NerdBrand Podcast
Nerd culture isn't just for a select few anymore; it's everywhere! It's in the movies we watch, the games we play, and the tech we use every day. Join us as we share our thoughts on how visual design, branding, and advertising shape our favorite movies, comics, books, video games, and other nerdy interests.
NerdBrand Podcast
By 2030, Podcasting Will Be Worth Billions – Should You Jump In Now?
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Welcome everybody to this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast, where we're going to talk about the state of podcasting, what its growth is, some of the latest numbers and what to expect by 2030. Because you know why not? Let's look forward. Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast the state of podcasting. So what's going on? What's its growth? Is it a thriving market? Should you do it? Let's see if we can answer some of those questions. Yes, yes, no, I kid. Anyways, it is experiencing rapid growth. It's increasing its listenership in a thriving market. It's just continuing. It has slowed because of the quality of some of the shows.
Speaker 1:I can't really say that I'm of quality, but you're listening. So there we go. There's 584 million people that are worldwide who listen to podcasts. Now it's still pretty much the average about 12 podcasts per person with, I believe, about four out of those 12. They're kind of trying out to see if they like them, but pretty solid the rest of them they're loyal to and subscribe, but they expect the industry to be worth billions. That's billions. It's B as in boy by 2030.
Speaker 1:So Discovering Podcast and its consistencies of that and the landscape of it it's very, very, very diverse. It's the landscape of it. It's very, very, very diverse. Um, discoverability is something that any channel way you can get your podcast discovered and take advantage of that. Do it if you have the money. Um paying for ads. Uh, appearing as a guest on other shows, having guests paid, guests even on your show. Um, having um paid. You know, paying like paying for sponsorships, was a little backwards because usually you want sponsors to pay you, but you know as you grow your listenership you don't have enough listeners. Then you know they're not going to pay you for, for you know the few handful of people that are hearing you. So you do have to take a lot of different tactics, do a lot of different things to get listenership, and so most of the US population is 55% age 12 and over. So keep in mind, if you're a business and you want to podcast, be very specific about your topic, because you really don't want a bunch of 12 year olds listening to you because, I mean, what are they going to do to help you? Really? Okay.
Speaker 1:So every now and then we dive in here on nerd brand and state of marketing and SEO and web design and UX and all the fun stuff, but you know it's good to kind of take a break and like let's talk about what's going on and let's see how the big boys are doing at AKA. You know Marvel, you know the time they spend listening is about 23% of their week. It's about 10 hours um of every week. So if you're generating enough content, you're trying to grab some of that 10 hours. But it could be more.
Speaker 1:Uh, the the ad spend is a little over 4 billion um on people spending ads on a podcast, and there's a lot of people that have I've seen over the last four goodness five years now try to make a podcast advertising thing and then offer that to business owners and say we're going to advertise you on podcasts. Well, it's a streaming platform, it's not radio. So a radio is it's going to show or it's going to list. They're going to be able to listen to it a certain time of day, during prime time or not. And then podcasting everybody listens to a podcast passively, meaning that they may do it while they're walking their dog, they may do it while they're doing a. Maybe they're just driving point point A to B and they need something to listen to and you're it. And so, um, by the time, whether or not they get to their destination or done, or if the dog's done or whatever happens, they're not going to catch 100% of your show. They may even they may not even catch maybe 20% of it. So you have to keep in mind that it's not probably the biggest channel to advertise on, but it is something that, if you do know, if your audience is there, if you're a retail brand or if you're um any kind of B2C, then it's probably worth it because you can talk about your product, you can talk about your business, especially if you're localized. They could probably help you out and a great deal as well. So there's a lot of challenges in podcasting.
Speaker 1:This is an audio-only podcast for a reason because it takes a lot of time and effort to do video and I do not have a face for radio. Let's just say that, in my opinion, lot of things and or at least understand how these mechanisms work with video you don't just turn on a video camera and then record with your iphone, unless that's the gist of your show. But as you've seen, many other shows they're they're very much interview type, where there's two people, they're in chairs and they're on camera and it's really kind of gone back to video in the way of the tonight show, rather than actually progressing as an actual podcast channel, where people are on the podcast and they're just having a conversation and you get to listen as a fly on the wall. Speaking of which, in a couple of episodes, you're going to get to do that very soon, if not the next episode, because Mitch and Michaela will be back. We may have to remote Mitch in, but Michaela will be on the show with me and we'll be talking about several things on the next couple of episodes coming up. We're going to talk about the Cloverfield conspiracy and the viral marketing that goes behind that, and listening and trying to see if we can find any examples out there while we are on the show. Live, just determine if they are spinning this up because there is another Cloverfield movie coming, because there is another Cloverfield movie coming, and so everything requires marketing and therefore they will probably do the same. Also, we'll talk about the Thunderbirds. Is it Thunder? See, it's already that bad for me. I have gotten that far behind on my Marvel stuff. But the yeah, the new Avengers that it was spoiled to be, and the marketing and how that went, and I'm sure there will be plenty of other things we can discuss that will be coming up on future episodes of the podcast episodes here and we will be discussing and, uh, you know, trying to be nice, but the state of entertainment's not. It's not been great, um. So, yeah, how about that Minecraft movie? Anyway, um, challenges and trends.
