Since 2022, the Podcast Standards Project (PSP) has been working to keep innovation alive in the open podcast ecosystem.

The core mission of PSP is to drive the adoption of new podcast features in RSS feeds.

Three years in, it’s time to ask: what impact have we made?

A quick summary:

• PSP members are 3.6 times more likely to implement Podcasting 2.0 features than non-members. We’ve brought features like Podping, Locked, Funding, Transcript, Person, and Podroll to over 427,000 RSS feeds.
• We’ve established unprecedented cooperation among podcast companies that regularly meet 2-3 times per year and collaborate on adding new open-podcasting features.
• Despite our progress, changing consumer behavior remains our biggest obstacle. The path forward requires identifying 1-2 “killer features” compelling enough for both creators and listeners to choose open podcast standards.
• We acknowledge that we need to do better with marketing, feature champions, and creator/app outreach.

So far, we’ve asked members to adopt these new features: Podping, Locked, Funding, Transcript, Person (optional), and Podroll (optional). We meet two or three times a year and try to adopt a new feature at each meeting.

Here’s what the data tells us about our progress.

I analyzed the top 35 podcast hosting providers (by number of feeds) and included adoption for the six features mentioned above. Here’s what I found.

PSP members are 3.6 times more likely to support Podcasting 2.0 tags compared to non-members. 100% of PSP members have adopted Podping, Locked, Funding, and Transcript. 0% of non-members have adopted all four of those features.

(View the entire spreadsheet here)

Furthermore, 75% of PSP members have adopted both the Person and Podroll tags (which are optional, but recommended). In comparison, 0% of non-PSP members have adopted both of these features.

To quantify this impact:

• PSP members have collectively brought Podcasting 2.0 features to 427,001 RSS feeds. That means hundreds of thousands of podcasts now offer more accessible transcripts, funding options, host & guest credits (Person), and more—features that make podcasts easier to discover, support, and build on.
• Comparatively, only 11.2% of non-PSP members have added a Podcasting 2.0 tag. This represents 316,590 feeds.

These numbers tell a clear story: when companies actively participate in PSP, they’re significantly more likely to implement new features that benefit creators and listeners. However, the data also reveals a concerning gap: many of the largest platforms, which serve the majority of podcast listeners, remain outside this innovation ecosystem.

Something else to celebrate

Beyond feature adoption, the PSP has achieved something equally remarkable: collaboration across competitors. It’s not easy to get CEOs, product managers, and engineers from rival companies to sit down, share roadmaps, and work together—but that’s exactly what’s happening.

For a grassroots group formed in 2022, running entirely on volunteer time, that’s a big deal.

Looking toward the future: here’s what we’re up against

Despite our progress, we’re operating in a challenging environment:

• Spotify and YouTube dominate discovery and consumption, but don’t support any of this new RSS-driven innovation.
• Apple Podcasts has supported the transcript and TXT tags but hasn’t endorsed any other tags.
• Creators will go wherever the audience is; right now, most platforms don’t prioritize openness.
• Most podcast consumers are creatures of habit and aren’t actively looking for a new podcast app.
• Adoption requires coordination across hosts, apps, creators, and listeners—a tough challenge for any standard.

PSP can’t compete with the reach and budget of large platforms—but we can help independent podcasting stay modern, open, and listener-friendly. That’s still worth fighting for.

Narrowing our focus: what would actually make a difference?

The biggest challenge with all of this isn’t technical. The hardest problem to solve is how to change consumer behavior.

Mass-market platforms capitalize on customer inertia. Once customers start using a large platform like Spotify or YouTube for podcasts, they rarely switch to alternative apps. This makes it difficult for open podcast standards to gain traction, even when they offer superior features.

I keep thinking about this slide from Edison Research’s 2025 Infinite Dial report:

Mastodon is an open, decentralized alternative to the mainstream social networks. However, only 1% of the US population aged 12+ uses it.

If we want to drive real change in open podcasting, we need to meaningfully change consumer behavior.

The average listener doesn’t care about “Podcasting 2.0” or “Open Standards”—they just want an easy way to listen, discover, and interact with the shows they love.

