Discussion: why the podcast industry is becoming more like streaming TV shows and movies
With music streaming and themes how to find new tracksWhen recommender systems are doing a poor job, we’ve figured it out. Let’s discuss what to do with podcasts…
There are so many of them that not only have time to listen, but also just to track the release of new records, including top programs. Streaming platforms are also adding fuel to the fire as they integrate more and more open source software into their semi-closed ecosystems.
Where will this lead us?
What’s the matter
Spring quarantine mixed everything sound maps to podcasters. Those who rubbed their hands in the hope of gaining an audience, invested time and money in new shows, were disappointed.
As soon as listeners were cut off from their usual routes – walking, driving, and on public transport – the patterns of content consumption also changed. At home, everyone was left alone with excitement, the need to take care of loved ones and work in new conditions.
It turned out to be more difficult to immerse yourself in many hours of discussions, even if the proposed topics were useful and educational. News bulletins, analytical programs on the epidemiological situation and politics came to the fore. They were followed by the usual shows, which had already been subscribed, to have time for something beyond that – the listeners did not have to try. But there were more and more new podcasts.
The only category of podcasts with an influx of new audiences has been for children, although this was not due to the sudden surge of interest among young listeners in this format.
A deal for the future
how notice experts, only popular programs “survived” in such an atmosphere. The hosts they knew were trusted with the most valuable – an hour or two for rest from work tasks chores.
Some programs were closed altogether.
For example, Western platforms postponed the release of podcast thrillers, trying not to provoke an even greater sense of anxiety in listeners, who already refused everything that was associated with the discussion of accidents.
May one hundred million laid out for exclusive rights to the Joe Rogan show, confirmed the trend: streaming platforms were betting on headliners, continuing to buy everything related to podcasts – from services that automate part of this process to major producers, studiosand now hosters… Such a strategy should smooth out the churn of audiences who prefer to stream music with one app and listen to podcasts in another.
Better yet, give it a boost to prepare the base for entering a paid model for listening to podcasts. This development of the situation more and more resembles that what happened to online cinemas – rapid and most likely total market fragmentation.
New front
The streaming wars started just a few years ago but everyone has already gotten tired of it: often the viewer is offered unique content and exclusive only in order to take a regular payment for access to the entire online library of the site. Is this a podcasting future where similar processes are just picking up steam?
Will streaming platforms be able to aggregate most of the broadcasts and transform this format from open to semi-closed? We will discuss it in the comments to this material, and in the next posts we will figure out what advantages are inherent in the open model of podcasting. But let’s not forget about related formats, which are already drawing on a multi-million audience of podcast listeners and making life difficult for program authors.
Additional reading on World Hi-Fi:
Where to look for music if you’re tired of streaming platforms
How streaming services are changing the way they write songs
The First Profit in Western Streaming History: Why It’s Not So Good News
How to get distracted from the news agenda and relax: podcasts, movies and music will help
