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Podcasting Is Not Dead

Podcasting Is Not Dead… In fact, It’s just getting started.

That pretty much wraps up the sentiment most had after PodCamp Montreal 2008 ended for day one a few hours back.

Podcasting Is Dead was the name of an afternoon session with Rob Blatt. He asked us to define Podcasting.

Here’s what I said: "a Podcast is a portable piece of audio or video content that is delivered by RSS subscription."

Here’s what Wikipedia says:

"A podcast is a series of audio or video digital-media files which is distributed over the Internet by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers. Though the same content may also be made available by direct download or streaming, a podcast is distinguished from other digital-media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added.

Like the term broadcast, podcast can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster."

They both seem to make sense, but Blatt’s presentation challenged the notion that the word "podcasting" has no real value any more. In what turned into a debate on semantics (are you a Podcaster or a Producer?), I came to realize that Podcasting is, indeed, not dead… but just beginning to really see some uptake (whether you like the nomenclature on this new audio and video media or not).

First off, Podcasting is not like any other media form because while you can listen to a Podcast in many different ways (via subscription, directly in iTunes, downloading the MP3 file, listening to it right off a Blog, etc…), what makes a Podcast a "Podcast" is the the subscription (RSS) component.

Secondly, according to the eMarketer news item from September 2nd, 2008 titled, Podcast Usage Still Skews Young: "eMarketer predicts that the growth of the podcast audience in the US and the migration of content toward portable devices will help the channel mature and produce healthy increases in ad spending through 2012. The US podcast audience will grow from 18.5 million in 2007 to 65 million in 2012 — an increase of over 250%."

After watching the nearly 400 people today dive into social media and the power of Podcasting, it’s clear that more adoption is beginning to take hold.

What do you think? Is Podcasting dead?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.