5 things I learnt at The Podcast Show 2022

I had a fabulous time last week at the London Podcast Show. There were so many talks, stalls, people to meet and freebies to collect.

But it wasn’t just a jolly - I was there to learn and bring you back some insights into the state of the podcast industry in 2022. Here is what I brought home that didn’t fit in a free tote bag -

1. The podcast industry has a diversity issue

   On arriving at the Podcast Show, one of the first things I noticed was that most of the people around me were white men. Although the event organisers had tried to make the panels diverse - several of the talks I went to were chaired by women and people of colour - the majority of presenters and attendees were still white men. This was particularly marked compared to other events that I have attended - the audience for the London Podcast Festival, in the years that I have attended seemed much more mixed, and the line-up for the Women’s Podcast Festival which I’ll be attending in June, has women of all backgrounds represented. And that makes me wonder whether this is an ‘industry’ problem rather than a podcasting problem - there seemed to be a large number of attendees from big brands and corporations, more so than independent makers and small companies.

   I’m proud to say that my day to day experience of the podcast world, as an independent creator, does not reflect this lack of diversity. 95% of my work is done with women, and those women come from all sorts of backgrounds. I’m working to improve accessibility to all of my productions, with the inclusion of captions and transcripts.

   However, there is always more work to be done. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be exploring what more I can do to promote projects made by people with more diverse backgrounds, and working to make connections with other creators from backgrounds different to my own.

2. Choose a format that works for your project

   There has been lots of press recently about how short our attention spans are getting, partly inspired by the rise of TikTok and partly Johan Hari’s latest book, Stolen Focus. Media creators are encouraged to move towards a short format to accomodate shorter and shorter attention spans.

   However, several of the talks I went to extolled the virtue of longer form podcasts, with Roya Zeitoune, Culture and Trends Lead, EMEA at Youtube, saying that some of their most popular shows are up to 10 hours long! Creators Gareth Howells, and Ki & Dee, described their podcast series as providing their audiences from meme culture and Instagram with a deeper dive and a longer format with which to engage.

   Conversely, during an excellent talk on short form podcasts, Andrew Davies, Digital and Engagement Editor from ABC Australia revealed some interesting research that he has undertaken into the habit-forming potential of episodes that are under 10 minutes. His fellow panel members, Nicky Birch from BBC Sounds and Olly Mann had a lot of praise for short episodes as summaries, and explainers, to keep a feed live while you make the next series, or as whole shows like The Retrospectors, one of Olly’s productions.

   My takeaway from all this enthusiasm is that successful formats come in all shapes and sizes. Too often branded podcasts take the form of a medium-form interview with a single guest. Perhaps there is room on your feed for a condensed episode, or a short highlight episode for busy listeners? Perhaps a bulletin is what your audience needs? Or perhaps it’s time for a longer, deeper dive into a complex subject?

3. It’s not all about the numbers

   This is something that I bang on about a lot, so I was delighted to have it confirmed - not every podcast can have hundreds of thousands of listeners. Time and time again, industry professionals emphasised the benefit to brands of having a smaller, more engaged audience for their podcasts. If you are creating a broad-appeal, entertainment podcast, and hoping for sponsorship, then of course, go for the numbers, but there are plenty of ROIs to measure if you are doing something different with your podcast.

   James Mitra, founder of JBM and host of 40 Minute Mentor, gained from the networking potential of guests before he found a larger audience, with several of his guests becoming clients, and some even joining his company’s advisory board. He values the opportunity to provide mentorship to listeners who would not otherwise have access to his guests’ expertise.

   For me, this was a great reminder that productions should be making goals for ROI that take into account the values and aims of the brand as a whole, as well as aiming for listener numbers. What would sucess look like for your podcast and how can we measure it?

4. You can find more than just views on YouTube

   I’ve long mentioned the statistic that 50% of US podcast listeners ‘listen’ on YouTube and a number of my clients share video episodes there. But I was particularly struck by something that Roya Zeitoune said in her presentation - YouTube is built on community feedback. Compared to podcatchers, where few listeners will leave reviews, YouTube users are very forthright with their instant comments. This is a fantastic source of audience engagement for podcasts - to find out what works and what doesn’t.

   If your audience is there, there really is no excuse not to publish your podcast on YouTube in some form. Apps like Headliner allow you to generate video versions of audio productions, or recorded interviews can be edited and branded quickly and easily.

5. Focus on your listener

   In a vast hall full of technology, platforms and options, it would be so tempting for me to suggest that you should be doing all the things - TikTok videos, merchandise, podswaps, PR... But once again, I was reminded that you need to know your listener. Alexandra Blair from PRX reminded us that you don’t want to leave a trail of failures behind you for people to find. If your listener isn’t on Twitter, don’t start an account looking for them, only to abandon it when they aren’t there.

   But it’s not just about finding your listener for promotional opporunities. Bernard P Achampong from Unedited, spoke powerfully about creating podcasts that speak to the experience of black men, when the mainstream media portrays a story he didn’t recognise. Podcasts have the ability to reach listeners where they are, to respond to their unique needs, and to create communities around their interests.

I came away from the Podcast Show 2022 inspired and invigorated. I’ve got lots of plans in the pipeline to put what I learnt into practice. I hope now you have some ideas too.