Distribution Strategy

Surviving The Balkanization Of Podcasting

The decentralized nature of podcasting has made it resilient for 16 years. But with countries threatening to block tech and media companies they deem a threat, the ramifications for us could be dire.

August 10, 2020

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I didn't have “singalong social video app brings us to the brink of war” on my 2020 bingo card. Perhaps you did. But here we are. You likely heard the news the administration of these United States is putting the squeeze on Tencent, a company from China that runs or has an interest in the social apps TikTok and WeChat. But Tencent’s interests are much more diverse, with ownership plays in a lot of tech, media, and entertainment companies around the world.

And what is podcasting if not the intersection of tech, media, and entertainment?

I don’t know what ownership stakes Tencent has in podcasting. And at least for the purposes of this article, I’m not fretting Americans’ loss of access to TikTok or Wechat. But it does allow for a great framing to talk about what balkanization could do to podcasting as we’ve known it for the last 16 years.

Sovereign Is As Sovereign Does

Countries get to decide what will and will not happen inside their borders. They also control what travels through their borders. Even in our information age with a global internet that, with few exceptions, lets anyone around the world access the same information as anyone else, countries exhibit control. As part of (or perhaps an overstep of) that control, then can (and do) make seemingly unreasonable demands on the companies that provide the tech, media, and entertainment accessed by their citizens or subjects.

Take, for instance, India’s stance against content flagged as “Explicit” in Apple Podcasts. According to my friend Rob Walch from Libsyn (and I’ve zero reasons to doubt the veracity of his claim), if you flag even a single episode of your podcast as explicit, the entire show will not be displayed to users of Apple Podcasts in India. This isn’t a new policy. It’s been that way since as long as I can remember. Nor is India the only country that excludes certain types of content. But it is a rather large country filled with people hungry more media-based entertainment.

Unreasonable Demands Beget More Unreasonable Demands

The current administration’s beef with TikTok and China’s retaliation could just be the opening salvos in an ill-fated battle of wills that could both escalate and spread to other countries. It’s the ramifications of the retaliations that concerns me.

There are a few podcasting apps that have Chinese connections. Will they get caught up in the purge? And will China in turn block podcasting apps owned by American companies? Or will either country (or both countries) place onerous demands on tech companies, making it too arduous to operate, resulting in self-imposed geo-banning?

Yes, a quality VPN (Express VPN worked great for me the couple times I visited China) will get you around many of the geo-blocks in place when you travel. But they’re not all that convenient for long-term use as countries work to thwart their efforts. All that without getting into the possible legal ramifications of citizens working around government-imposed boycotts. Espionage charges probably aren’t fun to fight in any court.

The Solution: Distribution And Diversification

If (as?) these escalations continue - and spread - we should expect to see restrictions placed on apps and directories that list our content. When the citizens or subjects of a country are no longer able to use a popular podcast app to listen and/or find new content, they won’t stop listening to podcasts. They’ll find another app that does work in their country.

Are your podcasts listed in that new app?

That concern doesn’t keep me up at night. Nor is sleep disrupted for the couple dozen clients who trust my firm to manage their podcasts. We rest easy because we’ve worked hard to ensure we’ve distributed all shows on a diverse set of relevant podcast apps and directories. Effectively all of them.

If a big country with a billion people suddenly blocks the #1 podcast listening app everywhere else, we’re not worried. Citizens in that country will simply (grumbling all the way, I’m sure) switch to another podcast listening app that works. And our shows are already there.

My go-to-source for relevant podcast directories and apps is maintained by James Cridland of Podnews.net. Check out his aptly titled page “How to add your podcast to every directory” and make sure your shows are listed on all of those places. And if not, fix it!

Don’t Let National Pride Block Your Podcasts’ Success

My globalist leanings are on full display, but I think it’s important that your podcast be available everywhere and to everyone, regardless of how their government feels about your government. Furthermore, I think it’s important that podcasters continue to grow their audiences outside of the base where their current advertisers want impressions.

I don’t see an immediate end to the current political bickering and tit-for-tat tech fight we’re in today. Feel free to draw your own lines in the sand, but my advice remains what it has been: Be everywhere anyone wants to listen to podcasts.

The balkanization of podcasting will happen. The best thing that working podcasters like us can do to protect our shows and our audience growth is to make sure our voices are spread as widely as possible. And that means distribution in a diversified fashion.

To think otherwise is anathema to me, and rather short-sighted.

While you're going places, why not make a stop at BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra and buy me a virtual coffee? I appreciate all supporters. And those who sign up for a membership will get access to some special perks that I am just starting to release.

And finally, there are many brand new podcasters out there who do not know the importance of diversification in their distribution and only list their show in one or two places. If you know of a baby podcaster, send them a link to this episode so they can better understand why - and how and where - they should distribute their feed, would you?

I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

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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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PPS3E19 Surviving The Balkanization Of Podcasting - Transcript

The decentralized nature of podcasting has made it resilient for 16 years. But with countries threatening to block tech and media companies, they deem a threat. The ramifications for us could be dire

[00:00:19] Hello, and welcome to another podcast. Pontifications with me, Evo, Tara. I didn't have singalong social video app brings us to the brink of war on my 2020 bingo card, perhaps you did, but here we are. You probably heard the news last week that the administration of these United States is. Putting a deadline against China tech company that result, uh, that, that run companies like a tick tock and we chat and a handful of the things it's aimed at a company called Tencent.

