\n<\/p>\n
The audience for podcasts continues to grow, with 42 percent of Americans 12 and older reporting last year that they had listened to one in the previous month, according to a report by Edison Research<\/a>. Making money isn\u2019t simple, in part because the market is so saturated that there isn\u2019t enough advertising revenue to go around, said Ethan Cramer-Flood, a principal forecasting writer at Insider Intelligence, a market research firm.<\/p>\n PodCo, which was founded last year, expects to turn a profit by the second quarter of 2024, Romano said. The company plans to introduce 10 new podcasts this year, starting with \u201cPretty Little Pod\u201d featuring Shaw and Tammin Sursok, who appeared together in the ABC Family series \u201cPretty Little Liars\u201d; and \u201cTread Carefully\u201d with Kira Kosarin, who was in the Nickelodeon series \u201cThe Thundermans.\u201d<\/p>\n Romano said it was never her plan to capitalize on nostalgia. Rather, she said, she ended up greenlighting shows featuring former stars of Disney and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms because they were people she knew and could trust.<\/p>\n She hopes the podcasts are places these stars can feel heard, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been a silent, niche population of people that were conditioned to be compliant and never truly understood our autonomy,\u201d Romano said. \u201cI want to show them that they can be empowered by having these podcasts.\u201d<\/p>\n The hosts haven\u2019t been afraid to get personal.<\/p>\n Jennifer Stone, who played Harper Finkle on \u201cWizards of Waverly Place,\u201d recalled feeling left out on set at times<\/a> in an emotional exchange on \u201cWaverly Pod\u201d with her co-host and former co-star David DeLuise. Alyson Stoner, who was a host of the Disney Channel series \u201cMike\u2019s Super Short Show\u201d and was in the film \u201cCheaper by the Dozen,\u201d has discussed being stalked<\/a> and other pressures of child stardom on her podcast, \u201cDear Hollywood,\u201d which is not a PodCo franchise.<\/p>\n As they adjust to the new platform, the hosts have occasionally landed themselves in trouble. The \u201cNed\u2019s Declassified\u201d stars appeared in a TikTok live video on March 18 in which they appeared to mock Drake Bell, a former star of the Nickelodeon series \u201cDrake & Josh\u201d who shared his account of being sexually abused by his dialogue coach<\/a> in \u201cQuiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV<\/a>,\u201d a new Investigation Discovery documentary series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n