Is there a podcasting bubble? And has it burst? There’s been a lot of money thrown around some of these programs, the latest being SiriusXM buying Conan O’Brien’s podcasting company for 150 million dollars. But is there still time to get your podcast off the ground?
The podcasting arms race
There’s been a podcasting arms race among major radio companies over the last few years. Spotify, Apple, Amazon, SiriusXM, and iHeartMedia have shelled out millions to try and become the premier podcasting network.
A big part of the podcasting bubble is the waves of celebrities launching their own podcasting companies and shows. Some big names with podcasts include Michelle Obama, Will Ferrel, Anna Faris, Vince Vaughn, Kate Hudson, her brother Oliver, Jason Bateman, Angela Kinsey, Jenna Fischer from The Office, and Will Arnett, to name a few.
And now there’s saturation in the market. There are over 4.4 million podcasts today when there weren’t even half a million of them five years ago. So what can you do to get a podcast off the ground?
But what about your podcast?
Sure, maybe the podcasting bubble has burst or is about to, but it’s not too late for you. First and foremost, you have to prove you can do it. No one will pick you up off the street and decide you have an exciting story to tell. It’ll help if you build a portfolio by creating a podcast to go through the motions. Learn everything you can to prepare yourself if the opportunity comes.
And that may seem fruitless. But there’s room in any industry for hard work, talent, and commitment. At this point, you’d be an outlier if you made it without any network distributing your show. But all this saturation has given people a higher appreciation for good content.
