I give you, the serious podcaster, lots of things to think about. Not just about the future of podcasting, but how you can make podcasting better. Now I'm giving you another gift: some of your time back. Image via https://www.rawpixel.com/image/139790/premium-photo-image-megaphone-loud-adult (RawPixel) This is the final episode of Season 4 of Podcast Pontifications. Yes, that's quicker than anticipated. But don't fret, because Season 5 of Podcast Pontifications will start on Wednesday, March...

When people complete your latest podcast episode, what do you want them to do? Reflect on your brilliance? Bask in a sense of satisfaction? Or would simply remembering what you said 5 minutes later be enough? Making your podcast memorable isn't easy. There isn't an easy-to-fill-out template or checklist to get you there. Even if you do manage the herculean feat of making a truly memorable episode, your memorable episode is in direct competition with dozens of other pieces of content your...

Podcasting is an audio-first medium consumed on devices that have built-in microphones. Yet the listening experience is reliant on eyes and hands. What would a voice-only listener experience look like? https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/a-glimpse-of-podcastings-voice-only-future Building on my talk with the CEO of https://evoterra.link/vocalize (Vocalize), today we'll explore a "what if" scenario where podcast listeners only have to use voice commands to control their podcast...

More ad dollars flowing into podcasting is generally seen as a good thing. Yet niche podcasters don't see very much of it. Yes, there are "riches in the niches," but only if your podcast is attractive enough. Podcasting has a healthy and growing industry set up to serve the needs of both the big-money advertisers and the podcast publishers who get the lion's share of the more-than-a-billion dollars spent on podcast advertising. But that industry doesn't work all that well for podcasters on a...

Podcast advertising has much greater recall than other forms of ads. But how many times have you forgotten a URL, a coupon code, or even the name of the advertiser when you were ready to take action? Podcast advertising is hard. On all sides of the equation if I'm honest. One company, https://evoterra.link/vocalize (Vocalize Inc)., is trying to change that. They're the Branded Benefit Sponsor this month, and here's what CEO CJ Silva told me their up to and how they are working to make...

Podcast advertising has much greater recall than other forms of ads. But how many times have you forgotten a URL, a coupon code, or even the name of the advertiser when you were ready to take action? This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Podsights - https://podsights.com/privacy

Sometimes the advancements we see in podcasting look pretty small compared to the hype we see and hear about in other forms of media. Would you be better off jumping ship to try the Next Big Thing? I love distractions. I think it's healthy for podcasters to explore new tools, technologies, and other nifty things that live on the periphery of podcasting. But don't get so distracted you lose sight of why you are here—to podcast. For the most part, podcasting has proven to be a rather...

Podcasters love regular listeners. And regular listeners love their podcasts. Dependability on both sides has been a driving and differentiating factor for podcasting. But is that still a good thing? When the book I'm reading ends, I go get another book. With millions of choices for me to read, there's never a time when I can't find anything to read. When the series I'm watching ends, I go get another TV series. With hundreds or maybe even thousands of shows I can watch, there's never a...

The tools podcasters use are constantly changing. But we tend to ignore changes to a critical piece of our podcasts: the podcaster. Has your podcast changed to keep up with changes in your own life? I half-jokingly asked a fellow podcaster and friend the "what do you want to be when you grow up?" question. Their immediate response was unexpected and worth exploring further. "The problem, Evo," they said "with people like us is that's the wrong question. We really should be asked, 'what do we...

Two decades and millions of podcasts later, it's likely what you want to talk about is already talked about. But if you're not afraid of doing things differently, you can still make a splash with your new show. Photo byhttps://www.pexels.com/@belart84?utm_content=attributionCopyTextandutm_medium=referralandutm_source=pexels ( Artem Beliaikin)...

Figuring out what type of podcaster you want to be is important to establishing your podcast. But have you thought about and established what kind of interviewee or guest you want to be on other podcasts? Photo byhttps://www.pexels.com/@padrinan?utm_content=attributionCopyTextandutm_medium=referralandutm_source=pexels ( Miguel Á. Padriñán)...

Trust in podcasting extends beyond the host and the listener to a larger, overall trust in the idea of podcasting. Interestingly, podcasting enjoys a greater level of trust than other forms of media. But for how long? Photo byhttps://www.pexels.com/@charlotte-may?utm_content=attributionCopyTextandutm_medium=referralandutm_source=pexels ( Charlotte May)...

Everyone leads busy lives, and the smart podcaster doesn't waste their audiences' time. But in your quest to tighten things up, don't forget to build in time to let your audience reflect as they listen. If there's an ongoing struggle between podcasters and podcast listeners, it is the conflict between breadth and depth. We're busy cranking out more and longer episodes. But what they want from us is to go deeper. And get to the point quicker. Yeah. That's a conflict. So we podcasters often...

