Shownotes
Welcome back to The Circle Sessions, the podcast where we explore all things related to content creation and the exciting world of podcasts. I'm your host, Brett Johnson, and today we have Don The Idea Guy as we dive into some fascinating topics that have been making headlines lately.
In this episode, we'll be discussing the recent news surrounding the potential of Joe Rogan's departure from Spotify and the implications it may have for the future of podcasting. What does this mean for Joe Rogan and his massive audience? And how does it tie into the broader conversation about exclusivity in podcasting? We'll explore different possibilities and the potential impact on the industry.
But before we jump into that, Don The Idea Guy shares some invaluable insights on the importance of keeping core fans excited and engaged when promoting a show or content. Drawing examples from the world of superhero movies and the divided opinions of fans, we'll discuss how creating podcast-only episodes with the same actors could be a valuable strategy.
Promotion is a key aspect of any content creator's journey, and we'll dive deep into our personal experiences with discovering new podcasts and promoting our own work. From the missed opportunity of not making The Flash a prequel to something else to the recent release of a podcast-style show on HBO Max, we'll examine the power of effective promotion and the potential of podcast series as prequels to movies or TV shows.
Plus, we'll share intriguing data on the growing trend of listening to audio on TV devices and the role of different platforms in the podcasting landscape.
https://www.insideaudiomarketing.com/post/why-turn-on-the-tv-i-want-to-listen-to-something-is-no-longer-a-strange-thing-to-say
https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/25/23697866/spotify-overpay-fears-podcasts-siriusxm-own-renewal-tom-brady
https://www.headliner.app/blog/2023/09/07/behind-the-mic-from-prep-to-podcast-promotion
Each week, one of The Circle of Experts talks about critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, website design, and implementation of all of these to help you make the best podcast possible.
Have a question or an idea for one of our episodes? Send us an email at podcasts@circle270media.com.
The Circle of Experts are:
Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs
Tonnisha English-Amamoo of TJE Communications
Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy, from Circle270Media Podcast Consultants
MEET DON THE IDEA GUY!
Possessing creative powers beyond those of mere mortals, DON THE IDEA GUY rescues those in need of innovative ideas through his brainstorming sessions, articles, and websites.
DTIG (DEE-tigg) has been featured in Small Business News, interviewed by the New York Times, quoted in Fast Company magazine, and served as the first president of the International Idea Trade Association.
Don is a proud member of the BzzAgent community, and is featured in BzzAgent.com founder Dave Balter’s book “Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing.”
His Innovation Channel on the Duct Tape Marketing Blog has been recognized as a Forbes Favorite.
Don is the author of the book “100-WHATS of CREATIVITY“, one-hundred ‘what if?’ questions to spur your creativity, unmuck your mind, and break through your mental blocks and has written dozens of articles and hundreds of blog postings on the subject of increasing innovation and adding creativity to your personal and professional life.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/face-game
License code: IUDJXGXP8JAXJVJS
Copyright 2024 Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy™
Transcripts
Welcome to The Circle Sessions featuring The Circle Of Experts. The Circle of Experts are Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs, Tonnisha English Amamoo of TJE Communications, and Don The Idea Guy. I'm Brett Johnson from Circle 270 Media Podcast Consultants. Each week, one of The Circle Of Experts joins me to talk about critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, and website design with the implementation of all these in mind. This week, Don is here with The Circle Of Experts. He possesses creative powers beyond those of mere mortals. Don the idea guy rescues those In need of innovative ideas through his brainstorming sessions at 5 Buck Brainstorms.
Brett Johnson [:Don, thanks for joining me today.
Don The Idea Guy [:How's it going, Brett?
Brett Johnson [: ere in November. Walking into: Don The Idea Guy [:It is. It's, we had quite the pre show discussion about which Stories to cover. There's a ton of stuff out there this week, but this one I believe is top of the podcast news because of the popularity of Rogan's podcast. I think he's still the number one Podcast out there. Full disclaimer, I am not a Joe Rogan podcast listener, but I can still, keep up on what he's doing and admire The work he's done, but Spotify paid a ton of money to sign him to an exclusive deal, and I don't know that I don't know if they made a profit on that deal. They they got a lot of headlines. They got a lot of media buzz out of it, so, They certainly got news coverage, but do they get revenue? And I I don't think they did. I think that that was a big Paycheck to give to Rogan.
