Streaming is the Future of Podcasts
When I first got into podcasts about two years ago, I was baffled by how to stream on Pocket Casts, a podcatcher app for Android. Apparently the stream button was hidden behind the subtle “More” icon, yet “Download” was in plain sight. I assumed it was a poor design decision, one that I still put up with every time I enter my car for a long commute.
It was only recently I learned that the vast majority of podcast listeners download instead of stream. This seemed odd to me; I haven’t had the need to download media in years since Netflix, Spotify, and Youtube made streaming the default consumption standard. I decided to dig into why podcast listening behavior is lagging on this trend.
Among the most common reason for downloading is to preserve your data plan’s precious megabytes by downloading at home on WiFi. Although sensible for users who often approach their monthly data budget, this is decreasingly relevant as WiFi becomes more prevalent (even my local gym has a decent network).
The concern over data is partly fear-driven. Compared to other forms of streamed content, podcasting is among the least data consumptive:
With the exception of streaming at 96kbps, podcasts give you the best bang for your buck in terms of content per hour. Diving a bit deeper, I approximated the average file size per hour of a few podcasts I subscribe to:
Why are episode sizes so variable? I understand that some publishers desire a higher bitrate and sampling rate, especially if there is post-production music and sound effects. However, I’d argue the biggest influencer on perceived quality is the speakers or headphones I use to listen, not the encoding specs. If the publisher insists on improving sound quality, the likely best solution would be to invest in a better microphone, but I haven’t heard of any listeners asking for higher quality recordings.
Instead of just relying on the default bitrate and sample rate the audio editor software outputs at, publishers should consciously choose how to maximize quality:size for each episode. Or perhaps an even better solution would be to let users request a sample rate of their choice, similar to how Youtube videos can be viewed at various resolutions.
At a more fundamental level, downloading just feels unnecessary. If I am going to listen to an episode just once, why should I allocate any of my phone’s limited storage space for it? And more importantly, why should I have to routinely navigate my phone’s unorganized file system and manually delete old episodes before my camera app tells me there’s no space to store new cat photos?
Streaming has been the dominant form of consuming content across most media types for such a long time now that listing its merits feels strange and anachronistic. Downloading is a vestige of an era long gone, and is only a precautionary action when traveling to the countryside or abroad.
Newer podcatcher apps recognize this and make an effort to prioritize streaming, but that alone won’t help the industry progress. As Daniel Holliday said in his great piece, Podcasts’ Identity Problem, the podcast industry will have to reinvent itself and provide compelling technological benefits in order to make money. This could take many forms, but most, if not all, will be centered around streaming. Publishers need to embrace it as the new consumption standard if they want to grow their revenue, but more on that in another post.
