Pod Chat is taking a short summer break, but will be back in August. So I thought this would be the perfect time to take a look back at the first 8 episodes of the show. There have been some amazing guests so far, all sharing super insightful takes on the podcast industry.
Here are some of the soundbites from these episodes.
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Hi, and welcome to this bonus episode of Pod Chat. The show's taking a short summer break, but will be back at the start of July, so I thought this would be the perfect time to take a look back at the first eight episodes of the show. There have been some amazing guests so far, all sharing super insightful takes on the podcast industry. Here are some of the sound bites from these episodes. In episode one, I was joined by Evo Terra, who talked about the changes he's seen in 15 years of podcasting, who he's putting his money on to succeed, and why new innovations by podcast platforms haven't necessarily made podcasting better.
Evo:
So if you think back at all the innovations that have happened from the time that Apple said, hey, we're going to put podcasts inside of iTunes 4.9 in the summer of 2005, every innovation after that, almost every innovation after that, has made podcasting easier, but I'm not convinced most of them make it any better.
Danny:
James Cridland joined me for episode two, and there was a lot of great stuff to unpack in this one. We talked about the tech of podcasting, where dynamic content fits in and how podcasts and truly does offer the opportunity to stand toe to toe with the big publications.
James:
And at the end of the day, the most amazing thing about podcasting, and it's the thing that I think we forget quite a lot, is that it's such a level playing field. This podcast is in the same podcast directories and the same podcast apps as some of the biggest podcasts out there, as Smartless and This American Life and the New York Times Daily. You are in that same directory. You're in that same podcast app. You can't say that about any other medium. It's almost impossible to launch a magazine that gets placed in the same place as every other magazine or a newspaper, or getting a TV channel up and running and making sure that you're carried on all of the networks and blah, blah, blah. We've got all of that in podcasting, and I think that's a fantastically exciting thing.
Danny:
In episode three, Arielle Nissenblatt offered ways for podcasters and podcasting companies to be better allies to underrepresented voices, why community is so key in podcasting, both for growth and support, and why diversity remains a topic not fully addressed.
Arielle:
If you're making a list calling something the best, please include women, include people of color, include nonbinary folks, gender nonconforming folks. It cannot be that the best of something is all white men. It's just not true. It's just not a thing.
Danny:
AJ Churchill was my guest for episode four, and he brought his background in sound and audio production to the show with some excellent insights into podcast findability, why pristine audio needn't be the target to aim for, and the future of podcast apps.
AJ:
I think because of the technical limitations of RSS too, because right now it only takes MP3 and just the size of file formats, I think if we want to kind of maintain that open RSS ecosystem, we still have to keep dealing with stereo and MP3. But of course, for premium offerings of shows, it's very interesting to look into, I think, these other formats as well.
Danny:
When it comes to adtech and advertising smarts in podcasting, Bryan Barletta is a leading light. In episode five, he shared his take on who's won the audio advertising war, why attribution is key to podcast sponsorships and ads, and how ad tech will play a key role in monetizing the industry.
Bryan:
I think that the closer you are to the podcast space, the more you hear the negatives about ads and about the industry. But I think the general public understands that ads are how things go around. I mean, Hulu has two options that you can pay for. One has ads and one doesn't. So you're still paying and you get ads. Cable TV, radio, magazines, all full of ads. We get ads through the mail constantly. I think podcasting has the biggest risk of ruining a brand's reputation, or the podcaster's reputation rather, by having bad ads because there's no visual cue.
Danny:
Elsie Escobar joined me in episode six, where she spoke about the role of women in podcasting, why talk is cheap when it comes to the boardroom of many players in the podcast space, and why leading from the front is the only way to get a truly diverse industry.
Elsie:
This podcast I just downloaded, I have not listened to it, but this seems to be a really wonderful show. And say it, mention it right, even if you haven't heard it, because those are the kinds of things people will pay attention to that and the more that we can do that from a place of, like, when we're talking about leadership before, where it has to be front of mind - if you value diversity, inclusion and belonging, if those are your key core values, then you have to go out of your way every time you touch somebody else, especially in the podcasting industry, to put somebody else in somebody else's ears.
Danny:
Making it easy to record a podcast remotely has seen a lot of companies bring solutions to the table. And episode seven saw me chat with Hari Gopalakrishna on his approach to this, why his product is fiercely independent, and why building for the community is the approach to take.
Hari:
What we're seeing with the production quality of whether it's agency produced, or even independent podcasters producing, the quality is top notch and it is only going to get better. And what that means is the expectation is going to rise rapidly and if the production quality isn't good, you're not going to get as many listeners.
Danny:
Mark Asquith joined me for episode eight and as to be expected, dropped some excellent truth bombs around the industry, including Spotify's relationship with podcasters, why RSS isn't key, YouTube and their impact on findability, and more.
Mark:
It's all right people shouting and crying online and saying it's not a podcast if it's not got an RSS feed. Go and tell my mum that the on demand audio that she's listening to, that the advertisers paid to advertise on, isn't a podcast just because it's not delivered via RSS. It doesn't matter, right? We've crested the wave of consciousness, all right? It's a nascent industry, it's a nascent media format, but it's now becoming more mainstream. And lots of people say it is mainstream, but those that say it's mainstream are generally in the industry. Believe me, it's not yet mainstream.
Danny:
I want to thank my guests so far for the smarts that they brought to every single episode. And thank you for listening to the show so far. I hope you've got as much value from it as I have. You can catch up on any episodes you've missed over at podchat.ca or wherever you get podcasts. I look forward to continuing the conversation in early July. Until then, enjoy the weather, take care, and stay safe.