Don The Idea Guy [:I think Rogan's only increased the popularity, I think, was a good bet, but I don't know that they're converting their investment been into revenue. How about you?
Brett Johnson [:I think the same thing. Again, I don't have we're not privy of any of that. I kinda wonder Spotify may have caught the perfect rising star moment that Rogan was just propelling up and bringing him on didn't you know, it was Exclusive content. It didn't hurt at all from what we've heard. The money probably it was it was investment for them to make sure that they were setting themselves up as the number 2 podcast platform. They jumped over Google or Google Podcast. You know, Stitcher went away. All the other ones are, you know, at single digit percentages in regards to usage for podcast players where Spotify has propelled itself not even close to Apple yet, but they're there.
Brett Johnson [:They they they brought people into Spotify to listen to podcasts on the Spotify platform. So I I I kinda wonder if I I I agree with you and and with the the aspect that I don't think Spotify is gonna renew. They've already kind of shot over the bow kind of going, we're not overpaying anymore. We're not overpaying anymore. So Who I would love to be a fly on the wall in the discussion room with these guys. I mean, Rogan is 2 people. It's Joe and his producer. So, you know, if he leaves, he's got to find, in which they'll be knocking on his door, x or whatever to bring on him onto their network.
Brett Johnson [:He he'll be okay in that fashion. It just comes down to what it will look like. I don't think Spotify is gonna lose anything by letting Joe go. I I just don't think they will. I think, Spotify's putting money in a lot of different buckets, and they're just not riding all on music, and they're not riding all on podcasts. They're Guests are ingesting audiobooks now. And, Palm Springs think the there's a lot of other things they're gonna make money on.
Don The Idea Guy [:Yeah. They're they're running into their issues on the on the audiobooks with, Apple, wanting to take Yeah. The larger cup than they're willing to pay. And, The last I heard, they were gonna give away a certain number of hours of audiobook listening to premium Spotify subscribers. So, you That is definitely a different business category. But with Rogan in particular, Spotify is a top podcast platform for a younger audience. I still don't look at Spotify as a podcast player for me. It it is rare that I listen to a podcast.
Don The Idea Guy [:I think their sorting mechanism for Playlists and, bands and podcasts gets mistakenly clicked. You know, the what's new for me comes up, and I end up clicking a podcast because I thought it was Albonard for something else. And so If I've listened to, I think I've listened to more podcasts by accident on Spotify than I've done on purpose. I don't really subscribe to podcasts on Spotify. Now the audience is a good match for Rogan. I think he does resound with a a younger demo. I think that The CEO of Spotify coming out and saying they're not gonna overpay for any more podcasts speaks directly to their intent with Rogan. My fear is that The public will see their decision not to renew Rogan and think Spotify is in a bad position.
Don The Idea Guy [:I don't think they are. I think they'll be in a worse Position if they renew with, with Rogan. Rogan's price tag is certainly gonna go up. It's not gonna go down. He's he's become more popular, But I don't think it benefits Spotify to put them on there. There was talk about Rogan going over to X, but The last I heard, X isn't paying creators to come over and produce the content. They've been doing some rewards with engagement of posts. Like, I don't think Elon wrote a check to Tucker Carlson to bring his show over there.
Don The Idea Guy [:I think that Rogan's podcast will fit in on X. Big fat blank check from Spotify over the last couple years to be exclusive there, and he didn't have to go out and sell anything. He just focus on creation. If he's gonna be like Tucker, Tucker brings his own advertising in. Tucker is starting his own media company, so Rogan's gonna have to take More responsibility in bringing in advertisers. Take the money that Spotify paid you and invest in a sales team, and I think you can make more profit, On what on what he's producing, I think that not being restricted solely to Spotify Would increase his audience size, but will he get a guarantee, a big fat guarantee with all those zeroes on it if he, does it go to Spotify? I I don't know. You'd have to have a good sales team. You'd have to know how to sell it, but his audience is there.