Could we convince podcast consumers to switch?

If the biggest podcast apps won’t adopt new open-standard features, could we convince podcast fans to switch to an independent app that does?

I want to emphasize how difficult this is. I can’t think of many examples where open alternatives have succeeded without the support of a ubiquitous, standardized client—like the web browser.

For example, WordPress (an open platform) won in the blog publishing world because it could rely on the open web. Anyone could start a blog, and anyone else could read it without needing to download a new app, sign up for a service, or change their habits.

Podcasting, on the other hand, is fragmented across dozens of clients, each with its own priorities, incentives, and feature sets. Unlike the web, there’s no unified client for open podcasting to build on. Instead, we’re asking consumers to switch apps—a much higher bar! And we’re asking them to do this not because their current app is broken but because they might get some new features in a different one. That’s a much tougher pitch.

It’s even harder when the largest platforms have no incentive to implement open features. They already control most of podcast consumption and are not looking to share that power. In fact, they benefit from doing the opposite: locking users into their ecosystem, their recommendation engine, and their monetization tools. So, any innovation in the open ecosystem must be so compelling that it overcomes user inertia and outcompetes the defaults people already use daily.

If open podcasting wants to compete, it must offer something meaningfully different—something that gives creators and listeners a reason to care.

So, the question for all of us is: What 1-2 “killer features” could we adopt that could potentially change consumer behavior and existing preferences?

What features might motivate them to switch their podcast consumption to a podcast app that supports said features?

Finding a Podcasting 2.0 “Killer Feature”

Here’s one potential “killer feature” idea:

Talkback: Real-time Listener Engagement

Disclaimer: This is exploratory. I’m not certain it would gain enough traction, but it illustrates the kind of innovation that could move the needle.

Imagine you’re listening to your favorite show on Pocket Casts or TrueFans. The host says something that fires you up, and you wish you could respond immediately. With “Talkback,” you could:

• Double-tap your AirPods
• Click the “Talkback” button in your podcast app
• Record your message (30 seconds or less)

Using the new “talkback” tag, your response would be delivered directly to the creator (since all major hosting providers in PSP would support the feature).

Creators could then choose to dynamically insert selected listener responses as post-roll audio: “Thanks for listening! Here are some thoughts from our audience on today’s episode…”

This creates a virtuous cycle where:

• Listeners feel more connected to their favorite shows
• Creators get authentic engagement and content
• Both groups have a concrete reason to choose open podcast apps and platforms

How PSP can improve

I’ve listened to the critiques of the Podcast Standards Project. Here are a few other ideas on how we might improve going forward:

Cooperative marketing campaigns

What if all the PSP members pooled their resources and launched an advertising campaign promoting independent podcast apps and new innovative features in the open ecosystem? We could also focus campaigns on getting more people to become audio podcast listeners.

Feature champions

James Cridland put forward this idea, and I think it makes sense. Each new feature being adopted should have a “feature champion, an individual or company who “owns” the feature and will be the point of contact, write guides, and do outreach.

More creator outreach

If we can sell creators on the benefits of open podcasting, they (in turn) can sell their audience on those same benefits. This will likely mean introducing a feature that matters to creators. Once we find a feature podcasters care about, we’ll need to connect with creators, demo the feature, and explain the value to their audiences.

Continue our outreach to hosting and app companies

Many folks in the industry don’t see how much outreach PSP members are already doing behind the scenes to get all hosting companies and apps to support the PSP standard features. However, I think we can simplify how we communicate about new features and offer clear, accessible docs and examples.

Final thoughts

The open podcasting ecosystem faces significant challenges, but there’s always hope.

One request: Let’s be thoughtful about our next steps. If we’re going to make progress, we can’t rely on wishful thinking about consumer behavior. If we want creators and consumers to care, we have to give them something they want.

The open podcasting ecosystem is worth preserving—and evolving. Let’s build tools and features that listeners and creators love. These features should be so compelling that creators evangelize them to their fans. That’s how we make the open web of podcasting thrive again.