What Do Podcast Industry Acquisitions And Mergers Mean To Your Podcast? - The Podcast Report With Paul Colligan Episode #94

When you own the podcast, it doesn't matter who owns the tech. It's the podcast report episode 94 show notes, links, conversation and more. Thepodcastreport.com 94 the Big Idea here, the thing that we all have to understand and embrace and deal with and realize is that the only person who cares about you and your podcast is you and your audience. This is Paul Culligan. This is the Podcast report. This is the show where, where I show podcasters how to reach more with their message and profit more from their content. And boy, that focus couldn't be more part of what I'm doing today than it has been for quite some time. First, the why of this episode. I've been working on this concept, working with, helping you work your way through this issue. And then some industry news happened. If you are listening to this at the time of release or near the time of release, you know that company X, but company Y, you know that some podcasters are excited about it, some podcasters are scared about it, some podcasters are, you know, projecting the end of podcasting as we know it. But the fact of the matter is this industry news has nothing to do with your show. This industry news has nothing to do with my show. This industry news has to deal with the industry. Now maybe if you are a mega show listening to this from a spy standpoint, you might have to change some things and we'll chat about that. But most people who listen to this show, there's no effect on what's going on. And the idea that we think that we wonder that we even ponder the idea that there might be an effect on what it is that we're going on means we don't understand the relation to our show, our business and the technology play we're playing in. This reminds me back in the day, back in 95. Yes, at a web shop in 95. Gal walks into the shop and she just says, hey, I want you to build a website for my business. Which is every website shop's dream. Especially back in 95. Tell me about your business. What do you do? And she says, well, I have one of those. Fotomat Drive Thru Espresso stands. For those of you who remember Fotomat, you got a smile on your face. For those who don't, go ahead and head out to the podcastreport.com 94 for a link to Wikipedia about Fotomat was or Kids Ask youk Parents. But she had a Drive thru coffee Shop, a caffeine fix where you don't have to get out of the car. She wanted a website. It was 95. I asked her why in 95 she thought a website for a drive thru coffee shop was a good idea. She said because when people go to the Internet to look for drive thru coffee shops, I want them to find mine. Here's the deal. In 95, nobody is going to the Internet looking for drive thru coffee shops. It's just not a thing. In 2016 when I record this, it's also just not a thing. There might be a mobile database or a global positioning coupon type of thing. You might want to play with this point, but man, nobody's going do a website for a drive thru coffee shop. The purpose of the drive thru coffee shop, the marketing of the drive thru coffee shop is a big old sign that says drive through coffee and then really good coffee and then a coupon that gets them to come back again. That's your marketing strategy, not the web. As much as it is that I would like to sell you a website, especially in 95. See, the thing is, a lot of times we have a need for, we hear about a piece of tech and then we try to shove the two together and that's a really bad idea. It was a bad idea for her 95 to build a website. It's a bad idea for most podcasters, pretty much anyone who listens to this show. It's a really bad idea to think that the major players and the major advertising, the major positioning and the above the fold marketing that happens on some of these platforms is going to affect your show in any way. Doesn't a week go by where someone doesn't say, hey Paul, what category should I be in to get the most downloads? No, it's not what category to be in the most downloads, it's what category is your podcast in so that you can serve your audience the best. Hey Paul, how do I get on the front page of itunes? Well, do you have the type of show that really deserves to be on the front page of itunes? Everybody thinks they do. But do you? Does it serve the mass audience that's going to come across the front page of itunes? No, probably not. See, the only person that cares about you and your podcast is you and your audience. That has never changed. That has been that way for the first decade of podcasting. That will be that way for the next decade of podcasting. And if someone who never marketed your show ever before merges with someone else who doesn't care about your show, it's not going to affect your show pro or con in the future. Don't worry about it. See, serve your audience, not the tech or the industry, and you'll be at a good place. Now, I'm mostly not talking about the mega shows here. The mega shows this might affect, but the mega shows aren't listening. Ira, if you're listening, call me. If the startup guys are consuming this content, I would be greatly surprised, but I certainly have some things for you. But the average listener is the, how do we call it, Boutique podcaster. The podcaster who has a very specific audience, who's got the opportunity to make a very significant revenue, but is not ever going to be on someone's top 10 list or in some highlights or in someone's chart. That's just what this podcast is for. You see, when someone buys someone else and you have a fear that you'll get lost with this merger of the big guys, realize that you're already lost, realize that the big guys already don't care. And this merger, this change isn't going to matter. So what do we do with this, Paul? How does this affect me? I didn't think that this merger was going to change anything, and I don't understand why other people think that this merger is going to affect anything. Well, here's the