Don The Idea Guy [:So, You know, I think we're arguing, over I think we're debating whether he's gonna make a zillion dollars or a buzz zillion dollars. Right?
Brett Johnson [:Ultimately yeah. And I guess it comes down to it's interesting how Spotify will take a look at this. Yeah. You know, I'm not this I'm not the smartest person in the room about that, but I I I would like to see what would happen when That arrangement goes away. I I I think Spotify will be fine. I think Joe will be fine. I I just do. I I think it would be Now on the technical part of it, I kinda, if he does go to x, I I think they better figure out to make sure that x can handle the traffic Knowing X has had some problems before, because that's a lot of ears going over to X on that platform to hear him.
Brett Johnson [:But you know what the question being too? You know, when when Stern came off of terrestrial and went on to SiriusXM, there were people that were not gonna pay. He lost audience Because of that, so how many people will go over to x to listen to him on exclusivity? And they I mean, they're probably looking at going, on. Every 4 years, I gotta find a new platform to listen to you? I'm so I I now listen to Spotify. You know?
Don The Idea Guy [:The other is with the the exclusivity though is With a podcasting, do you really want exclusivity? I mean
Brett Johnson [:I know.
Don The Idea Guy [:Wanna be restricted to a platform?
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Don The Idea Guy [:So Let's say Spotify doesn't pay for the exclusivity with Rogan anymore. As long as Rogan's producing a podcast, You'll with a with a open feed as long as it's not exclusive, they're still gonna be able to play the Rogan podcast on Spotify.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Don The Idea Guy [:Yeah. Spotify will still be able to sell ads, around it, whatever the rules to their podcast platform is, with any podcast that's on there, it just comes down to if somebody I don't think he's gonna go to x. If he goes to x, there's no there, how would it be exclusive to x? If there's a feed, you're gonna be able to listen to it any place. If he's gonna do an exclusive deal anywhere and somebody that's Theoretically has the ability to write the check for it, but probably shouldn't, and Fits more of Rogan's model is Iheart. Nice. I mean, Iheart could put them on their air in their terrestrial stations and have them in the Iheart podcast network, that's that's a good bet for him. That might be worth the money because now Iheart can sell around him in the terrestrial stations and in the podcasting, and Rogan still gets to take home a check without doing any of the hard work other than producing the content.
Brett Johnson [:And they're
Don The Idea Guy [:they're responsible for
Brett Johnson [:the sales. Right. And their Iheart app is designed for exclusivity. I mean, it's it's there. Yeah. You know? Yeah. That would be a juice for them. That would be a juice.
Brett Johnson [:I hadn't thought about Iheart. That would make a lot of sense, and he fits right in with the the mode and the mindset, For them, that would be good. That would be good. Yeah. Exactly. No.
Don The Idea Guy [:That's that's that's the idea, guy. Bringing bringing ideas to the podcast. Right? That's why I'm here.
Brett Johnson [:That's not been discussed. That's very true. That's very True. So yeah. So we wanted to go on and move into I saw a, blog recently from Headliner, which is, an app that you can use to make audiograms. So they're they're totally into the prep and promotion of your podcast, and they did a a survey recently, and I thought it was interesting on the on the take and not necessarily just like, wow. That meant that These podcasters spend this amount of time working on each episode, but I think it comes down to it's a nice reminder of a podcaster taking a look at how much time do you spend on your podcast. So they came up with, from this survey that the average podcaster spends an average of 13.94, let's just call it 14 hours, Working on each episode.
Brett Johnson [:Now I had to stop and pause there going, how often do you publish? The 14 hours on each episode. And we don't know what podcast filled the survey. We could find out. I'm sure they would give you the information. So
Don The Idea Guy [:we And how do you define Working on.
