It's hard for podcasting to be the great equalizing force
Evo Terra:when podcasting's tech vendors play favorites to determine which podcasts
Evo Terra:are worthy of timely distribution.
Evo Terra:You're less in control than you think.
Evo Terra:Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
Evo Terra:With millions of podcasts now available, which means tens of millions of episodes
Evo Terra:available, the tubes that get your podcast's episodes to your listeners
Evo Terra:are getting a little jammed up.
Evo Terra:Okay, that's not how the internet works, Senator, but it's an unfortunately
Evo Terra:apt metaphor for where we are today.
Evo Terra:Because with millions of podcasts and tens, if not hundreds, of millions of
Evo Terra:episodes available, it takes a while to get the updates where they need to go.
Evo Terra:Now, we're used to having to wait some time before the directories
Evo Terra:updated their front page, if you will.
Evo Terra:But also until recently we have assumed that subscribers to our
Evo Terra:show, using the apps connected to those directories, someone who has
Evo Terra:subscribed/followed will get the episode within a few minutes of publishing.
Evo Terra:The difference is the directory may not update for the general public,
Evo Terra:just like when a delivery comes into a store, the first thing they do is
Evo Terra:fill all the existing orders and then they put stuff out in the showroom.
Evo Terra:Same kind of deal in podcasting if an additional metaphor
Evo Terra:is helpful for us today.
Evo Terra:But anyhow, people who were subscribed can now get it or always
Evo Terra:were getting it within minutes.
Evo Terra:Well, not anymore.
Evo Terra:A particular podcast I listened to that dropped an episode on Thursday didn't make
Evo Terra:it to me in my podcatcher until Saturday.
Evo Terra:In fact, even the episode that I dropped on Thursday, no, it wasn't just a Thursday
Evo Terra:problem, but the episode I put out on Thursday at 9:55 in the morning, it
Evo Terra:took hours, like way into the evening, like four or five o'clock, I think,
Evo Terra:before it actually reached my phone.
Evo Terra:Now why is this happening?
Evo Terra:Well, it's happening for extremely boring infrastructure changes
Evo Terra:on Apple Podcasts specifically.
Evo Terra:I'm going to point you to an article James Cridland from Podnews
Evo Terra:wrote that goes into great detail of exactly what the change is.
But the headline is this:Apple does not update all podcasts at the same frequency.
But the headline is this:Instead, they, Apple, make a determination of how quickly or how worthy, if you will,
But the headline is this:your content is of being updated by then.
But the headline is this:Surprising absolutely no one, shows that have much larger audiences who
But the headline is this:put out content on a very frequent basis are deemed more worthy and are
But the headline is this:therefore updated much more quickly.
But the headline is this:Now, if you are troubled by this, as honestly, I was troubled
But the headline is this:by this when I discovered it, well, that's how pretty much all
But the headline is this:podcast directories and apps work.
But the headline is this:Or at least a lot of them work that way.
But the headline is this:It's just not a smart way to spend resources if you are treating,
But the headline is this:if you the directory, treat every single podcast exactly the same.
But the headline is this:Look, you're wasting resources checking all those shows that
But the headline is this:haven't updated in six months.
But the headline is this:So you want to refocus and make a determination of, I'll use the term again,
But the headline is this:worthiness based on a variety of factors.
But the headline is this:Now, if you're troubled by that, well, this is how search engines work.
But the headline is this:Google doesn't crawl all websites at the exact same time, every single
But the headline is this:day with the same frequency or depth.
But the headline is this:And any changes that Google, for example, discovers on a website, take time before
But the headline is this:they populate back in the directory.
But the headline is this:Some pages get updated quickly.
But the headline is this:Some take a long time.
But the headline is this:I think we all knew this was happening in podcasting, but I also think we
But the headline is this:all thought we could bypass this by getting people to subscribe/follow
But the headline is this:our shows because then it didn't have to wait for the directory to update.
But the headline is this:It would just go automatically.
But the headline is this:Well, no.
But the headline is this:I think we can no longer safely assume that.
But the headline is this:So what do we do?
But the headline is this:What do we do in this reality that not everything, we're not all seen
But the headline is this:as worthy in the eyes of the tech gurus that hold on to all of this?
But the headline is this:I think it's especially bad if you publish a ride home format like
But the headline is this:Techmeme Ride Home, or even Post Reports by The Washington Post.
But the headline is this:You're no longer able, those people are no longer able to be assured that
But the headline is this:their listeners are going to get the content before that commute begins.
But the headline is this:If you're publishing first thing in the morning format, like there's a
But the headline is this:podcast out of Australia called 7am.
But the headline is this:It's right there in the title 7am Podcast.
But the headline is this:You can't be confident that it's going to be in your listener's
But the headline is this:ears at 7:00 AM or on their devices that they can put it in their ears.
But the headline is this:And it's not just these two shows.
But the headline is this:Dayparting of content is a growing trend.
But the headline is this:I was reading an article over the weekend about somebody who is publishing
But the headline is this:eight different episodes per day.
But the headline is this:You can't trust, we can't trust podcast apps and services to deliver
But the headline is this:our content on a timely fashion.
But the headline is this:It's not a one-to-one relationship like many of us, me included, kind of assumed.
But the headline is this:But, you know what is?
But the headline is this:Email.
But the headline is this:I know I'm going to go off on email again, but really when you send
But the headline is this:an email to someone, it sends.
But the headline is this:It takes a little bit of time for it to go through the pipe to get there, but that's
But the headline is this:not an app updating a directory somewhere.
But the headline is this:And yes, if you've got a giant mailing list, when you hit send, it may take
But the headline is this:several minutes, and, I guess, possibly an hour or so for it to churn through
But the headline is this:what it takes to go through that, but at least you, the sender, received
But the headline is this:a notice when the sending is done.
But the headline is this:So you can then adjust the time you begin that job so that everything is
But the headline is this:delivered by a certain timeframe for you.
But the headline is this:So if you really want to be certain that your audience knows you released
But the headline is this:an episode and probably gets it, consider email as your backup plan, as
But the headline is this:your sort of fail-safe, if you will.
But the headline is this:Now, how you handle that email is totally up to you.
But the headline is this:You know, I think you know, I really go all-in on the email.
But the headline is this:You can see that if you sign up for Podcast Pontifications in your
But the headline is this:inbox at podcastpontifications.com.
But the headline is this:I set that to send out every day at 10:00 AM and it's in every
But the headline is this:inbox within minutes of that.
But the headline is this:Now, plenty of people still subscribe to/follow Podcast Pontifications in
But the headline is this:their choice, preferred listening app.
But the headline is this:That's fine.
But the headline is this:I'm a big fan of over delivery, not under delivery.
But the headline is this:That's my goal.
But the headline is this:Have you been frustrated by slow episode delivery on your show?
But the headline is this:If not, well, congratulations.
But the headline is this:But you probably will be at some point in time and certainly someone who you
But the headline is this:connect with likely has experienced this and is wondering what's going on.
But the headline is this:Well, email them this article, telling them that there's at least a potential
But the headline is this:weird solution of utilizing email.
But the headline is this:And if you love the idea, I would love for you to go to buymeacoffee.com/EvoTerra,
But the headline is this:and slide a virtual coffee my way.
But the headline is this:That's it.
But the headline is this:I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.