With one billion podcast downloads from iTunes alone in 2014, podcasts have never been so popular. The growth in audience numbers has been in part attributed to the popularity of investigative crime show Serial; which has had more than five million downloads since launching in 2014. What has this meant for the industry? Keeren Flora talks podcasting with media journalist Abigail Edge, to find out how podcast producers are finding innovative ways to fund their work. Abigail gives her take on future developments in the industry and offers some top tips for budding producers. Abigail Edge is a journalist who specialises in the media. She is the U.S. community and editorial manager at visual-storytelling platform Shorthand and writes for journalism.co.uk, TheMediaBriefing and The Next Web. She produced podcasts for Journalism.co.uk, when she was technology editor.