Five Things To Know About Breaking Into (And Sustaining) The Podcast Space

So you've heard about this newfangled podcast thing and want in? Well, step right up and I'll share my lessons in podcasting success with you! For just $150, you can sign up for...

A scam.

The real secret? From someone in his 12th year of podcasting? No one has any secrets to podcasting success.

Not yet.

That could be the most important thing I share with you - TL/dr: don't buy into any BS schemes. Chances are, someone selling you podcasting success secrets is monetizing their podcast by selling you dubious knowledge.

Such a scramble in the podcast space right now in the "podosphere" (Yup, we've been calling it that, too). Lot of players have gotten into the podcasting game without quite knowing what the game's rules are - or even if there are any. Some thought they could simply apply old media templates to New Media, or thought they saw a new earning opportunity for some reason.

Wishful thinking? Not that there aren't some success stories to tell in podcasting, but they're still isolated, individual cases. I've yet to see any formula emerge for making podcasts pay off.

So, that's...

#1: There is no formula (yet) for monetary success in podcasting. What works? Lots of little things, so far. Until they don't. Nothing steady.

Pre- or Post-roll ads, or - worst - randomly inserted ads don't seem to be the answer (love those insert ads on free YouTube these days, don't you?). I've given my listeners the opportunity to support me monetarily by listening to the podcast on an App that inserts ads before and after episodes play.

No one uses that app.

Internal ads might be tolerated. Sponsorships and underwriting have also seen some success, but they require the same attention as traditional radio sales. Still a pretty big "If" as to whether a podcast can support that kind of overhead.

Alternately, programmatic advertising might offer a solution, but given its New Media applications thus far (hello again, YouTube), as well as the dubious success of insertion advertising in podcasting thus far, it has a ways to go. And you can't ignore the numbers; the sheer amount of podcast shows available on which to advertise still makes drawing advertising clients a challenge.

Podcasting isn't new. It is enjoying unprecedented popularity now with the perception of "newness," perhaps. But even in 2006 when I began, there were pioneers with a few years under their belts. We've been trying different things to get people to pay for content for over a decade-and-a-half. Problem is, just like old media, most people want their digital content free.

Many old-school podcasters have turned to Patreon to raise funds, which isn't really an option for a commercial entity. It is, however, a great deal like membership models employed by public radio stations.

Which leads me to...

#2: Podcasting is a bit like Public radio. It makes a great deal of sense to me that NPR has been able to extend their brand so successfully into podcasting; podcasting was seeing some success adopting a few of public radio's fundraising techniques when NPR entered the space. There was a natural fit for many public stations.

A podcast program needs to fit the podosphere; people listening to podcasts expect shows, fully produced presentations. Posting content haphazardly, or poorly produced content, or repackaged on-air programming tossed up as a second thought, or something dashed off before heading out the door, will fail. Content is king in podcasts; listeners expect well-produced, in-depth treatments and discussions.

And that's...

#3:Podcasts need weight. Quality content. Information. Early adapters among podcast listeners are certainly less tolerant of fill and fluff than the average person. Some of this has something to do with how some people listen to podcasts. Keep this in mind in your production, too - many listen to shows at 1.5x or even 2x speed! It's an acquired "taste," for sure, but it's an established podcast listening habit. And it aptly illustrates the importance of your show's informational quotient.

One production aside: Coming from radio, my first podcast shows were extremely tightly edited - used to cramming too much copy into a :30 or :60, you know? The 20-minute length of the episodes, edited at that pace, fatigued listeners at just the regular speed. One of my "fans"(?) who was usually a 1.5x speed listener told me he couldn't listen to mine that way because I sounded like a chipmunk on crack!

Many Public radio shows have the weight podcast listeners are looking for. In some sense, podcasts serve as ersatz DVRs (DLRs?) for public stations, allowing time-shifted listening. It's not as easy for commercial stations to create compelling podcasts, harder still for music-driven commercial stations, because what works on-air doesn't work on a podcast. A podcast might not even make sense for a music station, unless the business wants to devote new efforts - and budgets - to creating unique, compelling programming that doesn't run on the air.

Streaming allows time-shifted music listening in an understandable way already. A new music stream or other streaming presentation might make more sense for a music station than a podcast, unless it regularly generates unique on-air content it can repackage for regular, time-shifted listening. Because, again, unique content drives podcast listening.

Mentioned regularity in passing but it's really important enough to be...

#4:It IS important to be regular. Ahem.

Podcasting's subscription model pushes content into listener's devices. How very U2 of us. That implies trust. Part of what's implicit in that trust is the idea you're going to deliver that quality content on a consistent basis. That's kind of big.

It is a subscription. There should be some regularity set and met, whether that's once a day, week, or month. That can work to your advantage; create an expectation and follow through and they'll be waiting for you, and wondering what they've missed if they haven't downloaded the latest episode. It works against you if you don't deliver. Which brings it back to content; unless you regularly deliver unique, compelling content, you'll lose the podcast listener. That's demanding!

Don't create unrealistic expectations. Got great live, in-studio performances? How often? How regular? Enough to do a nicely produced weekly 15-20 minute show? Monthly? If not, don't confuse people and create false impressions by calling the presentation a podcast. It's not going to help.

Instead, simply post the performances on YouTube or Soundcloud and share across socials. Or, use an RSS feed but don't call it a podcast; tell listeners they can subscribe to your studio performances by clicking this button. They can find it under the call letters ... under podcasts.

That might be "cheating," but only the tech geeks will call you out on it.

Because...

#5: There aren't any hard and fast rules for podcasting. Not yet. Just like there aren't any sure-fired steps to monetary success. Everything I've just covered could change next week. Don't think it will, and, damn, I'd look kind of foolish if it did. But things in the podosphere are still fluid. So don't let anyone tell you they know for sure what's going to happen, including me.

Okay, that's very similar to #1. I'll give you that.

Then again ... I didn't charge you for it!