Casting the Pod more widely - Village Magazine

July-August 2018

4 7

NYONE USING the Google mobile search

app to look for a podcast on an Android

phone in the last month will have noticed

something interesting happening. In addition

to the usual links to relevant websites and

iTunes directories, Google presents direct

links to the most recent episodes of the rel-

evant podcast. Hit a handy play button, and

users can listen directly to the podcast via

Google without opening an audio app.

Google wants users to listen to pod

casts through its own apps,

rather than using third-

party Android clients

like PocketCast or

Overcast.

That way,

Go og l e c an

gather valuable

data on listening

patterns, which

it can correlate

with all the other

data it collects

on browsing

habits, search his-

tories and YouTube

use.

In mid-June, in addition

to the new addition to Search,

Google ofﬁcially launched a stand-

alone podcast app for Androids. The app

replaced the little-known and awkwardly-

named Google Play Music Podcasts app,

which was only available in North America.

The clunky name alone is evidence that the

project, like Google Listen before it, was one

of the many neglected packages in the

Google stable.

Google Listen, launched in the summer of

2009, died in 2012, as the search engine

declared there were other, better apps avail-

able in the marketplace. Two years later,

podcasting began its move from niche inter-

net product to the mainstream.

In 2014, podcasts took off in the popular

imagination, going from a minority interest

listened to by very few to something every-

one was talking about, if not consuming. In

the popular memory, the sudden emergence

of podcasts is linked to ‘Serial’, the twelve-

part investigation by 'This American Life'

producer Sarah Koenig into the death of Bal-

timore high-school student Hae Min Lee, and

the possible miscarriage of justice which led

to the conviction of Adnan Syed for her

murder.

But other factors combined

to create the optimal con-

ditions which launched

‘Serial’ to viral fame.

The Apple iPods

which gave pod-

casting its name

were declining

by 2014, but

smartphones

were ubiqui-

tous, and in the

US, Apple

accounted for half

of all smartphones

sold. In 2014, Apple

put podcasts to the

fore on their phones,

adding them to iTunes and

prominently displaying their native

podcast player on the home screen. Since

then, iTunes charts have dominated podcast

downloads (which might more accurately be

described as phonecasts).

But podcasts have never had the same

prominence for Android users.

Users have had to seek out podcast apps,

rather than ﬁnding one installed on the home

screen by default. And while several such cli-

ents exist,iner tia means the Android audience

has always been smaller than on Apple. The

numbers are stark. One third of American

smartphones come from Apple, but those

iPhones account for two thirds of podcast

listenership. Apple's share of the smartphone

market is lower in other countries, but the

same listenership pattern can be seen. That

untapped Android market is the prize for

Google, if it can get its product right.

Google made another signiﬁcant announce-

ment in June. Doubleclick, the advertising

software subsidiary which allows it to domi-

nate online search advertising, was getting

into the business of audio advertising.

Initially the expansion is targeting music

products such as Google Play Music, Spotif y,

and Soundcloud, but the company is unlikely

to leave any podcasting money on the table.

If Google is serious this time about break-

ing into podcasting, then programme-makers

could be faced with a future of paradoxes.

Google's expertise could allow for the collec-

tion of more accurate statistics on listener ship

among Android users, while at the same

increasing the size of the Android audiences,

making podcasts a more attractive option for

advertisers. However, at the same time, the

rise in automated programmatic advertising

insertions may dilute the revenues advertis-

ing brings in. To date, much podcasting

advertising has an almost handcrafted feel

to it, with podcast hosts reading out mes-

sages from their sponsors, more akin to

American public radio programming than

commercial broadcasts. The ability to auto-

matically inser t a boilerplate message based

on Google's data about listeners could mean

an end to that format for all but the top per-

formers, where advertisers are willing to pay

a premium.

Podcasting is about to take its next great leap as Google makes

it easier for Android users and gets into audio advertising making

Podcasting more attractive to corporate advertisers

Casting the Pod more widely

by Gerard Cunningham

A third of American

smartphones come from Apple,

but those iPhones account

for two thirds of podcast

listenership

podcasting: increasing