"Stop Apologizing": Lex Friedman on Why Podcasting Will Always Evolve and Why That's a Good Thing

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re sitting down with Lex Friedman (not to be confused with Lex Fridman), one of podcasting’s original builders and a leader who’s shaped the business of podcasting since Day 1.

Before launching his own consulting business, Lex played a part in nearly every major chapter of the industry, including Chief Business Development at Midroll, Chief Revenue Officer at ART19, Head of Podcast Partnerships at Amazon, and Head of Podcast Strategy at Wondery. Along the way, he’s helped define how ads get sold, how shows get funded, and how podcasting itself gets defined.

In this episode, Lex opens up on what made podcast ads such a “win-win-win” from the start, why early pitches were simply “talk radio…on demand,” and how a listenership of “completionists” continue to set podcasts apart. He even drops an acoustic guitar analogy to explain why the word podcast isn’t going anywhere, no matter how the platforms try to rebrand it.

"Stop apologizing for podcasting being what it is—because it’s clearly working."

—Lex Friedman

The conversation covers: Ad Load Tipping Points, Completionist Behavior, Consolidation and Mega-Deals, and more.

Let’s go.

Watch the conversation on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HjDmqUiBSQg