Brett Johnson [:Right. So
Don The Idea Guy [:What's that involved?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. So they broke it down even further according to the survey that 54% of that time So we're talking of the 14 hours, 7.5 hours of time goes to creating the podcast. What does that mean? Could be research all the way to hitting stop after the recording. Okay. So let's, Yes. That that amount of time. Editing accounted for 27%. So of that 14 hours, that's 3 over nearly 4 hours of time spent editing.
Brett Johnson [:And the remainder
Don The Idea Guy [:per episode per episode?
Brett Johnson [:Per episode, which to me, as you stated, looks as though, okay, you're talking about Probably true crime podcasts, audio dramas. I I do see examples in podcast, Facebook posts of just the normal conversation like you and I are having, and they are overedited. They spend Way too much time taking little pauses out, taking the umms out, taking that pause right there I just created out of it because they want that flow. It's like, Folks, it's a conversation. You don't have to spend that kind of time editing a podcast. And then the remaining 19%, nearly 3 hours of the time goes to promoting the episode. And as you progress, as you become a veteran, you start to gravitate toward really liking doing Other things like veteran creators have been producing a show for 10 plus years and spend the most time on promotion. Newbies are considered less than a year podcasting, and then middle aged shows between 7 to 9 years spend the least time on promotion.
Brett Johnson [:So, Overall, they're saying you gravitate toward what you like doing. So
Don The Idea Guy [:Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, we all do. Right?
Brett Johnson [:For sure. For sure. So I think, you know, as we get toward the end of the year, beginning of the new year, I look at it as take some time to to to really evaluate where do you spend your time on your podcast, how much time do you spend on the creation of it? And let's call it from the the minute you start research to the time that you hit stop on your recorder. That's your creation, and then you can divide it up from there. And then taking a look at your editing and then taking a look at your promotion. I would advise that you Really minimize that that that that that the, the editing. And if it takes as much time as they're saying to you to Edit 3 hours, you need to outsource that editing. You don't need to be spending 3 hours of editing on a podcast because you can spend that additional time that you Save to promote.
Brett Johnson [:You only spend 19% if you if those averages are on average for everyone, let's say 19% of your time is spent on promoting, Your podcast is not gonna grow as fast as you want it to. You've gotta spend more time on promoting.
Don The Idea Guy [:Yeah. I'm gonna weigh in on the 3 levels there too, the creation, editing, and promotion. So creation, what I see in the article is they're defining that as across the board, that's prep time and recording. That's all they're counting, prep time. So if you love your topic, Then everything you do to absorb information about that topic, you could classify as prep time. Right?
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Don The Idea Guy [:So If if you are doing a true crime podcast and you're watching a bunch of serial killer documentary Netflix, are you counting that as prep time? Because it's research. Y'all use scouring websites and reading up on, You know, serial killers from history? That that's prep time. Are you writing out those scripts? That was something else I was thinking about. I think a lot of people script their podcast so the time they're putting in there could be writing out their Grips. That that would also qualify as prep time, and then your actual recording. So I could see if somebody started a podcast because they love a topic and Why would you start a podcast on a topic you hated? You're gonna embrace the prep time because that's fun for you. It's it's a it's a hobby. If and then you go into editing.
Don The Idea Guy [:The the different sides of the editing is some people love editing. I think they go into a zen like trance. It's this it's very, meditative for them. So they spend time on it because it it quiets their mind. And then you have other people who hate it, and hopefully, they are Outsourcing that. Maybe maybe that's why it it averages down. But, there's still a lot of people spend a lot of time with editing. I think A lot, as you mentioned and we've discussed in the past, a lot of shows are overproduced, which means they could be inserting a lot of Sound bites, they could be playing with a lot of music and overdubs and effects.
Don The Idea Guy [:So I think that you could Fall it would be easy to fall into the minutiae of editing and, overediting. I don't think there was anything in the survey that said They talked to people who were trying to do this as efficiently as possible. Some things you don't wanna do efficiently. Sometime sometimes you just wanna sit back and enjoy it. What I thought was interesting is that promotion does seem to be the least favorite for everybody, which just kinda cracks me up. They spend the time Hands it's like if you were a fine artist. You're going to the store. You're picking out all the paints and all the fancy brushes you wanna You're prepping the canvas.
