Podcasting: Where to from here?

Are podcasts dying? Or have they peaked?

That’s the question writer, ABC manager and self-proclaimed ‘radio person’ James O’Brien found himself asking when he attended Podcast Day 24 in Sydney.

“In relation to podcasts, the United States has always been a little ahead of the game. Compared with Australia, there has always been a greater awareness and use of podcasts in the United States until this year.”

“Australia now seems to be ahead of the United States, which made me wonder “Have we finally caught up? Or have things peaked in America?”

“It’s hard to know for sure, though the vibe from the conference was that the industry is ‘maturing,’ and that maybe some of the extraordinary growth in the past few years has come to an end.”

“The research around podcasts is that, on average, people listen to seven each week. The challenge is how you make your podcasts interesting/distinctive enough to be part of people’s lives.”

A panellist noted “You need a 50/50 rule. You need to spend 50% of your effort finding audiences for your podcast, not just creating it.”

O’Brien was especially interested in how some of the ‘rules’ of radio apply equally to podcasts.

“I think there is likely too much of a gap between the high-end ‘art’ podcasts, and the more informal ‘two blokes around a kitchen table’ style of podcast. “There is still a lot to learn from the middle ground lessons of 100 years of radio craft.”

O’Brien also thoroughly enjoyed the presentation from podcasting duo Toni Lodge and Ryan Jon.

“I was a wonderful story of a couple of young people from radio backgrounds who fell ‘accidentally’ into podcasting, and who are now working full time on a podcast that’s been picked up by Spotify.”

“In particular, I loved how they spoke about their affection for their audience. ‘Do you think we should do the Spotify deal?’ they asked them.”

Ryan spoke about the time it takes, but always responding to the comments from listeners.

O’Brien says one of his colleagues at the conference commented “I love their work ethic.”

And Toni and Ryan’s refreshingly down-to-earth attitude didn’t go unnoticed.

“There was no sense of ‘privilege’ that you sometimes/often find from people in the media.”

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