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Nearly twenty years in, and many podcasters still have trouble
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thinking of podcasting as an industry.
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But our problem does not plague the cash-flush brands
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looking to enter our industry.
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Whose perspective will win out?
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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
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How big is the podcasting industry?
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Go ahead.
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Answer that yourself.
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Now, if you have an answer, it's probably something like a billion dollars.
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That's the number the IAB gives out for U.S.
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advertising sales in 2021.
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You can make that a little more than 1.4 billion if you factor in the entire
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global advertising estimates, which is probably a good idea for us to do.
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But that's just revenue podcasting sees from advertising.
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That's not the entire podcasting industry.
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So it's rather missing out, if you will, on everything that you and I
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spend money on, things like microphones and hosting providers and content
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creation and podcast conferences.
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Now, second question, who would you say are the big players
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in the podcasting industry?
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You probably said Apple, Spotify, maybe Wondery out there.
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But you probably didn't bother to consider TuneIn or SoundCloud, did you?
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Yeah, me neither.
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But that's because we're inside podcasting with all the baggage, and the history,
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and punditry that comes with that.
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But big brands and industries on the outside of podcasting looking
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in need a different perspective.
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So, how shocked would you be if I told you that the total size
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of the podcasting industry is somewhere north of $14 billion?
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Fourteen.
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Not one.
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That's an estimate of the total size of our industry, and that estimate
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is projected to grow to nearly $95 billion in 2028 - six years.
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That, my friends, is a healthy growth curve.
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And when big brands look at podcasting, they absolutely look at the companies
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we've collectively dismissed or decided to poo-poo like TuneIn, like SoundCloud.
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It doesn't matter that we podcasters feel those companies aren't worthy of
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being in the podcasting space, if we feel anything at all about those companies.
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Both of them, and probably lots of others we are ignoring, are clearly part of the
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industry of podcasting, not just a part, actually a large portion of the machinery
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behind the total podcasting industry.
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Let's go back to our perspective for just a moment, the jaded
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podcaster, if you will.
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We're going to see more of these outside-looking-in reports
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as this decade progresses.
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And when we jaded podcasters read these reports from people outside of
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our industry, we're going to dismiss them just completely out of hand.
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How can we take seriously a report that says, for example:
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"Advertising...[is] the only revenue-generating
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method for podcasting...
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[but] it has failed to gain traction as the audience refrain from listening to
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advertisements between ongoing content."
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Well, fine, but we know that's not true.
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Podcast advertising has grown greatly.
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Or what about blood-pressure raising statements like:
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"[T]he solo podcast format [has] advantages such as ease of use and
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minimal investment, which mainly include a microphone and basic editing tools."
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Once again, propagating the "podcasting is cheap and easy" myth.
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So, yeah, reports like this are utter bullshit when looked at from the inside.
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But they're also quite beneficial for us, even as we hate-read them.
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And in fact, that is exactly what I recommend you do.
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Hate-read the report that I have linked in the episode details of this show.
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Then, once your anger has subsided, or your mirth has subsided, read it again.
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This is what our industry looks like to the outside world.
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It's a very appealing look, which is bound to bring in more interest, more
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money, more content, and more listeners.
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I can hear you saying it right now, "What about the indie podcasters Evo?"
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Well, here's what I think about that.
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I'm not worried about the indie podcaster in all of this.
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That's not to say I don't care about the indie podcaster.
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I do, deeply.
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Hell, I am an indie podcaster.
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I've always been an indie podcaster.
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I just don't much buy the whole "corporate podcasters are ruining podcasting and
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excluding indie podcasters" argument.
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I do agree that corporate-backed podcaster networks can often
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out-compete a lot of indie podcasters.
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But you know what?
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Just like corporate-backed movies, TV shows, books, movies, documentaries, news
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outlets, education centers, restaurants, pet supply stores, and every other
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corporate-backed entity often out-competes their under-monied indie counterparts.
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But there are also plenty of indies in every one of those categories
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I just mentioned doing well.
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Do they struggle?
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Sure.
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Are they afforded the same access as corporate-backed properties?
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No, not always.
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But do they make it?
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Yeah, some do, and some really thrive.
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And so will indie podcasters.
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And with that, I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
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Cheers!
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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.
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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.
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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes
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section of your podcast listening app.
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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at
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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected
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transcript, both created by Allie Press.
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.
