Podcast Pontifications

Regardless of your position on podcasting's "discoverability problem," you probably wouldn't mind it if it were easier for potential listeners to find your podcast, right? Me either. But would that come at a cost?

While not everyone agrees on the severity of the problem, few people doubt that social media platforms have been engineered in ways that really aren't the best for our mental health. 

So far, podcasting hasn't been lumped in with that...

Keeping your audience happy is important to maintaining your podcast. But there may be other things you can give your audience to keep them better fed and even happier with your show in the future.

It's unlikely that your audience listens to your show in a vacuum. And it's not just other podcasts, but other types of media and information all vying for more attention from the person you all count as your audience member...

As much as I rail against the "podcasting is cheap and easy" mentality, I have to admit it: podcasting is cheap and easy for a lot of podcasters. But your content doesn't have to sound that way.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but recently, during the recording of a different podcast than this one, my audio was bad...

Many podcasters follow the same playbook: Build a big audience, then give early, special, and private access to a select group who pay for the privilege. But what would happen if you flipped the script?

Podcast apps and big podcast networks often rely on "windowing" to give select users—paying users—exclusive access to a podcast for a week. Sometimes a month...

What will the Singularity of podcasting look like? That's hard to predict. But I'm certain it won't be creator-focused advances that will bring it about. No, it'll be listener-focused advances that get us there.

Which ones? Well, don't quote me on this, but I think one (or more) of these five candidates has a shot...

Like any growing industry, podcasting needs to appeal to a younger audience, if only to keep replenishing supply as well, natural attrition occurs, shall we say. The good news is: the kids love podcasts! 

Edison Research dropped an early data point showing podcasts kicking the pants out of AM/FM radio. At least among 13–24 year-olds listening to spoken-word audio.

If that sounds like NBD to you, let me attempt to persuade you that this is, in fact, a BD...

Data power the business world, and podcasting is no exception. Knowing what works and what doesn't across the whole of podcasting is a major competitive advantage. And guess who now owns it?

Recently, Spotify reached into their big bag of holding and pulled out enough cash to purchase both Podsights and Chartable. A good chunk of the overall podcast advertising spend is at least partially tracked by those two companies...

A lot of podcasters live episode-to-episode, dreaming of getting ahead so they aren't always rushing to get an episode produced and publish. For many, that's an achievable dream. The trick is staying there. 

Broadly speaking, there are two types of podcasters. Those who are working on the next episode they need to produce, and those working on the next episode they need to publish. 

Those two groups are very much not the same...

Everyone leads busy lives, and the smart podcaster doesn't waste their audiences' time. But in your quest to tighten things up, don't forget to build in time to let your audience reflect as they listen.

If there's an ongoing struggle between podcasters and podcast listeners, it is the conflict between breadth and depth. We're busy cranking out more and longer episodes. But what they want from us is to go deeper. And get to the point quicker. Yeah. That's a conflict...

Trust in podcasting extends beyond the host and the listener to a larger, overall trust in the idea of podcasting. Interestingly, podcasting enjoys a greater level of trust than other forms of media. But for how long? 

Photo by Charlotte May from Pexels

In The States, trust in traditional broadcast media is at or near an all-time low, a trend that has been happening since the 1970s...