Full Transcript for Is Video a Dumpster Fire for Podcasting?

blamed. Video didn't work. Budgets get 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:07.189 cut. Teams disappear. Everything, everyone rushes 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:09.770 towards the next bright, shiny object. But then 00:02:09.770 --> 00:02:13.090 he says this. A perfectly real opportunity ends 00:02:13.090 --> 00:02:15.990 up buried beneath the charred wreckage of an 00:02:15.990 --> 00:02:19.930 entirely preventable, rushed, and mistargeted 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:23.349 pivot to video. And that's the part that I like 00:02:23.349 --> 00:02:29.210 about this, right? Is we are so reactionary as 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:33.229 a people, right? A year ago, if you weren't using 00:02:33.229 --> 00:02:38.250 AI, you are falling behind. And now I feel at 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:42.270 least more people are listening to the beat of 00:02:42.270 --> 00:02:48.009 my drum, which is AI is good for certain things. 00:02:48.449 --> 00:02:52.090 Now you do have what I'm calling AI blue -pilled 00:02:52.090 --> 00:02:55.409 people who think that AI is is everything in 00:02:55.409 --> 00:02:57.629 the future. And if you're not using it to do 00:02:57.629 --> 00:02:59.629 literally all of your work, then you're a fool. 00:03:00.289 --> 00:03:03.819 Those people are fools, but. We're seeing the 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:05.879 same thing in video, right? Oh, Apple Podcasts 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:08.259 supports video. You need to have video. Netflix 00:03:08.259 --> 00:03:12.060 is calling the Pete Davidson show a podcast, 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:15.479 even though it's only on Netflix and only available 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:19.280 on video. And I am not one of those people who 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:23.479 says video is not really a podcast, right? I 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:29.819 think the idea of a podcast is that it is ubiquitous, 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:32.960 right? It's you can... your audience can consume 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:36.860 it where and when they want. And if that's Netflix, 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:40.280 then great. But if I can only get the Pete Davidson 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:42.939 show on Netflix, then it's a Netflix show. It's 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:47.919 not a podcast, right? You wouldn't call a House 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:51.520 of Cards or something more recent than Bridgerton 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:55.460 a podcast. That would be crazy, right? So I think 00:03:55.460 --> 00:04:00.319 that like there is this rush and I agree with 00:04:00.409 --> 00:04:02.770 Eric's assessment here that people are rushing, 00:04:02.830 --> 00:04:09.169 but also there is a perfectly good opportunity, 00:04:09.449 --> 00:04:11.949 right? So he says a couple of other things in 00:04:11.949 --> 00:04:15.030 this article that I just want to highlight. Any 00:04:15.030 --> 00:04:17.389 time media starts making decisions to solve their 00:04:17.389 --> 00:04:20.410 problems, instead of the audience problems, things 00:04:20.410 --> 00:04:24.009 start to go off. This is such an important point, 00:04:24.170 --> 00:04:28.750 right? Because your content should be in the 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:34.259 service of your audience. Nobody is going to 00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:38.740 watch or listen or read something that sucks. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.740 And we know we have such limited time and there 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:48.639 are so many avenues for content now that you 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:52.180 need to do something good. And I don't buy into 00:04:52.180 --> 00:04:56.259 the fact that or to the idea that attention spans 00:04:56.259 --> 00:04:59.069 are getting shorter. Christopher Nolan just had 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:03.009 his biggest grossing movie ever, and it's three 00:05:03.009 --> 00:05:06.089 hours. And we routinely see this, right? Long 00:05:06.089 --> 00:05:09.269 movies are killing it at the box office. People 00:05:09.269 --> 00:05:12.350 aren't saying, oh, it's too long. As long as 00:05:12.350 --> 00:05:15.269 it's good and compelling content, people will 00:05:15.269 --> 00:05:18.149 consume it. So the first thing you need to do 00:05:18.149 --> 00:05:20.889 is serve your audience. And if your audience 00:05:20.889 --> 00:05:23.529 is begging for video, then by all means do video, 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:27.490 right? But if you are degrading the experience 