This week I had the opportunity to spend some time at the GeekWire Summit, a two-day event featuring top tech, business and government leaders who were focused on exploring the future of AI, health tech, transportation, privacy and more.
The entire event was quite informative, but for me there was one panel that stood out. It focused on the impact of podcasts on the future of media, a topic particularly relevant to our business.
In addition, I – like a growing number of Americans – love podcasts and find myself listening to several hours of content on a weekly basis. Often this is when I’m exercising, driving or cooking.
According to GeekWire, “51 percent of Americans listened to a podcast in 2019, up from just 9 percent in 2008, and the growth doesn’t appear to be slowing down.”
They are a wonderful way to take in new information, and I find many of them to be more informative on political issues or current events than TV news programs, especially ones in which people are incessantly and fruitlessly arguing and talking over one another.
Given this, it was with great interest that I tuned into this panel discussion. Todd Bishop, with GeekWire moderated the discussion and his esteemed panelists included:
- Amira Valliani, CEO, Glow
- Phyllis Fletcher, Podcast Editor, American Public Media
- David Payne, President, RainStream Media
- Steve Henn, the former tech correspondent for Planet Money who now leads content strategy at Google.
The discussion began with a reminder that the way we consume media is still rapidly changing. It seems every year there are new technologies being introduced around smart speakers, voice computing and new streaming innovations. All of this means we need to prepare for new storytelling formats and voices, and this will have a significant impact on those of us who work in corporate communications or public relations. Consider the following:
- Podcasts allow broadcast media to reach very different audiences than they’ve historically targeted. Many news outlets are producing shows for niche audiences, freeing journalists and editors to cover topics they feel are relevant. They no longer have to please the masses.
- Podcasts allow people to delve more deeply into a subject. Many of these segments are 30 or 40 minutes. This is a long time and allows for more in-depth coverage of a topic.
- Amira Valliani, who used to work as a speechwriter, explained that often, when writing a speech, she’d focus on identifying a zinger line that might be highlighted in subsequent news coverage. That short line was the one that all the journalists would use in follow-on reporting. Now they have much more opportunity to go deeper. They don’t have to worry so much about the zinger line, but can focus on capturing people’s attention in a manner that allows them to be more deeply informed.
- However, if you do decide to develop a podcast, there is an art to it. You need to be clear on your objectives, why you’re doing it and what success looks like. You need to develop a story arc. What is the rising action, conflict and resolution? Compelling characters are also vital as many successful podcasts are character driven.
- Finally, we should expect additional advancements in podcasting technology. For instance, software may someday be able provide producers and consumers data on which podcasts have higher completion rates. There may also be solutions to make discovery easier. Google apparently is working on creating indexes and transcripts from MP3 files so people can do keyword searches to find podcasts most relevant to them.
If you’re thinking of developing a podcast or reaching out to someone to suggest they produce a podcast on a particular topic, I hope you’ll find these tips helpful.