In the bid for attention, discovery stopped living in podcast apps somewhere between 2015 and 2020 and moved into short video clips shaped by platforms built for engagement. Charts gave way to algorithms, and discovery shifted with little resistance. That change pulled even the most traditional podcasts towards video, long before many producers consciously chose it.

Social media was never where long conversations actually lived. Facebook and Instagram trained audiences through 30–90 second clips, dropped into feeds alongside influencers, memes, and family photos. TikTok took it further by breaking the link between discovery and the social graph altogether, surfacing content without users needing to follow, like, or recognise anyone. The conversations teased in those feeds did not unfold there. They moved to YouTube, first on laptops........

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