Is this the zombie apocalypse? And...Things You Don't Hear at a Podcast Festival, a voice-memo driven piece by Lina Prestwood that premiered at the XMTR Festival in the UK last month.
How sustainable is podcasting if we must subscribe to each and every podcast we listen to? It feels like a very temporary fix to me. At least for Slate and the NYT we get a bunch of podcasts for our subscription dollars. Will podcasting go to a bundling model down the road?
This is such a good question....one that leads to many more questions for me so I don't have the answer. But I think it's a good point for the conversation to pick up from.
I'll be honest, I've never listened to a single episode of TAL. But what I've seen online (Reddit, Discord, etc) is that a lot of TAL fans have moved away, since the show has moved into a more political slant, by all accounts?
They also have a large production team (36, I believe), that won't be cheap. And part of me wonders of it was hit hard by the iOS 17 update, and lost a lot of "listeners" who were actually auto-downloaders that rarely listened, or maybe subscribed originally and forgot about it.
Generally advertisers will keep spending dollars where they're seeing a return. If a big chunk of perceived listeners suddenly disappeared, then so would a big chunk of advertising revenue.
Of course, I could be way of base, too, which wouldn't be the first time. :)
Danny, I've got to be honest. You're the first person I've met who works in this biz who admits he hasn't listened to a single ep of TAL!!! I don't know if their slant is newly political...I would say it's always had that bent in some way. What I do think is that they've had different periods of sucking, while their somestaff were trained and bled away to other jobs....while also being (perhaps the longest?) continual employer of this industry.
But your point about the iOS changes is well taken. I've had other convos with folks who are also suffering from this. It was a real reset button for this industry, which was timed when so many other changes and layoffs were also happening (which were likely unrelated at the time, the iOS change took time to filter down to HR).
the last few years, the most successful shows seem to be chatcasts with little to no production. I wonder if there will be a trend back towards more crafted shows, or if all of us who make those are doomed!
totally agree...I've spilled many tears (and words) about this trend. My not-so-secret belief is that these celebs, and their chats, kind of stole the industry away from those who craft and produce. But...there's a rebellion mounting. Things are changing. I try to feel optimistic in between bouts of chronic malaise.
I wonder if it would have been different (or just way slower) if covid hadn't happened, because so many celebs in 2020 were unexpectedly at leisure with all their usual work paused, except podcasting was still feasible
Yes this is a curious question...although my true feeling is that these celebrities caught on to how great this medium is and then pulled off a great heist, when they grabbed the golden goose and took off with it.
How sustainable is podcasting if we must subscribe to each and every podcast we listen to? It feels like a very temporary fix to me. At least for Slate and the NYT we get a bunch of podcasts for our subscription dollars. Will podcasting go to a bundling model down the road?
This is such a good question....one that leads to many more questions for me so I don't have the answer. But I think it's a good point for the conversation to pick up from.
Thanks for commenting!
I'll be honest, I've never listened to a single episode of TAL. But what I've seen online (Reddit, Discord, etc) is that a lot of TAL fans have moved away, since the show has moved into a more political slant, by all accounts?
They also have a large production team (36, I believe), that won't be cheap. And part of me wonders of it was hit hard by the iOS 17 update, and lost a lot of "listeners" who were actually auto-downloaders that rarely listened, or maybe subscribed originally and forgot about it.
Generally advertisers will keep spending dollars where they're seeing a return. If a big chunk of perceived listeners suddenly disappeared, then so would a big chunk of advertising revenue.
Of course, I could be way of base, too, which wouldn't be the first time. :)
Danny, I've got to be honest. You're the first person I've met who works in this biz who admits he hasn't listened to a single ep of TAL!!! I don't know if their slant is newly political...I would say it's always had that bent in some way. What I do think is that they've had different periods of sucking, while their somestaff were trained and bled away to other jobs....while also being (perhaps the longest?) continual employer of this industry.
But your point about the iOS changes is well taken. I've had other convos with folks who are also suffering from this. It was a real reset button for this industry, which was timed when so many other changes and layoffs were also happening (which were likely unrelated at the time, the iOS change took time to filter down to HR).
Thanks for commenting!
the last few years, the most successful shows seem to be chatcasts with little to no production. I wonder if there will be a trend back towards more crafted shows, or if all of us who make those are doomed!
totally agree...I've spilled many tears (and words) about this trend. My not-so-secret belief is that these celebs, and their chats, kind of stole the industry away from those who craft and produce. But...there's a rebellion mounting. Things are changing. I try to feel optimistic in between bouts of chronic malaise.
I wonder if it would have been different (or just way slower) if covid hadn't happened, because so many celebs in 2020 were unexpectedly at leisure with all their usual work paused, except podcasting was still feasible
Thanks for commenting!
Yes this is a curious question...although my true feeling is that these celebrities caught on to how great this medium is and then pulled off a great heist, when they grabbed the golden goose and took off with it.
RIP our goose!