Live from Times Square, It’s Lauren & Arielle
Lauren recorded her side of the convo from a workspace in Times Square (yes, this is a brag)
We hosted another live session for Podcasts We Text About and came into it with an agenda… and then followed the conversation wherever it wanted to go.
The rough agenda was thus: catch-up on podcast industry trends and things we’re texting about, recap our experience at On Air Fest, dig into the recent Rotten Mango podcast audit we published, and answer some questions readers have shared with us.
We got into all of that and a bunch more! Below is a recap of the conversation, along with some context and links…
Thank you to our Texters (our paid subscribers💜) for helping to make PWTA what it is! If you’re not a Texter and you’re thinking about upgrading your subscription, just know that WE think it’s a good idea😉
On Air Fest & Results From Our Slightly-Biased Podcast Habits Study
What happens when you ask strangers about podcasts
We got into our recent appearance at On Air Fest, where we presented a session moderated by Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable. The session itself was the culmination of an experiment we ran beforehand:
For a few days in NYC in early February, we went out and asked strangers about their podcast consumption habits:
Do you listen to podcasts?
Do you watch podcasts?
What is a podcast?
The people who didn’t want to talk to us DID NOT want to talk to us (👈you must watch that rejection supercut video).
The people that DID want to talk to us REALLY DID want to talk to us. It was not a scientific study, we didn’t intend for it to be. The conversations we had were not representative but they were incredibly revealing, and gave us a lot to think about.
Learn more about the study & our interviews here:
What Podcasts Are New Yorkers Listening To? Are They *Watching* Podcasts?
👋Arielle here. We posted up with signs and mics in Union Square and Washington Square Park, and spoke to as many people as possible while freezing our fingers off. We captured more than 90 minutes of interview footage with passersby of all ages, backgrounds, and podcast preferences.
One surprising theme that came up with these interviews: a lot of people told us they sometimes watch podcasts on video, but still prefer listening most of the time. Or that they say they watch podcasts, but when we asked them to get into it a bit more, they described hitting play on the video and then doing other activities while listening.
Then, we also got to conduct interviews at On Air Fest the day before our presentation. In both cases: when we asked people to define what a podcast actually is, the answers were all over the place.
From the people on the streets of NYC:
From the attendees at On Air:
The shifting / ever-changing / undefined / it’s-what-you-make-it nature of the word “podcast” was a recurring theme in all of the interviews, during our on-stage presentation, during this live session we did, AND in lots of online communities. We expect that to continue.
Why We Did a Podcast Audit of Rotten Mango
We spent a few minutes of our conversation detailing a recent audit we published
During our street interviews, one show kept coming up again and again: Rotten Mango. So we decided to get into it with an audit.
We looked at things like:
Why the show has become so popular
How (if at all) it works as both a video and audio experience
What creators can learn from the show’s structure and format
Read the audit here:
ALSO: we want to do more audits of podcasts… not just of shows we personally love, but ones that you suggest: ones that YOU love (or hate), ones that are so popular and you’re wondering why… anything! We’re open. Suggest a show!
Interviewing Each Other About Listening Habits
We asked strangers and On Air attendees these questions and then wanted to share our own answers, so we asked each other during our live chat (rapid-fire style)…
What is a podcast?
Name 5 podcasts (the first that pop into your head)
Name a podcast ad / product you remember
Have you ever watched a podcast?
Turns out it’s pretty easy to recall podcast ads / products, especially ones with catchy jingles.
And when we talked about video podcast consumption, we described a listening behavior we’ve noticed more and more:
Watching the beginning of a video podcast to understand the setup… then switching to audio for the rest.
The Problem With Trying to Define The Word “Podcast”
It’s the mass media that doesn’t want to be defined
Why does the definition keep getting fuzzier? The conversation is becoming philosophical around the web and in our circles. Listeners and industry people often mean different things when they say “podcast.”
For example:
Some people define a podcast as something distributed through an RSS feed
Others think of a podcast as anything you listen to on a podcast app
And many people now call YouTube shows podcasts
We’ve come to find that many consumers don’t worry about these distinctions at all. If it feels like a podcast to them, they call it a podcast.
PWTA Q&A: Feed Strategy, Episode Reruns, and Podcast Apps
We spent some time answering questions from newsletter readers
Thank you to ChadP, Black Podcasting Awards, Nina Badzin, Steph Colbourn, and Molinos for sharing questions.
We discussed:
Recycled / repurposed / episode reruns and how listeners might feel about them
How more indie podcasts can get into year-end best podcast listicles
Why we listen to so many podcasts (as in, why Lauren and Arielle spend so much time listening to podcasts)
Podcast listening apps and why many dedicated listeners seem to prefer Pocket Casts
Everything is Data
This idea kept coming up during our live. It’s what we started saying to each other when we kept getting rejected while trying to interview NYC strangers about their podcast habits. Every time someone walked by, ignored us, or said “NO” directly to our faces, we said “that’s a data point!”
And the questions readers ask in the PWTA newsletter comments reveal what creators are struggling with, what listeners want, and a whole lot more that we’re gonna continue investigating.
So, come on down for the next live session we do and be part of the data! Is that a weird call to action? Probably.
If you missed the session, you can watch the full recording above. And if you have a podcast question, a show you want us to audit, or something weird you’ve noticed in listening / consumption habits around the web (or in your own headphones)…
WE WANT TO KNOW.
Thank you to everyone who joined us live, including Dan Delgado, Devin, Keelin, Jeff Stormer, Eteng Ettah, Anne Baird, and many others!
P.s. Recently, Freddy Cruz invited us to be on his show, Your Mic, together! We love doing interviews together. Here’s that episode: "The Bad Podcast Ideas That Refuse to Die.”
Much love & listening,
Lauren Passell + Arielle Nissenblatt🎧 💜💛
