Episode 30 — Who Works for SModcast?

[admin 330]

Matt Cohen is one of very few full-time podcast producers. In addition to hosting his own show Bagged and Boarded, he produces Mohr Stories and has a long-standing relationship with SModcast. He joins The Wolf Den to discuss the relationship between podcasters, the economics of internet connections, the difference between Earwolf and SModcast fans and so much more. Listen in, and don't forget about those iTunes reviews!

[jughead 189]

Another great episode Jeff! Also, as a fellow Cohen, thanks for coming on Matt! Although I don't think there is a battle between the mainstream podcast networks (e.g. Earwolf, SModcast, etc), there is probably some juggling for position between the independent ones. I've tried listening to some of the podcasts in the Yourcast section and, while their concepts are good, they are just unlistenable. On the other hand, after Jeff Rubin came on two weeks ago, I started listening to his podcast and it isfantastic! I know he is in NY, but if you could get Rubin a show on here, this person would be very happy.

[Julia 477]

I always find the results of the Earwolf listener poll interesting. The economic breakdown of it is especially unique, but I would hope the education level, age demographic, and gender would appeal to advertisers. Hopefully more of them will start to catch on that Earwolf offers an audience that would really fit with certain companies. Especially in the $100,000+ income bracket, Earwolf is able to boast that it has young, educated listeners with disposable incomes. If I put on my Don Draper hat for a minute, I can't imagine a more ideal target audience than that.

[Rutabaga 0]

Very cool episode. I sort of glommed onto the thread where they were talking about cross over audiences, and whether people have heard of Earwolf or not. I think there are a lot of people in the podcast world that have never heard of Earwolf, not because Earwolf is doing something wrong, but because they just aren’t seeking anything new out. A lot of podcast listeners have probably never even listened to a comedy podcast, and may have never even heard a comedian perform outside of a comedy central presents or other TV standup thing. Educating people about the existence of actual good comedy is almost as difficult as educating them about podcasts. I’d bet a lot of people who listen to podcasts all day have never even listened to a podcast that didn’t already exist as a radio show on NPR or a local station.
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Freakonomics talks a bit about part of the problem here:
http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/07/06/maybe-our-tastes-dont-calcify-as-we-age/
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A lot of the time older people aren’t set in their ways because they just love the stuff they grew up with, they are literally just too busy to seek out new stuff that they might like. Basically, finding out about cool stuff is a young person’s game. Jeff and Matt touched on it a bit, but a large part of the growing podcast audience is just people bringing an already established audience into the medium of podcasting. Getting those new ears to check out Earwolf seems like a huge part of the challenge.
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Apple has really created a couple interesting marketplaces in both iTunes Podcast section and the App Store. Both are largely dominated by large corporations like (Electronic Arts or NPR) using the marketplace as a dumping ground for known properties. But, both also have a huge independent producer presence. The absolute biggest hurdle is that Apple controls the means of visibility in both markets. Nothing is better for an app than being featured in iTunes’ New and Noteworthy section. It can mean 50-100k downloads in two weeks for a $.99 independent app that would otherwise only do 10-20k over its lifetime because the marketing budget for most independents is nil. I have no idea what being featured on the front page of iTunes’ podcast section means, but I am sure it is equally important. These are basically just Black Swan-type events though and while you can do everything in your power to make a quality product and try to make them happen, it isn’t a guarantee. Imagine if The F Plus was featured on iTunes' front page. It could mean a 100,000 people who never even knew that style of comedy existed become potential zealots and a million others write to Apple with complaints.
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It will be very interesting to see how the Funny or Die partnership affects total number of Earwolf listeners. I don’t think any Earwolf hosts have done talk shows recently, but I wonder what sort of impact them mentioning it is right now. Hardwick was on Conan where Conan mentioned the podcast as a credit and he was on a Doctor Who special where they put the podcast as his credit under his name. Maron was on Bill Maher because of his show. Todd Glass was on Kimmel right before his show started and got a mention. Is that going to be the new way to get listeners?

[jeffullrich 652]

@Rutabaga Great post, I wish I had time to respond properly right now but I don't. But I love that you wrote it. Thanks!

[B Naylor 3]

Where are the results of the listener poll?

[stk 2]

Potential Guests - An advertising sales planner/media buyer from an ad agency, senior management at Funny or Die or an account executive from the company, a producer in television (think Curtis Gwinn) to debate goods vs. bad of podcasts, someone from Apple (itunes), an agent from CAA, WME etc. (either digital or comedy), Nikki Finke so Scott can yell TOLDJA! in her face.

[CarolineEAnd 41]

I suppose I could email this, but posting it as a comment feels less time-wastey. I've always really wanted to hear Aaron Bleyaert on the show. He runs Team Coco and hosts the Team Coco Podcast. The internet was a major part of Conan's whole...ordeal and I think we can all agree that he wouldn't have had his chance with TBS were it not for the internet response. Plus, Team Coco is one of the ABSOLUTE BEST websites for a television show, complete with podcasts and deleted and extended and reheasal takes. It's amazing and I think he'd be really interesting on the show.

[Bucho 188]

Awesome post Rutabaga.

[Jannephotog 17]

Have to say, I'm not that huge of a fan of the whole Kevin Smith/Smodcastle realm, but I did enjoy listening to this week's ep. It always seems to make you appreciate it more if you see who's doing the knob turning and all that jazz. Good stuff.

[Jannephotog 17]

Have to say, I'm not that huge of a fan of the whole Kevin Smith/Smodcastle realm, but I did enjoy listening to this week's ep. It always seems to make you appreciate it more if you see who's doing the knob turning and all that jazz. Good stuff.