The Challenges Podcasters Face

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Aside from the obvious challenges podcasters face every day, such as getting the right equipment, consistently creating compelling content, finding listeners, and generating enough revenue to make a living, there are much bigger challenges the podcasting industry faces. Here’s what we heard on Tuesday.

Do Podcasters Need an Association?
Radio has the RAB and the NAB. Do podcasters need their own association? During a panel addressing “The State of the Podcasting Industry,” there seemed to be agreement that an association was needed, however, it was emphasized that if one were to be created, it needed to have strong leadership, with two or three full-time employees, and money. That money should come from the companies participating in the space as well as the podcasters themselves.  

Metrics and Standards
In order for the industry to continue to grow with advertisers, there needs to be a trusted standard on metrics. Is it downloads? Is it the number of people listening? Is it how many times an ad is heard by the listener? And, how do you get agreement from all the hosting companies on that standard? Apparently the IAB has come up with a certification and some companies are working on becoming certified. At this point, however, not a single company is certified. While some companies are adopting that standard, none are certified. And if some of the companies become certified and others choose not to — and are just throwing out numbers — who do you believe?

Ad Skipping
Apparently this is becoming an issue for podcasters. Listeners are fast forwarding through ads, especially those that use AirPods where you can actually skip ahead 30 seconds. One recommendation to podcasters was: “Do better ads.”

2 COMMENTS

  1. I wonder if it is reasonable to express it this way:
    Podcasting is to broadcasting as the Vanity Press is to tradition publishing.
    I have another manuscript that has gone out to many publishers.
    Without exception every last one of the members of the vanity press have sent me glowing reviews of the work and have offered assurances and a willingness to publish – so long as I fork over 5,000 – 10,000 dollars – up front.
    Likewise, podcasters are taking on all the expenses, risks and doing all the work WITH an appreciation that monetization is “iffy” at best.

  2. THE METRICS ISSUE. As the first adopter of online video through my company HITVIEWS, the metrics issues for podcasts are identical for online videos. What “counts”? First second? Half the view? The whole video? Viewing more than once? Shares? Subscriptions? Saves? Downloads? Likes? Stars? After 11 years, those issues remain not settled for online Video.

    Metric issues are also not solved for the 100-year-old medium of Radio. Do we sell Cume? AQH? Time Spent Listening? Emails? Likes? Entries? or my preferred, Talo count? CPPs? CPMs?

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