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Podcast discovery isn't broken.
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It's just not one thing.
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And it gets a lot easier to improve podcast discoverability when a
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podcast listening app specializes in just one type of content.
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So how's that going?
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Four years ago, I tried to look eight years ahead, imagining what podcast
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discovery might look like in 2026.
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Now, I have no idea why I used eight years instead of 10.
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I don't, I don't count in base eight.
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But regardless of that oddity, I thought I'd take a look back and
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see how my prediction - although it really wasn't a prediction - is now
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trending halfway through that timeline.
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And the answer is a mixed bag.
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Well, a bag with exactly two things in it - to my knowledge.
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You see the future I envisioned then was that podcast listening apps would
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evolve and that a wave of apps would become available to us that, rather
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than offering more, offered less.
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At least less choices when users of those apps were looking
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for their next podcasting fix.
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Specifically, my future vision was one where a number of specialty podcast
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apps would exist containing, or perhaps only promoting, podcasts of a
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particular genre or vertical or flare.
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So for instance, if you, like me, are a fan of podcast that's fictional,
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fiction podcasts, you'd be able to use a podcast listening app that was
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focused exclusively on fiction podcasts.
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And when you opened up that app for the very first time, you'd see
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a curated selection of shows that fit the genre fiction podcasts.
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So no Rogan.
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No The Daily.
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No Conan.
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No anything else that wasn't podcast fiction.
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It does what it says on the box, allowing the app then to be tailored
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to accommodate that very special, specific niche of podcasting.
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And in the case of listening to podcasts that are fiction, I can tell you that
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listening experience is quite different.
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But so are other types of listening.
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I mean, think true crime, for instance, still a huge category.
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And there are plenty of people out there who only listen to true crime podcasts.
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So an app that curated only true crime shows and then organized its design
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and functionality to make listening to that type of podcast perfect, I
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mean, with that kind of attention, it should, in fact, lead to a far
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superior listening experience, right?
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I mean, heck I think even a smart development team could find ways to
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optimize the experience of discovering and listening to long form interview podcasts.
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Another could be working on optimizing and finding, and listening to as well,
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sports related podcasts while another starts unpacking the messiness that is
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the society and culture category, which I equate to the junk drawer of podcasting.
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So that's what I predicted.
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How's that coming along halfway through my completely arbitrary timeframe, hmm?
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So far, I'm aware of two podcast listening apps that have gone down
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the specialization route, tailoring their app around the needs of listening
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to a very specific type of podcast.
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The first one is called Apollo, which says it is "A library of 7,500
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or more shows on the only open RSS podcatcher designed just for fiction.
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With new shows added every day and playlists curated by audio drama creators.
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Plot your escape into the world of audio!"
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And yes, the app is in fact customized to fiction podcasts.
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So they, the developers and the designers of the app, can do things
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like correcting the sort order.
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You always wanna start with the first episode of a fiction podcast,
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not the most recent episode, right?
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They also can isolate out bonus episodes from the show's main content feed.
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They also have actual fiction podcast curators who are curating
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the lists of shows you can listen to.
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These, these are all things that make sense on this highly specialized app.
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But look, it's not gonna work universally on apps that have, well, everything.
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The second is Maps.fm.
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Now, full disclosure, I am on the advisory board for Maps.fm.
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Maps.fm is customized not to a particular genre, you might be thinking of the
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places and travel section of the society and culture messiness, but instead they
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categorized by the podcasts, either at the episode or the show level, that
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are about a very specific local area.
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Not produced from that area, but actual episode content that is specifically about
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something in that very specific area.
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Now, in a couple of weeks, I'm going on vacation to Ireland.
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And I've no idea what I really should be doing when I'm there, but using
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Maps.fm's helpful map-based view of, like, Dublin, for example, I can zoom in
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and find episodes about an attraction or a neighborhood or, or a bit of history
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that's pinned to a position on the map.
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I'm not having to rely on rotten search bar experiences for general apps.
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No, I just zoom in on the location I'm interested in, go a little
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tighter and see the little dots for where episodes appear, episodes I
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can listen to right there in the app to learn about that particular spot.
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It's a brilliant design.
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Now, there are probably other specialized listening apps I don't know about
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that have already come up there.
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But I really, really wanna know about those apps.
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So please, if you have a suggestion of a podcast listening app that
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intentionally limits the content that they index and they give a customized
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experience that's not possible in a one-size-fits-all podcasting listening
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app, please let me know about that.
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So how do I feel about my prediction that wasn't really
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a prediction halfway through?
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Pretty good.
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I think, I mean, we're still four years away from 2026, so there's plenty of
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time for more of these to be developed.
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So you should keep your eye on the app space.
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And when you hear of one developing that covers your particular genre or area
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of focus, I suggest getting to know the developers, see if they're into letting
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you help shape the development of that.
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With millions of podcasts available, not episodes, entire podcast shows, we need
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apps like these to not only make for better listening experiences, but also
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to provide an alternate discovery system.
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Here's to the future.
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With that, I shall be back next week 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.
