Thinking Big


Future of Podcasting might already be here....

When I first mentioned podcasting in this blog, I thought of it as a little hobby deal that would take a few years, at least, to go mainstream.

Well, it's gone mainstream. Sort of.

In just the last week, I've heard Adam Curry's "Strategy Cast" with Ron Bloom talk about the way he envisions podcasting becoming a professional medium, complete with ads and production companies, etc. Adams new company, Boku, is working to facilitate this transition by making it easier for people to find new podcasts they are interested in, by helping new podcasters create the shows ("content," a word I hate), and by bringing marketers into the mix. While I might deplore the need for advertising (is there anything, anywhere in modern life that can remain untouched by commercialism? It hardly seems so), I must admit that, if I want to enjoy "free" shows, I probably have to put up with some advertising. The beauty of podcasting is that the ads can be focused on people who actually might be interested. The idea is that, although there might eventually be 50 million listeners to podcasts, there might only be 4000 listening to a show on fishing, and advertisers of fishing gear can target those 4000 and leave the other millions alone, so they make more efficient use of their advertising funds.

Adam also announced, in a later podcast, that Sirius, the satellite radio company, is going to dedicate a channel for podcasts, so that people who have sat-radio units in their cars will be able to pick up podcasts directly from the satellite.

Then, there was Father Roderick of the Catholic Insider Podcast doing his "back to the future" bit to explain where he thought the Catholic Insider podcast is going to be in a few years. It's a vision that includes "shows" by a number of individuals all over the world with a variety of formats and topics, a production company (at least one), and video podcasts (with a special admonishment to Apple to get on the stick and make a video iPod). It is sure clear that Fr. Roderick dreams big!

Finally, there was an interview on the latest Inside Mac Radio about a station local to my area, KYCY, which will launch KYOURADIO, which is a plan to broadcast 8 hours a day of podcasts on AM radio.

As you can tell, lots of people are thinking big about how to make podcasting the next big thing. It probably will be bigger in a way than blogging, because although it's harder to do, there almost certainly is intrinsically more money and energy in it. And it certainly is a way to move radio off the consolidated homogenized mess it currently is.

The real great thing about podcasting is this: even though a segment of it will become "professional" in some sense, the barriers to entry are so low that virtually anyone who wants to can start a podcast, and (with the help of Boku, the Catholic Insider Network, or KYOURADIO, or any number of other such startups that will no doubt come along), be able to find an audience. It's the democratization of radio (and maybe TV) and that's cool!

Posted: Wed - May 4, 2005 at 10:17 AM        

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