What podcast reins on the top of iTunes.
This American Life. What other shows dominate the top 20… NPR shows.
How can one network have such dominance?
I’l give a hint. They’re entertaining to listen to. (and a bit educational as well)
And aren’t held captive by a definition like “podcast”
BUT the irony is – everyone is trying to podcast…
No one is trying to copy the best, and become a top podcast. This is changing and now is the time to be on the cutting edge of that change.
I was taking a 21 hour road trip last month with my wife and had loaded up lots of shows to listen to. Hoping she would play along and like them as well. The first show I loaded up was a classic interview show who’s guest I was excited to hear from. I turned it on and 5 minutes in I could tell I was the only one in the car interested in it. It was a great show (I really enjoyed it) but my wife completely tuned it out. So I hit pause and flipped over to a show with some education and great story telling – 99% Invisible. (great show if you haven’t listened to it) Suddenly I could tell I wasn’t the only on in the car listening. She stopped playing games on her phone and was actually listening.
We need to wake up and see that people don’t care about “podcasts” they care about amazing media. That educates, entertains, and makes them laugh. Let’s stop trying to produce more and more podcasts. Cut it back, edit, and PRODUCE an amazing show.
We have become caught with this idea of making it raw and just getting it out there. That era is over.
It’s time to create entertaining and educational media.
You have to fill a value gap that no one else is filling.
I was talking with someone today and has talked about how he has stopped listening to all “podcasts”. He really only listens to Freakonomics and random episodes relevant to a topic he’s trying to learn about. He used to love listening to shows but gradually stopped.
It’s a story I’ve been hearing over and over. Even some of the biggest podcasters in the business don’t listen to podcasts anymore.
The problem is we’ve put ourselves into a box. Most people think of a podcast as a very specific type of audio show. Interview, just someone talking on a topic, a couple of hosts talking on a topic. And that pretty much cover 80% of podcasts. The irony is it doesn’t cover the most popular shows though. They’re story based.
We’ve gotten so excited about interviewing guests that we’ve lost the ability to tell stories. If you’re up on the latest email trends we’ve all heard how every email has to start with or have a story intertwined to get people interested in the email. We need to use that same approach to the media we produce.
If you’re interested in the future of podcasting. Check out this keynote by Eventual Millionaire host Jaime Tardy – https://voicerepublic.com/venues/podcast-movement-2014/talks/talking-about-podcasting-1