Robots; YouTube.
Photo: Vulture; Photos: 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection, Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
After the podcast world’s year from hell, many are looking to the New Year for a fresh start. But given how the rest of the media business is barely making it out of January, such hopes feel shaky. Nevertheless, it is a new year, and the podcast ecosystem has to contend with very big questions about what it is and what it’s going to be. Below are a few of the major threads that frame how I’m thinking about…