This is an archived page from 2020. Find out more
From now through the end of the year The Podcast Business Journal will be interviewing industry executives to get their input on what kind of year 2020 was for the podcasting industry and what podcasters can expect in the year ahead. Today Blubrry Founder Todd Cochrane…
“While the Pandemic has been devastating globally for many, the podcasting space has had a tremendous growth year, with a significant number of independent podcasters starting second and third shows; we also have seen an incredibly high number of companies start podcasts as a way to reach customers and employees through private internal podcasting. Established businesses ramped up fast, adding podcasting as part of their arsenal of tools to reach customers.
We have also seen a considerable surge in podcasters understanding the value of having a website for their show. For a while, podcasters thought they could grow without doing this. The way Google indexes podcast now, those with websites have a massive advantage in program discovery and episode discovery.
Shows with engaging content, coupled with great show notes and search-friendly show titles, will continue to see significant audience growth.
As podcasters go back to the office in mid-2021, I would expect to see some shows put on pause. But at the same time, many will stay remote from now on, allowing them more time to create content.
Advertisers have primarily run out of inventory with larger shows as some podcast have no inventory for a year or more. I expect to see more host endorsed advertising buys come into the second tier of podcasts with audiences of 1000 to 20,000 downloads per episode.
We already see podcasters become disenfranchised with programmatic advertising from low CPMs to advertising that does not resonate or perform well. We have witnessed podcasters leave our platform to go to a platform that has programmatic advertising, and yet within 90 days, migrate back to us as related to unmet promised expectations.
Podcast host endorsed advertising injected or natively built into the content is here to stay and will grow tremendously in 2021.
Finally, in 2020 the most important story for us has not necessarily has been a story. It’s the Podcast Index movement and their goals of protecting the legacy of open podcasting and the expansion of the RSS specification to allow the independent podcasters new ways of growing their shows and reaching an audience.
Todd Cochrane Blubrry Podcasting Founder ceo@rawvoice.com
Our previous interviews Rob Greenlee – Chairman of The Podcast Academy Board of Directors Matty Staudt - CEO of Jam Street Media Jack Hobbs - CEO reVOLVER