A few days ago, Luo Yonghao's podcast program, "Luo Yonghao's Crossroads," marked its first anniversary.

Recalling the program's launch a year ago, online sentiment was predominantly pessimistic. Many netizens bluntly predicted that this long-form interview show would not survive beyond three months. However, on its first anniversary, "Luo Yonghao's Crossroads" boasted impressive statistics: 36 main episodes updated cumulatively, 349 million plays across all platforms, 138 trending topics, 23 commercial cooperation brands, and a fan base exceeding 10.242 million across all platforms.

Podcasting, though not a novel content format, has recently come into the limelight, especially with its evolution from audio to video, enabling it to break free from its niche confines and gradually ascend to mainstream popularity. In the content industry, there seems to be a burgeoning trend of everyone jumping on the podcasting bandwagon.

The last time such a frenzy occurred was with the rise of citizen curators, and before that, citizen knowledge payment bloggers.

The issue arises when an increasing number of podcast programs are inundated with seemingly high-end and meaningful jargon that leaves listeners bewildered. When nine out of ten podcasts are spreading emotions and attempting to resonate, and when more young people add various podcasts to their lists in an effort to self-improve and alleviate anxiety, a familiar sense of condescension permeates the air.

Upon closer inspection, one finds that many podcasts are increasingly filled with grand narratives of ordinary people's extraordinary experiences or minor details, often leaping to profound value and meaning. This is particularly evident among video bloggers. Despite increasingly refined editing and special effects, the conversationalists often appear possessed, frequently frowning in deep thought with solemn expressions, seriously contemplating or appearing deeply troubled, discussing topics that complicate simple issues, coupled with a deliberately pretentious and sharp tone, exuding a strong sense of morbidity.

It is precisely this fresh morbid charm that establishes a professional and meaningful image, making it extremely easy to become 'addicted.' And these pseudo-profound podcasts that are all the rage, from a certain perspective, seem more like performing a 'hospice care'-style show.

Does this scene seem somewhat familiar?

Once upon a time, knowledge payment created a brief consumption frenzy before ending in a less-than-dignified manner. Now, is the heat and traffic generated by podcasts just another false prosperity?

Young People's 'Spiritual Health Supplements'

Looking back, the disillusionment of knowledge payment fundamentally stemmed from its exploitation of young people's anxiety about being left behind by the times and their desire for growth and success to massively harvest users. However, these paid knowledge products failed to deliver positive results.

"Apart from a few more gray hairs, a few more wrinkles, and a few more pounds of eye bags, nothing has changed. My quality of life hasn't improved, my job hasn't seen a raise, and my travel dreams haven't come true..." This is the true portrayal of most people.

To put it more intuitively, just as the elderly are keen on various fake but psychologically comforting health supplements, these packaged and reinterpreted 'knowledge payment' products are like 'spiritual health supplements' for young people.

They alleviate emotional anxiety by purchasing knowledge and hope to achieve certain psychological expectations by referencing others' experiences, even seeking a shortcut to success.

Nowadays, video podcasts have gained popularity through authentic conversations and deep thinking. On the surface, this is because they cater to the trend of short video traffic peaking and users' increasing demand for in-depth content. However, digging deeper, a significant part of the reason is still due to the public's spiritual anxiety in this era. This is evident from the hottest and fastest-growing topic content in podcasts.

What content is most popular in podcast programs? AI. Taking Xiaoyuzhou as an example, public data shows that in 2025, the number of single episodes of 'Artificial Intelligence' category podcasts on Xiaoyuzhou increased by 310% year-on-year, with a 137% increase in plays. By 2026, the number of AI-related figure searches increased by 470% year-on-year, with a 287% increase in related content plays. Clearly, AI has become one of the fastest-growing and highest-proportion new categories on Xiaoyuzhou.

The reasons are self-evident. In the AI era, almost no one is free from anxiety. We are not only anxious about not keeping up with this huge trend but also worried about being directly replaced in the future. Therefore, video podcasts with high information density and frequent sermons from tech moguls are another choice for many viewers trying to alleviate their spiritual anxiety.

In the past, we criticized knowledge payment for cramming paid knowledge into a self-consistent logic, making it seem high-end and trendy, but in reality, it had little real value for personal self-improvement.

Now, although podcast content creators do not promote themselves as vigorously as knowledge payment products, many viewers still see it as a 'shortcut' to keep up with the times and seek upward breakthroughs.

Whether it also brings a form of 'spiritual health supplements' is still undetermined. However, when you listen to several Chinese podcasts in a row and find that they all discuss new terms like 'Odyssey period,' 'subjectivity,' 'sense of boundary,' and 'original family,' it is evident that the emergence of these psychological hot terms is itself a search for spiritual comfort.

Sense of Elite Identification

On social media, a netizen raised the question: Who exactly is listening to podcasts that last for hours?

In the past year, the crossover of celebrities and big names has propelled video podcasts from a niche market into the mainstream, and several high-profile breakouts have also attracted more viewers.

They may be chasing hot topics or celebrity IPs, attracted by the thinking brought about by in-depth conversations, or seeking information during fragmented time. However, it cannot be ignored that as the podcast audience expands with niche breakthroughs, more people are attracted to the 'elite' label attached to podcasts.

