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The next few months are looking pretty rough for podcasting.

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And just about every other industry.

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Historically, podcasting has proven itself to be rather resilient.

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But there are lean times ahead.

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Are you prepared?

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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

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Everything just looks bad right now.

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War in Europe, the stock market in turmoil, skyrocketing inflation,

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rekindled assaults on personal freedoms.

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Heck, even crypto is tanking.

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All signs are pointing to a coming recession.

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How much more can podcasting take?

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Or, just to ask the tough question outright, can podcasting survive?

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Now, I don't think podcasting is too big to fail.

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But I do think that podcasting is too diverse to fail.

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Before I talk about the bad stuff, let me, let me talk about the good stuff first.

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By now, you've probably heard the news that Tom Webster is joining

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us over at Sounds Profitable.

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Yes, from Edison Research fame.

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Which, come to think about it, did you know that I'm working

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with Sounds Profitable in an official capacity these days?

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I am, indeed.

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And what we'll be announcing soon enough, I would say in the coming

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weeks, it's going to be very, very cool.

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Because at Sounds Profitable, both Tom and Bryan share my commitment

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to making podcasting better.

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And with some help from some really amazing other people who

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are also involved, we're going to put that concept more into action.

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And you're going to love it.

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Okay.

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That was it for the good news.

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Let's get back to the apparent doom and gloom just outside the window.

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Because things are bad.

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Objectively bad.

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And I don't think it's, I don't think anyone really thinks that podcasting

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will escape from the fallout from whatever it is that's to come.

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But no, I don't think that fallout will kill us podcasters, unless,

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of course, it's actual fallout.

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Something I haven't think about since, you know, the end of the Cold War.

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But I digress.

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This isn't about politics, or I guess it's not only about politics.

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It's about everything, everything that's keeping us up at night.

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Everything that's making us wonder, is it just us or does everybody

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else in podcasting feel this way?

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Well, the reality is everyone else in podcasting is feeling this way.

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Maybe with more or less dread than you might be having.

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Um, and they may not be tweeting about it, they may not be terribly worried.

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But, you know, they probably have some contingency plans in place that will

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let them ride out the coming storm.

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I don't know of a single serious podcaster who isn't looking at the

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world outside and wondering just how that's going to impact them.

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So, no, you're not alone.

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But back to the why I chose "too diverse to fail" and not "too big to fail."

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Mostly that's because I don't see podcasting or even

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podcasters as a monolithic group.

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Sure, Spotify and iHeart might be hit by the same wave, to keep my

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tortured storm metaphor going, but the scrappy, independent podcaster

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isn't in the same boat as the host who sold their show and is now

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supported by a big production house.

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So the wave hits them with a different direction, amplitude, and

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whatever else the metaphor brings up.

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Now, to take that a bit further, I won't be surprised if Big Podcasting

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faces the brunt of this onslaught.

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Which means there will be casualties.

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And some of the staples of Big Podcasting today will either

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cut their losses or cease to be.

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I don't celebrate this fact.

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I'm not, certainly not trying to bring it into existence.

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That's not what I want at all.

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I'm talking about this because podcasters of any size need to be prepared

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for the rocky and lean times ahead.

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Let me start off by pointing out the obvious, I am not an economist.

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So I've already likely used some incorrect terminology, recession,

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depression, market downturn.

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Look, no need to send me articles that talk about the nuances of those terms.

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I'm not going to read them so save yourself the trip.

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But whatever you call this thing we're about to go through, I've made it

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through many other things like this.

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I was on my second career during the recession of the early 1990s.

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And then the boom that followed that all the way through to

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the dot-com bubble bursting.

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I was a four-year veteran of podcasting during the global

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financial crisis of 2008.

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And those of us podcasters who've survived the global pandemic?

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Well, we survived the global pandemic.

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And podcasting, as with many of us podcasters, will

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survive this coming downturn.

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Again, that does not qualify me to give you any financial advice at all.

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If I'm qualified to do one thing, it's pontificate about

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podcasting today and tomorrow.

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I've got no predictions for you.

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Just some perspective, hopefully.

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Because faced with financial pressures, businesses start cutting costs.

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And one of the very first line items to be cut?

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Advertising, marketing, and that includes content.

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We already saw some of this during the early months of the pandemic.

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And while there certainly were many sectors that cut way, way, way back,

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podcast advertising and marketing budgets, on the whole, weren't negatively impacted.

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But they very well could be this time.

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So if you're getting paid to run ads on your podcast, know that you may

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have an interruption at some point.

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Now, if you have a direct relationship with your advertisers, you might want

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to start having those conversations with those advertisers right now.

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If you rely on a third party or an agency to directly sell your show on your

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behalf, start talking to your agency rep.

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Be creative, get flexible.

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And if you're relying on programmatic ads or other hands-off

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or low-touch options, good luck.

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Low effort campaigns require low effort to turn off, as well.

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If you've been running paid ad campaigns for your show, and they're

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working for you with a solid return on that investment, well, then keep on

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spending if that makes sense for you.

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But you also may want to start having conversations with the shows, the sites,

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and the services that you advertise on to see what their plans are.

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Now, if you're using more bid-based, self-service or automated solutions,

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keep your eye on those changing bid prices, those impression volumes,

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and any performance metrics.

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And be prepared to make some really quick changes.

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If you're selling podcast production services to companies or individuals,

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like me, you may want to reconfirm your clients' commitment to the shows

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you're producing on their behalf.

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I just had a client put on hold a couple of really big projects.

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Luckily, we were still in the very early stages of them, but now

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they're on hold until next year.

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Which means revenues from those are on hold until next year.

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So a call from you to your clients could help assuage their fears.

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And if on that call, you get the impression that their commitment

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is wavering, well, at least you know ahead of time, right?

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And if you work for a company in the business of podcasting, I think

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you should talking to your bosses.

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And yeah, I know many companies are reticent to discuss finances,

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but more forward-thinking companies are becoming much more open to that

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kind of stuff with their staff.

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And you asking the questions are going to show people in charge that you are

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concerned about the financial health of the company even if your motivations

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are strongly self-preservative.

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No, you shouldn't expect the CFO to invite you in to lay everything out on

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the table, but it never hurts to ask...

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gently.

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Look, none of us know how it's gonna play out.

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But it will play out one way or another.

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So keep your eyes open.

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Plan for the worst, but hope for the best.

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Look, I don't think the coming recession is going to kill podcasting.

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And I hope you, your show or your services, make it

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through on the other side.

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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.