Final Day For Podcast Movement 2017

Last Day

By PERRY MICHAEL SIMON in ANAHEIM: FRIDAY is the final day of PODCAST MOVEMENT 2017 in ANAHEIM, with morning sessions followed by two closing keynotes.

Answer Man Offers Answers

"The Podcast Answer Man," longtime podcaster CLIFF RAVENSCRAFT, kicked FRIDAY off with his enthusiastic take on podcasting, telling his story of transitioning his career from selling insurance for his family agency to being a full-time podcaster, and advising podcasters to "be yourself and tell more stories."  He offered a three-step process for improving searchability of podcasts on iTunes: optimizing the name of the podcast (including keywords in the 127 characters allowed in the title), your author tag (adding a "title" with keywords like his "podcasting coach and business strategist"), and your episode titles (with keywords).  And he advised podcasters to create and grow their email lists, and work a social strategy, picking a single social media platform, finding a group where your target audience is active, and offering positive, useful comments in reply to posts and comments there.  The fastest way to grow a podcast, he suggested, is to be a guest on other podcasts.

Where It Is, Where It's Going

A "State of Podcasting 2017" panel of heavyweights in the podcasting business included SPREAKER's ROB GREENLEE as moderator and LIBSYN's ROB WALCH, RAWVOICE/BLUBRRY's TODD COCHRANE, QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS founder and "GRAMMAR GIRL" host MIGNON FOGARTY, and EDISON RESEARCH's TOM WEBSTER on the panel.  WEBSTER opened the session with the prediction that podcasting will continue its steady growth (without spikes) and will benefit with more platforms like SPOTIFY, PANDORA, and AMAZON's Echo devices, and observed that EDISON is seeing more interest by brand advertisers in podcasting.  WALCH pointed towards ALEXA integration as a building trend, and stressed that podcasters "have to be everywhere," and COCHRANE noted that while networks get more attention, independent podcasters are still the vast majority of podcasts; FOGARTY agreed that independent producers can compete even as larger companies enter the medium.

The panel considered topics like the increased entrance of venture capital into the business (FOGARTY warning that it's not for every company), GREENLEE noting that a company like GIMLET employing 80 staffers for 8 shows and WALCH adding that AARON MAHNKE's "LORE" outdraws GIMLET's shows and is a solo project, whether the industry will hit the $200 million mark in revenue this year or next (COCHRANE thinking that it already has, but also hopeful that as bigger shows sell out, revenue will roll down to smaller shows or the bigger shows will go to 6 spots per episode, drawing moans from the audience), and APPLE metrics (WALCH warning "be careful what you wish for," and WEBSTER adding that "everyone is going to take a haircut" but additional metrics will ultimately help the industry by bringing in more advertisers); FOGARTY said she's "not worried" because current feedback from advertisers indicates that their ads are working).

On revenue models other than advertising, WALCH noted that several podcasts, notably LEO LAPORTE's TWiT network, have successfully used a hybrid approach -- advertising, donations, live events -- for many years.   Dynamic ad insertion was up for debate as well, with WALCH saying that several podcasters have rejected the option as not being worth the return on investment and COCHRANE adding that 90% of episodes are dowloaded in the first 96 hours -- he warned that programmatic buying will potentially drag CPMs down and podcasters have to decide if the marginal additional revenue from programmatic brand advertising is worth it.   

According to LIBSYN's statistics, 84% of downloads are still coming through iTUNES, WALCH said, but added that the one thing left that can "tickle the needle" to cause a growth spike is a native app on the Android platform.  "You gotta keep yelling at GOOGLE until they do it," WALCH urged.

On the ideal length for a podcast, WALCH said that the idea that 22 minutes is the right length is a myth, and that 84% of shows with over 100,000 downloads per episodes within 60 days are over 51 mnutes each.  

FOGARTY pointed to the diversity of types of podcasts as a trend, with three podcasts produced by publisher MACMILLAN that are made with a 24-actor cast, "2 guys talking," and an author and co-host in a scripted format as an example.  She gave a rundown on how much a show has to make in order to justify the time and expense, and advised small podcasters to look at revenue streams other than advertising, like merchandise, PATREON, and other sources.

And Finally...

"LORE" creator-host AARON MAHNKE gave the first of two closing keynote addresses, using his considerable story-telling skills to tell the story of his career, and how frustration with self-publishing -- nearly deleting a completed book -- led a friend to suggest he tell the stories in podcast form instead.  Starting with 9 downloads two and a half years ago, MAHNKE said he has reached the 83 million download mark overall; his show has been optioned for television.

MAHNKE shared his "core principles" for podcasting, including "be consistent" with the release schedule, content, and quality, "be prepared," "be respectful" to the audience and sponsors, "be original" ("we need fresh voices, diverse approaches"), and "be focused" -- focus on the show first and wait until the show is the best it can be before being distracted by raising money.

And SHANNON CASON of "SHANNON CASON'S HOMEMADE STORIES" closed the proceedings with his own brand of storytelling, weaving advice for podcasters into his own "origin story" of losing everything (repeatedly) and finding his voice, first with a 'zine and then with podcasting.  He cited MARC MARON, BILL BURR, and THE NEW YORKER's fiction podcast as influences, and showed a picture of the production setup he used in his early podcasting days, consisting of a mic taped to a FOLGER'S plastic canister and a sock as a pop filter.

CASON advised podcasters to "record everything" ("we've got the equipment, so why not?"), using clips of his family as examples; he told podcasters to "document life" and "b brutally honest... get vulnerable and transparent... be human in your podcast."

PODCAST MOVEMENT 2018 is scheduled for PHILADELPHIA JULY 24-26, 2018; registration opened TODAY at podcastmovement.com/pm18.  Already announced at the closing keynote as the first keynote speaker for the 2018 conference is WHYY, INC. News-Talk WHYY/PHILADELPHIA and NPR "FRESH AIR" host TERRY GROSS.

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