We could have talked about a time or two that podcasts are a good way for B2B entrepreneurs to launch content material. But since my first B2B podcasting put up (approach again within the earlier than occasions of 2018, how naive we have been), the panorama has modified considerably.
Part of the shift is because of the pandemic and the distant/hybrid work growth that adopted. People who used to spend hours listening to podcasts on their commute out of the blue discovered that the bed room to dwelling workplace commute required much less leisure.
But the opposite half is just pure maturation and evolution over time. Podcasts have gotten much more plentiful, their creators extra various, and the promoting extra related.
Here are the key traits that B2B podcasters ought to pay attention to for 2022 and past.
Listener Demographics and Habits Are Changing
First, the excellent news: The recognition of podcasts nonetheless exhibits no indicators of waning. In truth, there’s a big block of recent listeners which have been at it for lower than a 12 months! People are nonetheless discovering and falling in love with the medium.
According to SCM Media’s 2022 Podcast Report, these listeners have some essential distinguishing elements, in comparison with the outdated guard. First, they’re youthful: Over 66% are underneath 35 years outdated. Second, they’re cut up 50/50 gender-wise (the survey assumed a binary), versus the outdated guard’s 70/30 male cut up.
Podcasts are additionally diversifying, and audiences are as nicely. Black and Latine listener swimming pools are rising quick. These teams are drawn by topical pursuits, but in addition by creators who share their life experiences. For instance, over half of Black listeners say it’s essential their content material be introduced by a Black creator.
These listeners are placing in fewer hours every week — 4.4 versus 7.1 — however they’re additionally listening to extra episodes of various podcasts. While the outdated guard used to hear to each episode of their favourite podcasts, the brand new people usually tend to podcast hop based mostly on topical curiosity. This is probably going as a result of…
Podcasts Are Getting Easier to Find & Search by Topic
For anybody who has ever hosted a podcast, let’s hear an ideal large, “FINALLY!” As main gamers like Apple, Spotify, Google and YouTube lean into podcasting, we’re beginning to see higher engines like google and smarter suggestions. Like all machine studying implementations, these algorithms will proceed to enhance over time.
In his podcast predictions for 2022, iHeartMedia’s CEO Conal Byrne explores the implications:
Podcasting will profit from the engineers of those platforms [Google, Youtube and Facebook] aiming their best-in-class search and discovery instruments on the podcasting medium. Long-tail exhibits shall be found. Evergreen episodes shall be highlighted every time related. Perhaps greater than something, newsworthy podcast content material will start to floor extra usually in search outcomes and proposals on the platforms all of us use on a regular basis to remain on top of things.
This growth has two main implications for B2B podcasters: First, podcast search engine optimisation shall be crucial to seize “podcast hopper” consideration. That means each episode ought to have related key phrases within the title and outline for most findability.
Second, your podcast archive could also be extra precious than you suppose. If podcast platforms shall be recommending your older episodes, it’s value ensuring every episode is optimized for search and sounds its finest.
There Are Exciting New Ways to Monetize & Repurpose Podcasts
Who says podcasts must be a price heart for your model? It’s getting extra easy to serve related promoting to your podcast viewers—including income whereas your model nonetheless will get the increase from the podcast content material.
New podcast listeners are 19% extra open to promoting than the outdated guard. As lengthy as adverts are related, they are saying, it’s okay to interrupt the content material with promoting. This is partly because of the emergence of DAI (dynamic advert insertion) know-how, which makes it simple to custom-fit related, well timed adverts into present content material.
Livestreaming is one other method to monetize an already fashionable podcast. Think of it as internet hosting a webinar, however with extra viewers participation and fewer slideshows. Some stay podcast occasions (albeit for the preferred leisure podcasts) can promote tickets for upwards of $50 a session. Currently, solely 10% of podcasters benefit from livestreams, so it’s a great way for your model to make a splash.
Research exhibits that listeners are hungry for podcast content material exterior of the podcast platform, too. Tools like Wavve, which helps create video from snippets of audio, have seen an explosion in popularity, with Wavve itself seeing 7000% development since 2019.
Short clips of your podcast on social media are a good way to show your podcast to a brand new viewers, and to offer your present subscribers one thing to snack on between episodes.
Creating and Editing Is Easier than Ever
The previous few years has seen the rise of all-in-one podcasting platforms. Unlike providers that merely host your content material and syndicate it, these new instruments characteristic audio and video calling capabilities, recording choices, and even modifying instruments proper in your browser.
Tools like Riverside.fm and Zencastr make it simple to seize high-quality audio and get it prepared for publication.
One new participant that’s already getting a ton of consideration is Descript, an all-in-one that generates transcripts routinely and allows you to edit audio by modifying the textual content.
There’s Still Plenty of Room for Growth
There are presently over 2 million podcasts on the earth proper now. But there’s at all times room for extra. Even with the present surge in new listeners, there’s nonetheless 50% of the grownup U.S. inhabitants which have by no means listened to a podcast. They’re simply ready for the correct sound or video clip to talk on to their desires and wishes.
If you’ve been desirous about launching a podcast for your model, now is a superb time to start out. And we might help! To get began, learn how we helped SAP launch a podcast that smashed benchmarks with each episode.