I think there may also be a set of excessive expectations where things were overvalued. Podcasts are great, but the expectation that two guys spending an hour talking about a subject -- whatever that subject is -- is worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars only worked in an overhyped environment with lots of investors throwing money around (and similarly the expectation that people should be spending thousands on equipment for minuscule differences in quality is silly).

More succinctly, not sure if podcasting or YT really make sense as careers unless they're explicitly tied to a business (see also Substacks).

As for things like Nostr or even SN, the idea that most comments are ever worth more than peanuts just isn't realistic.