Welcome to Dispatch #90 of The Audio Insurgent.
Two important things to cover before diving into our main topic.
First, we are hiring! We have a full-time Senior Producer role open for a brand new show that is going to be ridiculously good. More on that below.
Second, where the %#$@ have I been? I’ve had more than a dozen readers reach out asking if I’m still doing this newsletter because it has been a bit since I wrote a dispatch. I “decided” to take most of the summer off from this. I put “decided” in quotes because I really didn’t make a conscious decision, my spirit just kind of made me step down from it because I needed a break…that I didn’t understand I needed. All is fine, but between Mag Noise work, writing my new book, running a growing soap company, a new puppy (pic at the end of this dispatch!), and being present for those I love–it was just a lot and something had to give. That said, I am armed with about a dozen subjects for upcoming dispatches. Once I realized I needed a break, I knew I needed to wait until I was excited to write this–and I am.
So here goes…
If there is one thing my experience has taught me: the more people get worked up about a subject…and the more absolute and binary people speak about the subject…the less likely it is that the buzzy hyperbolic thinking will turn out to be true. In short: the brighter the light, the lower the heat.
I believe the evolution of video in podcasting is both revolutionary…and total bullshit…so let’s dive in right after the details on the position we are hiring for.
[WE ARE HIRING A NEW SENIOR PRODUCER] New positions like this are rare in podcasting these days, even at Magnificent Noise. The show will be called Spirit of Justice, a new audio and video podcast hosted by Michelle Alexander produced with Magnificent Noise, Spirit of Justice, and Union Theological Seminary, exploring the spiritual lives of people committed to justice and liberation and the beliefs, practices, and sources of wisdom that sustain them in these perilous times. The team we’re working with for this show are just stellar, spectacular folks–and I am so excited for this show to exist in the world (we need it). If you or someone you know would be interested, we are opening this position up for applications for a short period of time and don’t plan to advertise too widely for this, so hurry to get your application in. Here is where to learn more and apply.
[PODCASTING’S PIVOT TO VIDEO] My former colleague (and Podcast Hall of Fame inductee) Maria Thomas has a saying I quote often, “If you are around long enough, you start to know how stories are going to end.” So let me invoke that with podcasting’s current obsession with video. If I was a betting man, this is how I think this is going to play out:
The industry convinces itself that video isn’t just an opportunity, but the future—the only future—and suddenly EVERY podcast needs cameras, lighting, a studio, video editors, shorts/clips, and a YouTube strategy (okay, admittedly, this part has pretty much already happened).
All of that costs money. A lot of money. And because the investment was justified by hype rather than actual audience behavior, it arrives carrying wildly inflated expectations. Video isn’t allowed to steadily find an audience, develop its own creative language, or become a meaningful addition to a podcast’s business and relationship to an audience. It has to transform everything—and quickly.
And when the audience grows more slowly than the budget projections promised, executives don’t conclude that their expectations were wrong…they blame the show, concluding that video “didn’t work.” Budgets get cut. Teams disappear. Strategies are abandoned. Everyone rushes toward the next bright, shiny thing. And a perfectly real opportunity ends up buried beneath the charred wreckage of an entirely preventable rushed and mistargeted “pivot to video.”
So, let’s back up a few steps here…
I have heard all of the following phrases spoken or written in the past few weeks:
“Podcasting is now a video medium.”
“Podcasting is switching over from audio to video.”
“Audio is dead. Video is all that matters in podcasting.”
“I don’t know why anyone would consider doing an audio podcast anymore. There’s no point.”
“The entire podcasting industry is now the same as YouTube.”
You know what the problem is with all these statements?
They are all untrue.
And I don’t mean arguably untrue–I mean completely untrue. As in unsupportable-by-facts kind of untrue.
The worst part of that isn’t that many, many people are openly and repeatedly saying things that are not based in fact, but that it is a sign of how badly most people are misunderstanding the role video can play in their work and the current evolution of podcasting. And when people aren’t seeing things clearly, they make dumb decisions. And then that’s when the collateral damage starts.
So what is the root and starting point of this breathless enthusiasm and deep embrace of video in podcasting? Let’s be frank, it starts with money.
It is easier to secure advertising for video because it is such a comfortable and familiar transaction for advertisers and their agencies. They know how to buy video. They know what to expect from video. They know how to understand and review performance.
Ask any marketing agency and they’ll tell you that audio is a huge pain in the ass for them. Their clients want to buy podcasting, but the metrics are different, the attribution is different, tracking–what exists–works entirely different from video, and there is a lot of “trust me, it works” going on with audio advertising that simply isn’t a problem with other digital media.
