New Podcast Stats

People ask me all the time “so who’s listening to podcasts?”.

According to a new posting on a blog by The Association for Downloadable Media , more and more people all the time. The post summarizes the latest findings of Edison Media Research on the current state of podcasting.

They also confirmed a hunch of mine — that people who listen to podcasts are also on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites.

My job now is to discover more and more ways to integrate the two — multimedia and social networking. It’s already being done, as evidenced by the huge number of videos and photos that are showing up on people’s pages. There are so many more possibilities that haven’t even been thought of yet.

I’ll keep this post short — all the info you could want is on the two sites linked above.

Podcast Do’s and Don’ts

I am out here at Laurier Brantford University unpacking boxes of cameras, microphones, recorders .. oh, it is so much fun.

Going through packing slips, orders, trying out gear etc. are perfect jobs to do while listening to podcasts. So that’s what I’ve been doing. And I’m hearing a lot of things that sound good and sound not so good. Here are my best tips:

a) recording quality has been very good this morning — clear miking, solid voices, quiet room (even though the podcasts this morning are recordings of talks at a conference)

b) descriptions of sessions on the print part of the webpage are good — I know what it is I’m going to be hearing, and whether or not the subject appeals to me.

c) the subjects are something I want to listen to .. so even though the presentations are 45 minutes (some would say too long for a podcast), I’m here for the whole 45 minutes. That’s because I’m interested in the subject. If I was just browsing, I’d want something shorter.

d) okay, now some of the flaws — edit, people, edit! You don’t need to start your podcast with “can we all take our seats, please?” Cut out the pauses … I go even further and cut out the verbals tics (the ums etc.) It doesn’t change the content, just makes it flow better and increases the chance of holding your listeners for a longer time.

e) Questions from the audience — either mike them, or cut them out of the podcast. The one I am listening to right now has 45 seconds to a minute of dead air. And there have been about ten questions.  That’s a lot of dead air.  And an audience killer. There are lots of creative ways you can add the questions later if you don’t want to have a floor mike.

f) Pretty it up — not necessary, but a little bit of theme music really makes your piece sound professional. Likewise, leaving some of the applause in creates a “you are there” kind of ambience which can be quite nice.

There are many people out there who can do a good recording. When you’re considering hiring a company to do your podcasts, consider hiring a podcast PRODUCER, not just someone who can record something and post it to the internet au naturelle. It’s the equivalent of going out in public with no makeup … you still look good but wouldn’t you rather look sparkly?

Call me — for podcast production — and I can teach you how to put on your makeup ..

NAB Part 2

I’ve spent part of the day poking around to find out where the multimedia and podcast/vodcast content for NAB is hiding … it didn’t make intuitive sense to me that there wouldn’t be anything at all.

I listened to Tim Robbins — not on the NAB site — I think it must have been recorded by someone with a little recorder that was smuggled in.  Sound quality could be heard clearly most of the times though there were times when the crowd buzz obscured the words (tip:  if  you’re going to bootleg, make sure you’re near a speaker so at least you have half a chance of getting a decent recording)

And I did find some multimedia video presentations on the NAB site.  Most of them were 3:00 pieces, fast paced with short clips of people talking about various aspects of the show.  Well produced, of course.  After all, these are broadcasters with the latest tools.

I am listening to a videocast on Business on the Internet — comes up on my computer in Windows Media Player — mostly audio with an occasional slide to illustrate a concept, or put a person’s name on the screen.  Mostly audio with minimal video.

The odd thing is that I lost the page on the NAB site where all this multimedia content is located.  So I’ve watched once, I’d like to watch again but I can’t find my way back.  The main menu of the NAB site doesn’t make it obvious where the multimedia is stored.  Everybody tells me that the NAB conference is so huge that you get lost onsite.  But do I need to experience the same thing on the web?  Lesson to be learned:  if you’re going to spend all that money creating on-line tv and radio content, make it easy for people to find!

I’m glad my faith is restored by finding that there is at least a bit of NAB online content.  But overall, I am still disappointed that all the great sessions that I couldn’t go to are not available in podcast form.  Heck, I’d even pay for it.  But they’re not giving me the option.  That’s what I mean when I say the broadcast industry can’t spot an opportunity when they see one.  If I would pay to listen, I’m sure others would too.

The NAB and Podcasting

I don’t know very many people in broadcasting who isn’t at least a little bit intrigued by the idea of going to the big NAB conference. NAB stands for the National Association of Broadcasters, the big trade association for broadcasters in the U.S. , mostly of the commercial kind. The annual conference is THE event of the year .. huge blowout with outstanding speakers, and anybody who is anybody in North American broadcasting and beyond is there.

In terms of conference locations, Vegas is not my first choice. But I sure would love to wander around the trade show and dream about all the great equipment I could equip my studio with.

Alas, I’m not in Vegas this week. So I thought I would go vicariously by going to the conference website. I was hoping I could hear or see some of the presentations online. Especially the keynote address by actor, director and activist Tim Robbins (Mr. Susan Sarandon, you know him?). I am listening to his address right now as I write. Curiously, I did not find it on the NAB website.

I do remember reading that the Robbins address was broadcast on the NAB website — but it was in Real Time. Just like television. It is not archived anywhere. Just like television.

Looking further into the NAB website, I noticed that there is a conference stream devoted to learning about podcasts. But still no podcasts on the NAB site.

At first I was surprised. But thinking about it, not so much. What I think we’re seeing is that NAB is giving the nod to the idea that podcasting and vodcasting exists. And because they understand basic economics, the conference organizers know that there will be people who will pay a registration fee to learn about podcasting.

Here’s my theory — in the mind of some broadcasters, podcasting is a threat. I wonder if the reason that there are no podcasts on the site is that they think that podcasting might go away if they don’t encourage it. After all, the commercial radio industry is a child of the music business .. where the response to all things internet is to either a) put their heads in the sand b) loudly proclaim the death of our society if people download music or c) scare everybody by dragging college kids into court for downloading music. The idea that you create a business model which works WITH the new technology still is something which hasn’t caught on in with either the music or the broadcast execs.

Getting back to the conservative nature of the radio industry — I remember back to a conference of Ontario commercial radio broadcasters I attended about 15 years ago. One of the presenters (not a broadcaster) asked the question “what was the best decade for your industry?” The answer. The Fifties. THE FIFTIES ??!!! That response boggles my mind. And what we’re seeing is a 1950’s response to a 21st century technology.

So maybe that is a reason why there are no podcasts on the NAB site.

I’ve still been able to hear a lot of the sessions by listening to bootleg NAB podcasts all over the net. Including the keynote address by Tim Robbins. So much for the Head in the Sand theory ..