Podcast Pontifications

A trend towards disintermediation in podcasting has been quietly developing for years. It leaves me wondering when, not if, the big apps, namely Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and Google Podcasts, will disintermediate a mainstay of podcasting; podcast media hosting companies.

Just today, Apple released a new exclusive podcast called Apple News Today. That this new show isn’t being published to other apps/directories isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that Apple isn’t using a podcast media hosting company to host this podcast. (Thanks for tracking that down, Dan!)

Which means that, at least in part, Apple had to build their own podcast media hosting service to make this happen.

And if they dedicated precious developer resources to do this, they must have designs on hosting more podcast audio content directly.

Hosting content directly gives apps/directories a lot more flexibility than relying on media files hosted elsewhere. We already see that here: Apple News Today is pushed out to the Apple News app. And it might make sense to be made available in other Apple-owned destinations -- apps, operating systems, etc. -- in the future.

Spotify is marching quickly down the exclusive path. And as with Apple, Spotify isn’t going to spend the development resources to build a podcast media hosting service unless they plan on doing more.

The cost of hosting and serving podcast media files and is, at least for these power players, pretty low. And having exclusive shows on their respective platforms is nice, but it’s just the start of what they can do when they host and serve podcasts directly. 

Imagine for a moment, a different world without podcast hosting companies. In this alternate universe, podcasters would log into Apple Podcasts Connect and upload the media file directly to Apple, filling out a form and supplying additional content Apple could use to publish the episode across Apple’s ecosystem.

Then the podcaster would do the same for Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and whoever else shows up, probably filling out a similar form and supplying different additional content to each, because they each do things slightly differently.

But before you say, “No one would do that!” I suggest you look at ebook publishing. Because what I just described is exactly what independent publishers have to deal with. That rigamarole hasn’t slowed down ebook publishing. 

Right now, all the apps and directories are forced to accept the standard RSS feed. Sure, they can (and have) extended RSS feeds to accommodate special needs, like the <serial> and <episodic> tags that Apple Podcasts convinced podcast hosting companies to include a few years ago.

But that’s an inefficient path. Why convince the third-party to spend dev resources when you could just ask the second-party -- that’s you and me, working podcaster -- to give you additional info?

Spend some quality time with the Apple Podcasts app (or web app), and you’ll realize there are often show-specific graphics of different sizes and formats than just the square artwork. Again, those aren’t coming from the feed. They come from direct input from the show owner.

I can’t look at these recent moves and see any future where each of the big apps/directories doesn’t start hosing and serving media files on their own. That sure does seem to be the direction they’re all headed right now.

-----

Read the full article and share with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/the-inevitable-dismantling-of-podcast-directories

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is designed to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th. Abortion is a basic healthcare need for the millions of people who can become pregnant. Everyone should have the freedom to decide what’s best for themselves and their families, including when it comes to ending a pregnancy. This decision has dire consequences for individual health and safety, and could have harsh repercussions for other landmark decisions. Restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health and independence of all Americans. Even if you live in a state where abortion rights are upheld, access to safe medical procedures shouldn’t be determined by location, and it shouldn't be the privilege of a small few. You can help by donating to local abortion funds. To find out where to donate for each state, visit donations4abortion.com. If you or someone you know needs help, or if you want to get more involved, here are 5 resources: 1. ShoutYourAbortion.com is a campaign to normalize abortion. 2. DontBanEquality.com is a campaign for companies to take a stand against abortion restrictions. 3. Abortion.cafe has information about where to find clinics. 4. PlanCPills.org provides early at-home abortion pills that you can keep in your medicine cabinet. 5. Choice.CRD.co has a collection of these resources and more. We encourage you to speak up! And spread the word.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podsights - https://podsights.com/privacy