“Serial” put international attention on Adnan's case. The co-creator and host, public radio veteran Sarah Koenig, scrutinized old evidence, discovered new facts and raised urgent questions about the justice system writ large.
“What’s happened in podcasting is like going from the 1950s, when there were only three or four television networks on air, to a vast and unlimited ocean of content,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at the data firm Comscore. “‘Serial’ was a unique event in the history of podcasting and a signal moment for the expansion of the form into a popular medium,” said Charles Kravetz, the former general manager of the Boston public radio station WBUR. “It increased the audience and increased the competition."
“Serial” was back on top of the podcast charts Tuesday with a new one-off episode called “Adnan Is Out.” The state of affairs in the podcasting world parallels trends in television. In the early 2000s, HBO series like “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” were among a select group of shows with novelistic ambitions. These days, so-called “prestige” TV programs are a dime a dozen, making it harder for new entrants on streaming services or premium cable to stand out.
In the years since, the stylistic tropes of true-crime podcasting have become all too easy to satirize. “Vengeance,” B.J. Novak’s directorial debut, spoofed some of the shopworn cliches of the genre: confessional voice-over narration, precious literary conceits. Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” gently ribs podcast creators, too. Steve Martin and Martin Short’s amateur sleuths try to solve mysteries as they contend with their budding celebrity, fending off the entreaties of cultish fans.