Podcasting: Hot or Cold?

Is podcasting really cooling off? Or is it just maturing and evolving?

Is there going to be a big split between the 'hobbyist' independent podcasters (who started the whole enchilada) and the corporate podguys?

A short article from Red Herring - RED HERRING | Podcasting Cools Off - shows that venture capital to podcasting is on the downtick, but ad projections are rising significantly.

More to the point, Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome.com makes a good point when he comments that there is no 'Google' AdSense for podcasting. Yet.

So while podcasting grows into the stratosphere and the corporate bigwigs try and figure out what to do with this new medium and how to reach their audience, the venture capitalists are peering at podcasting with a careful eye. Where is the money to be made in podcasting?

Methinks it will come from the companies that help others make their podcasts work: from creating great content, professional sounding programs, tip-top search engine optimization, blogging and pinging and making it easy as pie for the end user to podcast.