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We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

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Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#31
post #3

Has anyone here listened to the newest episode of Startup? https://gimletmedia.com/shows/startup/6nhr5r/our-company-has... Listening to that has made me doubt that we're in the era of "big podcasting." Here's a quote from Alex Blumberg: "Just nine months earlier, we at Gimlet raised a big round of funding, 15 million dollars. The plan was to invest a lot of that into making more shows, hiring more people. We wanted t…

There biggest issue was that all of their podcasts are expensive and overproduced while the most profitable podcast are unscripted, with interesting hosts. Relay FM isn’t struggling and the most popular Apple related podcasts - The Talk Show and ATP bring in enough money for their hosts to make a good living.

Yeah it's kind of a stretch to call some of them podcasts. They are basically radio shows.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#32
post #15

Yet the user experience is a mess. Podcasts need to be published on so many different platforms manually. Ratings and reviews appear to be non-existant outside of the Apple ecosystem. You still can't export your subscriptions from some major applications, and good luck exporting your listening history from any. I feel like creating something 10x better is such a low hanging fruit, I'm surprised nobody has done it. Ma…

I think you would love PocketCasts.

Thanks for the recommendation. For others looking, I was very happy with DoggCatcher for many years on Android, and am moderately happy with Downcast on iOS now. Downcast does offer iCloud sync with multiple switches for various settings you wish to sync, and import/export (terrible name for something that makes me happy, tho).

The thing that I liked about DoggCatcher is that, as I remember (beyond usual features like search and discovery) it was relatively easy to hook it up to whatever source you wanted. I had lectures in a Dropbox link, and I could point DoggCatcher at the folder and it would pick up my audio files, while being seamlessly integrated with “normal” podcast feeds.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#33

We'll know we hit big podcast when they take away the 'skip forward 15 seconds' button. Advertisers will demand this like they did with video.

I'd be interested to see stats on how often people skip over the ads during a podcast. I admit I do occasionally, but most of the time when I'm listening to a podcast I'm simultaneously doing something - like driving, exercising, mowing the lawn - that makes it inconvenient open my phone, navigate to to the app, and press the skip button a few times. Coupled with the fact that the adds are generally not too long, I d…

I think that's one of the reasons NPR bought Pocket Casts - to get this data. Where are users skipping? When are they dropping out of a podcast? Etc.

Personally I skip forward past ads all the time.

I have half a mind to write a podcast player that skips ads for me. It doesn't feel like an insurmountable problem.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#34

We'll know we hit big podcast when they take away the 'skip forward 15 seconds' button. Advertisers will demand this like they did with video.

I'd be interested to see stats on how often people skip over the ads during a podcast. I admit I do occasionally, but most of the time when I'm listening to a podcast I'm simultaneously doing something - like driving, exercising, mowing the lawn - that makes it inconvenient open my phone, navigate to to the app, and press the skip button a few times. Coupled with the fact that the adds are generally not too long, I d…

Yeah, agreed. They don't seem as unwelcome as other ad forms.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#35

We'll know we hit big podcast when they take away the 'skip forward 15 seconds' button. Advertisers will demand this like they did with video.

App idea:

Community-run data API for podcasts that people mark the beginning and end of audio ads. This way most of the community can skip them.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#36
post #3

Has anyone here listened to the newest episode of Startup? https://gimletmedia.com/shows/startup/6nhr5r/our-company-has... Listening to that has made me doubt that we're in the era of "big podcasting." Here's a quote from Alex Blumberg: "Just nine months earlier, we at Gimlet raised a big round of funding, 15 million dollars. The plan was to invest a lot of that into making more shows, hiring more people. We wanted t…

Great episode, but I thought it was 10-11 million a year

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#37

I’m a longtime podcast listener. The podcasting world did change a lot. The last two years the companies I’ve worked for both decided that it would be a great idea to release something for marketing purposes. The reason why podcasting works was because it was its own little internet within the internet. People with great stories, content that was just different en often more specific and niece then sites and video. W…

For Darknet Diaries I think you meant “non-fiction”! Those are true stories! (I love this podcast as well)

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#38

We'll know we hit big podcast when they take away the 'skip forward 15 seconds' button. Advertisers will demand this like they did with video.

I'd be interested to see stats on how often people skip over the ads during a podcast. I admit I do occasionally, but most of the time when I'm listening to a podcast I'm simultaneously doing something - like driving, exercising, mowing the lawn - that makes it inconvenient open my phone, navigate to to the app, and press the skip button a few times. Coupled with the fact that the adds are generally not too long, I d…

It’s probably one of the best features having an Apple Watch: flick of the wrist, couple of taps, bye bye ad. If I had to pick up my phone, I probably wouldn’t skip the ads, either.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#39
The sad reality is anything that is funded through advertising is going to hit plateaus in the coming years. We've just been oversaturated with it, its become a burning pot for companies to throw money into with no ability to properly attribute it. I can't remember _ever_ buying something as a direct result of advertising.

Re: We’re Entering the Era of Big Podcasting

#40
post #4

One of the things I like most about Podcasts is that they don't overtake my time. They are just interesting enough without being too involving. Games, TV shows and books seem able to really grip my attention and displace everything else including sleep, but podcasts not so much.

I hadn't realized this, but it's so true. Thanks for the insight.
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