"Little Masterpieces for Your Ears" - Understanding Podcasting’s Past, Ensuring its Future

Ah, podcasts–those “little masterpieces for your ears.” 🥂

We’re back with another episode of our limited series, ‘What’s a Podcast? - The Extended Interviews.’ We have an all-star panel of industry insiders to debate what a podcast is — and what it could be. 

Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road and Veritone One) hosts:

⭐️ Larry Rosin (President, Edison Research)

⭐️ Hilary Ross Shafer (VP, Podcast and YouTube Influencer, Veritone One)

⭐️ James Cridland (Editor, Podnews and Podcast Business Journal) and 

⭐️ Nick Giorgio (Director, Media and Customer Acquisition, SimpliSafe)

The team’s talking: Podcasting’s Identity Crisis, Podcast Growing Pains, and CAO ad outlook. Let’s dive in.

 ”Podcasting's unique selling point has always been that it's something for your ears when your eyes are busy.”

It’s Complicated 🤔 - The panel agrees: at its core, a podcast is longform, on-demand, narrative-driven audio. But it gets murky when you factor in video, platform exclusives, and a shift away from RSS feeds. Why does this matter? As Dan notes, ‘brands need definitions’ to allocate budgets wisely. CAOs, make sure your definition aligns with your partners’—or risk paying for something you didn’t intend to buy.

Ch-ch-ch-changesss 🌎 - Podcasting’s transforming–from incorporating video to distribution consolidation. The big question: Will podcasting remain an open meritocracy or shift towards exclusive platforms with larger budgets and more constraints? One sign of the indie spirit–Steven Bartlett’s $100M choice to stay independent. If you want to keep that spirit alive, consider the shows you’re supporting and continue to carve out a budget for your favorite independent podcasters as well.

Make Sure the Math Maths 💸 - As podcasts grow into video, evaluating ad buys becomes more complicated. How do you value-in the different elements? Nick’s approach at SimpliSafe: look for B-roll footage, a logo or promo code on screen, and if it's baked-in or DAI. Accurately pricing the elements that drive the most value for your brand means jumping on the right deals and saying no to the wrong ones.

Paraphrasing Ferris Bueller, podcasting moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and tune in, you might miss it. To keep up, catch the full episode below.

Bianca Gorodinsky