Buzzcast
Buzzcast is a roundtable discussion about podcasting from the people at Buzzsprout. We'll cover current events and news, podcast strategy, tools we are using, and dip into the Customer Support mailbag to test our podcasting knowledge. If you want to stay up-to-date on what's working in podcasting, Buzzcast is the show for you.
Buzzcast
Pocket Casts Adds Podcast Funding Tag + Why Podcast Fandom Is Growing
Pocket Casts adopted the podcast namespace's funding tag feature, giving podcasters a way for listeners to directly support their favorite shows right from the app. We also discuss The Fandom Phenomenon from Wondery and Edison Research and why podcast listeners love their favorite shows so much!
Reminder: we're looking for more thoughts on what feature you'd like to see in your podcast listening apps!
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Thanks for listening and Keep Podcasting!
Do I get to kick off the show today?
Jordan:Let's do it yeah.
Kevin:Quick cast. These are my favorite episodes. One topic 10 minutes. Everyone knows the rules.
Jordan:They're starting to be my favorite episodes too, if I'm being honest, yeah they're great.
Kevin:All right, happy Friday to everybody. I looked at the outline, I know what we're talking about and I'm super excited. Pocket Casts has adopted another podcast namespace feature.
Jordan:Yeah.
Kevin:All right, what is it?
Alban:Kevin, I feel like you can't. We have two topics, so you can't kill the one topic that I've been prepping and thinking about all day.
Kevin:Well, I didn't kill it. Quick cast is one topic, 10 minutes. Everybody knows rules and then the joke is that we always break the rule. Ok, we always go over time, or we always talk about two topics, so but the joke is not funny now that you explained it to everybody.
Alban:I didn't explain that. That was me not knowing.
Jordan:Yeah, I just wasn't in on the joke.
Alban:Yeah, I was out of the joke. All right, Pocket Casts added the new feature. They're adding the podcast funding tag and this is one that I think Overcast like created this tag right Years ago.
Jordan:Yes, oh, really yes.
Kevin:They call it in the podcast namespace project. They call it like building off of existing art, and the existing art that they utilized was Overcast's implementation of the first version of the funding tag.
Alban:And then everybody adopted it in the podcasting space and then Overcast killed it.
Kevin:Oh, seriously At least did the Overcast app Right and I think, okay. So Marco talked about it on ATP, about why he pulled it out and I think it was an overabundance of caution and I don't think he framed it that way. He framed it as the appropriate amount of caution, but I think it was an overabundance of caution. He was afraid that at some point Apple might reject a build or threaten to pull his app because there are a lot of very strict rules around in-app purchasing. And the funding tag circumvents those rules.
Jordan:Yeah.
Kevin:Kind of the funding tag gives you the ability to have like a button appear in your app to make a donation or a payment directly to a podcaster and that does not go through in-app purchase and it doesn't follow their rules. So typically in an app that would be a red flag, it would be a reason for denial. No one's challenged this. An app hasn't been rejected. The developers fought it and won or lost. So we don't know what would actually happen if Apple raised an exception and then it was disputed ultimately if Apple would allow it or not, and that's why I think it's an overabundance of caution versus the appropriate amount, like I think like what is the big deal?
Kevin:we've had? We have apps in the app store, we've gone through the rejection process. You just appeal it, you just write up your case. If, ultimately you you know you win or lose, you, you whatever, you make adjustments and you go removing something because you fear it might be rejected, I feel like that's the overabundance part, it's like it's a good feature.
Alban:Yeah, he pulled it out when he was doing that big rewrite of Overcast, and so my guess is that he was afraid I'll roll out a bug. I'll need a quick update. I'll roll out the update, then I'll get hit. I'm just going to pull this and he took it out.
Kevin:Yeah, and I still I just be like a big disruption. It's not like the audio engine that plays back podcasts or something that would take him weeks to adjust it. I think it would probably literally be a couple lines of code that he'd comment out and resubmit the build without it and you'd be good to go.
Alban:Well, you know who does have it as a core feature. Now it's Pocket Casts. That's right Back on topic. Nice, let's tell you all the apps that don't have this feature.
Jordan:Let's go through that.
