About 40 years ago, I bought a set of knives after watching late night TV. That is how I first learned about infomercials. That was the first and last thing I bought from an infomercial. I treat all these "shows", "podcasts" as infomercials. Whether they are from a company I am already a customer, one I had bad experience, or a new one, to me they are all infomercials. They ara created to sell you something. I don't call them out, I don't waste my time watching them and just like with TV, I change "channels".
There are some so called "independent" podcasts, I occasionally watch just to see how a product "works", but I know they are sponsored but many companies, at the very least, they are provided with the product to review. To me it is still an infomercial, but not as bad as others.
Be your own judge. Make your own experiments and mistakes, and also learn from the experiences and mistakes of others.