[00:00:59] And you probably know about Tencent. If you don't know about 10 cent, they have their hands in a lot more things than you probably know. They are a big, uh, owner of tech and media and entertainment companies. Did I just describe podcasting? I believe that I did. I don't really care what companies, 10 cent has an ownership stake in and what the current set of orders will actually do to the overall tents.

[00:01:30] I mean, I do care, but I don't care about it for the sake of this conversation. It, it allows me to frame this conversation that is, is worth having. And it's about the balkanization. Of this thing, we call podcasting it's about countries deciding what will and will not go on inside of their borders. And here's the key part.

[00:01:54] What travels through their borders countries are sovereign entities. They have the rights to do the things they want to do internally, but man, it really doesn't work for the good and ease of spreading global information. Now does it. He does not. And so I'm less worried about whether or not people can access tech talk and we chat.

[00:02:18] I have counts on both of those things and I'm more concerned with what happens if this is just the opening salvo. What happens when the ramifications of retaliation? Hold true, because here we are in America, I'm going to block these Chinese apps. Well, it's pretty obvious what can happen in a tit for tat relationship, but I'm not worried about what's happening with the small apps.

[00:02:47] I'm not all that worried about what happens. And you're probably not all that worried about what happens to your podcast at market in China. But this goes beyond China and the U S this gets much, much broader than that. Because what we do, other countries tend to follow now geoblocking is already a thing in podcasting in case you're unaware, explicit content, for example, does not show up in the Apple podcasts section of India.

[00:03:20] If anything's marked that explicit. It doesn't show up over there. Now that's information that was given to me by Rob, from podcast four 11. I have not gone to investigate it. I have no reason to believe that Rob, but I just say a podcast four 11. It's been a long time since Rob has done podcasts for one 11, I think.

[00:03:37] But from Lipscomb, I have no reason to think he's incorrect about that because there are countries that can block things at that particular level. In the app stores will go along with that. It's like, sure. If that's what you want, that's what we'll do. This is something that's bigger than that. However, this is actually stating that these companies may not operate in other countries, this particular country until they changed their backend systems to host all the media and side, eh.

[00:04:03] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's sticky and it's weird and it's easy to get around if you've got VPNs. I totally get it. Totally get it. But I want us to think about this as podcasts, because this has some sort of a threat to the, our ability to spread the message wide. We just don't know what's going to happen.

[00:04:24] If these lockdowns continue and spread, and there's a little bit of infighting, some apps are blocked, some apps aren't blocked. What are we going to do about all this? Well, I think our solution to what we're going to do is what we should have been doing all along. What we working podcasters should have been doing all along.

[00:04:45] And that is making sure that we have great distribution of our shows everywhere, distribution and diversification. Not just distribution to people and places you think people might want to listen, but diversification of listings in weird places where you might not think of like India talking about them for a moment, they have a couple of large scale podcast apps that they have now been opened up to the public called Ghana and geo Saben, which I'm probably mispronouncing both of those.

[00:05:18] Have you listed your podcasts there? Now you might say to me, well, even why would I want to list my podcast there? I don't target the Indian market. My advertisers, if in fact I have advertisers, they don't care about anything other than U S based download. So why would I want to get it in other places?

[00:05:39] Look, there might be business reasons for you to think that way, but for everybody else, think about it in a slightly different way that you want to make sure your content is there. Everywhere. Because if, for example, let's just pretend for a moment that China is successful at blocking. Oh, let's just say Apple podcasts.

[00:06:00] Wouldn't be the first time people in China can't use Apple podcast and you might say, well, wait a minute. They already can't do that right now. Well, that's actually not true. There's actually ways to get to get around that. And it is listed there, there is an Apple podcast in China. There's an Apple store, a in Hong Kong market and other places, but all that is, is up in the air and fractured, but maybe.

[00:06:19] If your podcast is also listed on things like Ghana and geos on these Indian directors or some other international directory that China is a big fan of, or maybe even when they make it available to us, the ability to list our podcast directly with a Chinese app or directory like Himalaya, does that allow us to, to stay active in those other countries when this happens?

[00:06:47] Because that's going to continue this whole political bickering back and forth tit for tat stuff. We're probably going to keep seeing it for a while and we can draw lines in the sand and say where we want to be, where we don't want to be. But I, as I've said on the show previously, my strongest advice to you is be everywhere.

[00:07:06] Really honestly, be everywhere you possibly can. So it's probably worth some time for you working podcaster. To spend some time over at my friend, James, his web page, he runs pod news.net. He's got a great page set up that is entitled because of SEO, how to add your podcast to every directory. There will be a link to it here in the episode.

[00:07:27] Details spend some time there because James has listed all of the relevant podcast, directories and apps that you really should be on. Because this continued balkanization well, it'll continue. I think we'll see more of that. And the best thing that we can all do to protect our own shows and our own audience growth and making sure that our voices go where they can as widely as possibly, it means we have to distribute.

[00:07:54] In a diversified fashion. So again, go to the link in the episode, details for how to add your podcast, every podcast directory, to make sure you are everywhere. And while you're going, places go to buy me a coffee.com/evo Tara, and buy me a coffee. Your support is quite nice. And if you sign up for a membership, it's like five bucks a month, you're going to get access to some special perks that I am just starting to release.

[00:08:23] And finally other podcasters need to know about this brand new podcasters do not know about the importance of diversification in their distribution. They just list in one or two places. So sure. Send them to James's page, obviously, but also tell them you heard about it on podcast pontifications they should listen so that they are more up to speed.

[00:08:44] Not just what's happening today as this episode is quite timely, but also the future of podcasting. That's it. I shall be back tomorrow with yet another podcast. Pontifications cheers.

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