A Guide to the Different Types of Podcasts

With over 584 million people worldwide tuning in to podcasts in 2025, it’s clear that podcasting is no longer a niche hobby – it’s a mainstream medium. But walk into this world and you’ll quickly realize that “podcast” is an umbrella term covering a remarkable range of content. A solo expert talking into a microphone, a full cast of voice actors performing a science-fiction drama, a journalist reconstructing a true crime story with ambient sound – all of these are podcasts. So how do we make sense of all this variety? The answer is to look at three key ways podcasts are classified: by their medium, by their theme, and by their programme format.

Classification by medium: audio vs. video 🔗

The most fundamental way to classify a podcast is by what your senses are doing while you consume it. Are you only listening, or are you also watching?

Audio podcasts 🔗

The audio podcast is the original form – and still the dominant one. It relies entirely on sound: the host’s voice, music, and sound effects. What makes it so powerful is its convenience. Audio podcasts are a completely hands-free and eyes-free medium, which means you can absorb content while commuting, cooking, or working out. This portability is what built the medium’s mass appeal in the first place. The listener’s imagination fills in the rest – a quality sometimes called the “theatre of the mind.”

Video podcasts (vodcasts) 🔗

A video podcast, or vodcast, adds a visual layer to the audio experience. This can range from a simple static image paired with audio to a fully produced in-studio recording with multiple camera angles. The Joe Rogan Experience – one of the most downloaded shows in the world – is a classic example: two people in a studio, on camera, having a long conversation. As of October 2025, 53% of new weekly podcast listeners in the US prefer watching a podcast, a figure that has jumped sharply from just 30% in 2022, signalling that vodcasting is rapidly reshaping the medium. Still, for most podcasters – and certainly for students learning the craft – audio remains the foundational form, and it’s the one this field concentrates on.

Classification by theme 🔗

Once you decide on the medium, the next question is: what is the podcast actually about? Thematic categories, often called genres, are how listeners find content that matches their interests – and how platforms organise their libraries.

There is essentially a podcast for every interest, from learning calculus to following Premier League football to untangling unsolved mysteries. The major thematic categories are:

• Arts and entertainment – covering film, music, television, comedy, and pop culture. Comedy is the single most listened-to podcast genre globally, accounting for 30% of total listening hours, making it the undisputed leader by audience share.
• Business and technology – a favourite among professionals, with podcasts covering entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, and the latest in tech. This genre is growing steadily, driven by the demand for on-the-go professional development.
• Educational content – podcasts designed to teach, explain, and inform. Whether it’s history, science, language learning, or journalism, educational podcasts have seen consistent growth, moving up the genre rankings year over year.
• Lifestyle and health – covering wellbeing, fitness, relationships, self-improvement, and mental health. Lifestyle and health accounts for 15% of total podcast listening hours, reflecting a widespread appetite for content that helps listeners live better.
• News and politics – one of the most trusted podcast categories, offering in-depth journalism and political commentary. According to Pew Research, politics and government podcasts are split across interview, deep-reporting, and commentary formats, reflecting how versatile this genre is in approach.
• Sports – the fastest-growing podcast genre in the US as of 2025, fuelled by sports talk shows and leagues launching their own official podcasts. Pew Research found that 82% of top sports podcasts use the commentary format, much like the talk-radio tradition from which many originate.
• Crime and horror – true crime has been one of the breakout genres of the past decade. Pew Research found that 95% of top true crime podcasts use deep-reporting formats – meaning hosts dig carefully into evidence, interviews, and case records to tell their stories.

It’s worth noting that thematic categories are not rigid boxes. Many podcasts blend genres – a sports show might use deep investigative reporting, while a comedy podcast might tackle serious social issues. The genre label is a starting point, not a ceiling.

Classification by programme format 🔗

Theme tells you what a podcast is about. Format tells you how it’s structured and delivered. This is where podcasting draws most directly from its broadcasting heritage – especially radio. According to Pew Research, a slim majority of top podcasts (58%) feature a single host, though the format itself varies widely.

Monologue or solo podcast 🔗

This is the simplest format: one host, one microphone, one voice. The University of Toronto’s podcasting guide describes this as a single-track format featuring a solo voice – akin to talk radio – with possible music interludes for variety. It demands a compelling speaker who can hold a listener’s attention without the energy of conversation. Shows like Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History are legendary examples of this format. It’s also the easiest format for a beginner to start with, requiring only a microphone and preparation.

