but the answer is

not really. The bottom line is, podcasting is a different industry than it was even just a few years ago.

Most hosts and producers now are struggling to stay afloat or they're getting laid off.

Small creators have very little shot at making it big.

Legacy media organizations are trying to figure out how to make these shows profitable.

Because when money isn't made, the shows you love get cancelled.

Some of them are lucky enough to get re-home elsewhere, some of them disappear forever.

So while it may seem to you as a listener, when you're looking through all the different podcasts you could listen to.

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