Why Isn't There A YouTube For Podcasts?
Hey Jesslisteners
Friends, Steemians lend me your beers or ears whichever you can spare first. I've been thinking about this ALOT lately, like almost to the point of obsession and I really think that this could be a winning idea. Podcasts have been around for some time now and recently started to gain popularity as a medium with the introduction of Smartphones.
Most Podcasts creators don't really have a place to call home and often cross post their content across SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes and YouTube hoping to reach as many people as possible and with that sort of fragmentation its hard to know where to place your efforts.
Some may download to listen later, some may bookmark it, some may listen sporadically, some may subscribe but you don't have access to all this data, making podcasts a shot in the dark for many and they do it because they love to talk.
Image source: - nytimes.com
Stats
As I mentioned before stats is a problem for podcasters and the funny thing is, it doesn't take much info to make them happy. If we look at the businesses people have built around a few metrics with a YouTube channel or an Instagram profile you can see that a decent dashboard gives people the confidence to keep creating and even make a real go of it as a business.
They basically become ambassadors for your platform and these superusers are the ones that keep your user base loyal and coming back for more.
None of the current Podcasting platforms really give you a dashboard you can effectively turn into a rate card and sell off to advertisers which is why Podcasting isn't as popular in my opinion.
Monetisation
I know SoundCloud is seen as the “YouTube for audio,” but they’re still a long way from being the comprehensive provider that YouTube is for video. Podcasts offer a range of revenue opportunities such as that no site has yet to provide creators with such as:
Overlay sound bite ads
Just like YouTube pauses videos to provide ads, audio can do the same and very easily this can be bumper ads before the audio starts or mid audio ads based on the content.
Visual banner ads
The site that you're on may also run display ads somewhere on the page that is refreshed while the user listens and we can provide a CPM return on these ads or block out a single channel with a specific ad for a premium price.
Tipping $ Donations
You could allow listeners to tip in various fiat or cryptocurrencies
Subscriber fees
Subscribers could pay a small to listen to podcasts for ad-free. Let's say $5 a month and they can pick 10 channels who will get a pice of that subscriber fee
Cost
I think the big issue would be the cost hosting all of that content along with all the metadata and various databases around it would cost a fair bit.
Creating the product would be one thing and then marketing it would be a whole other ball game altogether, but I do think it's achievable.
As I mentioned before Podcasters are already cross-posting their content and without an outright leader in the field, they will continue to try out any and all platforms looking for one to make their home.
While the marketing costs to gain users may be astronomical in the beginning, it can reduce over time as new creators bring with them new audiences.
I really do think this space is up for grabs and if someone centralised or blockchain-based made a good go of it, they could be the next tech unicorn.
YouTube is there to be stripped down
YouTube has been the go-to for all media but it isn't the perfect system and niche sites have proven they can start to use YouTube to grow their own platforms.
We saw YouTube blow up with lets plays and game streaming and that evolved into a community in switch
We saw creators looking for a way to create pay wall premium content and that evolved into a Patreon community
Why shouldn't podcasts be a similar case?
Let's connect
If you liked this post sprinkle it with an upvote or resteem and if you don't already, consider following me @chekohler
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Sounds like you have a dapp idea there, to bad dsound has kinda lost it’s thunder
Posted using Partiko iOS
I actually checked out dsound again before making this post and didn’t see much going on their either! Seems like I am on to something I was trying to think of a catchy name for the site last night
!ENGAGE 20
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ENGAGEgo to steem-engine.com.Yes @dsound would have been my first port of call. Might be worth checking in with @prc who runs @dsound to see what the current plans are over there.
Otherwise @wehmoen, the developer of @3speak, or @heimindanger, the developer of @dtube, might be worth talking with for ideas.
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try having a chat with them just to see what the tech requirements would be, so I know what I'd be in for should I take it on
!ENGAGE 30
I will be interested to hear how it goes...
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ENGAGEgo to steem-engine.com.I love podcasts as listening is something I do as I do other things. I rarely watch any video content so great idea for me.
SoundCloud is poor and most of the fairly regular podcasts I listen to don't even use it. I normally pick stuff up from the individuals site or from iTunes even though I'm not an apple user!
Great idea so get on with it . Thank you :-)
I put out the post because I use SoundCloud, YouTube and ITunes for podcasts and someone asked me to listen to their brothers podcast on Spotify and I was like surely there has to be a better way
Lol seems I’m not the only one feeling that way, hmmm looks like I could be on to my next project
Now to raise funds🤔
!ENGAGE 20
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ENGAGEgo to steem-engine.com.That is an idea was worthy of more explanation.
Who knows perhaps I’ll run an IEO and raise funds to build one 😋 seems like a fun project
!ENGAGE 10
Depending on where I am at steem/cash wise, I would like to contribute if/when it ever happens. That is if I don't go to crazy playing @steemmonsters 😁
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ENGAGEgo to steem-engine.com.The way i see it is that data storage is the real issue with creating a new platform but maybe not. All of these sites that you suggest become gate keepers of the content and can block creators form getting their work out to a bigger audience. Maybe a new Tribe could be created here on Steem and allow it to be just a link drop to whereever the podcast is hosted. Until we have a proper decentalised data storage like IPFS or similar with a decentralised way of promoting them I think pobcasting will go the way of Youtube with its censorship and demonetization.
This is a great topic, thanks for starting the conversation. I am a big fan of the medium and would love to see it kept free and open but also a worth while pursuit for the podcasters.
I honestly don’t know much about IPFS or any decentralized storage solutions but I’m all for performance first! I think what could be an option is that users who are serious about their content and could have the option to pay to keep their stuff in a decentralized server or have to own a certain stake would make sense
Make it optional but not required I mean the vast majority of channels don’t really care it’s only a small amount and sacrificing performance for a few outliers makes no sense to me
As for the demonetization I think that advertisers should be allowed to blacklist certain channels and say I don’t want my ads on their content and problem solved! No need for a middleman overload when people can do the work themselves
Not saying these ideas are full proof but I think they’re worth a shot
!ENGAGE 20
IPFS still has a long way to go to be useful but luckily podcasts are a pretty small file size which can be hosted on a centralised server. The gate keepers are the real things that need to be addressed to keep it open and censorship resistant. Giving advertisers the option of where they would like to be seen is s great idea. Having one site which hosts all the links would be nice but I think it needs to be free and open to all. Even Alec Jones deserves a platform.
I agree with you, I actually like that idea of not just trying to compete but just being a central point for podcasts. Since iTunes is device-based while Soundcloud and Spotify are account-based its nice to give users options.
So if I was on your podcast profile I could listen on this site or choose my preffered medium. If things get taken down on one platform you always have another and your audience can migrate.
We can also tell a user how many listeners choose to use which service or the native service and pull in subscriber numbers and download numbers per platform so it gives the creator a better sense of how far their podcast reaches. Which is great for selling to advertisers
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ENGAGEgo to steem-engine.com.Hi, @chekohler!
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