So those who buy and sell advertising were (and still are) video podcasting’s earliest and most enthusiastic advocates.
So why is that a problem?
Anytime media starts making decisions to solve their problems, instead of an audience’s problems, things start to go off.
Now, just to assure you, we’ll get into all the positives of video in podcasting shortly, but for now, let’s dig into its underlying problems…and why this likely isn’t going to end well.
This is where things get a bit complicated (and frankly, not all that complicated). The biggest problem with the industry’s bear hug embrace of video is that, as of now, the audience isn’t nearly as enthusiastic.
If video were replacing audio as the preferred podcast experience, we would expect to see established audio audiences migrate to video once it became available. That isn’t what I’m seeing. Talking to producers across lots of shows, video results are largely modest (when they can be measured).
Today 90% of all podcast consumption…is still to audio. Many of podcasting’s biggest titles have been available in video form for a year or two or three–and there are people who watch. But that just shows how big podcasting has become. 90% of consumption is still, today, to audio, despite the presence of video. Video’s fledgling growth is not evidence that podcasting is switching mediums. It is evidence that podcasting is doing something quite rare in media history: successfully reaching more than one audience in more than one format.
Video may attract new audience, deepen engagement, and create valuable new ways into a show—but it generally isn’t causing the existing audio audience to pack up and stop listening to watch.
And that’s where the problems start. Most in podcasting don’t see or understand any of the last three paragraphs.
So, the podcast industry is in the midst of a “pivot to video”--but is PODCASTING itself pivoting to video? As you are probably now seeing…not exactly. Podcast programming is expanding into video. Those are profoundly different things—and confusing them will cause companies to overinvest, distort their products, and eventually abandon a real opportunity when it fails to meet imaginary expectations.
Historically, those who win are those that focus on audience needs, identify the frustration audiences have, and come up with the best solution to address that problem. That’s both video podcasting’s biggest problem–and its biggest opportunity.
Video in podcasting has three jobs, as I see it.
Video’s first job: discovery. Video podcasting’s greatest strength isn’t its revenue potential. It is a great accessibility and discovery tool, even for those who eventually habituate to audio. Fish where the fish are: the places where they already not only consume content, but where they tend to go to discover things. They don’t just discover podcasts on social platforms: they shop for clothing, tools, recipes, and new tactics for dealing with their horrible children.
And this doesn’t just apply to new audience. “Rediscovery” is a thing too. One of the best–and easiest sources of growth is getting lapsed listeners to come back or reminding people that you have new episodes that they’ll love as much or more than ones they’ve heard in the past. Video, placed where they consume other things (like YouTube and social platforms), is a great way to deepen or reestablish a relationship with those who already know you.
Video’s second job: expansion. Everyone assumes that new audience will be just more people who demographically and psychographically resemble the current audience. And that is rarely true. Video podcast viewers are different people who come to the show with different needs, expectations, experiences, and worldviews. They behave differently and interact with media differently.
It is reasonable to assume that the next generation of podcast audiences will be more comfortable with—and in many cases expect—video. But that doesn’t mean they will replace today’s audio audience. It means shows may have to serve two audiences with different habits and expectations.
But it is important not to confuse that expanded audience with your core audience, who may expect you to remain an audio offering for the foreseeable future. So many people get this wrong today.
Video’s third job: monetization. Finally. Even though podcasting has the priorities bass ackwards, monetization is still a priority, just not the primary one.
I think we all agree that more revenue for our shows is better than less. And unquestionably, video is a key to unlocking that larger revenue pool. Video makes podcast inventory easier to package and sell.
But a better sales product is not automatically a better audience product. The mistake occurs when publishers, networks, and shows allow advertiser convenience to redefine the creative experience for everyone.
All this said, video is not the enemy of podcasting, and audio does not need to defeat it. The two forms solve different audience problems, create different habits, and often reach different people.
A much better path: Follow the audience and make video when it performs a clear job for them. Keep making audio when that is how they want the show. And be deeply suspicious whenever someone insists the future has only one format.
Okay, you’ve waited long enough…
This is the newest addition to our family and the Mag Noise team. Her name is Loulou. She is 13 weeks old. This is the only picture I have of her awake. I have dozens of photos of her sleeping. Why? Because when she is awake, she never stops moving. Photos are just a blur of wild puppy. Our other Frenchie, Mabel, has mixed reviews of her little sister so far: Fun, but a bit extra.
Okay, that’s it for today.
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Make great things. I’ll be listening.
--Eric