The Emerging Podcast Eruption Disruption
This is my first post here on venduco.co.nz. So this is for fun. I ponder the effects of podcasting on traditional New Zealand media and I list some of my favourite podcasts.
The quality of podcasts has become so good, if I want to keep up with a topic in depth, I go find the right podcast. I can listen while I exercise, cycle, garden, walk, work in the garage or drive in the car. There is so much I want to learn and so many fantastic people doing podcasts to help me learn. New podcasts are erupting into the world of media, potentially disrupting old sound media like radio.
Of course, podcasting has been around for almost a decade. But now New York Magazine says we are in a Podcast Renaissance. Forbes magazine extols the future of podcasting.
The quality and quantity of podcasts have dramatically improved in the last 12 months.
According to the Washington Post, podcast downloads passed 1 billion mark last year and monthly podcast listeners number 75 million per month. Both Slate’s Panoply and the Startup Gimlet Media are startups getting funding, betting there will be an increasing demand for high quality production podcasts. Here are the reasons why I prefer listening to podcasts rather than radio or TV
I listen more attentively. Podcasts, unlike radio, require me to take an action to listen. I am more interested in that voice in my ear because I chose to listen and when to listen.I like the intimacy of quality podcasts. Podcasts are from experts in a particular topic that you choose. And these people are not talking to you like they are being interviewed on the telly or radio; they are intentionally talking in a normal speaking ( or banter) voice. They are right in my ear, they sound like my friend chatting with me.They follow the trend I like, away from old media towards on-demand media. The shift from broadcast to on-demand content has already happened with TV, so its natural it will occur with radio/podcast too. The quality of eruptive podcasts from around the world is so much higher than I hear on my local radio station. I wonder if radio has the resources to raise its game, or will it cede the podcast space to these newbies. I expect to find more and more quality podcasts. It turns out podcast ads are very effective, Listeners even want them. One study showed 63% of listeners bought something advertised on the show. If there is money, there will be more podcasts.
