Monday, December 04, 2006

Podcasting Stuck in Old Media

Thanks for the comments (mostly from those who disagree) on my post about podcasting being overrated as a medium for making money.

As I said, Podcasting's fame will probably never be greater than it is today, but like Paris Hilton, Vanilla Ice, and Ryan Leaf, it will continue to have a career, just not live up to its hype.

Podcasting of concerts makes sense, but I'm talking about producing spoken word content that is to be replayed later offline. Maybe my definition is wrong, but podcasting is not live and interactive, that's what we called Internet radio back in the days when the web was first taking off.

Podcasting's strongest market will be for niche content so that people can discuss the music industry, how to make beer, or tweak their Mustangs, but this is not mass media. There are some useful programs such as daily radio shows from NPR, PBS or the O'Reilly Factor.

But we already have an abundance of talk radio that is available at anytime. No matter what your political slant, you can listen to like-minded windbags all over the AM and FM and satellite stations from morning till night, so there isn't a huge need waiting to be filled. And as Rachel Cooke points out, the newspapers so far have primarily repackaged their columnists into podcasts, not exactly what younger listeners are dying for.

Also, where's the VC and entrepreneurs who believe this will become a 7-figure industry? Scan the PR wires and investment pages for new podcasting investment or services, and the silence will be deafening. Startups in online video and social networking are receiving and spending cash in much larger volumes, and rightly so.

The media is being reshaped by Web 2.0, but innovations such as those just mentioned as well as RSS aggregators, news rating services, and personalization have much greater potential to generate advertising dollars than podcasting. It is a useful tool for the consumption of specific types of content, but a revolution it ain't.

Posted By John Gartner at 01:24 PM
Permanent Link: Podcasting Stuck in Old Media | Comments (3)

(3) Comments on Podcasting Stuck in Old Media

"Stay tuned as I'll be providing more data to substantiate my opinion."

Thanks for all the data about the 8-figure VC that Podtech and Podshow have received.

Comments by Anthony Miran : Monday, December 04, 2006 at 06:16 PM

John,
You don't seem to get it.
Podcasting allows anyone to become
their own one man program director.
It allows one to not have to listen
to the same crap day in and day out from a couple of huge money hungry compaines that own most of the radio stations in this country.
20 minutes worth of commericals follwed by mainly crap on the radio.

Podcasting has hundreds of great programs, with just a few clicks you are set free to listen to what interest you. You listen to what you want, when you want. If it freedom in audio & video form. It is simple, so simple that is has been made overly complicated. Podcasting is subscribing to what you want, free. Maybe one day John you'll get it !

Comments by Bruce : Monday, December 04, 2006 at 07:42 PM

Bruce - I could not disagree with you more - John will never get it.

Rob @ podCast411

Comments by Rob Walch : Tuesday, December 05, 2006 at 12:39 AM

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