A post about the rise of podcasts, their ability to fill but maybe not satisfy our need for human connection and how we spend our whole lives in a trance, so it's important to choose to be in the right trance at any given moment.
Have you noticed how the podcast market has exploded in recent years ? They've been about for a while but it's only been in the last few years that they've been so in your face. I remember a time, not very long ago, when your less newsy type morning programmes like Lorraine on ITV1 (other shows are available and Lorraine hasn't sponsored me, but we tend to watch her most days) would have people on that were 'doing the rounds'. They'd just published a book, released a film or TV series or were going on tour and they were appearing on any and every show they could to promote it.
Now it seems that anyone who has appeared on anything, seems to be starting a podcast. This morning's guest was a female TV presenter who was interviewing other famous women about what makes them tick. To be fair it sounded quite interesting, positive and worth listening to.
Then, a couple of hours later, I'm driving back to the house approaching what has been recently renamed the outdoor cinema roundabout. The tongue in cheek naming came about because electronic billboards have been recently installed and they didn't get the brightness quite right, so drivers were being dazzled at night. They've been sorted now, so as I approach there is a big advert for.... another podcast. If we just went back 5 years I don't think you'd have seen a large billboard advertising a podcast anywhere !
My simple conclusion is that good old late stage capitalism has found a way to make good money off podcasts, so that's what's driving the growth. When I say there's money in it, I don't mean money for the creators. They will get a small amount, maybe, if they are lucky. But there's big money in it for the platforms that host podcasting from the advertising they can sell and wrap around the podcasts.
Podcasts have gone from being abundant, available and not profitable, to being more abundant, more available and very profitable for the platforms and sort of profitable for the creators. But the platforms can't make you listen/watch a podcast, so what is driving the punters to podcasts in sufficient numbers to get the platforms rubbing their hands in glee at the potential for creating even more value for their shareholders ?
So I started to look at the anatomy of a typical podcast to compare it to other channels to try and work out what was the difference that was making the difference.
The obvious one is that a podcast was originally audio only. Though most of these big podcasts seem to be filmed in staged home studios with good quality video and audio recording facilities, the primary audience is audio only. That makes it accessible to drivers, people out on a walk and anyone who wants to listen whilst doing something else.