deal. There are elements of the Internet that don't affect you in any way. There are elements of podcasting specifically that don't affect you in any way. There are strategies that don't affect you in any way. There are best practices that don't affect you in any way. What you want to do is you want to work with the strategies, you want to work with the processes you want to work with the best practices you want to work with the things that will get the impact for the show and the audience. It is that you are creating and building for. And you will be at a different place. When you work with the elements of the Internet that make sense to you, you will see results. When you pontificate and argue about the elements of the Internet that never affected you before and will never affect you again, you. You're just wasting time and spinning your wheel. See, the power of podcasting is that you play where everyone else is. It's kind of like the web. Right now. The local sandwich store down the street has a website. It's not beautiful, it's not gorgeous, but the fact of the matter is it has the coupons, it has the timing, it has everything that needs, and it's on the exact same world wide web as is the subway several blocks Away from my house, the little second run theater that does indies every once in a while near my place that has a website, let's be honest, that most designers would vomit in their mouth at. The website does what it needs to do. I want to find out when the show is playing and I go there. But you see it's on the exact same web as the big megaplex a couple of miles away from me. The little guy plays on the same way as the big guy does. The little podcaster plays on the same podcast infrastructure that the big guy does. I'm not going to see major advertising for the sandwich shop down the street. I'm not going to see major advertising for the movie theater that I like to go to. Because, you know, first of all, it probably doesn't make sense for them to pay for that kind of advertising, especially in relation to the local niche that they serve. I'm probably not going to see any of the shows that I love and hold dear on the front page of itunes. I'm probably not going to see any of the shows that I love and hold dear on the front page of any major platform that doesn't change their impact, that doesn't change your impact. And it's not even the type of thing that you want to think about or focus on the power of podcasting that you play where everyone else does, not that you're on the list, not that you're getting marketed, because it's not even necessarily your audience anyway. So what do you do with this? Well, if you are paying for positioning, if you are paying for charting, if you are paying for something in the traditional podcasting sense, and I'm not talking those of you who are buying subscribes on Facebook or that type of thing. Yes, you can buy subscribes on Facebook. If you are the type who has been paying for positioning. Well, the industry is coming together, the industry is collaborating, colluding, whatever it is you want to say. You might have to pay more for positioning in the future. You might have to be asked to make some sort of compromise. I can't imagine a world where that's a good idea. But I don't play in the major podcasting space with the big guys because it's really just old media all over again. But you, as the podcaster, continue to serve your audience, meet your audience the way you've always met your audience. Nothing in this merger changes, nothing in future merges changes. Nothing in consolidation of the industry changes. If you continue to serve your audience the means by which you currently get your audience. The means by which you currently get your audience is your secret weapon, is your plan. And if you continue to follow it, you will do quite well. If you think the means by which you currently get an audience is going to change based on something that happens in the industry completely outside of your world, you don't understand where audiences come from and you don't understand the power of the podcast. And most importantly, you don't understand the opportunity in front of you. Podcasting remains more powerful than ever before. The numbers are great, the numbers continue to go up, the consumption is there, but the play is not going against the big guys. The play is being in the same place that the big guys are so that you can grab your piece of the pie and do really well with it. And I know you will if you have the focus and if you have the attention. That's what this show is about. Thank you so much for listening. We'll chat next week. Bye. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Podcast Report. I love interaction. Head out to the podcastreport.com and interact with this episode or any other that you might listen to. But don't just visit the website and click play. Subscribe to the podcast report. Thepodcastreport.com iTunes thepodcastreport.com Stitcher thepodcastreport.com Google Once you subscribe, once you set it up so that every time a new episode comes out, you are automatically updated, you are experiencing experience. The power of podcasting. It's not that you have to come out to my website. It's not that you have to go anywhere. It's that the content comes straight to you. Once we understand that power, podcasting will get to a better place for all of us. So please do subscribe. Once you subscribe, let's interact. You can do it at the website or you can do it on social. ThePodcastReport.com Twitter ThePodcastReport.com Facebook Pick the social network of your choice and we are there to interact with. The website's great too, but when you do social, the world sees more. Find out about podcasting more, find out about how to make their podcast better and the world becomes a better place. So go ahead, interact with us on social. This is the Podcast Report. My name is Paul Culligan. I'm thrilled you've been listening. Please subscribe, please interact and I'll chat with you next week. Bye.