Podcasts = Print Media

[EndGamePR]

Something just occurred to me, and it hit me like a lightning bolt. Everyone (myself included) wants to compare audio podcasting to radio and video podcasting to television, but in many, many ways these mediums are actually more like print media than broadcast. Here's a list of things you can say about print publications that ALSO apply to podcasting and other social media:

1) There's no governing body in the United States that regulates who can own a newspaper or magazine, and that's primarily because anyone who wants to can start a print publication.

2) Newspapers and (particularly) magazines can fill a very small niche and be successful. Think of all of the special interest magazines you've seen. I'm sure you'll find one for people with chronic ingrown toenails if you look hard enough.

3) Once you publish something in print, it's out there forever. With the exception of reruns and a couple of other situations (such as when radio shows are turned INTO podcasts after broadcast) radio and TV broadcasts hit the airwaves once and are gone forever.

4) Magazine and newspaper readers subscribe to the content they want, and it's delivered to them. If they prefer, they can skip subscribing and just go out and get it themselves.

5) Magazines and newspapers are extremely portable, and can be shared with friends and neighbors. Audio podcasts have one advantage, however ... you can consume them while driving :)

I just did a search for niche magazines to compare to podcasts, which almost exclusively fill niches. One good example I found was Quarter Horse News. How many people own quarter horses? Not a huge number, I suspect. The magazine's circulation, according to a media database to which I have access (side benefit of being a PR guy in this case), is 11,600. But, by tailoring content to this specific audience, they're able to attract readers and thus advertisers.

I think it's only a matter of time before we're able to benefit similarly. I suspect the marketplace just doesn't take us seriously yet.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to blog this.

[EndGamePR]

Blogged (http://www.endgamepr.com/blog/2008/03/02/seven-ways-that-print-media-is-like-podcasting/)

[Rasheed]

I think it's only a matter of time before we're able to benefit similarly. I suspect the marketplace just doesn't take us seriously yet.
I think it is more like some of them are trying hard to ignore podcasting, because it changes the way to do business. In stead of someone else having to do the creative work for you, you have to write your own speeches. If you don't, people will hear it. It introduces a level a honesty and sincerity people in charge aren't use to.

In stead of talking to people, you suddenly have to talk with people. That is a scary thought, because suddenly you lose control over a situation. Of course, the benefit is that people now really trust you, because they know you personally, by voice and, in the case of video podcasting, by face. This level of trust makes doing business a lot easier, because you now have to invest less in convincing people.

Of course, this also breaks the analogy with magazines, because in the world of magazines, you have your people to shape the sentences and tweak the content up to standards. There is still a big distance between the publisher and the reader in magazine world, while in podcasting that distance is almost gone. You're inside the ear, one could say inside the brain, of your listener. That is a BIG difference.

[EndGamePR]

In stead of someone else having to do the creative work for you, you have to write your own speeches. If you don't, people will hear it. It introduces a level a honesty and sincerity people in charge aren't use to.
Bad news for you -- no politician above the level of city council writes their own speeches.

Of course, this also breaks the analogy with magazines, because in the world of magazines, you have your people to shape the sentences and tweak the content up to standards.
Not really. A newspaper or magazine reporter isn't going to intentionally make anyone sound better than they really do. Quite the opposite. A person's "people" aren't going to have much influence on a reporter at a respectable print publication.

That said, I do agree with you that it's easier to be interviewed for a print article than it is a broadcast story.

[WyethDigital]

Not to sound like a "me to," but I've actually been saying this for a long time. I even touched on this at a presentation I gave in 2006. Not that it makes your realization any less of a lightning bolt. Quite to the contrary! If two people can independently come up with the same thought, then perhaps there's more people out there thinking the same thing. If that's the case, maybe a little looking and digging will turn them up. If we can find enough, then we can perhaps create a movement!

Eric

[Rasheed]

Bad news for you -- no politician above the level of city council writes their own speeches.
I thought we were having a discussion about a marketplace (the private sector), not about the public sector. I don't expect the public sector to use niche media any time soon. Politicians seem to prefer broadcasting for some reason.

[WyethDigital]

I thought we were having a discussion about a marketplace (the private sector), not about the public sector. I don't expect the public sector to use niche media any time soon. Politicians seem to prefer broadcasting for some reason.

Public sector aside (I have no opinion on that, except to say John Edwards, a former candidate for President, used podcasts to get his message out), I would tend to agree with Steve that there are probably more similarities between the delivery of podcasts and magazines than there is between the delivery of podcasts and radios/TV.

Just like a magazine, one must choose to subscribe to a podcast if they want them delivered.
Just like a magazine (or newspaper), circulation is important; but what is actually consumed is even more important (and almost as hard to measure).
And just like a magazine, targeting a specific demographic will lead you to greener advertising dollars.


Of course, in the world of the web, where internet ad buyers and marketing agents have gotten greedy and lazy by paying the same rates to someone typing a blog as they do for someone producing rich media, getting people to change how they think about buying ads for online content is an ongoing uphill battle.

It's daunting, but we're committed to it.

Eric

[EndGamePR]

I thought we were having a discussion about a marketplace (the private sector), not about the public sector. I don't expect the public sector to use niche media any time soon. Politicians seem to prefer broadcasting for some reason.
Sorry .. I read "speeches" and immediately thought about politicians. Must be the time of year. However, I will also also say that very few CEOs of larger companies write their own speeches. I've actually done a little speechwriting in my time.