Todd Cochrane @geeknews and I @robgreenlee do the the NewMediaShow.com last Saturday, Nov 15th on Blab.im due to Todd’s travel. We talk about the podcasting space and have a number of podcasters join us. We discuss doing podcasts on Blab.im and we discuss various new products from Spreaker.com and RawVoice PowerPress Plugin.

By Rob Greenlee

The match between podcasts and music has been around since the early days of podcasting at small places like Apple iTunes and Microsoft Zune, the two major distribution platforms for podcasting in its embryonic stage of the mediums development. I worked on the Zune Music and Podcasts team from 2007 till 2014 and saw first-hand the synergies between the two mediums. Then when Apple launched the app store for the iPhone, the craze around apps drove music, video, radio and podcasts into separate apps on mobile. The other historical reference here is the many decades long experience that broadcast radio listeners have had around music, news and talk programming being right next to each other in millions of cars on the radio dial.

“This movement towards separating music from podcasts built for years as each medium felt like they needed to have a unique experience for each area without really thinking about the successful history of music and spoken word riding on the same platform or experience.”

I have been puzzled by the growing separation for years now and saw it happen at Microsoft when Zune was folded into Xbox brand and service. They separated music out from podcasts area because everyone else was doing it, not because it was really better for users to keep them combined like in iTunes and Zune. Over 3 years ago, I pitched the then GM for Xbox Music and told him that users wanted podcasts in the Xbox music app. I never even got a response or a reply.

Competitors in online music services like Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, Slacker, Xbox Music, Deezer, Google Play Music and the new Apple Music streaming music service have and will spent many years battling with music labels and royalties rates making most of those companies teeter on the edge of insolvency.

The market for online radio streaming services like iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Live365 is crowded and some have been struggling with the same type financial issues as the streaming music services. TuneIn and Live365 are making it, but I am sure it is not easy in such a competitive market. The other major players in the market for online audio are offering 360 degree services for content providers at all levels from hosting, live streaming, recording, aggregator and podcasting to the growing on demand audio like AudioBoom, Spreaker and BlogTalkRadio.

Another level of services is just plain content aggregator’s like Stitcher, iTunes, Overcast, BeyondPod and the online radio streaming services Then another level of platform is the basic hosting platforms and streaming platforms like SoundCloud, Libsyn, Blubrry, BuzzSprout and PodBean.

The answer now is that online streaming music services are finally coming around to adding on demand spoken word audio and podcasts to their services? This is now a significant trend line with Google Play and Spotify adding Podcasts.

The question is how will podcasts be integrated into streaming music services and I think the answer is simple. Music and podcasts are like tracks or episodes the only big difference is duration and frequency of plays. Some podcasts are the same duration as music, but most are much longer. You will just create your own personalized playlists or more lean-back radio-like experience in app like Spreaker Podcast Radio. These services offer music and podcast episodes from the artists/podcaster of listeners choosing.

“Personalization is the key to making this all work as we are living in an on demand and take charge of your media culture now. Listeners need to be given more control, but yet enable the platform to help present programs that based on your interests, social graph and history to deliver those options.”

We are living in an exciting and scary time as our devices are going to be taking over more control of our day to day lives and podcasting will be impacted by it in very natural interfaces with yours and recommended content via voice and gesture. The future is interesting and will be full of surprises in our car, homes and devices.

By Rob Greenlee

The podcasting aggregator model has been flawed since the earliest days of podcasting and cannot be easily monetized; it means that podcast-only distribution aggregator platforms or so-called “Podcatchers” have had difficulty generating revenue and profit to support ongoing development investment. Today, most if not all the revenue in the podcasting space today comes from media file hosting and host-read advertising in podcast content that is paid directly to the content creators and advertising sales groups.

“Podcast only distribution aggregrator platforms or so called “Podcatchers” have had a difficult time generating revenue and profit to support ongoing development investment.”

Redistribution and aggregator-only platforms like Stitcher try to generate revenue from running banner ad-type advertising and audio spot advertising around shows they do not generally have the rights to do without sharing some of that revenue with the podcast content creators. The problem is that the content creator is not getting a cut of that revenue in most cases. Because of this many of those content creators are starting to object to it and pulling content down off of places like Stitcher. Stitcher has had a very flawed business model and had to sell to a large streaming music service based in Europe called Deezer for much less than the amount of cash invested by venture capitalists.

“This redistribution model is coming to Google Play, Spotify in the present and future, but many content providers have pushed back on that practice.”

The other issue with Stitcher has been the cache and redistribution of audio files that caused many issues in the past. This downloading of podcast audio files, re-encoding, and media hosting was done to optimize the playback experience on mobile devices. This redistribution model is coming to Google Play and Spotify in the present and future. Still, many content providers have pushed back on that practice as it degraded the audio quality and caused fragmented or incomplete audience metrics.

I think podcast business models with multiple revenue sources are the key to long-term success. This might be obvious to many, but as we look into the future, this will become very important for new entrepreneurs to understand the podcasting industry. I believe that gone are the days of opening a very narrowly focused podcasting business, and expect it to thrive and survive. The exception to some of this is the hosting-only platform businesses like Libsyn, Blubrry, Spreaker, and Podbean and advertising sales agencies like PodTrac, Midroll Media, and PodcastOne. The companies that focus on media file hosting with metrics services have had a strong history of thriving. The advertising sales-focused companies have recently seen increasing viability and success as the medium grows.

