Russ: Imagine your podcast getting copied... hundreds of times.
Nadia: I'm Nadia.
Russ: And I'm Russ.
Nadia: And this is Feed Drop. It's Wednesday, November 11th.
Russ: We're tracking three big stories shaking up the podcast world.
Nadia: The big hosting platforms are finally cracking down on those infuriating copycat shows.
Russ: Then, we've got a new king of video podcasts. And it's not who you think.
Nadia: Plus, Netflix has a new Y2K teen drama that feels lab-grown to go viral... but does it actually work?
Nadia: Alright, let's start with a problem that drives creators crazy: copycat podcasts.
Russ: Ugh, the worst. The ones that just rip off your entire feed, artwork and all, and upload it as their own to clutter up the apps?
Nadia: Exactly. They siphon off listeners, confuse search results, and sometimes even inject their own ads. It's theft, plain and simple.
Russ: So what's the good news? You said there was good news.
Nadia: There is. Podnews reports that Spreaker, which is owned by iHeart, is now actively taking down copycat shows from its platform.
Russ: About damn time. What took them so long? This has been a problem for, what, a decade?
Nadia: It's a huge game of whack-a-mole, but Spreaker putting a real process in place is a massive step. They’re giving podcasters a formal way to report fakes, and their safety team is actually following through.
Russ: So this isn't just a one-off press release? It's a real policy change?
Nadia: That's what it looks like. And the hope is, if a platform as big as Spreaker is doing this, others will have to follow just to keep up.
Russ: Okay, so what does this mean for a normal listener? Does my podcast app get less cluttered?
Nadia: Pretty much. It means when you search for a show, you're more likely to find the real one. And creators get to keep the audience—and the money—they've actually earned.
Russ: Alright, a win for the little guy. I'll take it.
Russ: Alright Nadia, next up: there's been a major shakeup at the top of the charts. We have a new king.
Nadia: A huge one. According to Podnews, Steven Bartlett's 'The Diary of a CEO' has officially overtaken 'The Joe Rogan Experience' as the biggest video podcast on the planet, by subscribers.
Russ: Whoa. Globally? I knew Bartlett was big in the UK, but bigger than Rogan? Rogan is... Rogan. He's a category unto himself.
Nadia: Well, not by this metric. The numbers come from the Podcast Index, which is tracking YouTube channel subscribers. And look, it's a huge deal. Rogan has been the undisputed king for years, even after going exclusive to Spotify.
Russ: So how did he do it? Is the show just that much better? No offense to Bartlett, but Rogan's guest list is insane.
Nadia: The content's definitely strong, but the real story is strategy. Bartlett's team has absolutely perfected the social media clip. They dice every interview into dozens of viral moments for TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Reels.
Russ: Okay, but lots of shows do that now. That's not exactly a secret.
Nadia: True, but here's the part that most people miss, and it's buried in the Podnews report. An estimated twenty-six percent of his YouTube views are from auto-translated, non-English subtitles.
Russ: Wait—a quarter of his audience isn't even listening in English? They're reading the podcast?
Nadia: Exactly. They've globalized the content without dubbing a single episode. It's a masterclass in reaching a massive international audience that most English-language podcasters, even the biggest ones, completely ignore.
Russ: So the lesson for creators is: you're leaving a huge audience on the table if you only think in English.
Nadia: That's the new playbook. The top of the chart just proved it.
Nadia: Alright, let's switch gears to Netflix for our last story. There's a new show called 'The Body'.
Russ: Hold on, 'The Body'? Is this a podcast? I thought this was Feed Drop, not... Screen Time.
Nadia: [laughs] It's a TV show, but stick with me. It’s from Quinn Shephard, who made 'Under the Bridge' for Hulu, and it’s already being called a 'genre-bending YA drama.' This is exactly the kind of show that's built to spawn an entire universe of podcasts.
Russ: Ah, I see. The after-show companion podcast, the fan-theory podcast, the inevitable true-crime knock-off... So is the show itself any good? Is it worth all those future podcasts?
Nadia: The early buzz is huge. Variety is calling it a 'queer Y2K extravaganza' that captures the intense, almost spiritual experience of being a teenage girl.
Russ: Y2K, you say? So we're talking low-rise jeans and the sound of a dial-up modem as a plot point?
Nadia: [laughs] That's the exact aesthetic. The review loves its surreal, unsettling tone—comparing it to 'Yellowjackets'—and the story is about teen girls who find a body, but it's less about the 'whodunnit' and more about how it completely upends their friendships and their town.
Russ: Sounds intense. And also sounds like perfect fodder for a million TikTok theories, which I guess is the whole point for Netflix.
Nadia: That's the whole strategy. Make something people have to talk about online. And these days, podcasts are a huge part of that conversation. So for listeners, if you get into this show, get ready for a dozen new pods to pop up in your feed.
Russ: As long as none of them are copycats.
Nadia: Alright, let's do a quick recap.
Russ: Hosting platforms, led by Spreaker, are finally fighting back against copycat podcasts.
Nadia: Steven Bartlett has dethroned Joe Rogan as the king of video podcasts, thanks in large part to a killer global subtitle strategy.
Russ: And Netflix's new teen drama 'The Body' is poised to launch an entire universe of podcasts.
Nadia: Before we go, a quick 'what we're actually listening to'. Russ?
Russ: I caught up on the 'Twenty Thousand Hertz' episode about the sound design for the 'Dune' movies. It’s absolutely mind-blowing how they made the sandworms sound. I highly recommend it.
Nadia: Oh, a classic. Great pick. Love that show.
Nadia: And that's our show. Thanks for listening to Feed Drop.
Russ: We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, make sure you're subscribed to the real version of your favorite podcasts.
This show is made with AI: the hosts’ voices are synthetic and the scripts are AI-assisted. Every story links to its original source.