Speaker:
Podcasting is like crack for your ears, many have said.
Speaker:
Listen once, and they're hooked for life, right?
Speaker:
Well...
Speaker:
wrong.
Speaker:
What do we need to do—as podcasters and as an industry—to
Speaker:
help build listening habits?
Speaker:
Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
Speaker:
We talk a lot, heck, I've talked a lot, about building the podcasting habit.
Speaker:
But are we as an industry actually doing the things we need to do to
Speaker:
actually help build that habit?
Speaker:
Or is it just a bunch of talk?
Speaker:
You see, the act of listening to a podcast does not in and of itself lend itself to
Speaker:
the habitualization of podcast listening.
Speaker:
Or I should say not always.
Speaker:
But come to think of it, not even most of the time.
Speaker:
Edison's Infinite Dial survey tells us that while most Americans over the
Speaker:
age of 12 have listened to a podcast, 62% according to their 2022 study,
Speaker:
most haven't listened in over a month.
Speaker:
And less than half of those who say they've ever listened,
Speaker:
have listened in the last week.
Speaker:
So no, exposing one's ears to a podcast episode, the data show, does
Speaker:
not instill the listening habit.
Speaker:
Not to most people, at least.
Speaker:
Well, why not?
Speaker:
Well, two primary reasons, I think.
Speaker:
One is the fault of the apps and one is the fault of us, the podcasters.
Speaker:
Let me first lay the blame at the feet of the app makers.
Speaker:
And yes, I know I cast enough blame on their collective tootsies that
Speaker:
they should all see a podiatrist, or a moth, but I digress.
Speaker:
Podcast listening app makers don't do a good job of encouraging the
Speaker:
listening habit, in my opinion.
Speaker:
I'll illustrate that by examining two services that do do an excellent
Speaker:
job of imprinting habits on their users, Netflix and Amazon.
Speaker:
When you finish a movie or a series on Netflix, the Netflix app asserts control
Speaker:
almost immediately, offering up another series or a movie you might wanna watch.
Speaker:
Now, you might not wanna watch any of their recommendations they put forth,
Speaker:
but that's less important and it's not about their algorithm accurately
Speaker:
predicting what show you wanna watch next.
Speaker:
And more importantly, though, it's encouraging you to watch your next show.
Speaker:
And note how aggressive Netflix is with that.
Speaker:
I mean, as soon as the credits start to roll, those credits are relegated
Speaker:
to a tiny picture-in-picture window in the lower right corner with the
Speaker:
rest of your screen dedicated to getting you to choose another show.
Speaker:
They know that people leave the theater when the lights come on
Speaker:
and that people get up from their couches as soon as the credits roll.
Speaker:
So they, Netflix, jump in, ostensibly breaking into the content and encouraging
Speaker:
what they, Netflix, wants, which is for you to choose another show to watch.
Speaker:
Now, Amazon, at least on their Kindle ebook reader, does a similar thing.
Speaker:
As soon as the end is reached in a book, Amazon takes over,
Speaker:
interjecting a before-you-go note with some recommendations and
Speaker:
other options, options that Amazon wants you, the reader, to take.
Speaker:
They do that in place of the back matter of the book, equivalent to the
Speaker:
credit roll or the, of a movie, right?
Speaker:
That back matter's still there.
Speaker:
They didn't get rid of it.
Speaker:
But Amazon knows you very likely don't wanna read that stuff and that
Speaker:
they would very much like for you to select another book from their catalog.
Speaker:
What would happen if podcast listening apps did this, choosing to inject
Speaker:
what are you going to listen to next messages into your ears as soon as you
Speaker:
are done listening to the main content?
Speaker:
Either pausing or perhaps displacing the standard outro in an effort to get you
Speaker:
to choose something else to listen to?
Speaker:
Now, that's going to cause heart palpitations for some podcasters.
Speaker:
We don't touch the episodes, that's sacred ground, say many podcast app
Speaker:
developers and hosting companies.
Speaker:
To which I say, eh.
Speaker:
I mean, Netflix and Amazon have managed to pull it off.
Speaker:
So while I agree, it will probably cause a massive outcry at first, dismissing the
Speaker:
notion out of hand seems like a bad idea.
Speaker:
But that also brings me to the second reason we're not seeing this in
Speaker:
podcasting and that's us, the podcasters.
Speaker:
You see, it's relatively simple for Netflix to know when a
Speaker:
movie is over or when the final episode of a series is complete.
Speaker:
And it's not a challenge for Amazon to know when the end
Speaker:
has been reached of the books.
Speaker:
But that's not so easy in podcasting, is it?
Speaker:
For those who do produce serialized podcasts with a definite end, either at
Speaker:
the show or the season level, most of us aren't using the complete RSS tag.
Speaker:
It's probably not even something most podcast companies support actually.
Speaker:
And without that tag, how is an app to know when to jump in and start working
Speaker:
on the listeners' podcasting habit?
Speaker:
And the bigger problem with that, unlike Netflix and Amazon, most
Speaker:
podcasts, like the vast majority of podcasts, don't have a natural endpoint.
Speaker:
They're ongoing.
Speaker:
That is a challenge to figure out, right?
Speaker:
Listening to that particular podcast is the habit the podcaster cares about so
Speaker:
any app that encourages someone to dump one ongoing podcast in favor of another
Speaker:
show is probably going to quickly fall out of favor once those are putting
Speaker:
their needs in front of the podcaster's.
Speaker:
So it's a conundrum for sure, which is why this is another one of those episodes that
Speaker:
doesn't come with a solid way forward.
Speaker:
Sometimes asking questions and surfacing potential issues is a
Speaker:
good enough thing to do on its own.
Speaker:
And I'd love to hear from you on what ideas you have on how
Speaker:
we can actually start building the podcast listening habit.
Speaker:
Email me, would you?
Speaker:
Evo@simpler.media or tweet to me where I'm @EvoTerra.
Speaker:
And with that, I shall be back next week - well, maybe next week.
Speaker:
Next week I'm in Podcast Movement and then I'm in Ireland for a couple of weeks.
Speaker:
So who knows, but whatever- soon with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
Speaker:
Cheers!
Speaker:
Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.
Speaker:
He's on a mission to make podcasting better.
Speaker:
Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes
Speaker:
section of your podcast listening app.
Speaker:
A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at
Speaker:
podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected
Speaker:
transcript, both created by Allie Press.
Speaker:
Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.
