4 ms·

No way. A lot of topics are not yet covered, and a lot of people are not yet listening. With a larger audience comes more $, and with more $ comes better conten

No way. A lot of topics are not yet covered, and a lot of people are not yet listening. With a larger audience comes more $, and with more $ comes better content, over time. I’d guess we are at a time when competition sets in, and (some of) the people who are serious about making money off of their podcasts will outcompete the hobbyists. I’m guessing there’s no coincidence that spotify added podcasts to their apps recently. Of course, the «I want to talk about the trees outside» podcasts will suffer the same fate as rarely updated, uninteresting blogs.

paulgb 7y ago
If anything, we may be at peak interview/chatter and true crime, but listenable shows that go in-depth on a topic and tell a story are few and far between. Or at least, I haven't been able to find them as quickly as I can listen to them.
- alexhutcheson 7y ago
  In-depth research and storytelling are pretty expensive (lots of time needed for research and editing), and it's not clear if there's enough money in the ecosystem for many of the interested amateurs to make those sorts of shows on a full-time basis. They'll probably continue to exist, but my guess is most shows like that won't be able to maintain a regular release cadence, since the creators will have to keep their "day jobs".
  - paulgb 7y ago
    Sure. I am willing to pay for this sort of content (some of my favorites are Audible Originals, e.g. the ones by Michael Lewis and Jon Ronson). Unfortunately, besides Audible, most of the subscription networks (looking at you, Luminary) seem to offer the same genre of chatter/interview podcasts I can get plenty of for free.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Yeah. An interview (or discussion)-type show--which can be quite good given the right host(s) and guest(s)--is very doable as a hobby or a professional sideline. No need to even try to make money off it if you don't want to. I have no idea about the future of podcasting as a business. But, just as lots of people write with no expectation of being directly paid, there's no reason to think that lots of people won't continue podcasting in the same vein.
  - jfengel 7y ago
    I feel like there's a gap in the "tip jar" market. I have a lot of podcasts for which I'd happily pay about 10 to 25 cents per episode, but it's not trivial to do. If it were, it would take a few thousand people to do so -- which isn't a small audience, but not enormous. Currently there's a voluntary "if you like us, find us on Patreon". Even being able to provide a "connect to Patreon" button on the screen would be a boost. UX and web site designers are well aware of how many people you lose with each step. Such a button could also auto-switch to the ad-free stream; I once paid for the upgrade but managing the different feed was a pain. I'm still using Pocket Casts, so it's possible that an integrated app like Stitcher is already doing that. If not, I see a niche that would make it easier for amateurs to scratch out a living. I think the money is there if you make it easy for people to give it.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      This is the whole micropayment conundrum that Clay Shirky wrote about when it first reared its head during the original dot-com era. In principle, if most content were wired into some common payment system, the thought is that people would be willing to pay 5 cents for an article/podcast/etc. In practice, the wiring of everything together, the establishment of pricing, and (Shirky's argument) the mental transaction costs of having to decide whether to make constant small purchases has made this model very elusive.
      - jfengel 7y ago
        I think that since podcasts are often subscribed to, we might be able to mitigate the micropayment problem at least a bit. There are a lot of podcasts for which I'd be willing to pay, say, $10 per year -- though not enough to go through the trouble of finding and connecting to them on Patreon.
        ghaff 7y ago
        The thing is I dive in and out of podcasts. I don't want to subscribe. Plus I'd actually say that $10 is a fair bit for most podcasts over the course of a year. Maybe if there's one I'm particularly obsessed with. But not in general.
- Jim- 7y ago
  Very few podcasts do have the qualities you are looking for. NPR's slew of podcasts has been the only one that has been consistently goes in-depth on certain topics. If anyone else knows of podcasts similar, please share!
wenbin 7y ago
From my experience, it seems that you can find a podcast for any topic nowadays... I curated a list of podcasts "There's a podcast for that" https://lnns.co/9Q1vbicJXgY https://lnns.co/9Q1vbicJXgY -- well, it's like "there's an app for that" :)

paulgb 7y ago

If anything, we may be at peak interview/chatter and true crime, but listenable shows that go in-depth on a topic and tell a story are few and far between. Or at least, I haven't been able to find them as quickly as I can listen to them.

alexhutcheson 7y ago
In-depth research and storytelling are pretty expensive (lots of time needed for research and editing), and it's not clear if there's enough money in the ecosystem for many of the interested amateurs to make those sorts of shows on a full-time basis. They'll probably continue to exist, but my guess is most shows like that won't be able to maintain a regular release cadence, since the creators will have to keep their "day jobs".
- paulgb 7y ago
  Sure. I am willing to pay for this sort of content (some of my favorites are Audible Originals, e.g. the ones by Michael Lewis and Jon Ronson). Unfortunately, besides Audible, most of the subscription networks (looking at you, Luminary) seem to offer the same genre of chatter/interview podcasts I can get plenty of for free.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Yeah. An interview (or discussion)-type show--which can be quite good given the right host(s) and guest(s)--is very doable as a hobby or a professional sideline. No need to even try to make money off it if you don't want to. I have no idea about the future of podcasting as a business. But, just as lots of people write with no expectation of being directly paid, there's no reason to think that lots of people won't continue podcasting in the same vein.
- jfengel 7y ago
  I feel like there's a gap in the "tip jar" market. I have a lot of podcasts for which I'd happily pay about 10 to 25 cents per episode, but it's not trivial to do. If it were, it would take a few thousand people to do so -- which isn't a small audience, but not enormous. Currently there's a voluntary "if you like us, find us on Patreon". Even being able to provide a "connect to Patreon" button on the screen would be a boost. UX and web site designers are well aware of how many people you lose with each step. Such a button could also auto-switch to the ad-free stream; I once paid for the upgrade but managing the different feed was a pain. I'm still using Pocket Casts, so it's possible that an integrated app like Stitcher is already doing that. If not, I see a niche that would make it easier for amateurs to scratch out a living. I think the money is there if you make it easy for people to give it.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    This is the whole micropayment conundrum that Clay Shirky wrote about when it first reared its head during the original dot-com era. In principle, if most content were wired into some common payment system, the thought is that people would be willing to pay 5 cents for an article/podcast/etc. In practice, the wiring of everything together, the establishment of pricing, and (Shirky's argument) the mental transaction costs of having to decide whether to make constant small purchases has made this model very elusive.
    - jfengel 7y ago
      I think that since podcasts are often subscribed to, we might be able to mitigate the micropayment problem at least a bit. There are a lot of podcasts for which I'd be willing to pay, say, $10 per year -- though not enough to go through the trouble of finding and connecting to them on Patreon.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        The thing is I dive in and out of podcasts. I don't want to subscribe. Plus I'd actually say that $10 is a fair bit for most podcasts over the course of a year. Maybe if there's one I'm particularly obsessed with. But not in general.
Jim- 7y ago
Very few podcasts do have the qualities you are looking for. NPR's slew of podcasts has been the only one that has been consistently goes in-depth on certain topics. If anyone else knows of podcasts similar, please share!

wenbin 7y ago

From my experience, it seems that you can find a podcast for any topic nowadays... I curated a list of podcasts "There's a podcast for that" https://lnns.co/9Q1vbicJXgY https://lnns.co/9Q1vbicJXgY -- well, it's like "there's an app for that" :)