Embracing Change

Changes To Podcasting Mean Changes For You

When you started podcasting, things were different. Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. At some point, those differences are going to start adding up and you won't podcast the same way ever again. And that's OK.

February 3, 2022

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Change comes for all of us at some point, and podcasters like you and me are not immune. Neither are those individuals who run companies that provide services to podcasters like you and me. The same goes for those providing services to podcast listeners. They aren't immune either.

So really; no aspect of podcasting is immune to change.

We often think of changes to podcasting as something predicated by a massive upheaval in the podcasting landscape. And yes, huge inflection points have happened during podcasting's two-decade journey and have caused unpredictable ripples that put a lot of plans—business or otherwise—in peril.

But it doesn't take a single, massive event to disrupt your own stable podcasting world. Mostly because that stable podcasting world you think you live in is an illusion. At best, the stability you're currently encountering is a temporary condition. One you may not notice has actually expired, leaving you working under a set of assumptions that are no longer perfectly tailored to the reality of podcasting today.

Let me assuage your fears: Podcast Pontifications is not in immediate jeopardy. I have several more months of content to produce before Season Four comes to a close. I reserve the right to make changes with Season Five, of course. But if you've been listening to me for a while, you know that's standard procedure. Every season of this show has been a bit different than the ones that came before.

The Rate Of Change In Podcasting Seems To Be Increasing

Change is inevitable and has been with podcasting since the beginning. But as I look back at recent months, it sure looks like changes are coming at us a whole lot faster than they were before. Today, I want to shine light on just three of the indicators I've noticed.

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1. "Inactive" podcasts are swelling, whatever that means.

I haven't done a detailed analysis, but chatter amongst the people who care about such things say that the percentage of podcasts with valid RSS feeds that haven't produced an episode in 90 days or more is on the rise.

Generally speaking, I don't care much about this number. In my view, a lot of the analysis and punditry towards the totality of all of those shows is, in my opinion, flawed. Not every show that hasn't produced an episode in 90 days is abandoned. But that's a different soapbox.

For now, and taking the analysis provided by others at face value, it's enough to know that that the percentage is on the rise. There are many, many reasons why a podcaster makes the decision to stop podcasting at a certain point. But one commonality is that something has changed for that podcaster from the time they started podcasting to the time they posted their last episode.

What those changes are doesn't matter. Nor does the length of time between the beginning and ending state. Change happened. That's that.

2. Podcast-listener-focused services getting out of the game.

I'm thinking specifically of Bello Collective's recent announcement, but they're not the only listener-focused service that has either closed up shop or plotted a different course. Reading the post by Bello, they make it abundantly clear that it was changes to the landscape that led to their halting—or at least pausing—of operations. Changes that happened over the relatively short time span between 2016 and the first month of 2022. Changes not only to podcasting, but to how people listen. And to what people listen. So any service speaking to listeners of podcasts will have to change too.

3. Podcaster-focused services are consolidating.

Big, mega-mergers that mint new millionaires make the news, but flying under the radar are a slew of smaller announcements that don't have envy-inducing price tags. Over the last few years, we've seen lower-level players come up with a cool idea, run it as a business for a while, and then opt to sell it or roll it into another similar product or service.

Why did the original creator choose to get out if it wasn't a massive payday? Too many reasons to count, and it's pointless to speculate. The key part is that rather than just leaving their users in a lurch, the consolidation move lets them continue with as little disruption as possible.

If there's a takeaway for you in all of this, it's simply a reminder that change comes for us all. In podcasting. In life. In business.

For those of us who've wrapped all three of those things together, it sure is making for an interesting ride.

I shall be back on Monday with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He’s on a mission to make podcasting better. Allie Press proofed the copy, corrected the transcript, and edited the video. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.

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When you started podcasting, things were different. Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. At some point, those differences will start adding up, and you won't podcast the same way again ever. And that's okay.

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

Change comes for all of us at some point. Podcasters like you and me are not immune. Those that are providing services to podcasters like you and me are not immune. And those providing services to podcast listeners aren't immune, which means that if you think about it, not even podcasting is immune to change.

These changes I speak of don't have to be predicated by massive upheavals in the podcasting landscape. Yes, huge inflection points have caused unpredictable ripples, which tend to throw a lot of plans, either business plans or otherwise, in peril. They have, and they will, but it doesn't take a single, massive event to disrupt your own stable podcasting world because that stable podcasting world you're thinking of is an illusion. At best, stability is a temporary condition and one you may not notice has actually expired, which means you're working with a set of assumptions that are no longer perfectly tailored to the reality of podcasting today.

Now, let me assuage your fears. Podcast Pontifications is not in jeopardy. I have several more months of content before season four comes to a close. Yeah, next season will have something different about it. Have you not been listening for the last four seasons? I change something of time I do this. So you should be used to that by now, but change is inevitable and it seems to be coming at us a whole lot faster.

I point to a couple different indicators when I say that the rate of change in podcasting seems to be accelerating. One of those is the large number of podcasts that haven't released a new episode in the last 90 days or longer. I haven't done a detailed analysis, but chatter amongst the people who care about that statistic, I, by the way, do not count myself among their ranks. I don't care about that statistic. They say that inactive shows as they call them, are on the rise.

Now, I think there are a lot of whys wrapped up in the decision for a podcaster to stop podcasting, but I'm not going to unpack those, not on today's show at least. For now, I just see that simply as an indication that many creators had something in their lives change from when they started podcasting to when they stopped podcasting. That time period could be a matter of days or months or years. But that doesn't matter. Something changed, causing them no longer to wish to podcast.

Another indicator is the shuttering of podcast listener focused services. I'm thinking specifically of Bello Collective, which made an announcement, not long ago, specifically calling out the changes in podcasting that led their decision to stop, at least pause, their operations. And the changes that they speak of happened over a relatively short time span from 2016 when they started until, well, the end of 2021, maybe the beginning of 2022.

Podcast listening hasn't stopped, obviously, but it has changed. And the way we listen, the way people listen, perhaps why people listen, is changing. Well then, anyone who speaks to those listeners has to change as well. Just make sense.

Finally - because I'm trying to keep this short, there are lots of others I could get into - there's the consolidation of podcaster focused services. Not just the big mega-mergers that are minting millionaires to people who did a great job with their product or service and probably deserve to be rewarded for their efforts. No, no, not just them.

But also the lower-level players who had an interesting idea for a product or a service, ran it as a company for a while, maybe on the side, and then for a multitude of reasons wound up either selling that product or service, or just rolling that product or service into another product or service so the original creator of that could move on to do other things without causing their users too much frustration.

Now, if there's a takeaway from all of this, it's simply a reminder that change comes for us all in podcasting, in life, in business. For those of us who've wrapped all three of those things together, it sure is making for an interesting ride.

With that, I shall be back on Monday with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He's on a mission to make podcasting better. Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes section of your podcast listening app. A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected transcript, both created by Allie Press. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. Find out more at Simpler.Media.

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