#39 - Podcasts: A Coming of Age

In 2020, 1,109,000 new podcasts were launched. In 2021, that number dropped to 729,000. And in 2022, it cratered to just 219,000. Podcast creation seems to be in a free fall. According to some observers the market just has become too crowded. Incumbents’ advantages harden. The returns to launching grow less certain. But not everybody agrees with this gloomy take. James Cridland from Podnews thinks podcasting is far from being in severe decline. It’s mainly a reduction in low-quality “one-show-and-done” podcasts, in other words podcasting is becoming mature.

Enjoy the selection!

IN FOCUS

Media company Global has published a report into news podcasting and it has some interesting insights on how podcasts serve other user needs. If traditional sources have breaking news covered, people hit ‘play’ on their favourite podcasts for everything else:?to find something new, to discover different perspectives, to challenge their thinking, or gain a more in-depth understanding.

Slow audio content is becoming increasingly popular. Users are looking for content that is more thoughtfully crafted and takes more time to digest. A good example of the upward trend is Tortoise , a slow news startup that has increasingly focused on slow audio and has been able to capitalize on this trend.

+ A report on the future of video podcasting for brands .

SUBSCRIPTIONS

WAN-IFRA has launched a new report on reader revenue , presenting 10 case studies from publishers in regions throughout the world. The 10 brands tell what they’ve tried, what’s worked and what hasn’t to turn reader revenue into a foundational source of income.

Toolkit continues its?excellent series of summary articles on publisher trends. This week they focus on how publishers are stepping up efforts to turn audiences into registered user bases.?

And FT Strategies takes a look at the renewed focus on retention. For them it’s clear why retention is top of mind for business leaders in 2023: a retained customer is the most valuable of them all.

+ How digital subscription prices at the biggest consumer news titles in the UK & US compare.

PRODUCT

Media analyst Thomas Baekdal discusses the role of print in 2023 in his latest blog article. According to Baekdal print needs to have a more specific purpose and role in 2023. It needs to be used for specific moments and use cases (being slow) instead of trying to be a general format. (Behind pay/registration wall)

One to watch: A new app called 'Informed' is bundling together curated stories ?from some of the world’s biggest publishers targeting consumers who would never pay for a single news subscription.?

And Roblox increasingly feels like the Sandbox for the metaverse. The community grew by 23% last year to more than 56 million daily global users spending over 49.3 billion hours coming together to create, play, explore, learn, and connect.?

SHORT

• Facebook lifts Trump ban.
• The US Justice Department is suing Google.
• Google calls in help from Larry Page and Sergey Brin for A.I. fight.
• Netflix finished 2022 with better-than-expected growth.
• Schibsted announces cost cuts.
• Twitter referral traffic to publishers is declining.
• New York Times is now on Tik Tok.
• TikTok employees regular push videos to go viral.

AI

BuzzFeed said it would rely on ChatGPT creator OpenAI to enhance its quizzes and personalize some content for its audiences , becoming the latest digital publisher to embrace artificial intelligence.

Blogging platform Medium has published transparency, disclosure, and publication-level guidelines for the use of AI-assistive technology on their platform. From now on they require that any story created with AI assistance be clearly labeled as such.

• After images and text it’s now the turn for voice AI to gain traction .
• Now that more and more AI tools are being added, an overview is welcome. Here are two handy databases: AI Tools and Mad Genius
• Shutterstock rolls out a generative AI toolkit to create images based on text prompts
• Google is working on text-to-music.
• Convert podcasts into blog posts.
• And filmmaking is being disrupted by AI.

READ

Meme Insiders has compiled a fascinating look at the biggest memes of 2022 and how they impacted online culture. And one thing is clear: AI generated memes have become a new bizarre and fascinating category.

A good long read on how culture is converted into “content” . As we struggle to keep abreast of that accelerating flow of content, drawn by the perpetual lure of the new, we come to know less and less about more and more.

+ How Gen Z spends its money.

+ Breakout trends to keep your eye on in 2023.

EVENTS

To help you plan your conference schedule for 2023, news consultancy agency Fathm have put together a round-up of the biggest media events around the world. (I found this gem in the newly launched monthly Fathm newsletter ).

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Ezra Eeman, Change Director, News - Editorial