Broadcasters ‘perfectly positioned’ to leverage podcast boom

TORONTO — Broadcasters should think about renting out their own studios to fledgling podcasters as a way of getting involved in the massive growth of podcasts over the years. That was one of a number of business models proposed by Paul Jacobs, general manager of United States radio consulting company Jacobs Media, who has seen unique revenue-generating ideas spring-out of podcasting south of the border. “Radio broadcasters are perfectly positioned for this opportunity. Infrastructure -- well we have studios, microphones, sales, billing, you name it. Knowledge of how to create audio content -- got it,” he said at an Ontario Association of Broadcasters panel event. “You have it all." “You have studios. Odds are they go dark at 5 p.m.,” Jacobs added. “So why couldn’t you create a podcast studio for area and local podcasters to pay $50 an hour to come in and use your studio and pay more to help produce them?” Another potential model: “branded podcasts to go to your clients." Chris Boyce is co-founder of Pacific Content, a company that creates podcasts for brands including Shopify, Mozilla, Dell, and Red Hat. While his business is to make the podcast for the client, he noted as a panelist with Jacobs that traditional broadcasters should break the old way of thinking that suggests there is an “artificial wall” that separates radio and podcasts. The wall is the difference between over-the-air broadcasting and IP delivery when the reality is the delivery method shouldn’t be the focus, the panelist said. “It’s like the biggest opportunity everyone in this room has -- to break down the wall,” he said, adding broadcasters like CBC/Radio-Canada should be focused on their brand as the content driver -- not on what particular kind of studio it is. Major Canadian broadcasters told The Wire Report earlier this year they are increasingly getting involved in podcasts, and experts said the broadcasters have the media properties to do so. Rogers Communications Inc. has The Big Story, a daily culture and news show, and Corus Entertainment Inc. has its own podcast network. BCE Inc. and Quebecor Inc. also have podcast content, but they expressed an interest in making more. Katie Jensen, co-founder of independent shop Vocal Fry Studios in Toronto who has been producing podcasts since 2009, told The Wire Report that it’s a “natural progression for terrestrial radio stations and legacy media brands to transition to podcasting, but they must ensure they’re providing audiences with something they can’t get anywhere else.” According to an October 2017 study conducted by The Globe and Mail, 34 per cent of adult Canadians reported they’ve listened to a podcast in the last year. That’s up from 25 per cent, as reported by a 2016 CBC/Radio-Canada Media Technology Monitor study.

Broadcasters ‘perfectly positioned’ to leverage podcast boom

Brief | November 8, 2018

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Broadcasters ‘perfectly positioned’ to leverage podcast boom

Brief | November 8, 2018

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