Don The Idea Guy [:You're spending all this time painting this beautiful masterpiece, and then you shove it in a closet, don't hang it in a gallery. It's very strange to me. You gotta tell the world about this thing you're so proud of. Although with spending all that time in creation and editing, maybe they gotta get right back on the wheel and start running down the next show prep time.
Brett Johnson [:And that's a lot of it. That's what came to my mind too that you you create your, Using your analogy, you created a painting. Now you gotta work on the next painting. And you gotta work on the next painting, and you gotta work on the next painting. And you gotta go get new brushes, gotta get more paint All in that. But wait a minute. What happened to that 1st painting? Oh, yeah. I gotta bring it out of the closet.
Brett Johnson [:I gotta I gotta I gotta I gotta tell people about this first painting. Though, Well, that that first painting is not the greatest in the world, but that's where I started, and I need to promote that, though. You know? That that sort of thing.
Don The Idea Guy [:I I don't even think it is, the fact that they feel it's I bet you if we did a survey about why You don't like to promote your podcast. I don't think it would be, well, my earlier works aren't as good. I bet you more of it would be, well, it sounds like I'm blowing my own horn. It it sounds like I'm bragging. Mhmm. And they don't separate marketing and promotion From horn blowing. And I think sometimes you do have to blow your own horn, but you do it in a in a intelligent way, in an engaging way, And inviting look. I made this thing for you.
Don The Idea Guy [:If you love true crime podcast, I I y'all, I pour 90% of my time into prep time. You're gonna love the research I put into this thing. You know, I'm thinking about a, Podcast I listen to on pirate history. This guy must spend a ton of time researching pirate history, Reading obscure books, if anything, trying to understand the old English text of some of these books that he has sourced as his reference material, and then his podcasts are well produced. He he has worked in some sound effects, that makes you feel like you're back there, But I don't think he does a good job of promoting it. I think he hopes his audience is gonna promote it for him. He promotes it in the podcast. If you listen to the podcast, they'll tell you to go to his Patreon.
Don The Idea Guy [:But aside from that, I think I found it by accident when I was searching for pirate podcasts.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Don The Idea Guy [:So I haven't listened to an episode of his show for a while, And I'm just realizing he hasn't invited me to listen for quite some time. Mhmm. I signed up for his email list. I haven't gotten anything from him to come back and listen to a new episode.
Brett Johnson [:Interesting.
Don The Idea Guy [:People underestimate the value that promotion has in not just growing your audience, but reminding your existing Audience that you're still here and producing content for them.
Brett Johnson [:Right. And it's a grind. It is a grind. There's no instant love that when you post that you have a new episode out, which I advise don't do that specifically. Don't post that you have a new episode out. Talk about what's in the episode and get people excited to wanna listen to it, but you're not gonna get that instant love. The algorithms are against you, number 1. And number 2, it's it's that, which pond am I fishing in? You know? I'm I Are my people on Facebook? Are my people on Instagram? Probably both or, you know, all the other social media platforms.
Brett Johnson [:It's it's a difficult thing to do, and And there is some truism that you may have to you know, you you may not see the love coming back until you're either at episode 100 or maybe a year, year and a half into it. You're gonna have to keep going.
Don The Idea Guy [:Well, I mean Yeah. Think about all the really successful content that's out there for superhero films. You know, I think every Batman movie that was made, that was, produced made money. I don't think there was any Batman movie that lost money, even the George Clooney one. But they still advertise them. Mhmm. I mean, every Marvel superhero movie that Comes out. They're making a ton of money.
Don The Idea Guy [:You know, they're just dropping off bags of money at the bank, but they're still advertising. They're still telling the people, Oh, you love the Spider Man movie? You're gonna love the the, doctor Strange movie. Or you love doctor The first Doctor Strange movie, you're gonna love the sequel. They're still telling their audience that they're producing content. Right. Every Star Wars movie that's come out, every Star Wars show that's come out, They're still advertising the hell out of it. It can't be your least favorite thing to do. Or even if it is your least favorite thing to do, you still gotta do it.
