PodMov Daily: Tuesday, August 27

Episode 31: Your Tuesday Newsday

Free Podcasts and the Cost of Ad Reliance

In a recent Wall Street Journal article about the state and sustainability of podcast advertising, veteran listener John D. Stoll advises caution. The intro reads:

” Listeners are awash in free content, but podcasters face likely trouble ahead if the growing industry stays hooked on ad revenue.

Stoll, a “serial ad-skipper” who has never become a customer after hearing a podcast ad, thinks diversifying revenue outside advertising is essential for the industry. He cites Edison Research’s projection that this year, 60 million people will tune into a podcast weekly.

Will listener growth be able to keep up with growing demand for ads? While the success of podcast ads may be difficult to verify, both short-and-sweet and longer-form models have seen results. If there’s one thing the podcasting industry knows, it’s creative problem solving.

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Hollywood, Tarantino, and Streaming: Radio's Future

Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media has written a thoughtful piece on radio’s future in the digital age, inspired by Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Late-1960s radio sets the film’s tone, playing a character. Jacobs quotes Quentin Tarantino, the film’s director, on Today: “I remember those radio stations, those radio commercials, those radio DJs – they’re almost like a period narrator.”

Streaming services have become ubiquitous in the way that radio has been for the last century, but the ‘period’ of now will surely change. If we do find ourselves in an economic downturn, radio and free podcasts will become much more budget-compatible options. Radio’s “transitional pain in the Internet Era” may heal toward a comeback.

Westwood One 2019 Audioscape Report: Key Findings

Patrice Washington’s keynote at PM19 was remarkably refreshing, realistic, and inspiring. We’re keeping it short and sweet this Tuesday with a drop of wisdom from her playbook.

Feeling stuck? Here's some well-deserved affirmation.

Patrice Washington’s keynote at PM19 was remarkably refreshing, realistic, and inspiring. We’re keeping it short and sweet this Tuesday with a drop of wisdom from her playbook.

AFFIRM THIS: I view every limitation as a new possibility. #PCW #RedefiningWealth

— Patrice C Washington (@SeekWisdomPCW) August 27, 2019

Love,

Team PM

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Here's what else is going on:

• Where to start: Paul Kondo, creator of Podcast Gumbo, has anthologized the weekly newsletter’s first 52 weeks into an e-book, “Podcast Gumbo’s Earwax Companion: A Feast of Podcast Recommendations.” Subscribe to get a free copy of this well-organized, witty, and useful guide.
• Fresh popped: Podcorn, a new “self-service marketplace” for native podcast advertising, has been launched by the founders of Famebit. Designed to make ads that “preserve the democratic and intimate nature of the medium,” the platform has closed $2.2 in seed funding.
• Language of love: Piyush Agarwal found podcasting through storytelling and now hosts 2 shows of his own, including Kahaani Jaani Anjaani. “I wanted to reconnect with my language,” he says of the Hindi literature series. With 50,000+ downloads, this is just a sliver of India’s expanding creator landscape.
• Gaining ground: Starting this fall, Penn State Berks will offer a new baccalaureate degree, The Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Digital Media. Designed to instruct in “effective writing and creating content for contemporary digital platforms,” the program includes podcasting classes.