Nobody can predict exactly what will happen in the future, but if anybody could, these 4 would be the first ones to ask.
The first speaker of the session, Arielle Nissenblatt, founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective, personally recommended recording videos for your podcasts to be safe, because we never know what kind of content will be popular in the future. Although it is unnecessary, it might save you one day. One form of filming your podcasts could be short mini clips, as an introduction to your long podcasts. Thanks to the sheer volume of audience on social media sites such as Tik Tok, Youtube, etc., it is easier to catch the eye of the public with short and simple content.
James Cridlant, an award-winning copywriter, radio presenter, and internet strategist, does not see brighter days ahead of us. He claims that podcasting was open at the beginning, but in the past few years, platforms started creating their own exclusive content. And that hurts the industry. Unfortunately, he does not expect that to change. “Exclusive podcasting is like a closed garden,” he adds. “Things are better when they’re open.”
The next speaker, Emma Conneely, does not paint the next year of podcasting as black. She sees more and more ways emerging for how to overcome the problem of exclusive content and sets an example from her own experience. At BBC, where she’s the head of metadata team, they found a way that is beneficial for both the industry as well as the creator. Instead of signing a closed deal or paying an exact sum for a podcast creator, BBC offers to help the creator publish his content and get a set price for each listen of his podcast.
The last speaker of the panel, Eric Nuzum, co-founder of Magnificent Noise and a creator of iconic podcasts, introduced us to the problematic of Market Saturation which seems to be a problem of the existence of too many podcasts out there, since a 1000 new podcasts come out every day. According to Eric, “the problem is real, but it is only itchy for people who are satisfied with themselves.” Blaming market saturation is a way of complaining without actually trying hard enough. You have to push yourselves in order to move your work from good to great. “Treat your every episode like it’s your last; be wary of the things that intend to distract you.”
