Fountain Rewind 2023

“Apple is taking Podcasting mainstream by building it right into iTunes,” said Steve Jobs in 2005. “Podcasting is the next generation of radio, and users can now subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.” These humble beginnings seem like forever ago, and podcasting has come a long way since.

Thanks to the great work happening in the Podcasting 2.0 community, we now have access to a censorship-resistant library of over 4 million shows via The Podcast Index. We also have powerful new features being added to the RSS feed that work in a consistent way across the ecosystem. This is changing the way we think about podcasting as a medium and giving us new ways to engage with podcast content, support creators and interact with other fans.

While the mainstream podcasting industry saw a boom (and bust) of investment into podcast production and advertising, Podcasting 2.0 has quietly gone from strength to strength. The number of podcast feeds incorporating Podcasting 2.0 features (or tags) has grown significantly thanks to adoption from podcast hosting services and podcast players, combined with a growing interest from creators.

2023 was another year of game-changing innovation in Podcasting 2.0. We saw adoption of a number of new tags that are redefining what a podcast can be. For example, the  tag enabled fans to listen to shows live as they are being recorded and support in real-time.

Perhaps the most exciting new development was support for music through the tag, combined with support for dynamic splits through the tag. This paved the way for a new category of music podcasts where DJs can play music and artists get paid their fair share of the money sent by listeners thanks to the splits changing when one track end and another one begins.

At the close of the year, we launched Fountain 1.0. Our biggest design and user experience upgrade to date brought major improvements across the app, including a better way to share, discover and listen to clips from podcasts, a clean home feed design that surfaces conversations happening right now and a revamped playlists feature where every listener can become a curator - and get rewarded for it.

We are incredibly excited about what's coming next in 2024. There is still a lot of work to be done on Fountain's core listening experience, as well as new features we plan to add support for, such as the ability to watch video podcasts in the app. We've been working behind the scenes on adding audiobooks to Fountain, which will come to light very soon. And finally, we will be adding to our powerful suite of tools and resources for creators so that more podcasters, artists and writers can grow, make a living from their work and turn their audience into an engaged community of supporters.

We have never been more optimistic about all the great things happening in this space. Thank you to all the builders, creators and listeners who have contributed to the success of Podcasting 2.0 in 2023 - and to all of you who have supported us and believed in our vision.

See the 2023 Awards & Top Shows

To see which podcasts made it into the Rewind 2023 awards and see the top 50 most supported shows this year, click below!

Share your Rewind 2023 to win some Fountain AirPods

We've emailed you a link where you can find your stats for this year (you can also find it on your profile page on Fountain web). Share a screenshot of your Rewind for 2023 on Twitter and tag @fountain_app for a chance to win a pair of custom Fountain AirPods. One winner to be announced 5 Jan 2024.