Welcome to episode 43. I’m your host Richard Dally. Each week I curate and discuss the latest news in podcasting and Internet Radio with a focus on the smaller podcaster, radio host and DJ.
In this episode I’m going to catch up with some news and articles from the last couple of weeks.
First off, thanks to Podnews for highlighting this article and podcast episode from Rachel Corbett. This episode of the Podschool podcast discusses whether you can tell if your podcast is a success from your download numbers. I think most people involved in podcasting would agree that audience figures are one of the most discussed metrics. The same is true, of course, in internet radio.
Rachel asks if there is a download number that means that you can call your podcast a success? Now, as she points out, there is really no way to compare numbers as potential audiences will differ so much for every niche and every show is different.
There is also the issue of inflated numbers being reported by podcast hosting companies – sometimes deliberately – something the work of the IAB is definitely helping with, but, of course, it is up to the hosts to follow the best practice standards and many apparently aren’t.
Rachel presents some ideas to promote your podcast in ways that will help your audience become more engaged with you and your content and discusses how this might help with getting advertising in the future.
I’ll put a link in the show-notes at richarddally.com/43 to Rachel’s article.
Do you run an Internet Radio station? If you do have you come across a tool called AutoPod? I’ve not tried this product but it sounds like it could helpful if your station makes podcast content from your broadcasted material. Autopod comes from a British company called Hippynet who provide solutions for broadcasters, such as online streaming.
According to their website, AutoPod can record your station output 24 hours a day and then automatically transform your shows into Podcasts. It will then upload these podcasts to your podcast host for you. Autopod can also be used to record output to meet legal requirements. It sounds really interesting and comes at quite a low price point. Do let me know if you are using this – I would love to learn more about it. If you want to take a look for yourself visit hippynet.co.uk/autopod.
At the end of August Tom Webster from Edison Research hosted a webinar where he presented metrics about podcast listening both from before and during the last few months since the coronavirus outbreak started.
Edison Research have been collating data on consume behavior in audio in general and podcasting specifically for a number of years. This webinar focused on findings from the Podcast Consumer Tracking and Share of Ear reports.
Tom spoke about some of the changes in podcast listening that Edison have identified. These appear to largely be due to the change in daily habits of many people, particularly the curtailment of daily commuting for many people with so many of us having to work from home instead.
These changes affected the first half of the year significantly but things are now changing again. It seems we are returning to listening to more podcasts.
Certainly during the Lockdown here in the UK the government was encouraging people to take more exercise and I definitely saw more people out walking – some of those would have been listening to podcasts I’m sure.
More about the webinar on the Rain News blog, including a number of interesting infographics on listening stats – link in the show-notes.
Something for you now if you’re a DJ. In case you don’t know, that’s where I first started in 1987.
DMC has recently launched their 2020 DMC/Technics World DJ Championship competition. They have been running this since 1985 and, because of Covid-19, this year the competition is totally online.
This is quite interesting to me as it brings this competition closer to Online radio given the video element required to enter – something a lot of online radio presenters and DJs will already be familiar with.
You can get full details of how to enter at 2020.dmcdjchamps.com. You’ll need to create and upload a video of you performing a routine – do check the rules carefully as the length of the initial video requirements do vary by country. Good luck if you enter and do send me a link to your entry so I can take a look!
James Cridland over at Podnews has recently launched a new newsletter. This one is focused on the technical side of digital advertising puts out a new edition every Monday. It’s called Sounds Profitable and is free in return for your email. If you’re interested in topics such as dynamic ad insertion, and podcast analytics then this is definitely for you. You can sign up at adtech.podnews.net
Talking of Podnews (as I do often to be fair as it such a great resource) – another find from them is a Medium article from the Groove Radio publication on that site titled “Radio Personalities – you already have the skills to podcast”
Both the impact of coronavirus and recent changes in the industry, like the launch of the Hits stations by Bauer, have unfortunately affected lots of radio presenters. Many have been furloughed and others have lost their jobs.
This article offers some hope to these presenters that there could be a future for them in podcasting. The author, podcast coach Suzy Chase, suggests that whatever format you have done on radio can be translated to a podcast. As podcasting, like radio, she says, is all about content and entertainment. Of course, you have to be careful about music in podcasts – something your radio station employers would have taken care of previously.
Podcasting has a lot of similarities with radio presenting and many of the skills are transferable. Perhaps the key point that Suzy makes is that success in both is about being able to communicate with and understand your audience, knowing what content works well with them.
The article goes on to cover other skill areas that crossover from broadcasting to podcasting and it is well worth a read. As always, I’ll put a link in the show-notes for this episode which you can find at richarddally.com/43.
Helping radio personalities move into podcasting is also something my friends Nails and Tracey at OnAirCoach do – they provide great group and one on coaching. If you’re interested in finding out more about what they do they currently have two free guides out.
The first of these is called How to Podcast and includes tips from experienced podcasters. The other one is a guide to microphones – Nails and Tracey asked radio presenters, voiceover artists and podcasters which microphone they use in their home set-up and to say why they chose that particular microphone.
As I said, Both guides are free – visit their website OnAirCoach.net to get these and to check out their services and other ebooks. Sign up for their weekly newsletter while you’re there – it’s definitely worthwhile.
Websites and articles mentioned in the show:
How do your download numbers compare to other podcasts? – https://rachelcorbett.com.au/podschool-podcast/podcast-downloads/
Automatic Listen Again, Tailored for Radio – https://www.hippynet.co.uk/autopod
Edison Research webinar: Podcast listening grows and shifts – https://rainnews.com/edison-webinar-08272020/
2020 DMC World DJ Championships – https://2020.dmcdjchamps.com/
Sounds Profitable – The adtech weekly email newsletter from Podnews – https://adtech.podnews.net/
Radio Personalities: You Already Have The Skills To Podcast! – https://medium.com/@TheGrooveRadio/radio-personalities-you-already-have-the-skills-to-podcast-a6ce23ec0be9
Nails Mahoney and Tracey Lee from OnAirCoach – https://onaircoach.net/