Podcasting is getting huge • Hacker News Board

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#41

Post by corobo » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:15 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #17

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 t…

I used to feel the same way until I realised listening to podcasts was more a passive activity. Reading is active - as in you have to take time away from other things to do it - listening to podcasts is more akin to listening to music.

It's possible to do actively of course, I know there are people out there that listen to music without any interruptions. The primary market for podcasts however are likely to be people who are doing something else and passively listening to them. They may focus in on a subject as it's talked about but a lot of the podcast will only be taken in as a distraction from background noise or silence.

Of course this is all guesswork based on my own opinion and use case, a little of how other podcast listeners I know ingest podcasts too

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#42

Post by kmfrk » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:17 PM UTC

I'm surprised how little I've seen someone trying to sell pickaxes for the gold rush of podcasting.

I don't know whether that's an indicator of a trend, or whether the domain knowledge just makes such a venture unfeasible, but I'd imagine to see people renting out recording studios and selling bundled podcasting setups with training and the like, if this were such a huge trend.

Is anyone currently doing this?

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#43

Post by jhwhite » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:20 PM UTC

bovermyer wrote: post #32

This quote made me feel really old: > Podcasting has been around for about a decade — the term is a reference to the iPod, which older readers will remember as an iPhone that only played music. Now I'm in the category of "older readers." Lovely.

Same here. It blows my mind that there are people that need to be explained what an iPod is, especially in context to an iPhone.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#44

Post by kawsper » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:22 PM UTC

jsmeaton wrote: post #28

arethuza wrote: post #16

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.

Rogan? So many ads for Audible.

Twit.tv as well. I think they sponsored all the popular podcasts.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#45

Post by ShaneOG » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:22 PM UTC

Zach_the_Lizard wrote: post #33

bane wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a long commute, car/bike/train/etc. they're basically perfect audio companions. I couldn't figure out what to do with them either until I decided to stop listening to the news on a daily basis during my commute (it made me too aggravated).

>If you have a long commute, car/bike/train/etc. they're basically perfect audio companions. On bikes, at least where I live, using headphones is illegal. I'd love to listen to music or podcasts on my bike but I just can't do it with only one ear covered. It's probably not advisable anyways. Interestingly, it is legal to ride a bike or even drive a car while deaf. It would be illegal for a deaf person to cover both e…

Totally off-topic, but where do you live?

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#46

Post by dagw » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:23 PM UTC

kmfrk wrote: post #42

I'm surprised how little I've seen someone trying to sell pickaxes for the gold rush of podcasting. I don't know whether that's an indicator of a trend, or whether the domain knowledge just makes such a venture unfeasible, but I'd imagine to see people renting out recording studios and selling bundled podcasting setups with training and the like, if this were such a huge trend. Is anyone currently doing this?

Both Panoply and Gimlet (two popular podcasting companies) are getting into that business to various degrees. Panoply recently co-produced and co-promoted a podcast with GE while Gimlet seems to be more focused on doing pure "white-label" podcasts where they'll do all the production work, but their name doesn't appear on the final product.

Basically if you are company and want a podcast they'll make it for you (or work with you to make it).

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#47

Post by ekianjo » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:23 PM UTC

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #40

ekianjo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Podcasts are great for that. They are great for that because, just like the Radio, it's not really important if you listen half of the time - because it's precisely low density, low quality content.

Classifying an entire medium as "low quality content" is pretty damn shortsighted. You do know that listeners get to choose what podcasts they press "play" on, right?

It's not short-sighted once you consider the large mass of podcasts is composed of people recording themselves speaking without any prior script. Of course it's going to be low density and low quality, just like a chat with friends.

There are exceptions like Serial, but that's what they are: exceptions.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#48

Post by marcosdumay » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:24 PM UTC

corobo wrote: post #41

jacquesm wrote: post #17

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 t…

I used to feel the same way until I realised listening to podcasts was more a passive activity. Reading is active - as in you have to take time away from other things to do it - listening to podcasts is more akin to listening to music. It's possible to do actively of course, I know there are people out there that listen to music without any interruptions. The primary market for podcasts however are likely to be peopl…

I have the same "problem" as the GP.

If I just let a podcast play on the backgrond, I'll certainly learn nothing at all from it.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#49

Post by madeofpalk » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:26 PM UTC

bovermyer wrote: post #32

This quote made me feel really old: > Podcasting has been around for about a decade — the term is a reference to the iPod, which older readers will remember as an iPhone that only played music. Now I'm in the category of "older readers." Lovely.

I'm sure/hope it was tongue in cheek, but I did find that pretty amusing.

My brother is 18 and he would probably be 'one of the last' to use a scroll-wheel iPod.

Re: Podcasting is getting huge

#50

Post by pluma » Wed, Dec 16, 2015, 1:27 PM UTC

bane wrote: post #23

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…

Out of curiosity, what podcasts do you listen to that have ads? I listen to a couple hours of podcasts every day for a couple years now and have never heard one (beyond the podcast itself asking for patreon support).

I don't think I've heard many podcasts with actual radio-style ad breaks, but there are plenty with sponsors (e.g. TWiT, DevChat.tv, Spec.fm, Jupiter Broadcasting -- except for Tech Talk Today and Unfilter which are Patreon-supported).

Luckily with the podcasts I'm subscribed to most of the sponsors tend to be relevant to the actual shows. The only irrelevant sponsor I recall is Ting (a Canada-based US mobile provider I think).