The recent retirement of the Indianapolis Colt's star quarterback, Andrew Luck, swept through social media and news outlets, with pundits and fans weighing in on his decision and wondering what's next for the athlete, including those wondering if Luck would use his popular Andrew Luck Book Club podcast as a platform to launch into a different career path.
Podcasting has certainly come of age and shows no signs of slowing down.
As a medium to reach targeted audiences, Podcasting continues to explode, with staggering growth levels between just 2018 and 2019. According to data compiled by Apple, there were 550,000 active podcasts in 2018 with 18.5 million episodes in total; by 2019, those numbers have grown to 700,000 active podcasts with 29 million episodes in total.
The widespread use of smartphones worldwide has driven the growth in podcasting, with smartphones listed as #1 for the means in which users find, access, download, and listen to podcasts. Using smartphones to listen to podcasts allows users to access their favorite audio content in a multitude of environments, including at work, at home, while traveling or commuting, and during exercise or workout sessions.
With the ability to reach audiences through dozens of languages, podcasts have taken fire worldwide, and the top categories include society and culture, business, comedy, news, and health.
While larger producers of podcasts such as NPR reach a listening audience of 20 million people per month, there is room for smaller, more targeted podcast producers to reach their ideal listener, making podcasting a valuable addition to branded content and advertising campaigns that seek to build brand recognition and brand authority.
Creating the right podcast content to reach your target audience is critical. Seek to inform and entertain your audience instead of hard-selling your product or service. Building authority in your niche and trust with your audience is key.
If you're wondering how to incorporate podcasting in your overall marketing scheme, contact Real-Time Outsource and let us help you in creating quality podcast content that builds your brand and reaches your niche audience.