Sometimes, even now, I speak with folk who aren’t really sure what podcasts are.
One of the descriptions which seems to stick and cut through is that it’s “like Netflix for Radio” – a collection of audio curated to be of value for the listener to consume on their own terms.
And where radio tends to be for the most part about aiming to get as many bums on seats as possible, podcasting doesn’t care so much for that.
If radio is broadcasting, podcasting is narrowcasting.
That’s not to say podcasters deliberately set out to deliver tiny audiences – of course they don’t – BUT a lot of podcasts do set out to super serve an audience of a niche interest.
What that means is, radio generates large audiences, but few are anywhere near as invested in their programmes as fans of their favourite podcast are.
There are podcasts for virtually anything. And if you search and don’t find something for a specific subject, chances are it’s coming down the line any time now – because podcasting is going through a particularly boom period.
The other big thing about podcasting, unlike radio, is that a lot of the programmes available in the podcast universe are made by hobby podcasters – not professionals, even though their output can sound every bit as polished as those who make their livelihood from it.
In other words, it’s fan-made for other fans, and the need to be professionally produced diminishes slightly in relationship to an audience being super-served.
It doesn’t have to be made in a studio with top class tech to do well. It just has to resonate with a fan base and not be so badly produced that fan base has no clue what’s being discussed.
A phrase I saw being used recently which I rather liked suggested podcasts should be ‘authentic not amateur’.
Podcasting also benefits from being hugely adaptable for the listener in the same way radio does. You can do virtually anything whilst consuming a podcast. It doesn’t require you to sit down and pay attention. Rather, it lends itself brilliantly to being a companion for something else, like walking the dog, working out, making a meal or filling a commute.
Around 2015, as a radio broadcaster with almost 30 years industry experience, I began to awaken to the opportunity podcasting presented.
In reality, it came down to the success of one particular podcast in the States. It launched in 2014, and became the world’s first podcast to exceed a million downloads of an episode.
On February 9, 2015, Scott Pelley of CBS News reported Serial’s season 1 episodes had been downloaded more than 68 million times. By February 2016, the episodes had been downloaded over 80 million times.
Podcasting had proven it could have a mainstream hit, and not only that, a mainstream hit, which then went on to influence other genres.
‘Serial’, incidentally, in case you hadn’t already realised, is the reason we now have multiple true crime podcasts, and indeed, TV shows generated off the back of those.
Realising podcasting could be THAT big, I set about wondering what benefit it could bring to business.
These days I co-present and produce a number of podcasts for business clients, in addition to creating a free ebook resource Pitch Perfect Podcasts – The Art Of Talking Up Your Business teaching how to go from newbie to nerd in the podcasting world, and also produce an online course called Win Business Podcasting taking you through every step required to build, launch and maintain your own podcast for your business which can deliver greater revenue, establish you as the authority figure in your industry, provide educational tools for staff and loads more.
If you’re interested in any of the above, you can find out more, download that free ebook and register for the Win Business Podcasting Course here