Number of podcasts worldwideUS secondhand/thrift store market
American thrift sales and worldwide podcast counts, both climbing for over a decade. The vintage jacket and the personal-finance podcast, two staples of the same lifestyle. Both compounded in the same Tuesday afternoon.
The number of podcasts worldwide grew from about 100,000 in 2012 to over 5 million by 2023 as Spotify's 2019 podcast pivot and falling production costs lowered barriers to entry. US thrift and secondhand revenue roughly doubled in the same window as Gen Z secondhand culture, Depop, and the eco-label tailwind expanded the category. Both lines reflect the same disintermediation pattern of the 2010s and 2020s: more entrants in markets that used to require gatekeepers, more options for the listener and the shopper. Different markets, same era of opening.
Both opened up at the same time. The shelf and the feed both got more populated.
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