I know they've been around for ages now, but it feels like in the past few years there's been an increasing amount of people making them and trying to start little gigs/businesses of making them.
What's influenced or contributed to this if it's been an actual increase?
Thanks for some data! Although, the question of the OP I think remains regarding what's contributing to the slight increase in listeners increase in their production. It also doesn't appear to be a high revenue/profit market, which might otherwise help explain some of the folks joining in making them.
I think it's the video aspect of the podcasts nowadays. Back in the day, they used to be just audio, but now, you can add video sponsor blocks and stuff like that, so that made them more appealing to people that want to make a few bucks online, plus video as a media is a lot more powerful than just audio.