The Challenge With The Amy Poehler Podcast

What Amy Poehler Heard When Launching Good Hang

When the launch of the Amy Poehler podcast Good Hang happened in March of 2025 it was a refreshing addition to the celebrity podcast roster. The show should be strongly bankable with brands (having launched with Toyota Highland and Uber Eats baked-in ad reads) and brings a refreshing, chill, laughter-filled hour to your feed every week with some of Hollywood and New York’s loveliest funny people who, based on all available information, might actually be nice to Production Assistants.

In the excitement (and a cool 1.2M+ views for her pair of launch day episodes), Amy heard a question when telling people she decided to launch her own podcast: “Really? Now?”

Her and her guest, Kathryn Hahn, play the moment for some great laughs (see below). But why did an A-list celebrity like Amy Poehler get that reaction?

Even the Rooster High social media accounts occasionally recieve comments along these lines, saying there are too many podcasts. If truly nobody is safe from this sentiment, from a small-town content marketing agency to one of the queens of comedy, where is it coming from? Is it true that there are too many podcasts? Is the podcasting industry truly that oversaturated?

Are there too many podcasts?

It’s always nice when there’s a definitive answer to a question based on reliable, easy-to-access data. In this case, we can compare the number of podcasts to a number of similar media channels. If there are many more podcasts than other channels, then it would make sense that people feel that there are too many – podcasts show up in your life at a high frequency, higher than anything else, and that would be understandably annoying.

But if there aren’t more podcasts than other channels, our question remains. Are there still too many, even if they don’t outnumber their peer channels?

At the end of the day, the question “are there too many podcasts?” is drastically subjective. But let’s find the reason that people think this, because it sheds some light on what’s special about the medium of podcasting: a special factor that contributes to that negative sentiment.

Podcast saturation versus blog saturation

One of the best media channels to compare podcasts too, as a starting point, is blogs. Blogs and podcasts share a lot in common:

• Both use the RSS Feed to make their content readable and fetchable
• Both were born in the early days of the internet (blogs in the mid/late 90s, and podcasts in 2005. Check out this actually fascinating piece from Hubspot on the history of blogs).
• Both have a history of being highly personal
• Both deliver content in bite-sized chunks (posts and episodes)

Let’s take blogs and podcasts side-by-side, as close as we can, to get a picture of their relative size. Stats are from WebTribunal.net and PodcastIndex.org, and I realize they’re not one-for-one comparisons – however, you’ll see that a comparison on that level is unnecessary.

If you didn’t know what a blog or a podcast was and you looked at this data, you might wonder if anyone even knows what a podcast is, and how the poor folks who make them for a living get by. Blogs blow podcasts out of the water!

But let’s say that a podcast is a bit harder to make than a blog. Sure! So what about YouTube?

In 2022, there were 10.1 million YouTube channels with at least 1,000 subscribers (source: Tim Queen).

Well, dang. If podcast is so much smaller than these other channels, why do people still feel like there are just too many of them?

Social Media Marketing and Podcasts: BFFs

One of the primary drivers behind the feeling that there are too many podcasts is their pervasive presence in our digital lives. Short video clips from various shows permeate social media feeds, the shows are referenced news articles, and podcast will still show up in casual conversations when your friend tells you about another true crime podcast that they just can’t get enough of.

The clips, often designed to be attention-grabbing or controversial, are nigh-on inescapable. They hook you, they have personalities on that you love or you don’t, and editing teams can pull a ton of clips from just one episode.

Usually our response when someone says “there are too many podcasts” is: yeah, we get it, you’re fatigued by them, whether you are listening a show or just being blasted by clips.

Platforming and Legitimacy: The Unique Power of Podcasting

The feeling that there are too many podcasts is also linked to the unique way podcasting confers platform and a sense of legitimacy upon its creators. Launching a podcast often carries an inherent implication of having something significant to say and an audience willing to listen, whether you have those things or not. The act of someone having their “own show” can feel more formal and authoritative than other forms of self-publishing.

This perception can be particularly jarring when individuals who hold views or share content that doesn’t resonate with a listener are seen to have their own dedicated platform. The intimacy of the audio format amplifies these feelings. It’s a more direct and personal form of communication compared to reading text. Therefore, encountering a podcast from someone whose opinions or style are unappealing can contribute to the feeling that our media channels are becoming crowded.

While the barrier to entry for podcasting is indeed relatively low, this accessibility is both a strength and a potential source of this feeling of saturation. It means that individuals with varying levels of expertise, experience, and thoughtfulness can easily establish a presence. This democratization of audio content, while ultimately positive, can contribute to the fatigue when algorithms constantly push content that doesn’t meet your standards, preferences, or values.

The Mainstreaming of Podcasting and Heightened Awareness

The increasing mainstream popularity of podcasting has undoubtedly played a significant role in the feeling that there are too many podcasts. As the medium has moved from a relatively niche interest to a widely adopted form of entertainment and information consumption, its visibility absolutely rocketed from a niche thing for techies to a standard form of online media along TV, YouTube, and blogs.

The success of high-profile podcasts and the entry of celebrities and established media entities into the podcasting industry have further amplified this awareness. Figures like Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper, whose podcasts command massive audiences and generate significant media attention, have brought podcasting into the mainstream consciousness in a powerful way (just look at the role of podcasts in the 2024 USA presidential election). This increased visibility, while beneficial for the overall growth of the medium and the expansion of the podcast listeners base, contributes to the feeling of saturation.

Platform, Legitimacy, and Fatigued Podcast Listeners

The feeling that there are too many podcasts is a prevalent one and it’s essential to contextualize this perception for both the thinking listener and the podcast industry. When compared to the sheer volume of other forms of online content, such as blogs and social media accounts, the podcasting landscape, while rapidly expanding, may not be as saturated as it feels.

The feeling of overload is likely fueled by several factors: the ubiquity of podcast clips in our digital feeds, the unique way podcasting confers platform and legitimacy, and the increasing mainstream popularity of the medium, bringing both its successes and its sheer volume to the forefront of public consciousness.

Ultimately, while the number of podcasts is undoubtedly large and continues to grow, so too does the audience of podcast listeners. The podcasting industry remains dynamic. The major task at hand is for the industy to create and push effective discovery and curation tools, allowing our audiences (the entire point of creating a show) to navigate the vast landscape and find the content that resonates with them.

For creators, the focus remains on producing high-quality, engaging content that can cut through the noise and connect with its intended audience. The question of whether there are too many podcasts may ultimately be less about absolute numbers and more about the individual experience of navigating an increasingly rich, loud, and complex audio ecosystem that ties in so closely with the rest of culture and the Internet.