How to solve the podcast discovery problem
Let’s face it: podcast discovery is hard.
Welcome! I'm Simon Owens and this is my media newsletter. You can subscribe by clicking on this handy little button:
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How to solve the podcast discovery problem
Let’s face it: podcast discovery is hard. There aren’t many network effects built into the medium, and listeners have to fire up a designated podcast app just to consume your content. The industry largely depends on old-fashioned word-of-mouth to grow an audience.
This week, I got on a Zoom call with several podcast experts to discuss how they market their shows in such an environment. Guests included:
The host of a leading tech podcast
A New York Times bestselling author whose podcast was featured on Oprah
The head of Macmillan Podcasts
The VP of marketing at a podcast network.
I uploaded the video of our discussion on YouTube. You can find it over here.
Can you do me a favor?
I want to gauge how many of newsletter readers also listen to my podcast. Can you answer this question real quick?
Quick hits
People who are huge fans of TV shows love listening to recap podcasts about said TV shows. [NYT]
Not enough publishers are regularly surveying their newsletter subscribers to collect data. I'd recommend using tools that embed polls directly within the newsletter itself so readers can answer questions with a single click. [Inbox Collective]
"In 2021, the worldwide publishers on its platform – among them the BBC, Sky News, Reach and CNN – collectively sent 446 billion push alerts, a 2% increase compared to 2019 and 28% more than in 2018. " We're headed toward push alert inflation. [Press Gazette]
I think we're probably seeing a slowdown in paid subscription growth for newsletters, but I think we still have a huge newsletter ad boom ahead of us. Marketers are waking up to the fact that native newsletter ads can drive huge engagement. [NYT]
I talk to publishers on an almost daily basis and they rarely tell me anymore that Facebook is part of their key audience development strategy. Those who do cite it often use it for paid acquisition. [Press Gazette]
Not much love for Meta
Here are the results for a newsletter poll I ran earlier this week:
I find your writing really clear and easy to follow. I LOVE this newsletter so it always gets my undivided attention-- hence why I read and I don’t listen/ multitask.
Clarification on my reply to the podcast question. I answered yes and the podcast is how I discovered your newsletter. (I think I discovered the podcast via Twitter but am not 100% sure.)
But I have found that since I started as a paid subscriber to the newsletter, I listen less to the podcast. Maybe this is because I feel I am getting all the meaty stuff I need from the Substack subscription. Maybe it is because, at heart, I am a text person rather than an audio person.
And maybe the latter might explain the low ratio of podcast listeners on here. My hunch is that a lot of your content-creator subscribers come from the old school text production like me. (This is why we need you after all!) So maybe you are reaching a different audience on the podcast? Just a guess.