Podcast Spotlight — 19 April 2023
This Week
· As Podcasters Pivot to Video, Independents Don’t Buy the Hype
· Kids Podcasts in the Age of Screens
· Busting 9 Podcast Myths In 2023
As Podcasters Pivot to Video, Independents Don’t Buy the Hype
As we’ve spoken about before there’s a strong push for podcasters to pivot to video. But as someone who has been around for a while this is the third ‘pivot to video’ I can think of in the last decade and a half. And like the previous one is being pushed by outsiders to get them into their own platforms.
And independent podcasters, the ones who actually understand the medium, are having none of it.
It’s a great piece full of insights, but my perspective is summed up by Shira Atkins of Wonder Media
“I think brands and publishers get infatuated with ‘new formats’ all the time. And this isn’t quite another Clubhouse moment, but it is a moment in which everyone feels they must have video embedded in their podcasting campaigns. Video can both be a marketing tool and an additional content stream, but I think video for the sake of checking the video box is inevitably futile.”
Video has a place and value, but don’t do it because some *guru* tells you to.
Kids Podcasts in the Age of Screens
Kids Listen Via Podnews
Parents well know the challenge of keeping the kids entertained and educating them without allowing them to be captured by screens for long periods. So podcasts for children seem to be a growth market.
Parents have a lot of trust in the podcasts that their kids listen to and the children seem to enjoy it, many listening daily.
And unsurprisingly they are *not* watching on YouTube.
Busting 9 Podcast Myths In 2023
iHeartMedia’s CEO has some thoughts on many of the myths and claims about podcasting we see rolling out all the time.
Overall he is, as is to be expected, positive about podcasts, and he addresses many of the claims about weakness in the medium. He also goes into where podcasts are not like other media and how differently listeners engage compared to others.
My favourite debunking?
“Podcasting is not growing.
Don’t believe everything you read. The numbers show more people are listening to podcasts daily than ever before. There is double-digit growth in audiences across every age demographic. Fifty-five percent of people 12 to 34 listened to podcasts every month in 2023, up 10 points year over year.”
Take a look at what Conal has to say.
