Having mentioned, here recently, some things noted that make (radio show) podcasts lame or deliberately crippled, when an APP is not used, here is a couple measures that I noted today:
Radio talk show went in and out of advertising time, as the hour progressed. The show got to :52 meaning 9:52, and started the 'Top of the Hour' which is (supposed) to mean time for some news coverage. But, nope; all advertisements, and they ran until 10:17 !
That's 25 minutes, of pure advertisements, a really unbelievable stretch of time, (until I measured) !
So, if that is a dumbing down of listener quality, to force the subscription to an APP then a bit despicable, really. But the substance of that, 25 minute program break is clearly relating to the old-school regulation of TV and RADIO media, maybe put in 1980 terms, where such a long stretch of ADs would get the attention of FCC (or Federal Communications Commission).
Now, my speculation being, the advertiser has differing interests, from the casual user / (listener) and typically potentially could face some complaint process. I mean, a stretch of 25 minutes is obviously abusive.
The regulatory environment is perhaps lacking in the older style monitoring, or maybe just lazy in contempory matters...I don't know what specific laws apply. But seemingly a 'bypass' of the spirit of regulation from a consumer standpoint.
Plus, the audio result seems more like a 'chopped up' audio chunk of some program that, originally, had decent continuity. Right now (tonight's show) the audio streamed cuts into and out, mid-sentence often, which doesn't really reflect any decent quality, for the listener, without the APP loaded and running.
The various screen items also, now, have inserts for various 'google play' offers, for purchase, very near and easily confused with the usual click-on targets on-screen.