Don The Idea Guy [:Think about it as doing the dishes. Hate doing the dishes. Not my favorite thing to do housework wise, but, man, I still gotta do them or they just pile up and get gross.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Right. So Right?
Don The Idea Guy [:You're still gonna do your promotion. What's well, I think the new euphemism for promoting your podcast is gonna we're just gonna call it doing the dishes.
Brett Johnson [:Yes. Still
Don The Idea Guy [:gotta do the dishes.
Brett Johnson [:Still gotta do the dishes. Exactly.
Don The Idea Guy [:You may love preparing the meal. You may love sitting down to eat the meal. Sucks to wash the dishes,
Brett Johnson [:but you still gotta wash I like it. I like it. Exactly. And let's end on I I I I think yeah. You found the story, and I may have run across it a little too, and I thought it was fascinating. So Speaking
Don The Idea Guy [:of Superheroes?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Exactly. You you added another dimension to this that, turning on the TV, there is a percentage of us that are listening to audio On our TV. We're just turning the TV on and listening to audio. I thought this was really and it it's it's up 30% year over year.
Don The Idea Guy [:Yeah. Their their stats on this was a little weird. So this is from Inside Audio Marketing. They're quoting a study from, Addison Research. Right?
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Don The Idea Guy [:And they had some weird stats in here. So They talked about 6.9% of audio listening time among Americans 13 and older went to TV devices Like Roku or gaming consoles during the Q3 of last year? Is is that what we're talking about?
Brett Johnson [:That's a good question.
Don The Idea Guy [:I think it's last year because then the first thing they say is what you alluded to, which was it's up 30% from a year ago.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. It'd have to be because Edison doesn't, put their research out that quickly. I mean, they they take time to ingest and digest. So yeah.
Don The Idea Guy [: it's more than tripled since: Don The Idea Guy [:So you have a lot of overlapping numbers here. I think the the main point is Listening to it on your TV is up, but it's still a distant third place from any other media. Right? Smart speakers is still up. Your phone, you know, the most portable thing ever. You're still gonna be ranking way higher than, television. They end up closing the article by saying that mobile phones account for 8% of all radio listening. Computers, 3%, smart speakers, 2%, and then TV is 1%. But the use on TV, I think, is interesting because it's Branding up so it becomes more exciting.
Don The Idea Guy [:The use cases I can personally give for that are every year when my wife decorates the tree, She turns on Pandora or Spotify app on our Roku and listens to her holiday music because we don't have a stereo or a smart speaker in our living room, and that has a better speaker than her phone would. So It makes sense to put it on in there. If I'm reading in the living room, again, no no stereo, no smart speaker in the living room. The TV is the smart speaker. Basically, we use a Roku soundbar, so it's got good audio. I will put on some Muspheric music on a Spotify playlist and read while I'm in there. I think that makes sense. But is it my go to? No.
Don The Idea Guy [:It just sounds better than my Phone speaker. But I ran across this yesterday that made me wanna talk about it in today's show. I was on Max. I'm gonna call it HBO Max because it started out as HBO, then it was HBO Max, now it's Max. It's like calling x, formerly Twitter. Right? Mhmm. So on Max, Home of all the DC Comics content. My wife went to a, women in technology conference this past week, I was looking up all the old Batman movies.
Don The Idea Guy [:I was watching the Batman movies. And while I'm on there, I see a listing for a new show I hadn't heard of, and it was a It was a show about the Flash, and I thought maybe it was animated because I've already watched the other Flash movie. That's not what this was. It had a subtitle. I can't remember what it is right now. And the only graphic for it was the logo, the Flash superhero logo. So I click on this thing to to start it, expecting animation, and it's all audio. There's a The logo is animated so that it's a rotating spectrum of colors, Making the, the Flash logo scintillate, but it's all audio.
Don The Idea Guy [:It's a it's a podcast. But nowhere on their listing, 1, did they call it a podcast. 2, did they call it audio only content. It was just listed as a flash show among all the other programming. So I think you're gonna end up with a group of people who are confused by this and call tech support to say their picture's not working, the video's not working. If it's really a podcast and DC has done some good podcasts. DC has done a Batman podcast. They've done a Riddler podcast.
