Are audio-only podcasts dying?

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

An ironic question considering this is the last day of Podcast Movement Evolutions. I’m still enjoying my time here in Chicago, but I thought I’d touch on the elephant in the room – with so much focus on video in the podcast space, can audio-first/only podcasters still find success in the industry? While YouTube touts that the platform received 1 billion video podcast viewers and listeners in January, the podcast industry has had a rough few years, with everyone from Vulture, Vanity Fair, and Bloomberg chiming in on the topic. This scathing section from Bloomberg really hits hard:

A bleak outlook to say the least. I felt a lot of this energy at On Air Fest Brooklyn last year. I’ll reserve my thoughts on Podcast Movement Evolutions for another time. For now, I want to share my thoughts after 5 years in the space, 3 podcasts launched, and 7 major podcast events attended.

My Two Cents

There’s a lot of movement and energy in the podcast medium, but ultimately, I think data is its downfall. Each podcast hosting platform and podcast streamer has different ways of capturing downloads. It’s hard to know where listeners truly come from outside of paid ads. Podcasts are the least likely creative medium to go viral. It can be hard to know what links or messaging drives conversions at times. And it can definitely be hard for smaller or indie shows to compete with bigger teams and bigger marketing budgets. Paying for awards can be pricey, and there’s no clear or direct payoff for winning a prestigious audio award other than maybe higher name recognition and more podcast downloads. Unfortunately, podcast downloads don’t tell the full story of a podcast. Smaller podcasters are still unclear about what makes a good quality show (Hint: recording into your phone’s internal mic likely won’t cut it anymore) or how to market a show for their niche – let alone develop a clear premise, or how to design an ecosystem for their show if they want to grow a business from it. Even podcasters who want to leverage YouTube aren’t really clear about how the platform works because they likely don’t consume video regularly on YouTube.

We are in a place where our relationship with audio as a revenue-generating medium is changing. Are video podcasts a part of that reimaginging? Yes. But not inherently because of the visual medium. 50% of video is audio after all. I think there’s a larger conversation to be had around packaging ideas and stories for audiences and creating a podcast ecosystem that is attractive to advertisers and brand partners that many audio-only podcast creators are reluctant to have, to their detriment. When 96% of podcasters don’t make it past episode 10, that’s not a top-down issue or a video issue. YouTube’s discovery algorithm isn’t a silver bullet for YouTube creators, and it certainly won’t be for podcasters. But YouTube encourages indie creators to try because of their monetization system and proven commitment to creators. Spotify is catching up in this department, Apple doesn’t seem to care at all, and Netflix appears to be barking up the wrong tree.

The future of audio is now, and it’s never been easier to build a business around a show. But the days of the hobby podcaster hoping to randomly make it big are effectively over. A decent podcast will require investment in quality gear, a clear and compelling premise, a consistent upload schedule, and a way to connect directly with podcast listeners through events, video, or a newsletter (likely some combination of the three).

Here are the opportunities I see in the podcast space for differentiation (which is not indicative of all the opportunities in the podcast space):

• Daily shows

• Audio newsletters

• Audio for event coverage

• Audio-first, short video clips second

• Video podcasts that go beyond the 1:1 interview style

I’ve experimented with all of these except audio for event coverage (maybe I should do this for Podcast Movement Evolutions?) and video podcasts that go beyond the 1:1 interview style (but I’m actively trying to change that! See below.). When I did a daily podcast for the month of February, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I was handsomely rewarded with growing daily downloads and shares on social media. I think a daily podcast is one of the hardest things to replicate, because it requires an incredible level of consistency, but it can be a solid foundation for a podcast business and present a lot of ad opportunities. The one time I did an audio newsletter, I got an incredible response, so I think there’s an appetite for them. The number of podcasters who write companion newsletters is so slim, this is an easy area to dominate. Because I do entirely too much, I started realizing how hard it was to edit video podcasts and create social content. With Descript, I’m much faster at editing the audio and creating social clips from the episodes. This has still been effective in growing the audio version of my show.

TL:DR: Podcasts are no longer creative mediums that will find an audience without the host or production team spending a significant amount of time building a hyper-specific audience and being doggedly consistent on uploading a quality show that has a unique premise. Even with a video podcast, video views do not necessarily translate to more audio downloads, and your video will likely outpace your audio downloads if you go this route. The only thing YouTube lacks is the ability to incorporate dynamic ads, which affects brands more than it affects the audience. I don’t think this is surprising news to anyone? So chin up, and record your next episode.

2025 is the year that I fall back in love with podcasting, and I have some exciting new formats coming to the show. We’ll be doing

• a series on North Carolina’s hidden gems, examining the small business ecosystems in unexpected places across the state.

• a series of retail space walkthroughs, taking a behind-the-scenes look at commercial retail spaces and their lovely curators.

• a creative business support show tentatively called The Honeypot Hotline. Call (or write) in with your questions and I’ll bring on a special guest to help me answer them. Guests will likely be other creative entrepreneurs, as I’ve really been enjoying crossover and co-host style episodes (like this one with Flo and this one with Matt).

• a series called Elevator Pitch, which is where you come in! Want to get in front of our podcast and social media audience? Submit your elevator pitch for your product, business, or creative project, and we’ll break them down in a future episode. Must be video or audio. We’ll share what we like about the pitch, what we think could be improved, and whatever else comes to mind.

*the first wave of submissions will stay open until Friday, April 11th.

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