Perhaps you were one of the 80 million (and climbing) who downloaded NPR’s (National Public Radio’s) wildly successful podcast “Serial” that became a viral phenomenon and, according to The New York Times, was “podcasting’s first breakout hit.”  As a consequence of this popularity, Triton Digital recently estimated that 1/3 of the US population has listened to a podcast.  The upside for a radio station, both in terms of programming and sales, is increasing dramatically, and your station needs to think about how it can best embrace this new frontier.

From a programming perspective, podcasts should be somewhere between 20 minutes (approximately the same length of the average adult’s attention span) and about 25 minutes (the average length of a 30-minute TV show once you take away the commercials, etc.).  In other words, the consumer’s attention span for a podcast is about 22 to a little shy of 30 minutes.   The content of the podcast needs to be deeply engaging and generate high loyalty to the station.  In that respect, branding your podcast as being unique to your station is absolutely vital.  As an example, if you are a CHR like NRJ in Paris and produce a daily “cardio” or “high energy” podcast, then you better be absolutely certain that your consumers know 100% for certain that this podcast is unique to NRJ and couldn’t be mistaken as being produced by a competitor like Skyrock or Fun Radio.  We need to be mindful that our listeners who research and subscribe to specific shows on topics or types of music that interest them represent the top echelon of a station’s loyal and engaged audience, a segment that can be very important when it comes to providing ratings. 

Of particular significance to programmers, one shift that has occurred recently is that more listening to podcasts is being done through on-demand streaming as opposed to via downloads.  As a consequence, designers of your mobile app and website need to make it super easy for consumers to click and listen to your podcasts.  If the consumer experience is too complicated, then you run the risk of losing a valuable opportunity to connect and engage with your customer. 

There has also been a lot of recent focus on the upside of podcasting for advertising.  Typically, advertising has consisted of either pre-roll or direct-response ads in which the host voices some ad copy, thereby seeming less intrusive than traditional audio spots or even display or video ads.  (Incidentally, according to a study that Midroll did for one its advertisers, Sling Media, they found that with podcast ads there’s a real advantage when the host reads. “There’s an aspect of endorsement” which provided them with 2-3 times more engagement with their ads as compared with traditional radio advertising).

Podcast advertising is now becoming more progressive in its approach and has started to embrace ad insertion as well as native advertising.  Using behavioral and demographic data, ads are served to a particular consumer based on his/her demographic details and/or purchase behavior.  In other words, for the listener in Paris who clicks to listen to today’s “high energy” podcast, s/he may hear a specific advertisement for the shoe store, Courir, which may be offering a discount on running shoes that day/week.  Additionally, the host of this podcast may make a brief mention of an upcoming 10k race in the Bois de Boulogne that is being sponsored by Nespresso.  Advertisers are increasingly drawn to this technique of “native advertising” for podcasts as it promotes their particular product in a seamless way. 

More and more, consumers are being drawn to on-demand products, especially when it comes to choices in entertainment, DVR, Netflix, Hulu, etc.  As an industry, we are wise to embrace this phenomenon and to provide even more compelling ways for our consumers to engage with our programming, especially when it’s possible to make some money at the same time.