Podcasting is Still Untapped and Early in its’ Impact
October 19, 2009
If you are an online marketer then you are probably aware that podcasting has been quite popular since about 2004 and perhaps you might even be aware that the first podcasts in modern format go back to about 2000, making modern podcasting about a decade old. Most online marketers of course tend to listen to a lot of podcasts on marketing and perhaps on marketing with podcasting.
My view is this myopic view has convinced many marketers that Podcasting is now a mature platform and most of the territory has been claimed. I mean come on there are podcasts now on everything from Fantasy Football to Fantasy Role Playing games. This however, doesn’t really begin to scratch the surface on the potential of podcasting. The real growth of podcasting has yet to happen mainly because outside of Internet Marketing and Technology sectors it is still largely unknown.
Every day millions upon millions of Americans climb into cars or trucks and spend an average of 2 hours a day in commute. During that time what I call the money demographic, (working professionals in the age range of 30-60) spend a massive amount of that time listening to what is known as “Talk Radio”. During 1-2 hours a day of being a captive audience they will be subjected to about 25% of that time being occupied with commercials.
What this group of Talk Radio listeners has in common is the following…
- They are employed and therefore have money.
- The “long commuters” (30-90 minutes in each direction) generally are high income earners (no one drives an hour to get to a job paying minimum wage.
- They want a combination of “entertainment” and “education”, that is why they listen to talk vs. music.
- They channel surf when commercials come on and generally find more commercials.
- They do this drill 5 times a week.
- By and large most have no idea what a podcast is!
How do I know the last bullet is true? Because I am a late 30’s professional and in my social circle I am surrounded by the exact same type of person. From social engagements to networking events I talk to mostly people that are, “working professionals in the age range of 30-60″. I have a typical conversation with such folks,
- Where do you work
- What do you do
- Where do you live
- Do you have kids
- How old are they
- What schools are they in
Think about those questions they are the six most common “meet a new person” questions where we as humans seek commonalities between each other, these become the foundation of our relationships. I have simply started asking folks, what do you do during your commute? The number one answer is I listen to the radio and most tend to listen to talk radio or news stations. Scientific? Of course not but what I have determined is there are millions of people listening to educational/entertaining programming every day and no one is in love with the commercials. I usually tell folks that I listen to the radio and podcasts on my commutes, 9 out of 10 say, what’s a podcast? Including the people holding onto an iPhone!
What we have here is a classic “basketball in the garden hose”. We have a market of millions of Americans who are perfectly suited to take advantage of an emerging entertainment trend. These people are already listening to a similar form of entertainment and most just don’t know about the new one. The core market is not aware of the vast number of choices they have for subject matter beyond politics, news and religion. They have money and most already own the technology to listen to podcasting in their vehicles. Most new vehicles now come with an “iPod jack” in the stero. Most professionals are carrying iPods, Blackberries or other “smart phones” with the ability to play Mp3 files.
Slowly this group is learning how simple podcasting is, they are realizing that you don’t have to be a techno genius to listen to a podcast. Many are iPod users for music and one day just stumble on podcasts in the iTunes store. The big education though is happening via word of mouth. People find a show they really like, tell others and end up explaining common things like, “you don’t need an iPod to listen to a podcast”.
So what is going to happen when we get as little as 25% awareness of podcasting into this highly mobile, affluent and information hungry demographic? Two answers,
- Bad news for talk radio ratings and media gate keepers
- An explosion in the opportunity for audio podcasting
So my advice is make podcasting part of what you are doing now and planning for tomorrow. Either as a producer or as a sponsor/guest of podcasts. This is like being at the advent of radio or television and getting in with the “talent” on the ground floor.
To learn more about podcasting and using it for your business consider checking out our eCourse on Podcasting.
~ Jack Spirko
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