Podcast vendor lock: where it will lead
Last time we found out that streaming services are buying up everythingthat belongs to podcasting, but do it wisely. From the point of view of exclusive rights, they are only interested in well-known speakers, producers and programs. The rest of the shows, such platforms only plan to aggregate and offer their services on top of the array of publicly available content: paid streaming of music, audiobooks and podcasts – a full-fledged “vertical” of subscription services.
The goal of the strategy is to form a semi-closed ecosystem under the hood of a single application in order to more effectively retain listeners and not let them be distracted by other people’s content.
Almost all players in this industry are striving for this state of affairs, so the situation is increasingly reminiscent of developments around online cinemas. The latter’s bet on exclusive has already led to annoyance audience. Will something similar happen to podcasts if platforms continue to escalate the battle for popular programs?
Caution, the show is being dismantled
Podcast format has become a powerful alternative for radio transmissions thanks to open model distribution of content. Anyone can release their programs – a simple RSS wrapper is enough to distribute them, it is also used to aggregate various podcasts.
The mechanism is freely used by developers of applications for listening to podcasts – for example, Marko Arment (Marco arment), which presented Overcast for iOS in 2014. By the way, at the same time as the release, he invested $ 50,000 in the development of a podcast studio called Gimlet Media. [Ее выкупили за 230 млн в 2019-м.]
The open format is also supported by those who design tools for program authors – podcast hosting and feed-burners, allowing to take into account the requirements of showcases [вроде Apple Podcasts] to the formation of RSS feeds. With their help, presenters find their audience faster, and she can easily subscribe to audio programs and follow new releases.
But deals for the takeover of developers of such products by large vendors occur more often. Together with Gimlet Media, the Swedes last year bought and integrated to your “vertical” service Anchor, using all his toolbox. In turn, SiriusXM in summer acquired a similar product is Simplecast, and Apple took away ScoutFM specialized in podcast recommendations.
“IT-shopping” was not enough this year. Streaming content providers continued disassemble studios recording their own shows, and investors – invest tens of millions in producers of new hits of the spoken genre.
This is how the fate of the podcasting platform developed Luminary, which they are trying to “pull out” by analogy with Gimlet… At the end of last year there even invited HBO top manager Simon Sutton. But so far the company is doing modestly. They saythat since the beginning of the crisis, Luminary had to withdraw some of its employees from the staff, and some to reduce.
If the monopolists continue draw in independent projects into their orbits of influence, only a small number of niche players may remain from the open market for podcasts.
Not in the best shape
Investments and high-profile deals are not always indicative of an increase in listeners and interest from advertisers. While this market is still just ahead take the billion dollar bar. [Прогноз для США, где один только «падающий» сегмент ТВ-рекламы в 70 раз превышает эту сумму.] Whether it will be possible to make a breakthrough in the context of audience outflow to news and political programs is a big question. Podcasts now have many “competitors” who are not going to back down. These are video streams and game broadcasts. We will discuss how this struggle is developing and what can be expected in the next article.
PS Additional reading in Hi-Fi World:
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 can help