One important reason why Chinese podcasts have long been self-indulgent in their niche 'reserved land' is that, in the public's impression, such content is generally more elite-oriented. According to data from the CPA Chinese Podcast Community's '2024 Podcast Marketing White Paper,' among podcast listeners, 29.8% hold a master's degree or higher, and nearly 75% are from first-tier and new first-tier cities. Now, with celebrities joining in, the perception of elitism is further reinforced to a certain extent.

Similarly, in the more mature and popular podcast content industry in Europe and the United States, the podcast audience also tends to be elite.

Survey data shows that American podcast users are predominantly young, with 67% under the age of 44. They have relatively high income levels, with 45% more users earning $250,000 or more annually compared to non-podcast listeners.

In recent years' consumer market, we can observe a common phenomenon: once a product, service experience, or sport is labeled as 'middle class' or 'workplace elite,' it easily triggers trend-following consumption and drives the activity of related industries. Behind this consumption trend is the public's pursuit of social identity or a sense of closeness to the elite class by following and imitating the lifestyles of the middle-class elite.

The same goes for podcasts breaking out of their niche. Many viewers shift their attention to podcasts because they provide emotional value, alleviating spiritual anxiety caused by times of change, and creating a perception of further integration into the elite class, obtaining psychological satisfaction.

More and more podcast programs are precisely catering to this need of users. Instead of increasing valuable information density in their programs, they begin to focus on spreading emotions, subtly demonstrating their superiority in life or aesthetics to highlight their elite status.

"Talking about this issue reminds me of when I was studying art in London, rushing to meet deadlines at night, looking out at the lights of thousands of homes..."

"Recording this episode amidst a busy schedule, everyone is really busy. The early summer heat makes it hard to eat during the day and sleep at night, and many words fail to convey the intended meaning..."

As the podcast audience broadens, emotional transmission may also become popular and even help attract more viewers. However, emotional value cannot retain users. Just like the outdoor sport trend labeled as 'middle class,' which comes and goes quickly, once the middle class finds new hobbies, the trend shifts.

Whether to Pay or Not: A Hurdle for Content Products

Although the podcast track is gradually heating up, it is natural to encounter issues such as content decline and homogenization. However, it should not repeat the mistake of knowledge payment becoming an 'IQ tax.'

On the one hand, podcast content is more similar to the more entertaining and interesting pan-knowledge that survived after the knowledge payment trend passed, rather than knowledge products claiming to help users achieve a specific goal. Without strong purposefulness, viewers will not feel a sense of disappointment.

On the other hand, knowledge payment products often only tell users conclusions rather than logic, significantly simplifying the reasoning process. Podcasts, on the other hand, are characterized by clashes of viewpoints and authentic thinking processes. Therefore, whether viewers can learn knowledge or gain insights depends on themselves and cannot be blamed on the lack of value in podcast content.

Of course, the more important reason is that it's free. Currently, most podcast programs are free. Without spending money, you don't have the audacity to be overly critical of the content quality, after all, you haven't lost anything.

According to the '2025 China Podcast Industry Status and Development Trend Report' released by the research agency Jiashi Consulting, in 2025, there will be approximately 170 million domestic podcast users, with a total revenue scale of 5 billion yuan, of which advertising accounts for more than 70% of the share.

In the past, audio was limited by its content format, and its advertising capacity was naturally limited. Now, with the popularity of video podcasts, they can accommodate more forms of advertising, including title sponsorships, brand promotions, product placements, content payments, and more.

Additionally, video podcasts have opened the floodgates of traffic distribution across multiple platforms. With traffic, they can also receive rewards from the platforms.

However, once podcasts start down the path of paid content, similar doubts arise: Are these podcast programs really worth the money users spend on them?

A few days ago, the comedy podcast program "The Cube of Two" experimented with a paid model, pricing a bonus episode at 9.9 yuan. This move immediately sparked a lot of complaints within the community. One netizen said, "A casual chat show that became popular purely relying on guests is now charging fees. It's really ugly." Another netizen stated that many stand-up comedians gained popularity through podcasts, driving ticket sales for offline performances, only to end up harvesting listeners, "which is too greedy."

In fact, referring to foreign examples, the advertising-based commercialization path for podcasts has already proven successful. The strong consumption potential of high-net-worth individuals makes many brands very willing to advertise on podcast programs. In China, with the user base of podcasts exploding, there are similarly more opportunities for commercial monetization.

As for the paid model, users are not opposed to paying, but if they do pay, their expectations for the content will inevitably rise. Once the content quality fails to meet expectations, even if it's just one episode, the program will quickly trigger user dissatisfaction and face backlash. Therefore, podcast payments can easily fall into the risk of selling quick-fix knowledge and having inflated prices, similar to the initial knowledge payment products.

The knowledge payment trend has long ended, and its conclusion was not a pleasant one. Now, the public's demand for in-depth content and thinking has once again propelled podcasts to popularity.

Regardless of whether this track also contains traffic bubbles and false comforts, the lessons learned from knowledge payment may provide a more conducive development inspiration.

And we also hope that those valuable voices will not be drowned out by the logic of traffic supremacy in the future.