@clive In Spain (my country) the most popular podcast platform is Ivoox.
In Ivoox people upload 25.000 episodes per day.
And there is a business there: Promises of monetization for all this huge community of podcast creators.
Suscriptions for 10 to 60 euros per month to get "rocket" impulse for your podcast in their app.
It reminds me Instagram. Everyone feels they are the influencers. It's not the passive engagement of viewer. It's the active engagement of the "producers" what support the business.