[johannes1234321]

There is a set of hobby casts in small niches.

Also in some countries you got public radio stations producing podcasts (even podcast first formats not played on radio) - while that might Fall under subscription, while not being a subscription on anything specific.

[bunderbunder]

There is, but I’ve also seen some of my favorite hobby casts either get retroactively crammed full of ads or just get taken down entirely because, no thanks to the glut of bot traffic we seem to have nowadays, hosting fees grew to be untenable for a hobby project.

[BrandoElFollito]

Yes, we have numerous fantastic podcasts in France, from the national radios (ads-free).

The coverage of topics is very good in some areas (non-tech) and so so in tech

[carlosjobim]

Maybe all podcasters should learn by the French example, and simply threaten people to give them money, whether they are listeners or not? Threaten them with prison if they don't pay? Joe Rogan could show up at your door and demand that you give him money for his podcast.

[cm2012]

You are right, there is a fourth category of public service/taxation.