Co-hosted podcast 🔗

Two or more regular hosts share the platform, discussing topics, reacting to each other, and building chemistry over time. The University of Toronto guide describes this as a conversation among multiple regular contributors, similar in structure to a panel discussion. The strength of this format is its natural conversational energy – it’s easier to listen to a genuine exchange than a monologue, and the dynamic between hosts gives a show its personality. Many of the most beloved podcast brands are built on co-host chemistry.

Interview podcast 🔗

In this format, the host invites a guest – an expert, a celebrity, a journalist, or anyone with a compelling story – for a conversation. The interview format’s appeal lies in its intimate setting, which can feel like eavesdropping on a private conversation. Editing can range from minimal (a raw, uncut chat) to highly produced (music, multiple voices, restructured clips). Pew Research found that interview podcasts make up 23% of top-ranked shows in the US, making it the second most common format after deep-reporting. The interview podcast is especially popular in news, politics, and entertainment genres.

Narrative and dramatic formats 🔗

Beyond conversation lies the most immersive – and often the most demanding – category of podcasting: the narrative and dramatic formats. These shows are not built around discussion; they are built around storytelling. They aim to create what producers sometimes call a “movie for your ears.” They are typically the most expensive and labour-intensive to produce, but also the most powerful in terms of audience engagement.

Narrative non-fiction 🔗

This format tells a true story using the tools of fiction: plot, character development, suspense, and a strong narrative arc. The host acts as a storyteller-guide, taking the listener through a real event, a historical moment, or a biography. Shows like Serial and This American Life are widely cited as masters of this approach. The University of Toronto’s podcasting typology identifies this structure – narration combined with interviews and other audio – as one of the most common non-fiction story shapes, used by landmark shows like 99% Invisible and Radiolab.

Narrative fiction 🔗

Narrative fiction podcasts tell invented stories, sometimes across multiple episodes. These shows are similar in structure to dramatic television, using tension, climaxes, and cliffhangers to drive the narrative forward. Some are narrated by a single voice; others use entire casts of performers with full sound design. Crucially, fiction podcasts can also carry social purpose – a made-up story can be a powerful vehicle for exploring real issues like injustice, grief, or identity, reaching audiences who might resist a more direct approach.

Audio documentary 🔗

The audio documentary is closely related to narrative non-fiction, but its defining characteristic is its heavy reliance on field recordings and ambient sound. The producer goes on location – to a courtroom, a protest, a rainforest – and captures not just interviews but the sounds of the environment itself. This sonic texture is what separates a documentary from a narrated story: the listener doesn’t just hear about a place; they are transported into it.

Docudrama 🔗

The docudrama is a hybrid format that takes real events and uses dramatic techniques to bring them to life. This might involve actors reading from actual diaries, letters, or court transcripts, or using sound design to reconstruct a historical event. It blurs the boundary between factual documentary and creative drama, making history feel immediate and personal rather than distant and academic.

Audio drama 🔗

The audio drama is the most fully fictional format – a direct descendant of the radio plays that dominated broadcasting in the early-to-mid 20th century. Messiah University’s podcasting resource describes audio dramas as shows that either create original dramatic content or adapt existing written works, typically featuring multiple voice actors, music, ambience, and sound effects. There is no narrator explaining the story – the world is built entirely through performance and sound. From science fiction to psychological horror, audio dramas represent some of the most creative work being produced in podcasting today.

What makes podcasting such a rich medium is precisely this range. A single word – “podcast” – can describe one person speaking candidly into a phone microphone, or a team of writers, actors, and sound engineers producing a fully scripted audio world. Understanding these classifications doesn’t just help you find better content to listen to; it helps you think clearly about what kind of creator or producer you want to be, and what tools and skills that will require.

What do you think? Given how much the video podcast format is growing, do you believe audio-only podcasting will remain the standard for serious journalism and storytelling – or will video eventually become the default? And among the narrative formats, which do you think requires the most skill to produce well: the audio documentary, the docudrama, or the full audio drama?

References

1. https://www.teleprompter.com/blog/podcast-statistics
2. https://castos.com/podcast-format/
3. https://backlinko.com/podcast-stats
4. https://podcastatistics.com/
5. https://www.notta.ai/en/blog/podcast-statistics
6. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2023/06/15/podcast-format/
7. https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/c.php?g=721294&p=5188951
8. https://radioactivemedia.com/types-of-podcasts/
9. https://libguides.messiah.edu/podcast/formats