We see content-focused companies like Slate, PodcastOne, Earwolf, ESPN, TWiT.TV and many others are experiencing increased revenue growth. The future of content-focused media companies is strong. The business models for these companies are starting to be built on multiple revenue streams. These streams are rooted in advertising, live events, and television show development.

The other important growth area is with a full spectrum of on-demand audio and podcasting platforms like Spreaker.com, AudioBoom, and Blog Talk Radio. Many will disagree with Blog Talk Radio being an example of the future of profitable podcasting platforms, but think that ease of listening; advertising sales in combination with revenue-generating audio creation tools is a future business model that works.

I have heard for years that many platforms have been working on adding easier content creation to the cloud using app functionality, but many of those have never seen a release. I think that was a mistake and leaves open the door to developing a leading platform supporting all aspects of listening, live streaming, and media file hosting. RSS feed creation, advertising sales, audience engagement tools, and detailed distribution metrics.

Many have thought that SoundCloud could be the leading platform for podcasters, but I wonder about their commitment to content creation and open syndication. Spreaker.com might be that future platform with all the potential to be the YouTube-like platform of the podcasting space that has multiple revenue streams that span media hosting, app development, advertising sales, and other creative services. Spreaker will also share ad revenue. They recently released a new app for iOS that is targeted at content creators to do live shows and record on-demand shows. I believe that to succeed a company must live in all parts of the industry and find many services to offer its listeners and content creators who oftentimes are the same users.

By Rob Greenlee

It seems like podcasting or on-demand audio is in the middle of a burst of media and entrepreneurial interest.  This increased interest in podcasting is occurring because of a convergence of events that have been building for a few years now.

Many newer people to the podcasting community, listeners and media all sense sudden fast track growth and profitability.  This recent perception has been fueled by many major articles on large media sites like Washington Post and Fast Company.  These articles often reference the “Serial” podcast and exuded the renewed birth of podcasting and its profitability stemming from the growth and success of podcast networks.  Big podcast shows are getting plenty of advertisers and making lots of money, but smaller shows are still struggling to make solid revenue. Revenue to smaller podcast shows is coming as the overall audience for podcasts or on demand audio grows.

“I hate to pop the bubble here, but podcasting has been on a steady rise in usage, content, content quality and ease of distribution for many years now.  Successful and profitable podcast programs and networks have been around for many years.” 

What we have been seeing is just a steady increase in all areas around podcasting and on-demand audio as the 10 year old medium matures.  We did not get here overnight and the media interest and content we are seeing talked about now has been around for many years.  The Adam Carolla Podcast started in 2009 and many of the popular public radio programs started 4 or 5 years ago now as well.

It is easy to be a little cynical about the hype and media coverage of today as we have seen it all before, many times.  Even going back to 2004 and 2005, when “Wired” magazine ran a front page cover story proclaiming how podcasting was going to “Kill Radio” and showed a bullet crashing through a table top radio receiver.  Like I have said, we have been here and seen this all before.  The difference is that back then podcasting was a bunch of smoke and mirrors.  It was an upstart medium that no one really understood. Much of that has changed now and we are finally starting to see the broadcast radio industry start to recognize that on-demand audio may actually be the threat that they did not concern themselves with back in 2005.

The suggested renaissance of podcasting is being driven by an explosion of new quality podcast content from every potential source you can imagine.  Comedy podcasts are booming as well as every other genre of content, from religious podcasts to shows from reality stars like Snooki and Brandi Glanville.  Former Pro Wrestlers are also building a strong new genre in the sports category.  YouTube stars are starting to build successful audio podcasts with the launch of the Tyler Oakly’s “Psycho Babble” podcast.

We have also been seeing a steady shift of nationally syndicated talk radio talkers moving to becoming more cross-media brands with TV shows and podcasts. This recognition of the big broadcast radio networks and stations is a huge trend coming for 2015 and beyond.

Podcasting conference events like The New Media Expo (NMX) in Las Vegas next April 13-15, which is going to be co-presented with the huge National Association of Broadcasters annual conference, Podcast Movement in Texas and the recent Los Angeles Podcast Festival that focused on live comedy podcast shows.  LA PodFest was a show fan event with educational podcasting sessions.

“Podcasting or on-demand audio is growing fast since the hype of YouTube video and Social Media has subsided somewhat and smartphones have exploded in adoption.  This is the opening for a renaissance of spoken-word audio as the medium shifts to become an on-demand medium like video and music has become.  It has just taken spoken-word audio and podcasting a little bit longer to develop than broadcast radio.”

The future is bright again for audio with the coming smart car dashboards and head units.  Apple is rolling out “CarPlay” and Google’s Android operating system is getting installed more and more into cars of the future.  This means that the growth of spoken-word audio apps on your phone and installed into your car smart dashboards will bring a new audio experience to our cars via our smartphones or directly to the car dash via very fast data plans.

Look for podcasting and on-demand spoken-word audio to continue its march up the mountain called “Renaissance”.

Originally distributed in Podertainment Magazine.