00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:31.269 by adding video by making, you know, I made a 00:05:31.269 --> 00:05:34.269 mistake in last week's episode. I haven't edited 00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:36.970 it yet. So you'll know before me at this point 00:05:36.970 --> 00:05:39.069 if I took it out. But like I reference something 00:05:39.069 --> 00:05:41.050 on the screen and I try really hard not to do 00:05:41.050 --> 00:05:43.709 that because it makes the listening experience 00:05:43.709 --> 00:05:46.949 worse. Right. And so this is a really important 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:50.370 thing. Right. I think people see, oh, I don't 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:52.490 have a lot of downloads. YouTube has an algorithm. 00:05:52.550 --> 00:05:54.829 I should add video to solve my problems. But 00:05:54.829 --> 00:05:57.100 that's that's not going to solve your problems. 00:05:57.220 --> 00:05:59.779 You still need to make something that serves 00:05:59.779 --> 00:06:03.240 the audience. So that's number one. And we see, 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:04.939 I see this all the time, right? I want to start 00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:07.699 a podcast and get sponsors and make money. Okay, 00:06:07.699 --> 00:06:09.720 that's a little bit like the underpants gnomes 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:12.300 from from South Park, right? We steal underpants 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:14.740 question marks profit. The question marks in 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:18.600 this case is who were you serving? And are you 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:20.759 going to get sponsors? Maybe. I'm a sponsorship 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:24.139 coach. I should say yes, definitely. But you 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:27.279 need to solve an

audience's problems before any 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:30.720 of that. And video is not going to magically 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:33.620 solve your audience's problems. So, the other 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:37.300 thing that is mentioned in this article is if 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.279 video were replacing audio as the preferred podcast 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:42.019 experience, we would expect to see established 00:06:42.019 --> 00:06:45.879 audio audiences migrate to video once it becomes 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:48.560 available. And he says this isn't what he is 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.980 seeing. Talking to producers across a lot of 00:06:50.980 --> 00:06:54.180 shows, video results are largely Modest. This 00:06:54.180 --> 00:06:56.720 is something that I found last week. I know this 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:59.540 is anecdotal for me. I haven't done the legwork. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:05.459 I assume as I record, well, as this episode comes 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:09.680 out, podcast movement is next week and I suspect 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.879 we'll get some data from Sounds Profitable about 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:18.139 this very thing. So we'll see. But according 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.660 to Nielsen, 90 % of all podcast consumption is 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:24.050 still audio. Right? So again, serve your audience. 00:07:24.350 --> 00:07:29.110 And then he breaks down a few things that video 00:07:29.110 --> 00:07:33.029 podcasting has three jobs. And so again, I like 00:07:33.029 --> 00:07:34.050 this a lot. I'm going to read this. I'm going 00:07:34.050 --> 00:07:35.850 to link the article in the show notes because 00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:37.350 I'm not reading the whole thing. I'm giving you 00:07:37.350 --> 00:07:40.730 the highlights. I strongly recommend you read 00:07:40.730 --> 00:07:44.490 this. Video's first job is discovery. Absolutely 00:07:44.490 --> 00:07:47.209 true. Video's second job is expansion. Everyone 00:07:47.209 --> 00:07:51.329 assumes that new audience will be just more people 00:07:51.329 --> 00:07:53.850 who demographically and psychographically resemble 00:07:53.850 --> 00:07:56.089 the current audience, and that is rarely true. 00:07:56.209 --> 00:07:58.449 I'm reading directly from the article now. Video 00:07:58.449 --> 00:08:02.910 podcast reviewers are different people who come 00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:05.910 to the show with different needs. Really good 00:08:05.910 --> 00:08:09.750 and important. There are podcasts where I will 00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:13.670 switch between listening via audio or video. 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:16.250 And I really so Seth Meyers Lonely Island podcast 00:08:16.250 --> 00:08:18.709 is one of them or the lonely Island Seth Meyers 00:08:18.709 --> 00:08:21.389 podcast is one of them I will listen basically 00:08:21.389 --> 00:08:23.470 up into the point where I start where they start 00:08:23.470 --> 00:08:27.649 watching the short Then I will watch or I'll 00:08:27.649 -->

