And a miscellaneous category of shows that are both good and found their audiences before the current boom made things so crowded (WTF, How Stuff Works).Superior storytelling and production (Gimlet, Malcolm Gladwell, Radiotopia).Hosts with established followings (Adam Corolla, Joe Rogan, Tim Ferriss, Gretchen Rubin).Spinoffs from trusted and popular brands (Serial, NPR podcasts).Schawbel: Why are some podcasts able to attract millions of downloads, while others flounder?īowers: If I knew the answer to that, every show in our network would get millions of downloads! But I’d list a few factors that seem to contribute: You’ll always have completely independent shows, but it’s rare for a podcast to get so big on its own that it doesn’t need at least a little help. As for independent shows, we already support a number of them with ad sales and other functions that would otherwise take time away from their creative work. In the future, I suspect we’ll see more consolidation of the “backend” network functions, while also seeing smaller, specialized content networks popping up to help listeners find shows they like more easily. We’re more focused on the benefits of the network effect: ad sales across larger groups of shows, strategic cross promotion, and the technological benefits of our increasingly sophisticated podcasting platform Megaphone. A small network like Gimlet can create a community around a particular style of show, and its fans are usually willing to try anything new they release.īigger networks like Panoply, Midroll, and PodcastOne have much more diverse programming-in our case it often comes from other media companies-so it’s the rare listener who consumes everything in the network. Schawbel: What role does a podcast network have in the media ecosystem? What is your vision for where podcast networks, and individual podcasts, can go in the future?īowers: The role of podcast networks is hotly debated within the community, and I think we’re still learning when they’re most effective. Sign up here to get top career advice delivered straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe To The Forbes Careers Newsletter It’s not unlike old time radio advertising, but there are fewer spots and the listeners are already online, so sponsors can get quick and measurable responses to their ads. The ads are uniquely effective because they tend to be personalized, often funny, and they come from trusted hosts. That loyalty is also behind the high ad rates podcasts have commanded for a long time now. That’s a high barrier, but it also explains the incredible loyalty listeners develop when a show speaks to them. No one listens to a podcast by accident-they’ll only stick with a show they really love. Not only do listeners need to find and subscribe to each new show, but they then have to decide every single time a new episode comes out whether they’d rather listen to that or one of the dozens of other choices they have in front of them. Podcasts, on the other hand, require constant opt-in. Yes, we choose the radio stations we like, how often do you do that? Maybe once a year? We have a duty to self-edit.īut probably the biggest difference is the opt-in nature of podcasting. Of course, that means the onus is on podcasters not to waste the listener’s time by producing shows that just go on and on. There are the small differences, such as knowing that podcast listeners will always hear a show from the beginning and being able to ignore strict radio time limits.

Panoply slate