A lot of podcasters live episode-to-episode, dreaming of getting ahead so they aren't always rushing to get an episode produced and publish. For many, that's an achievable dream. The trick is staying there. Broadly speaking, there are two types of podcasters. Those who are working on the next episode they need to produce, and those working on the next episode they need to publish. Those two groups are very much not the same. For many, the episode currently in development is the next episode...

Data power the business world, and podcasting is no exception. Knowing what works and what doesn't across the whole of podcasting is a major competitive advantage. And guess who now owns it? Recently, https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-02-16/spotify-acquires-podsights-and-chartable-to-advance-podcast-measurement-for-advertisers-and-insights-for-publishers/ (Spotify reached into their big bag of holding and pulled out enough cash to purchase both Podsights and Chartable). A good chunk of the...

Like any growing industry, podcasting needs to appeal to a younger audience, if only to keep replenishing supply as well, natural attrition occurs, shall we say. The good news is: the kids love podcasts! Edison Research dropped an early data point showing podcasts kicking the pants out of AM/FM radio. At least among 13–24 year-olds listening to spoken-word audio. If that sounds like NBD to you, let me attempt to persuade you that this is, in fact, a BD. This is about 13–24 year-olds. A mix...

What will the Singularity of podcasting look like? That's hard to predict. But I'm certain it won't be creator-focused advances that will bring it about. No, it'll be listener-focused advances that get us there. Which ones? Well, don't quote me on this, but I think one (or more) of these five candidates has a shot. See if you agree: Smart Speakers - It would make sense that a speaker, a device with a primary function to transmit audio to human ears that is semi-sentient, would bring about the...

Many podcasters follow the same playbook: Build a big audience, then give early, special, and private access to a select group who pay for the privilege. But what would happen if you flipped the script? Podcast apps and big podcast networks often rely on "windowing" to give select users—paying users—exclusive access to a podcast for a week. Sometimes a month. Indie podcasters do something similar, but we call it "early release" and keep it exclusive for a few hours or days, using specialty...

As much as I rail against the "podcasting is cheap and easy" mentality, I have to admit it: podcasting is cheap and easy for a lot of podcasters. But your content doesn't have to sound that way. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but recently, during the recording of a different podcast than this one, my audio was bad. Not so bad that you can't clearly hear what I'm saying, but bad enough that a disclaimer will be placed at the top of the episode that basically says, yes, we know Evo's audio...

Keeping your audience happy is important to maintaining your podcast. But there may be other things you can give your audience to keep them better fed and even happier with your show in the future. It's unlikely that your audience listens to your show in a vacuum. And it's not just other podcasts, but other types of media and information all vying for more attention from the person you all count as your audience member. In an effort to keep you and your show relevant as your listeners' needs...

Regardless of your position on podcasting's "discoverability problem," you probably wouldn't mind it if it were easier for potential listeners to find your podcast, right? Me either. But would that come at a cost? While not everyone agrees on the severity of the problem, few people doubt that social media platforms have been engineered in ways that really aren't the best for our mental health. So far, podcasting hasn't been lumped in with that. Complaints against podcasting personalities are...

Having a set of processes and procedures to keep you and your podcast moving is an obvious success factor. But when those processes and procedures start to fail, can you adjust quickly? Successfully deployed tactics sometimes have a shelf life and you start to notice their effectiveness waning over time. Best practices are often eroded by the winds of change. Yes, there are plenty of time-tested methodologies and truisms podcasters can almost always count on. But at some point, you're going...

The decision of whether or not to run ads on your podcast isn't an easy one. Nor should it be. Smart podcasters understand the risks and rewards. And they give their most loyal listeners an escape route. How many ads or sponsored messages are too many ads or sponsored messages in a podcast episode? Last summer, I made the decision to make the current season of Podcast Pontifications sponsor-supported. There's the message from the title sponsor right after my cold open, and then another...

Back in May of 2020, Twitter started an experiment in changing the tone of the discourse on its service. Twitter was testing to see if the equivalent of a tap on the shoulder or a subtle ahem could get people to be... well, uh, you know... less of an a*****e to one...

Praise is a weird thing, isn't it? We know it makes others feel good to receive it, but many of us get shy or feel awkward when we're the recipients of praise. I'm right there with you. And I need to get over it. https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/adding-some-evo-to-the-podcast-hall-of-fame It was https://podcastmovement.com/featured/announcing-2022-class-of-the-podcast-hall-of-fame/ (recently announced that I will be inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame). Which is... kind of cool!...