Startup idea for anyone so inclined: Create a podcast distribution service where podcasters pay the current cost of a postage stamp per listener to push podcasts onto devices. If the recipient listens to the podcast, the money is refunded to the podcaster. If they delete it or ignore it for 30 days, they keep the money. The podcasters are allowed to see anonymized metrics for who listens to what. Listeners can use their earnings to tip their favorite podcasters, or just cash out.
How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#12The algorithm seems to be weighted to boost new subscriptions - looking at the Chartable top US-all there is one at #20 which recently launched (has 6 episodes) which is above This American Life at #28
While Apple doesn't comment on how the rankings are calculated, the common knowledge is indeed that its heavily biased towards recent subscriptions.
Maybe it should be more weighted towards regular releases over a longer period of time... points for releasing on average of once a day, or once a week for over 2 years after hitting X subscribers. I can't speak for anyone else, but those are the podcasts that I would be most inclined to want to hear/see.
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#13Startup idea for anyone so inclined: Create a podcast distribution service where podcasters pay the current cost of a postage stamp per listener to push podcasts onto devices. If the recipient listens to the podcast, the money is refunded to the podcaster. If they delete it or ignore it for 30 days, they keep the money. The podcasters are allowed to see anonymized metrics for who listens to what. Listeners can use th…
Couldn't we just skip the technology part and have podcasters send money directly to scammers in exchange for the scammers not listening to their podcasts?
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#14Startup idea for anyone so inclined: Create a podcast distribution service where podcasters pay the current cost of a postage stamp per listener to push podcasts onto devices. If the recipient listens to the podcast, the money is refunded to the podcaster. If they delete it or ignore it for 30 days, they keep the money. The podcasters are allowed to see anonymized metrics for who listens to what. Listeners can use th…
So you're paying people to not listen to podcasts?
That seems like the mother of all perverse incentives.
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#15A podcaster (and Youtuber) who I really enjoy is CGP Grey. He has been proposing allowing voluntary removal of view numbers from Youtube and similar platforms. I think Apple should fix or remove their rankings but, please , don't add any more metrics. The podcast world is currently mostly immune from so much of the clickbaity trash on Youtube (that arguably isn't even YT's fault). I admit it's very counterintuitive o…
> I admit it's very counterintuitive or almost subversive these days to suggest that internet points be kept secret.
Interesting point. I'm not sure if you already know this, but Hacker News used to display points for each comment previously. This was turned off in...I dunno, early 2011?
I don't think it's harmed user activity on the site at all!
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#16Startup idea for anyone so inclined: Create a podcast distribution service where podcasters pay the current cost of a postage stamp per listener to push podcasts onto devices. If the recipient listens to the podcast, the money is refunded to the podcaster. If they delete it or ignore it for 30 days, they keep the money. The podcasters are allowed to see anonymized metrics for who listens to what. Listeners can use th…
Couldn't we just skip the technology part and have podcasters send money directly to scammers in exchange for the scammers not listening to their podcasts?
"Scammer" here is someone who signs up and then never listens to anything? Don't send them anything. Scammer and spammer problems solved.
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#17Startup idea for anyone so inclined: Create a podcast distribution service where podcasters pay the current cost of a postage stamp per listener to push podcasts onto devices. If the recipient listens to the podcast, the money is refunded to the podcaster. If they delete it or ignore it for 30 days, they keep the money. The podcasters are allowed to see anonymized metrics for who listens to what. Listeners can use th…
So you're paying people to not listen to podcasts? That seems like the mother of all perverse incentives.
Sure, kind of like direct mail marketing except the victim gets the money (minus a bit) instead of the post office. It wouldn't be very profitable because non-activity would show up in the metrics and podcasters would not distribute to them--unless the podcaster is just indiscriminately spamming everyone, in which case, they're just paying people to ignore them until they go broke.
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#18It's going to be just like record charts. People are looking for those popularity lists to find the interesting and good stuff that other people are listening to. We'll have scandals, companies will be pushing up their own ratings via nefarious means. Then you get more viewers, more money from advertisers, your network benefits - there must be podcast celebrities who get the equivalent of payola to say they like another podcast. History repeats itself.
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#19A podcaster (and Youtuber) who I really enjoy is CGP Grey. He has been proposing allowing voluntary removal of view numbers from Youtube and similar platforms. I think Apple should fix or remove their rankings but, please , don't add any more metrics. The podcast world is currently mostly immune from so much of the clickbaity trash on Youtube (that arguably isn't even YT's fault). I admit it's very counterintuitive o…
> I admit it's very counterintuitive or almost subversive these days to suggest that internet points be kept secret. Interesting point. I'm not sure if you already know this, but Hacker News used to display points for each comment previously. This was turned off in...I dunno, early 2011? I don't think it's harmed user activity on the site at all!
I did not know that but I'm glad they did. Displaying "internet points" causes herd mentality to propagate and removes critical thinking or at least diminishes one's capacity to genuinely listen to one's own feeling. The same goes beyond intellectual content; ditto for creative content (e.g. YouTube videos) etc.
Re: How spammers are gaming the podcast charts
#20A podcaster (and Youtuber) who I really enjoy is CGP Grey. He has been proposing allowing voluntary removal of view numbers from Youtube and similar platforms. I think Apple should fix or remove their rankings but, please , don't add any more metrics. The podcast world is currently mostly immune from so much of the clickbaity trash on Youtube (that arguably isn't even YT's fault). I admit it's very counterintuitive o…
> I admit it's very counterintuitive or almost subversive these days to suggest that internet points be kept secret.
Media popularity rankings are toxic for everyone but distribution middlemen and advertisers. They turn what should be heterogeneous markets for content producers and their audiences in many different niches (geographic area, interests, subcultures, etc), into a global winner-take-all popularity race in a single market (owned by the distribution middlemen, like iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc). The kind of market where every seller is ranked by a single metric and only the top few are rewarded makes sense for things like professional sports, but very little else.