All-Podcast-Secrets

Start a Revolution

Podcasts allow listeners to enjoy media wherever, however, and whenever they want. Until recently, monolithic broadcasters controlled our access to news, music, and even public affairs programming. Now, a mix of creative citizens and forward-thinking media professionals use podcasts to connect with audiences that ride the first wave of innovation. Podcasts have got some major players very worried.

Consider a recent story about local public radio program directors, converging on an industry summit to discuss what they can do to combat audience erosion due to podcasting. While some of these radio programmers decided to embrace this new medium to recapture their audience, others cling to their broadcast towers like ancient totems of lost significance.

Audiences have discovered that a small investment in equipment and Internet access can free them completely from the linear world of broadcast radio. iPod owners have revolted against the media giants’ desire to control how, when, and where they enjoy entertainment. Portable MP3 players allow students to catch up on missed classes by listening to podcasts of lectures.

Unlike video, audio content can be enjoyed by someone who is also engaged in other activity. Despite the popularity of digital video recorders, like TiVo and ReplayTV, you still can’t watch a television show while driving or jogging. (The few people that have tried met with unpleasant results.)

On the other hand, television broadcasters that make podcasts of their audio tracks available to fans can enjoy additional exposure and attention. Analysts balked when CBS started releasing Guiding Light episodes as a free podcast on their website. However, those podcasts, which cost very little to produce, provide a tremendous return on investment by keeping fans hooked on a show that they occasionally miss.

A recent study by NBC and AOL determined that creative producers could put together a podcast with professional production value for about 20% of the typical budget of a similar broadcast episode. With advertisers eager to break through big media clutter and to reach highly targeted audiences, program producers that reach desirable niches can anticipate plenty of attention from Madison Avenue.

In the meantime, minority audiences that received little attention from mass-market broadcasters can expect more stories and programming catering to their specific tastes. Churches that cannot afford to lease radio airtime to spread teachings to distant parishioners can podcast for only pennies a sermon. Community organizers can reach out to neighbors without mounting intensive telephone campaigns. Regardless of your political or religious persuasion, you can start your own revolution by connecting with like-minded people through your own podcast.
Discover a Culture

Though podcasters that wanted to play disc jockey caught much of the media’s early attention, audiences have started to discover that podcasts make excellent educational tools. In fact, a variety of major colleges and universities have announced partnerships with Apple that will allow them to distribute many class lectures as podcasts to students through iTunes. Some schools have taken their programs even further, bundling a new iPod into the cost of tuition and requiring its use.

As citizens of a complex world, it’s important that we don’t stop learning when we leave school. Our busy lives and hectic schedules can make it difficult to commit much time for personal enrichment. Podcasting is helping to change that. By making it easy to grab a freshly reloaded iPod on the way to work or school, podcasting offers us a frictionless method to keep us thinking about new ideas and learning about new cultures.

At Audible, you can subscribe to audio versions of influential magazines and newspapers that can open your ears to important trends and information. NPR has started to make its own series available as podcasts, as well as creating additional podcast streams to feature reports and interviews that don’t make it to air because of time constraints. Podcasts from international broadcasters and citizen journalists have replaced the shortwave radio as the tool of choice to hear the truth about world events from the people who witness them.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, Marketing, Mac Mike, Articles. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.