Podcast Pontifications

While the cash-flush see podcasting as the Next Big Thing, those high expectations can be problematic if the medium fails to deliver serious returns. Where prior boom/bust cycles haven't proven a fatal blow, we've not seen investments of this size before. 

Which begs the question: What happens if podcasting fails again?

In this short episode, I'll look at that potential (though unlikely, IMHO) future, offering up some comparison of prior podcasting failures. 

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.

Podcasting will likely see at least one billion dollars of investment money in 2019 alone. And while VCs are used to losing most of the bets they make, they're also used to very big payoffs. And it's that pressure to make huge returns that may signal the end of free podcasting as we know it.

On this short episode, I focus on the apocalyptic -- the aPODcalypse, if you will -- when most people are listening to either heavily ad-supported content or various (and varied) "pay to listen" curation apps and destinations. 

How likely is this future? Fairly, I'd say. Ad-supported shows are going to be under heavy pressure to squeeze more money out of a relatively small audience (comparatively speaking), which means loads more ads getting in the way of content. 

Suddenly, paying a few bucks to access ad-free and highly curated content might be a lot more appealing. But we'll see what the future holds!

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.

To properly index podcast content, sounds need to be converted to something like text, if only for a robot to parse through and make sense of. It's only a matter of when, not if, unscrupulous black-hat scammers try to rig the game.

In this short episode, I'll share one possible scenario that looks a lot like the black-hate SEO game of the late '90s and early '00s. Back then, it was common to display white text on a white background at the bottom of the page. No human would see it (unless they viewed the source of the page), but the at-the-time dumb robots would happily add that text to the visible text on the page. Back then, more instances of the keyword would almost guarantee you a spot on the first page of search results for that phrase.

Today, the most used search algorithms for podcasts are even dumber than these early efforts. And that's a fertile breeding ground for bad behavior and shady businesses to do chart manipulation on a whole new scale. Don't fall for it!

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.

Say it with me: Downloads and increased listener rate of your podcast are NOT BUSINESS OUTCOME.

They are tactical outputs. And while very important to success, THEY ARE NOT BUSINESS GOALS.

In this short episode, I implore you to focus on the outcomes for your business that your podcast serves. Very un-sexy things like:

• Increase retention and acquisition rates
• lower operating costs or increase revenues
• measurable cultural change

That's a big shift from tracking downloads and retweets. But if you really are treating your podcast as a part of your business, you have a fiduciary (another unsexy word) responsibility with your business (or yourself, if you are the business) to treat it as such.

I'm hopeful this episode helps you make the mindset switch required.

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.

Podcasting is the most intimate medium we've come up with to date. Yet far too many podcasters treat their show like it's being listened to by hundreds (or thousands, or tens) of people enjoying a movie together.

Not true. We have solid evidence that shows most podcast listening is singular, with headphones plugged into a mobile phone.

That means a single person. You should be talking to a single person with each and every episode.

In this short episode, I talk to you about why that's such a challenge and ways to work through it. And as a bonus, I encourage you to go even further, giving your perfect listener (avatar, though I hate that word) a name. It'll change the way you do your show. For the better.

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.