Online Radio vs Podcasting
There's one question I've been tossing around the past few weeks. How will internet radio stations be affected by podcasting? To date it seems the big difference between the two is that online radio is mostly music while podcasting is generally made up of talkers. The problem both share has been with us since 1996; if you're not found, being on the internet doesn't matter.
As you read multiple articles about podcasting and don't see much in the press about the thousands of internet radio stations, other than them being spoken about in mass, it seems likely podcasting will overtake online radio stations as a source of consumer entertainment and/or information.
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Podcasting and online radio will be like trees falling in the forest; until either gets a sense of generating publicity nobody hears them. At this time, neither internet radio stations nor podcasters have a way to roadmap the audience to what they are doing. When you consider that both podcasters and online radio stations have thousands of competitors, it's not very likely more than a few of each will rise to a mass medium's penetration. Do not read this as if podcasts or online radio doesn't matter - the message is that fewer people are listening to each individual podcast or station, in a much more diverse offering of audio. Some online radio stations and podcasters have built a sizeable audience by word of mouth, but they are few - exceptions to the norm. Only a few of these are generating revenue enough to be in the black. |
Podcasters & Stations Play this song free! 
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While the press represents podcasts and online radio as the next coming of audio, consider this about all but the largest operators: In the articles you read there's no discussion of the difficulty in getting a media buyer's attention, then presenting them with data that quantifies what the podcaster or station is selling - its audience.
Although the act of making a radio program or podcast is easy, making it interesting is not.
So, to answer the question that started this all - "How will internet radio stations be affected by podcasting?" - the latter is going to have as much an affect on the former as internet radio will have on podcasting.
They'll both struggle until a few in each group rise to the top. Winners will not be selling advertising by impression (CPM). In this world of smaller audiences amid vast amounts of available inventory, the audio sector will be forced into accepting cost-per-action (CPA) pricing. That is, unless you are one of those super-sized companies which serve each group by aggregating stations or podcasts.
Everyone else will be left lost in the revenue forest.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Today's artist introduction is to Hard Rock from Von shakes.
Give "The Routine" a listen.
Stations: Add it to your playlist, free.