Don The Idea Guy [:Marvel's done a Wolverine podcast, but they were promoted as podcasts, or they were promoted as audiobooks on Audible. HBO Max is not promoting this in anything I've seen. I get the the marketing newsletter being a subscriber. Haven't seen anything about it in the newsletter. They're not they're not describing it as anything different in their on screen listings. So it's an interesting experiment, but I think they're setting themselves up to confuse their viewers.
Brett Johnson [:Did you have yeah. What did you happen to see when that was posted? What when was it brand new? Did you did you see a date?
Don The Idea Guy [:It had to be Had to be relatively new. I I don't think I saw a posting date on it. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Okay. But I wonder if
Don The Idea Guy [:it in HBO Max fairly recently, fairly, consistent Well, I I didn't see anything.
Brett Johnson [:I wonder if it was part of this, the, the the strike. They wanted to put new content up, but they couldn't film anything. But but they had the writers that could write and put something up? I I don't know. I I I I
Don The Idea Guy [:Not something I expect.
Brett Johnson [:Right. Yeah. I I to me, I I I would agree. I think, without promoting it and and just putting it out there, if they're just trying to experiment going, okay. Let's just put it out there and see what happens. That isn't fair to anybody that's written it, because that's a lot of effort. As we know, they're, you know, 14 hours per episode prep prep time for podcast episodes. But that's interesting, that there no one thinks of Max To go to to listen to a podcast, I think, yes, you're you're gonna confuse everyone, and probably the the, the adoption of it's gonna be very, very low.
Brett Johnson [:I'd not even heard of this until you brought it up. So, yeah, it's almost still in my mind kinda going, what are they trying to do? Why did they do this? Is it of the forefront to creating something Video and it goes away. It's very interesting on their part, that it It it cost them absolutely nothing to do. They paid some riders, and that was about it. You know, the sound effects, and that's it. So
Don The Idea Guy [:Well, I'm I'm doing, You know, some on the fly researchers were talking here because you the you asked a good point of when did it come out. And it looks like, One, this was originally published as a regular podcast.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Don The Idea Guy [:I see listings for it on iTunes and Spotify Alright. Which Spotify is where I heard about the, the Batman podcast first, and it looks like it came out back in June. I'm seeing this post from DC The Flash 17 weeks ago talking about how The Flash escaped the Midnight Circus podcast, Which that's not the title on the Mac screen. It just it just called The Flash, Escape the Midnight Circus. So the full name is Escape the Midnight Circus podcast. It's an original scripted story. It says 17 weeks ago, it was coming soon to Apple Podcasts, And it was promoted in conjunction with to preorder the Flash movie on Apple TV. So it was just Flash content To get people excited about the upcoming, now having been released for a while, Flash movie.
Brett Johnson [:On Apple TV.
Don The Idea Guy [:But it doesn't tie in. It's not a prequel to the movie, which would have been smart. Yeah. It could have been a cool prequel.
Brett Johnson [:Oh my gosh. Different actor.
Don The Idea Guy [:They didn't use the actor. They didn't use the same actor either, not from the TV series or the movie. It's it's a a probably a a voice Actor named Max Greenfield. I I don't know him.
Brett Johnson [:That you know, you bring that as as a prequel. That is a very cool idea. Very cool idea before you, you know because you tons of shows are, you know, post series finishing or Season is done, then they'll, you know, support it with a podcast series.
Don The Idea Guy [:5 or 6 episodes that. Yeah. Orphan Black did TV series. I love that TV series.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Don The Idea Guy [:And when when the show ended, people wanted more, but the TV series was done. But they hired back the same actress to to reprise a role on a podcast, and I thought that was really smart.
Brett Johnson [:It's in ingenious. And just to keep them excited, you keep your core excited at least. It's not gonna grab everyone, but that core is is those are the folks that are going to promote it for you. They're they're they're the ones who are gonna raise the flag and go, did you hear this? Did you hear this? Did you hear this? To keep it going.
