Podcasting's done? Wait until you have an iPod capable car
I was browsing through various blogs today, and I came across this one at MarketShift titled, Podcasting's 15 Minutes Almost Up. It it, the author notes this statistic:
Right. And in 1949, less than 1% of America watched TV too. But in two years that climbed to nearly 10%. Why? Because in 1949, TV was mostly radio shows with pictures of people reading. But when we got into the 1950s, people discovered programs like Kraft Theater and Hallmark Hall of Fame that captivated viewers. It was something different and justified having a TV.
Fellow analyst Maribel Lopez and I were just talking about this at lunch recently. See, podcasting isn't just about playing pre-recorded content (Boring). What it is is a digital video recorder (DVR or perhaps you know it by its brand name, TiVO) for radio. And when you put it in your car or listen to it when exercising, it rocks. Why? Simple: you get to listen to what you want, not what some station programmer wants you to hear.
I recently bought a refurbished iPod shuffle ONLY for listening to podcasts. Why? Because my daily iPod regimen is that I use it when power-walking between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. It gets loaded up by my Mac overnight with the daily weather (from Weather.com), the latest CNN headlines, NPR's Story Of The Day, Garrison Kieler's Writer's Almanac, and the Wall Street Journal Tech report. By the time I'm back from my walk, I'm completely up to date.
Now I only have a 10 minute commute to Blackfriars World Wide Headquarters, but if I had a longer commute, I'd kill to have that same content in my car. And nowadays, more than half of all cars are available with iPod integration gear, so it's completely possible. It just hasn't hit most people yet that this is a completely different way to consume content.
So it could be that podcasting version 1.0 is done, just as radio with pictures was done in 1948. But Podcasting as a medium is just getting started. And the name is actually right; it only reaches its potential when linked with an iPod.
According to the most recent survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 1 percent of Internet users download a podcast on a given day. Only 12 percent of webizens have ever downloaded a podcast for later listening, according to BuisnessWeek.
Podcasting technology has been around for a decade, and just because the "Pod" name was put on it a few years ago doesn't mean it will be any more successful.
Listening to recorded discussions is good for when you are traveling, the subject is extremely compelling, or you are bored out of your skull. If you have an iPod, most of the time you are going to listen to music. If you are online, you aren't going to divide your attention between the screen and your ears because it takes too much of your brain to digest a podcast. Music is a nice background noise that doesn't prevent you from "working."
Right. And in 1949, less than 1% of America watched TV too. But in two years that climbed to nearly 10%. Why? Because in 1949, TV was mostly radio shows with pictures of people reading. But when we got into the 1950s, people discovered programs like Kraft Theater and Hallmark Hall of Fame that captivated viewers. It was something different and justified having a TV.
Fellow analyst Maribel Lopez and I were just talking about this at lunch recently. See, podcasting isn't just about playing pre-recorded content (Boring). What it is is a digital video recorder (DVR or perhaps you know it by its brand name, TiVO) for radio. And when you put it in your car or listen to it when exercising, it rocks. Why? Simple: you get to listen to what you want, not what some station programmer wants you to hear.
I recently bought a refurbished iPod shuffle ONLY for listening to podcasts. Why? Because my daily iPod regimen is that I use it when power-walking between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. It gets loaded up by my Mac overnight with the daily weather (from Weather.com), the latest CNN headlines, NPR's Story Of The Day, Garrison Kieler's Writer's Almanac, and the Wall Street Journal Tech report. By the time I'm back from my walk, I'm completely up to date.
Now I only have a 10 minute commute to Blackfriars World Wide Headquarters, but if I had a longer commute, I'd kill to have that same content in my car. And nowadays, more than half of all cars are available with iPod integration gear, so it's completely possible. It just hasn't hit most people yet that this is a completely different way to consume content.
So it could be that podcasting version 1.0 is done, just as radio with pictures was done in 1948. But Podcasting as a medium is just getting started. And the name is actually right; it only reaches its potential when linked with an iPod.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, Maribel Lopez, Podcasting, TV
posted by Carl Howe at
7:01 PM
| View blog reactions
| 
