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Politicians get in trouble for flip-flopping on issues.

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But for podcasters, changing opinions and approaches is a survival tactic.

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Think about these three questions over the next few months to prep

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your show for 2023 and beyond.

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

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It's early June, which is an odd time for me to be pontificating about podcasting

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because previously, this was the month I took off when it was a daily show.

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I mean, this is my birthday month.

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My wedding anniversary - 33 years and counting baby - was just last week.

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And it's hot as hell in Phoenix, which is where I live.

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And so for me, June has always been a good time to pause and take stock.

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Sort of a mid-year respite and a restating of assumptions, if you

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will, for myself, for my business, and the larger world of podcasting.

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And I think June is a, is still a good month to do that, even though I'm no

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longer taking that month-long break.

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Which, lets me podcast in my ponderings now.

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Ooh!

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And I've been doing a little bit of that pondering - okay, more than

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a little bit of that - about what serious podcasters like you should

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be pondering as the year progresses.

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Because the next six to eighteen months are going to be weird.

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For a lot of reasons, from political to technological, to economical.

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And all of those are going to combine to make new challenges, and opportunities,

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for podcasters of all shapes and sizes.

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So today, I wanted to share with you just three of those challenges,

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or opportunities, as I see them.

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Things or ways of thinking, if you will, that could do with some

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serious consideration on your part.

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Because I'm convinced that all of them will leave a mark on podcasting.

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Now what shape and what color that mark is, I really don't know.

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I mean, much of that is up to you and how you deal with them

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for your own podcasting efforts.

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Ready?

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Let's begin.

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The first trend you need to weigh for yourself is the ongoing insistence

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of dissing programmatic content.

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And by content, yes, I mostly mean ads.

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Now look, if you don't sell CPM-based ads on your show, like

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I don't sell CPM-based ads on this show, you have less to consider.

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But still, you should pay attention to this.

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I think we podcasters collectively are too protective of our audience.

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And yeah, I know the audience is something worth protecting.

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I get it.

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And no, I would never suggest you do something to damage the relationship

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you have with your audience.

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But at the same time, I think the evidence is lacking when it comes to the

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likelihood that our audience will bail on a podcast if it runs programmatic ads.

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And honestly, if anything, the evidence shows that in general, audiences are

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pretty tolerant of hearing ads on podcasts - yes, even programmatic ads.

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But yes, I get it.

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I have read the exact same studies that you have that show how much more effective

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hard-to-buy, baked-in, endorsement-style, host-read ads are over, well, you

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know, every other form of advertising.

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Which mostly means announcer-read ad spots.

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I don't doubt any of those studies.

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I just don't believe that the majority of companies eager to spend

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money on easy-to-buy programmatic ads care about those studies.

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Look, when it comes to buying ads en masse, easy wins.

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And while there are some exciting ad tech companies working to reduce the friction

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that's inherent with the host-read world, that rate of change is far less

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rapid than what can and is happening with algorithmic automatic placements.

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So even if you are anti programmatic ads, at least be open to having your

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mind changed as the months progress.

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I'd hate to see you miss out on opportunities because you thought

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you were doing the right thing by protecting your audience.

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They're probably not as fragile as you think.

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The second trend I need you to think about is video.

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Specifically, I'm not so sure you'll be able to ignore video for much longer.

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Now, that's coming from a guy who is and has been a staunch,

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audio first kind of guy.

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But this staunch, audio first kind of guy has been making full videos

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of this show available on my site and YouTube for a few years now.

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And yes, podcasting is for the ears.

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I fully buy that.

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But for the new group of people coming to podcasting, it's not only for their ears.

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It's not only audio.

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More and more of them are assuming that video will be a part of

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the podcasting experience.

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And when they don't find that video, they're going to start

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to wonder why you don't have it.

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So I think the question you need to ask yourself this summer needs to shift

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away from "Do I need a video component?"

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To the question that those people are already asking, "What's stopping

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me from having a video component?"

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And I don't think, by the way, I don't think you can get away with a

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quick and dirty upload of an audiogram or just a side-by-side video of you

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and your hosts or your guests from some remote recording software.

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Look, just like you don't upload your unedited audio files to

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your hosting company - by the way, you don't do that, right?

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You don't actually do that?

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Okay, good.

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Yeah, you're going to need to find the time and the tools to

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help you make a solid video.

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Look, I honestly believe there are less painful ways of doing that coming soon.

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But for now, start thinking about it.

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The third and final thing I want you contemplating over the next

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few months is paid subscriptions.

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Specifically, ask yourself why aren't you leaning into paid subscriptions?

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Heavily?

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"Mmmm podcasting should be free and open," I can hear you shouting at me right now.

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Well, look, the good news is that for the foreseeable future, we'll

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continue to have just that, free podcasts, many of them subsidized,

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that are available on the open web.

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Go podcasting!

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I don't see any of that changing.

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But the free and open majority of podcasting doesn't preclude paid-for and

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closed, a subset of podcasting that way.

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Nor does a paid-for and closed subset of podcasting threaten the free

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and open majority of podcasting.

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Not in my view.

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I think they can live happily side by side, mostly because they are

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happily living side-by-side right now.

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Both can keep growing and both probably will.

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Your question should be, how can you embrace both?

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Not should I, but how can you.

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What would you offer?

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I don't think an ad-free or a sponsor-free version is enough.

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He said from personal experience.

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And I don't think that more content is enough.

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Actually, less content might be something your audience would be willing to pay

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for, which I know that sounds weird.

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But there's little doubt that the friction for subscriptions is coming down quickly

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for both the listeners and the creators.

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So it's worth your time to consider how you can embrace this reality as

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a way to better serve your audience.

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Now, for now, those three are enough.

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If over the next three to six months you can figure out how to adapt your

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show to take better advantage of just one of them, I think you'll win.

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And I think you and your show will sail through these challenges ahead.

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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.