Don The Idea Guy [:That's a really great point. You're with So many people I'm not sure how much you follow superhero stuff like I do, but so many people love the Snyder verse Justice League movies. You know, that's Ben Affleck is Batman. Henry Cavill is Superman.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Don The Idea Guy [:Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman, who's the, who's Aquaman?
Brett Johnson [:Oh, I couldn't tell you what his name, but I know who you're talking about. I don't know his name.
Don The Idea Guy [:Right. The Hawaiian dude. Yes. Jason Momoa.
Brett Johnson [:Okay. Yeah.
Don The Idea Guy [:Okay. Aquaman. The guy is Flash. But they're rebooting the DC Universe. They're they're turning into a James Gunn universe. And So many people. It's just divided, like, the Snyder Universe. They love the Snyder Universe.
Don The Idea Guy [:They're they're gonna hate everything that James Gunn does. What a way to keep that other universe going.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, yeah.
Don The Idea Guy [:DC would have to be willing to do it. The problem is they're not. But The you could have made the Snyder Universe people happy by just having those actors do voice, continuations, podcast only, Audiobook only, episodes. You wouldn't have nearly the budget you would require for a summer blockbuster, and it could It'll be just as dramatic. That would be really cool. Yeah. I would absolutely tune into that, maybe even pay a subscription fee for it.
Brett Johnson [:And totally easy money for the actors and actresses.
Don The Idea Guy [:Oh, yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, they would go for in a heartbeat. That that's that's simple stuff. It's simple stuff for them, yeah, to keep that going. But, yeah, talk about a missed opportunity of Not making The Flash as a prequel to yeah. Which is a weird cross pollination. I know we're going a little bit deep into this, but it's that so Apple TV has the Flash movie, but they put the podcast to promote that on Macs. Is that what you're saying?
Don The Idea Guy [:No. No. The the the post I was reading was from the DC, Instagram account.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Don The Idea Guy [:And this post was specifically promoting the fact the podcast was available on Apple Podcasts.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Don The Idea Guy [:So I think Apple Podcasts probably had it before Max started carrying it because Max isn't a podcast Platform. So this was on Spotify. This was on, Apple Podcasts. This is probably on listen to it under your favorite podcast player. I wasn't aware of it Because I don't use iTunes as my podcast feed, but that's a they were using it in conjunction with Apple promotion here.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Don The Idea Guy [:Now if I go to the Max, account, you know, will it show me that they're promoting the Flash thing? I I don't know. Yeah. But You know?
Brett Johnson [:Probably not.
Don The Idea Guy [:It showed on it premiered on, Macs before it premiered on any of the other platforms. So you would think that,
Brett Johnson [:What a strange strange journey this podcast has been on On it. But Well,
Don The Idea Guy [:I ran across it by accident. You got a what was that thing we talked about promotion?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I got that. The dishes.
Don The Idea Guy [:You got the dishes. You got the dishes.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And, man, they left a lot of dishes in the dishwasher on this one. Oh my gosh. Wow. Okay. This is yeah. Well, this turned in a little bit more than what I was expecting. This is a good this is a good journey, a good learning lesson, actually.
Brett Johnson [:So yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, hey. As we end as we always do, what's your, let's let's talk about how to get ahold of you.
Don The Idea Guy [:Oh, the easiest place to find me is at don the idea guy.com. All my other stuff links from there. You mentioned 5 buck Brainstorms. It's always a fun place to go. But Don the idea guy on all of your socials.
Brett Johnson [:Cool.
Don The Idea Guy [:How about you? Where should we be running into you these days?
Brett Johnson [:Right on my own website, circle two seventy media Sometimes it's easier just to remember My Podcast Guy, and then you can subscribe to my, weekly newsletter as Don referenced a little bit ago, one one of the stories I I did, Put in there. But, yeah, that's a free one. So, you know, join up on on that one and keep informed on what's going on in the podcast space as well as listening to this podcast. And, thanks for joining us. Thanks, Don.
