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We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

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Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#211

Post by saagarjha »

chooseaname wrote: post #128
iamjaredwalters wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind elaborating? I just search for a podcast and click play. Never seemed to need much more functionality than that. What am I missing?

Let's just take the "play bar" (for lack of a better term) that hovers over the 4 menu items at the bottom. It's always there. That's sooo frustrating. It grates on my desire for tidiness. Let me clear that. Long pressing shows no option to clear it. It ... it's just not intuitive at all.

Presumably if you're listening to a podcast you're not digging around the Podcast app? This is how Music works, and I think Podcasts copied this.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#213

Post by ryandrake »

hanklazard wrote: post #103
otikik wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd much rather consume the same content by reading instead of listening. It's faster, it's easier to skim and skip around, you can have hyperlinks to other references, etc My counterargument to that is that in order to do any of those things you need to have your eyes engaged with the content. I can listen to podcasts (or audiobooks) while at the gym, cooking, doing laundry, cleaning dishes, or going to pick my ki…

A slightly different take on your “eye engagement” point is that podcasts allow us to utilize time that would otherwise be spent listening to music, talking to others, thinking, or just zoning out. Combined with Apples air pods (a horribly great piece of technology), I find myself using lots of time for podcasts that I wouldn’t otherwise (like when I’m doing the dishes). I find all of this enjoyable overall but I do…

Are there any studies on how good retention is when consuming books as a background task while you're doing something else? Sample size = 1, but I briefly tried listening to audio books while driving, cooking, etc. but stopped when I realized I got all the way through a few books without even vaguely remembering what they were about.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#214

Post by slg »

sincerely wrote: post #202
slg wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I subscribe to a few as well. The some episodes free and some paid model is the better for discoverability than everything behind a paywall, but it can still be off-putting to new listeners. Although my primary problem with that model is that it isn't sustainable for heavy listeners. Each show can cost anywhere from $2-$10 per month. That adds up quickly. I end up spending more on podcasts a month than I do on Netfli…

Well, maybe this should be a wake up call that the models of services like Spotify aren't really sustainable for the content producers on them.

I can't speak to Spotify, but Netflix certainly seems sustainable with their billions in yearly profit. Either way, the average consumer doesn't care about sustainability. They just see that Netflix provides 100s of hours of fully produced TV and movies every month. Then they see for the same price they can get a few hours a month of people talking in front of microphones. There is a huge disconnect in perceived cost there. Many podcasts currently make up that difference simply from the goodwill of their audience who wants to "support" them. I'm not sure that is scalable.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#215

Post by scott_s »

b3b0p wrote: post #201

I feel, at least for me, the golden age of podcasts is over already. There was the early [0] Retronauts the new Patreon/Kickstarter version is only same in name. Then there was the [1] 1up Yours. All the hosts, co-hosts, and popular regular guests have moved on. Then there was the epic [2] A Life Well Wasted by Robert Ashley. This is absolutely superb. The only podcasts of similar I listen to now are Giant Bombcast a…

We match up well in when we started listening to podcasts, and what we listened to. But I still love Retronauts! I still like the more discussion-oriented episodes that mix deep insights along with personal experiences, but I'm still impressed by the consistent quality.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#216

Post by saagarjha »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #180
chrxr wrote: post #177

Can anyone tell me if young people listen to podcasts? Like people under 16? I found something that suggests 7% of listeners are under 17*... I just wonder with an audience split like that, is it expected that young people will suddenly pick up podcasts when they reach a certain age? Or is it an indicator that the format doesn't appeal to the youngest generation? https://www.convinceandconvert.com/podcast-research/ne…

Teenagers mostly don't have long commutes, which is where a lot of podcast listening seems to happen.

There's also much less content for teenagers. Not all of them are interested in politics or news, for example, which rules out a significant portion of podcasts.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#217

Post by scott_s »

DamnInteresting wrote: post #27
jccalhoun wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I HATE the trend of corporate podcasts shoving episodes of other shows into their feed. I look forward to a new episode of the show I like only to start it and hear some other show. A close second is some podcasts have started putting reruns into their feed. I guess someone told them that missing weeks is bad so they just put a rerun in. Ugh.

Agreed, re-runs are another annoyance that is driving me away from many podcasts. The concept is an obsolete relic of broadcasting.

Yes, which is why I forgive This American Life for doing it - they pioneered the format that many podcasts follow, and TAL started on, and is still broadcast on, radio.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#218

Post by saagarjha »

dangoor wrote: post #181
iagooar wrote: post #50

I work for a German podcast hosting company and what's been happening in podcasting in 2018 here in Germany is pure madness. There's been an explosion of different companies and producers that have gotten into the space, bringing really high-quality content. Also, Spotify grew into the second largest platform bringing in a lot of fresh air and slowly but steadily eating into and breaking up Apple's monopoly. Now we'r…

> Spotify grew into the second largest platform bringing in a lot of fresh air and slowly but steadily eating into and breaking up Apple's monopoly. Apple's "monopoly" isn't much of a monopoly at all, though. Apple has been a good citizen of the podcast world, because it's purely a directory that points to normal RSS files. Apple has made no move to provide user-specific analytics or walled-in podcasts. Spotify likel…

Apple also provides curation.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#219

Post by wenbin »

wenbin wrote: post #164
slg wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, we might be leaving the golden age rather than entering it. The article mentions Spotify exclusive shows and we have already seen several other paywalled shows from companies like Audible and Stitcher. Meanwhile a number of podcasters are taking control of their own shows, not joining a podcast network or content company, and moving the show to platforms like Patreon. That is great for the content creators t…

It’s just a start. The podcast world will continue to be very fragmented. There are some small consolidation here and there. There are a few podcasts becoming paid / subscription based business. But most podcasts will be niche , small , and free. More fun people will start their own podcasts :)

Somehow podcasts are like Instagram.

Most instagramers are not influencers who can monetize well. Most instagramers don’t have a large follower base, which totally makes sense.

few podcasters can make a living from producing podcasts. Most podcasters make podcasts for fun. Some use podcasts to cross promote other things (eg books, music , e-commerce...). More and more companies produce podcasts, but they just treat podcasts as an addition to their social accounts to build audience and create awareness: https://lnns.co/b0jVr85WkQn

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