White or Orange?
The Humble Podcast's rise to outperform Kim Kardashian. The growth, the bumps and the opportunities ahead for B2B
Let’s put aside Wiz Khalifa’s Pittsburgh Steelers anthem Black and Yellow for the moment, I have a serious question for you… White or Orange?
TLDR:
Scroll to the bottom to comment if you prefer Matt Mullenweg’s photo with the White or Orange background.
The Humble Podcast’s Rise
Outside of social and streaming video, the biggest media advance in 20 years has been the rise of the humble podcast. In case you’ve missed it, music giants like Spotify and Apple have been signing exclusive contracts with podcasters to promote their service, including controversial hosts like Joe Rogan.
Below is a great NY Times graphic of Spotify’s podcasting growth. It may be counterintuitive to use the modern version of talk radio to promote music like Wiz Khalifa … but hey Spotify has €1bn+ a year for marketing and 3.6 million podcasts so who am I to tell them what to do.
The Trough of Disillusionment
As a sign that Podcasts may now be in the trough of disillusionment: Spotify is shutting Studio 4, an in-house podcast studio production. (HT Benedict Evans)
As an avid podcast listener, I’m happy to say podcasts are not at the end of the road! Spotify alone has … wait for it … 3 other in-house studio production teams.
Shutting their original in-house team was likely a result of multiple acquisitions (Gimlet, The Ringer and Megaphone) and poor post-merger integration strategy. Could it also be a symptom of a bigger problem though?
Can Demand Keep up with Supply??
The trough of disillusionment might apply to investors, but will the consumer demand keep rising to meet 1 million new podcasts on Spotify alone. One of my favorite sources to answer questions like this is Google Trend data.
In the past year, the humble Podcast outperformed Kim Kardashian! To paraphrase Obama, there are no red states or blue states, only Podcast states. I see you Iowa!!
For those of you who think about podcasts*, this raises a bunch of serious questions.
Should I launch a podcast?
There is huge demand, but if Spotify with its epic resources couldn’t break through the noise, are you sure this is the best use of your time and marketing budget?
Are consumer expectations too high? B2B products often run into this problem: a company launches a product for its vertical, but the product may be best in class but is mediocre compared with the seamless user experience of AirBnb, Google, Uber and Netflix, or in the podcasting world, how do you stack up with Ezra Klein?
Can you produce and market your podcast? The power of discovery right now sits with a) famous people like Tim Ferris b) Google, Apple or Spotify c) “long-tail” topics sought out by their audience.
My takeaway is unless you are one charming (editor snip) pig, the first podcasting opportunity is for sponsors to reach a great, global audience. The second opportunity is for better podcast search & discovery - Podcast stores are stuck in the Yahoo era.
I have a few friends considering launching their own podcasts. The best reason is the opportunity to connect and interview awesome experts. That makes a lot of sense! But for companies considering launching a podcast - my advice is support great podcasts with sponsorship and use PR to feature on existing podcasts in your domain.
If you really really really want to launch a podcast here are my tips:
Spotify can’t ensure their own podcast studio’s success, so you definitely can’t count on them. You need not only a great podcast, but also a great marketing strategy and technology.
Start with a way to bypass the podcasts stores with a direct distribution via an email newsletter. Tim Tim Ferris, shows how to do this with his 5 Bullet Fridays that he promotes every week!
Don’t be a generalist. Pick a niche and become a specialist. This will make it harder to attract general advertising, however you can attract specialist advertisers and make money from other sources. My favorite long-tail podcast is LinkedInformed by Mark Williams. There are no ads, but it reinforces his expertise and drives leads for his LinkedIn consultant training, workshops and international speaking.
Leverage great tools to stand out - HootSuite or Sprout to manage your social posting, HubSpot for Startups to manage your subscriber list and emails and Ivy.FM to identify topic trends - who knew there are already 455 podcasts on MarTech!
I’m a big believer in testing things on a lean budget, but the bar for audio quality is high! Newcomers need to invest in solid audio for you and your guest to ensure listeners stay around to hear what you have to say.
Which brings me back to White vs Orange
There is an opportunity to promote and support great hosts beyond 5 star reviews. Podcasts hosts work hard to get new listeners in the door and share great insights that might otherwise get lost in an ocean of podcasts. As a regular listener for several podcasts I’m testing out the best way to share a weekly quote.
I’m building testing my template and need your help. Please vote in the comments … do you like the background White or Orange?
White
Orange
Thank you for voting in the comments.
*Dear Reader, if you made it this far you are now an exalted member of the people who think about podcasts. Welcome! I’d love to know your favorite podcast - please add it in the comments.