PodMov Daily: Monday, August 23

Episode 489: Your Monday Mix

An Update to “Wherever You Get Your Podcasts”

Podcasting’s most familiar destination, “wherever you get your podcasts,” needs replacing in calls-to-action. If ‘wherever’ no longer serves, how should creators point audiences in the right direction? Edison Research SVP Tom Webster has three answers to fit the shifting landscape of platforms and listening habits.

The first is to point to your fully equipped website. The second is to keep the old CTA, backed up with a real presence on every platform — including YouTube. The third and most effective: Prepare slightly different versions of your show for each platform. Why? If someone is listening, “you know where they ‘got your podcast.’”

From RSS-driven apps to Spotify, the ideal CTA will cater specifically to that platform’s audience. Those audiences behave differently from one another, and aren’t likely to migrate. If this sounds like a lot of work, Webster has another suggestion: “Isn’t this one of the real promises of dynamic ad insertion technology?”

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In Podcasting, ‘One-Sponsor-Fits-All’ Can Backfire

What happens when a programmatically inserted ad clashes with the brand of a show? When the sponsor is such an inappropriate fit that it feels like an impossible oversight, considering the money involved? On Thursday, the hosts of Gimlet’s beleaguered hit Reply All revealed a certain weak spot of the mass ad-buy.

This points to a powerful assumption we don’t make about TV, writes Nick Hilton of UK podcast company Podot. “I expect a relationship between show and advertiser in podcasting that I don’t in any other medium.” He discusses polarization, loss of creator control, and who, if anyone, will attempt to draw boundaries. 

Feel like picking up some tricks? This fresh promo thread from Arielle Nissenblatt (SquadCast.fm, EarBuds Podcast Collective) has been called outstanding, detailed, smart, amazing, and invaluable.

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Here’s what else is going on:

• Open mic: Tomorrow at 3:00 pm CT, The Democracy Group podcast network will host “The Promise and Peril of Free Speech in Podcasting.” The roundtable discussion and Q&A will dig into audio’s approach to content moderation and the balance between free speech and facts. Free RSVP.

• Hard copy: The Podcast Reader is a new print publication featuring “selected transcripts of the world’s best longform podcasts.” Created by an Australian nonprofit, each issue promises “outstanding content from the arts, science, entrepreneurship and public policy.” Available in PDF.

• Don’t peak: When a podcaster sees one episode spike above the rest, it’s hard not to overreact. “Your most popular episode is just that — one episode,” writes producer Catherine O’Brien. Here’s how to incorporate that compelling spice “without getting whipped around by one-off results.”

• Stay true: On Wednesday at 11:30 CT, BBC Sounds Audio Lab will host “Breaking Stereotypes & Finding Your Voice.” The free masterclass on authenticity will be led by podcasters Poppy Jay (Brown Girls Do It Too), LaYinka Sanni (Honest Tea Talk), and Joy Addo (Joy’s World Podcast).