00:08:29.730 stop listening and watch the short because I 00:08:29.730 --> 00:08:31.930 think that's important context I was doing this 00:08:31.930 --> 00:08:33.929 with John Boy media podcast for a while because 00:08:33.929 --> 00:08:36.870 they would show a video They do the thing right? 00:08:36.970 --> 00:08:39.570 Like if you're only listening, I recommend you 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:42.049 go over to the YouTube channel. I don't think 00:08:42.200 --> 00:08:46.940 that is good podcast content, but they are and 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:50.600 have always been a YouTube first media company. 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:55.100 Like they they live stream their shows on YouTube 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:58.019 a lot of the time. And so that's just part of 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.159 their DNA. And then video's third job is monetization. 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:05.480 Even though podcasting has priorities, bass ackwards, 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.399 he says, monetization is still a priority, just 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.879 not the primary one. So, again, I would agree 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.789 with this, right? if you can launch a show. And 00:09:13.789 --> 00:09:17.389 you know, YouTube has just made it harder to 00:09:17.389 --> 00:09:21.269 monetize. They have increased, doubled, in fact, 00:09:21.429 --> 00:09:24.490 the number of watch hours and subscribers. So 00:09:24.490 --> 00:09:29.990 they're making it harder. And that's why I suspect 00:09:29.990 --> 00:09:35.830 he made this third, because you need good content 00:09:35.830 --> 00:09:40.450 that serves an audience. that can get discovered 00:09:40.450 --> 00:09:45.350 and expanded via video. So maybe this is like 00:09:45.350 --> 00:09:48.049 the second part of last week's episode where 00:09:48.049 --> 00:09:51.590 I kind of talked about is podcasting worth it? 00:09:51.850 --> 00:09:54.629 But is video podcasting worth it? I should say. 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:58.730 But this is really important. You need to align 00:09:58.730 --> 00:10:03.009 with your audience. Video is not some magic wand 00:10:03.009 --> 00:10:06.789 that is going to solve your podcasting problems. 00:10:07.230 --> 00:10:11.090 You can only do that by focusing on your audience. 00:10:11.149 --> 00:10:14.429 And that means talking to them, solving their 00:10:14.429 --> 00:10:18.429 problems, not asking AI what their problems are, 00:10:18.769 --> 00:10:21.409 or just assuming, I want to talk about this. 00:10:21.429 --> 00:10:23.929 It's going to be a casual show. You should solve 00:10:23.929 --> 00:10:26.909 problems for most people. I mean, and if you're 00:10:26.909 --> 00:10:28.610 an entertainment show, you are solving someone's 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:31.490 problem, right? It's boredom. It's curiosity. 00:10:31.870 --> 00:10:34.350 Right. There's there's some problem there that 00:10:34.350 --> 00:10:35.710 you're trying to solve, even if you're not a 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:38.110 business focused podcast, which is mostly who 00:10:38.110 --> 00:10:42.389 I help. Right. So if you do want more tips for 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:45.409 how to improve your process to build what I'm 00:10:45.409 --> 00:10:49.110 calling solo ops for conscientious AI usage. 00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:51.870 Right. So it's doing the tasks and not the craft. 00:10:52.169 --> 00:10:54.529 Head over to streamlines .fm slash join to join 00:10:54.529 --> 00:10:56.929 my newsletter. You'll get lots of goodies, but 00:10:56.929 --> 00:10:59.919 mostly regular tips on. how to build systems, 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:01.799 how to focus on your audience, how to do the 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.179 important work, and take the grunt work off of 00:11:04.179 --> 00:11:07.200 your plate. But that's it for this episode of 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:10.299 The Streamlined Podcaster. Definitely check out 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:13.360 that article. It's over at audioinsurgent .substack 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.159 .com. I will link it in the show notes as well. 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:18.559 And until next time, I hope you find some space 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:19.519 in your week.