Alban:Pocket Casts has it. Pocket Casts is on a roll adding so much support for open podcasting and this is just the latest piece of it. So the funding tag is supported in many of the major podcast hosting platforms have it, but BuzzPout definitely does and you can go in there and you can put in your Buzzsprout subscription or you could put in a Patreon link or a buy me a coffee link or all sorts of things and it's a quick way for you to say here's the main way I want you to support the show financially and people can click that link and give you a little bit of money, right.
Jordan:Oh, I didn't realize. I thought these were like lightning payment.
Kevin:No no, no.
Jordan:Funding. Oh, it's like any sort of podcast or support.
Kevin:Yeah, so in Buzzsprout, for example, you can click on monetization. You can click there's a section, a subsection within monetization called support the show. If you have a Buzzsprout listener support enabled, we'll automatically populate that for you with the Buzzsprout page that we create on your behalf to accept donations. But if you don't want to use the Buzzsprout thing, you can put whatever link in there you want. You could put in a buy me a coffee link, you can put in a cash app link, you can put in a PayPal link or a Patreon link or whatever you want. The Buzzsprout listener support feature is a nice simple way because you already have a Buzzsprout account. So just turn it on and you can start accepting donations. But if you want to do something else, you totally can.
Kevin:And there's a couple of apps and I think every podcaster should start promoting them now. Like I don't see a good reason why a podcaster, from a very early point in their podcasting journey, shouldn't enable listener support. You might only have, you know, 10 listeners, but maybe one of those 10 want to give you $3 a month or $5 a month or $10 a month, whatever. And there's a couple of great apps now that are starting to incorporate the funding tag. So it used to be that if you had a funding tag, you had to promote it yourself. You had to talk about it and maybe put a link in your show notes or something like that, or put links on your social. Now that they're starting to appear in apps, like pocket casts, like true fans, I think I'm hoping that more people will find them without you having to promote them as much, because the apps are helping you promote it.
Jordan:That's great.
Kevin:Yeah, it's really great. So I think that podcasters like turn it on, figure out a way like how do you want to do it? Do you want to just do it through the Buzzsprout provided page, or do you want to use buy me a coffee or whatever, and then talk about it and tell your listeners listen? You might be listening in Apple podcast or something. I want to introduce you to a couple other podcast apps that are really great and help support us because they provide ways for people to support the show, and so go out and check out true fans, go out and check out pocket cast, and there might be a few more that support the funding tag. But the way that we're going to continue to grow and to build the open podcasting space and get new features like this into our apps is by supporting the apps that are supporting us, and so tell your audience about these great new apps. And again, the two I'm really pushing today are True Fans and Pocket Casts, but there might be a few others that support the funding tag as well.
Jordan:Okay. So another thing that I want to talk about that I just felt like was a really big hug for podcast creators is the fandom phenomenon for Edison and Wondery. This is a study that they did. They released. I think that this was discussed in Podcast Movement Evolutions, though I'm not sure because I wasn't there, but I think it was. So if you go to fandomwonderycom, they provide insights on the power of podcast fans and how they can grow your brand. But what I thought was actually better about this not just growing your brand is they have a little snapshot here of podcast fandom and it says the podcast industry is still young compared to legacy media, but its impact is undeniable 46% of fans say they love their favorite podcast more than anything else.
Kevin:Isn't that nice More than anything else.
Jordan:More than anything else. I don't know what the anything else is, but I'm going to assume that's other forms of media.
Alban:This is the one study that kicks off numerous divorces. What you love your podcast more than me.
Jordan:Yeah, but the thing is is that this love of their favorite podcasts grow and grow with each year. So 61% of fans say that they love their show more now than they did 12 months ago, and that's probably because they get to know the hosts and as they listen to more episodes, they feel like hosts are their best friends, even though they've like never met them. And more than half of podcast listeners say that podcasts are a part of their daily routine.
Alban:Multiple things that stood out to me about this were around the power of like branding and building a relationship with your audience. Over time, I think spending a lot of time thinking about AI content and kind of this like it's becoming easier and easier to just churn out tons of content, and right now a lot of that content is just okay, but in the future it's going to be pretty good. So what does it look like for a content creator to work in a space where all this junk is just getting pumped out constantly? And I think the answer is going to be it's going to be brand. How is your podcast unique? How is your brand actually connecting to your listeners? And that stat that you shared, I mean one it's people's favorite form of media for their favorite shows, their favorite form of media, but that they love it more than they loved it a year ago.
