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Podcasting is no longer a hobby
OK, so podcasting can be a hobby. A lovely one.
So can writing, driving and playing tennis. But JK Rowling, Louis Hamilton and Roger Federer don’t see it that way.
So yes it’s a hobby. But not for us.
Marinda Sawyer has recently been worrying about whether going all mainstream will kill the magic. It’s a common theme among both listeners and amateur producers, and in many ways it’s a tribute to the intimacy of the medium. Listeners regard their favourite podcasts as so precious that they don’t want them to be dirtied by getting all slick and professional.
Well, I have news on this:
Spotify have just bought the exclusive rights to the Joe Rogan Experience for a rumoured $100 million. With 190 million downloads per month, you can be certain that the presenter of the biggest podcast in the world no longer thinks of it as a hobby either.
This medium is growing up fast, and the very intimacy that makes those sensitive Guardian readers worry about the impact of big money is exactly what attracts big money to podcasting. Is that irony? No – it’s value. The connection that Rogan has with his audience is one that other medium could achieve. Listening on headphones while you’re on your own makes you feel like it’s just you and him occupying your headspace.
Businesses have two routes for getting involved in podcasting:
1) Advertise around / sponsor someone else’s content. This is how Joe has made his money so far, as businesses work to piggy-back his popularity with their own messages.
2) Create your own branded series, giving an audience a reason to engage with your brand’s original content in the same personal way that they do with Joe’s.
Both are effective and harness the power of podcasting, but the latter gives your business more ownership, more creative license, and more fun. It creates a whole new channel asset that you can send people to for years. With high production, wonderful writing, extensive research, careful editing and everything you’d expect of broadcast radio, it sounds great and is a terrific investment for brands.
So that’s what we do – the full kit and caboodle. Our brilliant partners at 4DC analyse why podcasting would work and what would constitute success. Then they devise the plan for how to tell the world about it. Then we create your brand new podcast and channel, defining the brand’s tone of voice, creating something engaging and effective that gives people reasons to return on a weekly fortnightly basis.
So I hold my hands up - this is scientific, slick and professional. We’re not killing the magic. We’re helping brands to be their own Joe Rogan.
Cheers all!
Neil