Big names in podcasting: industry implications
By: Lukas Rintelen
Tags: Podcasting, Industry Blog, Famous People, Audio Industry, Podcast

Everybody is talking about podcasting. Nowadays it seems that podcasting is finally hitting the mainstream. To a large extent, we owe that to big brands and famous people jumping in on the medium. As podcasting is a great medium to connect with your audience, 2019 is the year where all the big names are starting to use it as part of their content strategy. In general, that is a good sign for the industry. People with a name and respected social status are bringing their fans to their podcasting channels. Big brands are converting their loyal customers into podheads. In other words, they are becoming advocates for the medium — be it consciously or subconsciously — and that means the total podcast listenership is rising.

This is a vital sign for the industry, right?

Well, as much as we love to see global podcast adoption rising, this brings some caveats to the podcasters out there who do not have a big brand, mediahouse or name to fuel the reach of their stories. In other words, the fight for new listeners’ time and attention is becoming increasingly more challenging, as their loyalty is generally quite high in the industry. At the same time, it has become harder than ever for listeners to discover new unheard stories. Sure, they can choose between more platforms, podcatchers and scraping tools than ever before. However, podcast search and discovery is still predominantly based on episode title, description and keywords. Thus, podcast discovery in 2019 is still primarily happening through word of mouth or through recommendation on social media. Yet, major social media platforms are heavily video focused, which makes audio a second class citizen in terms of distribution. It does not matter how great your stories and episodes might be. In the light of imperfect discovery and distribution, reaching the top of the podcast charts has become nearly impossible, especially when competing against more and more big names stepping into the game.

If there is a problem, then there must be a solution, right?

Yes, indeed the industry is moving towards solving the discovery issue. Thanks to AI, content based discovery is becoming a reality — on the forefront in this matter is no other company than Google. With Google Podcasts for Android, the company is aiming to change how podcasts are being discovered — namely, by indexing audio content. This is made possible by applying audio to text transcription and therefore making search for actual podcast content a reality. With their app Google takes a strong listener centric approach. In order to be discovered, podcasters have to follow the company’s guidelines on their podcast website. It still remains unclear how this will help small content creators in the competition with big names. However, we strongly believe it will make the game somewhat more balanced. Maybe we can think of it as a form of SEO for podcasters.

What about the social sharing issue?

Well, this is still somewhat an issue. More than 60% of listeners report that they find podcasts through recommendations on social media or word of mouth. Nonetheless, audio has not yet been the focus of major social networks and podcast distribution is still focused on reach through the major podcast hosting platforms. In order for podcasters to reach those people, they are best advised to take an audio snippet of their show and pack it into a video trailer to follow best practices sharing rules in a video dominated environment. So either they take the extra effort themselves or make use of third party tools such as headliner.app, wavve.co or animoto.com. However, those tools only come with a limited free version. Indeed, some podcaster jump into recording a video podcast right away to then publish it on youtube. However, should this really be the solution to the problem? At RecTag we believe that podcast platforms should cater to this need and provide smart social media sharing options, so podcasters can focus on what really matters — their story.

To sum up, big name advocates are vital to the industry in the sense that they bring a whole new listener base to the medium. More diversity in the listener technically means a greater chance for podcasters of reaching those people who really care for their story. However, due to flawed discovery and social sharing mechanisms, podcasters who do not have a big name, brand or media house backing them, are increasingly falling behind in the game — no matter with what dedication they push their stories and episodes. At the same time, listeners are not always presented with the stories that might best fit their interest, simply because discovery only covers the tip of the iceberg. So, to the podcasting industry: we have to cherish and celebrate the fact that podcasting is reaching more people than ever. However, we ought to solve the discovery and sharing caveats and create a better, more balanced environment for podcasters and listeners!