Alban:And I think that's why podcasting builds these connections is because it pushes you to stick with shows in the long term, so that you don't just listen to something for three months and you listen to a handful of episodes and you move on the same way that at least that's how I engage with YouTube. I get into a creator for a bit and then find someone else and move on. The stick around. Part of podcasting allows for this deep emotional connection and that is a moat that isn't going to be replicable by AI. People are not going to be able to make another show and then get it into someone's feed. That is your voice, with your inside jokes and your cadence, and what makes you different, Like these are my people, and all these like personal human touches are kind of like the point. Even if they can get the same type of content, you know the underlying subject matter can be the same. The brand voice is what is really valuable.
Jordan:Yeah, what I think is so cool about podcasts is that they're very niche, and so the listeners of those niche podcasts they have very niche interests and so a listeners of those niche podcasts they have very niche interests, and so a lot of times when you're just in your regular communities or online, it can be hard to find people that have those niche interests or viewpoints as have the same ones as you do, and so when you listen to a podcast and you get to hear from people that have the same passion about this small hobby or interest, it can make you feel like you're a part of something bigger than what you would normally feel in your everyday life.
Kevin:Yeah, I agree. I think that podcasting is very unique in that there's like a regular cadence to the publishing cycle, and I guess you can get a little bit of this in the video world too and I know we're not talking about video. But if, let's say, I read a book or even listen to an audio book oftentimes a very enjoyable experience I will usually find a lot of the content in the book or something that I've that I read, that resonates with me, that I'm excited about, and then I might share with people or talk about for a week or two. And then it's like two or three years before the same author comes out with another book, right, and so like the connection doesn't happen.
Kevin:It fades and then they come out with another book and I might again talk about it for a week or two and then move on.
Kevin:But podcasting, being built in like a regular publishing schedule, you form this connection and it grows over time. And I know that's good, Totally fine for podcasters to take breaks and stuff, but the reliability of being able to tune in and listen to the same personality or personalities on a regular basis builds a connection way beyond even some of the people who I might follow on YouTube or who I might follow on social media or something like that. It's just, it's it's very different in that it's long form and it's consistent. That becomes a part of my routine and I don't just recommend the show one time. Like shows that I really love, I recommend again, over and over and over again and they're just a natural, normal part of my life. So at any given time in my life there's four or five or six podcasts that I'm listening to on a regular basis and have mind share that I'm talking about and that I'm wanting to share with people. And so, yeah, I don't think you get that in a lot of other, maybe any, any other form of media.
Kevin:Yeah, I mean I think it used to exist a bit in blogging, which I know, there's so many similarities that we tie back between blogging and podcasting.
Jordan:Yeah.
Kevin:The connections are very similar.
Alban:Well, I wrote down a few takeaways that I got from this. One is continue to be yourself. And, I think, lean into it more and more so. I think, lean into it more and more so. I think about Buzzcast like it really wouldn't be Buzzcast now if you didn't get a good rant from Kevin or I and you didn't get Jordan's laugh and you didn't get like these little side conversations at the end or the beginning of the episode, like lean into.
Alban:I think we accidentally started saying keep podcasting, or we just did it on a whim, and then it became how we close out every show. Encourage fan participation, like, if you want to build that connection, bring them in, make them part of the community, use fan mail. And then I think we should be looking more and more about how do we bridge the gap between the podcast and the real world and so, like doing that little meetup at Podcast Movement Evolutions, we should be trying to do more of those. We should probably make merch, we should try to find ways to connect to people in real life, because I think the internet is just going to become more and more fractured and podcasting can be an area where we're kind of the stalwart against this trend towards hey, we're actually gonna be the one of the few consistent things in your life at least media that's in your life, consistent media and we can do that best by building community and reaching people in the real world.
Jordan:Those are great takeaways, alvin. All right, so just a reminder before our next episode. We still need some responses to our sound off question of what feature would you like to see in your podcast app that you do not currently have? And until next time, keep podcasting.
