Day 4 of the Exclusive Feature, The Future of Podcasting! Today's writing comes from Tim Bourquin of the Podcast Brothers, Podcast Expo and Endurance Radio.
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The Future of
Podcasting
Tim Bourquin
http://www.PodcastExpo.com
http://www.EnduranceRadio.com
My iPod has survived three pretty major crashes on my
mountain bike. It’s been my trusty companion on long rides in the hills near Laguna Beach ever since I received it as “best man” gift from
my brother and his wife the night before their wedding. In the old days, back
in early 2004, I used to record streaming media interviews with mountain bikers
to my hard drive, use Winamp to convert it to a wav file, convert the wav file
to an mp3 and then transfer the mp3 to my player manually. So when this thing called “podcasting” came
along, it was like the clouds parted, the sun came shining down, and an
orchestra began playing the 1812 Overture.
I’ve been doing recording and encoding of streaming media
for years now, and in all that time I’ve never seen it take off like podcasting
has in the past 6 months. Something happened when podcasting was born that
streaming media was never able to achieve – excitement that goes beyond
Internet-savvy geeks. People aren’t just
listening to podcasts – many are inspired to produce podcasts themselves. That’s something that just didn’t happen with
streaming audio.
I’ve asked about 30 people the same question over the past 2
months: “What is it about podcasting that got you so excited in a way you
weren’t about streaming audio?” The
answers are varied, but usually one theme rises to the top: when I want it,
where I want it. That’s the key to this whole podcasting phenomenon –
portability and freedom. It’s had such a huge impact on me personally, that
last year when I was in the market for a new truck, I bought a Nissan Titan
almost entirely because it had a “line-in” jack in the dashboard for the stereo
so I could play my iPod through the audio system. Think about that - I made a $29,000 decision
because it allowed me to take advantage of listening to podcasts instead of the
crappy morning-drive drivel on FM. If
that isn’t a sign of what impact podcasting has had - and will have in years to
come - I don’t know what is.
Podcasting is going to allow you to receive the most
targeted, niche content you can imagine. Are you a single mom with twins in Phoenix? There will be a podcast out there someday
(maybe there is already) just for you. Mass media can’t afford to do a show just for single moms with twins in Phoenix
because they simply can’t afford to. Mass media has to reach mass numbers in order to be profitable and
because of this you have few choices. Podasting is going to change that. It will now be feasible to create audio for only a very tiny audience –
and do it profitably if you want to because advertisers will pay you to reach
your hyper-targeted audience. The
benefit to the listener is that the more targeted an ad is to you personally,
the less you are bothered by the advertisement.
The reason I hate traditional radio ads is because after the
10th mortgage commercial and the 10th Viagra commercial –
neither of which I am in the market for thankfully, I’m annoyed – not curious
to find out more. But if you’re offering
me a new shock absorbing iPod sheath that will resist scratches and damage when
I fall over my handlebars, now you’ve got
my attention.
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tags: podcasting | ipod | radio
"Think about that - I made a $29,000 decision because it allowed me to take advantage of listening to podcasts instead of the crappy morning-drive drivel on FM. If that isn’t a sign of what impact podcasting has had - and will have in years to come - I don’t know what is."
I doubt many people make that kind of decision. It's a pretty safe bet you had already decided to drop $29,000 on a new truck and just hadn't picked which of the three you test drove. Did the line-in jack push the Nissan over the top? Sure, but it wasn't like you didn't have a new vehicle in mind and suddenly, based on a brochure or TV ad, decided to spend that kind of jack just for a, um, line-in jack.
And, by the way, way, now that I've downloaded over 100 different programs, I can say without hesitation that the "drivel" on podcasts is far greater than the drivel on FM. And the amount of time wasted before hearing the drivel on FM is much less: scan the dial, hear some drivel, hit scan again. With podcasting I have to surf to the suggested site, download the podcast, start playinging it. It sucks, hit delete. Just because podcasting is new doesn't make it ALL better. There are some GREAT podcasts out there, and a lot of crappy ones. There are some GREAT FM stations out there, and some crappy ones.
Posted by: Jason | Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 08:48 PM
Jason,
You're right that I had already decided to purchase a truck - but beyond that any truck maker had a shot at getting my business. My point is that I decided which one to buy based not on the usual things people consider - good maintenance record, engine features, comfort, etc. but because the stereo on that particular truck allowed me to take advantage of a technology that had become so important to me that I was willing to make very large buying decision based on that feature alone. Honestly, I could have gone with the Ford F-150 or my Titan - I liked them pretty much evenly - but the line-in let me listen to podcasts. That's powerful.
And yes there are some great FM stations - but how many choices do you really have? I live in the Los Angeles market - the biggest radio market in the country - and I still flip around because I can't find anything I like in the morning. Podcasts give me thousands of choices and I believe it will soon be millions. I also have digital cable TV with 150 channels - and there were times when I couldn't find anything I wanted to watch - until I got TiVo.
Podcasting will do for radio what TiVo did for TV.
Posted by: Tim Bourquin | Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 09:49 PM