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Podcasting is getting huge

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Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#11

Post by iagooar »

JamesBaxter wrote: post #7

I understand that a huge percentage of podcast listeners are based in the US but the number of hours I've spent listening to completely irrelevant adverts is insane. Surely someone can make a service that takes a podcast feed and packages it with different adverts for different markets and then creates new feeds. I'd make it but the scaling sales end is not something I know how to do. I suppose it depends how Apple i…

The major problem is that you can't control the behavior of a podcast client. Some of them will cache you media files "forever", unless you explicitly change the guid. But changing the guid has negative effects on some clients too, as they will re-download the episode because they will see it as new, thus creating duplicate entries.

This is the reason why you just cannot create dynamic ads if you want to stick to the standard RSS+client approach (like iTunes).

Some of the podcasters have started actually building their own native apps to have better control of the content they emit, but it comes with reduced visibility. This is why most of podcasters still release their stuff through iTunes, but invite the listeners to download their app.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#12

Post by anton_gogolev »

oliao wrote: post #9
JamesBaxter wrote: post #7

I understand that a huge percentage of podcast listeners are based in the US but the number of hours I've spent listening to completely irrelevant adverts is insane. Surely someone can make a service that takes a podcast feed and packages it with different adverts for different markets and then creates new feeds. I'd make it but the scaling sales end is not something I know how to do. I suppose it depends how Apple i…

I like the idea. I find the advertising inside podcasts also particularly annoying. You can't ignore them by looking away like you would on a screen. Maybe we need an adblock for podcasts (even if it will be difficult to automize -> some manual stripping of the parts where they are promoting stuff)

> even if it will be difficult to automize

Crowdsourcing? See if a lot of people skip over certain fragments of an episode and mark it as "advertisement". Granted, this requires some level of cooperation from podcast player applications.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#13

Post by vdaniuk »

oliao wrote: post #9
JamesBaxter wrote: post #7

I understand that a huge percentage of podcast listeners are based in the US but the number of hours I've spent listening to completely irrelevant adverts is insane. Surely someone can make a service that takes a podcast feed and packages it with different adverts for different markets and then creates new feeds. I'd make it but the scaling sales end is not something I know how to do. I suppose it depends how Apple i…

I like the idea. I find the advertising inside podcasts also particularly annoying. You can't ignore them by looking away like you would on a screen. Maybe we need an adblock for podcasts (even if it will be difficult to automize -> some manual stripping of the parts where they are promoting stuff)

Yes, please! Let's make bootstrapping and indie projects as hard as possible by placing advertising control solely in the hands of large corporations that have means and resources to fight adblocking.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#14

Post by [deleted] »

oliao wrote: post #9
JamesBaxter wrote: post #7

I understand that a huge percentage of podcast listeners are based in the US but the number of hours I've spent listening to completely irrelevant adverts is insane. Surely someone can make a service that takes a podcast feed and packages it with different adverts for different markets and then creates new feeds. I'd make it but the scaling sales end is not something I know how to do. I suppose it depends how Apple i…

I like the idea. I find the advertising inside podcasts also particularly annoying. You can't ignore them by looking away like you would on a screen. Maybe we need an adblock for podcasts (even if it will be difficult to automize -> some manual stripping of the parts where they are promoting stuff)

[deleted]

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#15

Post by jacquesm »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #4

The problem with podcasting for me is I have no easy way to consume them that isn't already part of my entertainment workflow. Literally, if it isn't something I can subscribe to in Youtube, or add it to my queue in Netflix, eventually it just gets lost and falls out of my entertainment workflow.

> entertainment workflow

That's a bit of a contradiction.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#16

Post by arethuza »

I used to have a serious podcast habit - one of which used to run adverts for Audible. Now I listen to audiobooks and hardly ever listen to podcasts and never listen to the podcast where I learned about Audible.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#17

Post by jacquesm »

I've tried consuming podcasts on a number of occasions. I've utterly failed at finding a way to appreciate them, even on subjects that interest me. Reading faster than people speak is a factor (much faster) and being able to skim and dive in where I'm interested, ability to bookmark, to cut-and-paste bits for my notes files and so on. Besides reading is a lot easier for me to stay concentrated on the content rather than listening to someone talking. Podcasting just isn't for me, but I totally understand that there are people for who they are very useful. Any article can be turned into speech by using text-to-speech software, it would be nice if podcasts could be turned into transcripts with similar ease.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#18

Post by vijayr »

danso wrote: post #6
adamncasey wrote: post #2

I remember podcasts being pretty big sometime around 2008 - a lot of podcasts have stopped publishing since then. Is it ahead of where it was then?

The Serial podcast is huge, and in journalism, one of the few bright spots of success in indepth reporting...I would say that that alone has accounted for the majority of upswing in number of media reports proclaiming the new popularity of podcasts. So, despite the stats of increased downloads/awareness cited...which may not be impressive at all if we compare them against the overall uptick in phone adoption and mobi…

Serial podcast was great. Tim Feriss is good, Dan Carlin is awesome. Any other podcast you'd recommend? Excluding the self promotional internet business types.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#19

Post by bane »

I listen to a huge assortment of retrocomputing related podcasts (partial list here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8544576) using the podcast addict app.

tbh, I'm subscribed to far more than I can ever listen to, and I'm in my car for at least 2 hours a day. Right now, I'm addicted to the ANTIC podcast which features an almost impossible number of interviews with people from all over the early computer industry who experienced working for a fast growth startup, the bust that followed and the hand-off to an unexpected acquirer. It took a few episodes to get going, but it's very addictive now.

I'm pretty much convinced that there's a selection of podcasts for just about any interest. They act as an audio-only companion to my youtube subscriptions...and there's even a bit of overlap between the two communities.

Everything I listen to is very amateur/hobbyist produced (like most youtube videos) and it often shows, but the enthusiasm is often enough to pull me through.

I had completely ignored podcasts until about 3 years ago and started seriously getting into them a couple years ago. I've even got my parents hooked on a couple.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#20

Post by Lewton »

oliao wrote: post #9
JamesBaxter wrote: post #7

I understand that a huge percentage of podcast listeners are based in the US but the number of hours I've spent listening to completely irrelevant adverts is insane. Surely someone can make a service that takes a podcast feed and packages it with different adverts for different markets and then creates new feeds. I'd make it but the scaling sales end is not something I know how to do. I suppose it depends how Apple i…

I like the idea. I find the advertising inside podcasts also particularly annoying. You can't ignore them by looking away like you would on a screen. Maybe we need an adblock for podcasts (even if it will be difficult to automize -> some manual stripping of the parts where they are promoting stuff)

> I find the advertising inside podcasts also particularly annoying.

Really? Most podcast apps replace the skip buttons with "jump forward/back 15/30 sec". Hitting a button twice is too much effort in exchange for getting content for free?

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