The Big Technology Barrier Blocking Podcast Discovery

When writing about podcasting in this blog, particularly in 2016 (see this June 16 entry), I have been concerned with, and been asking about, what the medium’s growth potential is. Certain shows, such as “Serial” and “Making Oprah,” and certain guests (President Obama appearing on Marc Maron’s WTF) have become part of pop culture, water-cooler conversations.

At the same time, however, the medium is often a target for comedians who will joke that “everyone has a podcast now.” That’s even though so many comedians themselves seem to be popping up with podcasts of their own. Or actors such as Dax Shepard and Anna Faris launch conversational shows (I haven’t gotten to those yet, so I can’t say whether they are worthwhile or self-indulgent). These might be what satirizing comics also have in mind.

Still, the undercurrent of these points is that podcasting still is seen as, or in fact exists as, a secondary medium, the province of those who are among a highly educated elite or obsessive consumers of media, rather than entertainment for everyone in the mainstream. As Kevin Allison, founder and host of the “Risk!” podcast puts it, “People in their 50s and 60s are a demographic that maybe have yet to discover podcasts to the extent that they would probably really enjoy them if they found them.”

Once listeners do discover the medium, they are more likely to first find podcasts spawned by organized media interests, because those have more promotion and marketing muscle. Or those listeners can discover those podcasts through those organizations’ other properties.

However, Rob Walch of Libsyn, who expressed in last week's entry that independent podcasters still have plenty of exposure despite the rise of organized media interests in the medium, identifies a technology barrier to the continued growth of podcasting’s reach and influence. That barrier is Google’s lack of a native application for podcast listening in its Android smartphone operating system, like iTunes has for podcast distribution. Apple’s iOS (operating system) and its ability to handle podcasts is a big reason why the most relevant podcast ranking is the iTunes podcast charts.

Apple iOS or iTunes users consume 25% more podcasts than an average Android device user, according to Walch. Although there are about five Android devices for every single Apple device, the lack of a native app for Android magnifies the disparity of podcast listening of any kind to 25-to-1, Apple to Android, accounting for Android users who do listen even without such an app.

Google declined to develop a podcast app because it could not see immediate profitability in such a venture, as Walch explains, while Apple took a longer view and was rewarded with a firm grip on the podcasting medium, and a giant head start as the medium expanded, and as it continues to expand. “Now Google is at the point where they realize that not having a podcast app for Android makes them look silly and hurts their ecosystem,” says Walch. “Since profit was the motivation for them not to do it, shame is going to be the motivation for them to do it.”

Assuming Google does get around to offering a native podcast app, in Walch’s analysis, the consumption of podcasts would double just from the Android user population having the same access Apple users already have. And that, according to Walch, is the only development that can possibly significantly boost the reach of podcasting, sometime in the next five years.

Podcast of the moment:

Stay Tuned With Preet, “The Death of Sergei Magnitsky,” October 26, 2017. Former U.S. Attorney for the district including New York City, Preet Bharara began a podcast in September, tackling politics and criminal justice issues that concerned him when he held the office. This episode will make you better understand the depth of menace Vladimir Putin exerts on his country and the whole world. Bharara interviews Bill Browder, a businessman who had interests in Russia and abroad, who was targeted by Putin for exposing corruption. Magnitsky, a lawyer and prominent Putin opponent, suffered a cruel fate which played out slowly over the course of one year. Browder and Bharara tell a powerful story that will make you indignant.