Speaker 1:Back to podcasting. Again, let's focus on discoverability, finding the content. So, yeah, google, facebook, like you know, the digital trend or the digital channels that you can advertise on, but there is a challenge in finding content. There's so many podcasts, which happens whenever a market grows so rapidly. Whenever a market grows so rapidly, I mean, there's over 450 million, I think uh is the number here of, uh, yeah, people that are listening in 2023. And those numbers were, um, they're expected to reach 619 million by 2026. So you do have high engagement, uh, with 34% of Americans listening to an average of 8.3 podcast episodes, that's episodes per week.
Speaker 1:Sorry, um, not necessarily shows. Episodes and shows are not the same, so don't hear me say the same episodes. It's like television when you would watch the big bang theory but you're on episode season 12, episode one. It's like that in podcasting for some. Um, but it's still a challenge because, um, the industry is becoming saturated. You know, if you want to do Google ads for your podcast, that's neat, um, but at the end of the day it's probably a loss leader for you to do that. Uh, it's going to be a lot of word of mouth, it's going to be a lot of people that kind of know you, that want to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, I've looked at for our own show like things that we could do and what could we incorporate and guests that we could have on our show. And you know, I've thought of everything, uh, from having business coaches, consultants to other people's our own clients on our show, you know, to talk about what they're doing and how they got to where they are, and so it's a very, very eclectic group that is out there for sure to source for guests, and everybody wants to be heard. It's a piece of content that goes out that you could market yourself with, and the company that did the podcasting say us, could market ourselves with too. It's a win-win for everybody, but people finding out about it is the biggest thing and it's the hardest thing. So, um, advertising channels are just going to be your best bets and I can't go through all of them because there's so many channels out there for marketing. But get creative, Um, so, anyways, and of course, 67% of Americans will listen to a podcast in their lives by 2024. So that's as of last year. It's all data. And uh, again, it's just going to increase.
Speaker 1:So, as podcast listening goes up, well, you're probably thinking, well, I should do podcasting. Well, here's the part of the show that I started with. Maybe not. It's very difficult to sit and talk on a mic with someone. Now you can get into the groove and if you're with a good host, they can pull you in and then get you to forget about the microphone that's in front of their face and the earphones on their head, if that's your setup. But it is an art. It is very much something where, if you're going to do a podcast, you're that person that has to do that for your guest, and so if you're very good at creating an environment for somebody to open up in and to talk and not compromise themselves, then you could host a podcast and you could have guests and you could do pretty well.
Speaker 1:But you got to have a good hook, you got to have a good reason for people to want to listen. So it comes all down to the prop value, just like anything else in the business. Why should I give you my time? Why should I spend my time or my money or effort on this? Well, hopefully, on this show, for example, you can take away examples of how things you could perceive within what we say and with what we do, and why it's being done the way it's done, because we are merely mimicking other people to the best that we can with the resources we have, and you should do the same.
Speaker 1:Not everybody is Disney or Marvel. Not everybody is. You know, for example, hbo, max and Warner talked about how they rebranded and went back to their old branding because of the equity and people knew the name, and so you kind of have to go back and say, okay, well, I want to do this, but you also have to realize your name. Whoever the host is, that's the name they're going to associate with your brand, because you're being the face of it, and I use this example all the time with our clients Are you Steve Jobs or are you Tim Cook? And if you don't know who Tim Cook is, that's the CEO of Apple, because most people think about the brand Apple now.
Speaker 1:First, tim Cook is in the back, but for years we would think Steve Jobs before we thought of Apple. So it is something to kind of recognize in your own company and it's okay. If you've been doing it, though, for 30 years and people still know you, then yeah, you're a little behind the ball on kind of making that switch, because if you retire, sell the business, move on. Well, people are going to remember you, and so it's very smart to go ahead and make that change now, because putting that together that really allows a succession plan to be successful if and when you're ready to pass the baton, because otherwise the other people they're just going to live under your shadow, and thankfully Tim Cook figured out a way not to live under Steve Jobs' shadow.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, that's a real world example. Hope you found this useful. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you know where to go. Listen to it again, and we will catch you next week when we have Michaela and Mitch back on the show and we start talking about some nerd stuff and Cloverfield theories. So remember, until then, keep your nerd brain strong.
