Only a handful of “elite podcasters” make money for their unique content. Although sponsors often pay a “cost per listener” to advertise on those podcasts, the main emphasis is on how large their audience is. But whose fault is it that this is the dynamic that is being looked at?

One reason many backers give why they only sponsor the elite is that it takes too long to sponsor small and medium podcasts. This is why they often set the minimum number of listeners at 50,000 or possibly 10,000 downloads PER EPISODE!

But whose fault is it? We can basically identify four different areas in the podcast industry that we can turn to to answer this question.

1. The sponsors.

2. Podcast hosting / listening platforms.

3. The same podcasters.

4. The media / sponsoring companies.

Is it the sponsor’s fault? Not really. However, it is true that it takes a lot of time and resources for them to research, find, contact and negotiate prices with many podcasters. Smaller podcasters can have a great relationship and a very high trust factor with their audiences. Since many know their listeners in real life (or listeners have actively found their podcast), they are often ignored by major sponsors.

But the focus of larger companies is often on “return on investment” (ROI). The traditional podcaster just won’t produce the ROI these companies are looking for.

Are they podcast platforms? Well, they are very much to blame for the discovery part. So yeah, in a way, it’s the platform companies’ fault. They make it harder for some podcasts to grow and tend to keep elite moneymakers at the top of search results. It almost seems like an old monarchy type of society, where the rules are rigged to keep the elite in power. But that doesn’t really give us the information on “whose fault is it really?”

So is it the fault of the podcasters themselves? That’s a huge burden for individual podcasters. We really can’t expect hundreds of thousands of podcasts to find sponsors who want to sponsor just a small podcast. That won’t work in most cases. Also, that would take too long for podcasters to make enough money for the time factor to be profitable to reach backers. Missing “ROI” for individual podcasters.

Is it the fault of the sponsoring media / companies? In my opinion, they are the real culprits. As podcasting began to grow, so did the interest in earning a profit from the work of podcasters. But companies that were interested in entering with the idea that the same model used for radio would translate into podcasting. But there is also a problem with that theory.

The problem is that podcasting is not radio!

This is why podcasting is growing so fast! Podcasters don’t need to pay to be able to be on an individual radio station at any given time. In reality, they can be on many different listening platforms, at the same time, heard whenever and wherever by anyone, on demand.

Podcasters don’t need to have a media empire to help them produce or create their content. Podcasting really is “by the people, for the people.”

We see many companies whose sole focus is on the biggest and most popular podcasts. They use the old outdated radio model as a sponsorship guide. Not just with the podcasts they have on their platforms, but also with the dynamic ad system they insist on using.

Dynamic advertising is where ads change over time, automatically. No podcaster information. Everything is managed by the software at the enterprise level.

Podcasters lose a key characteristic strength when they accept dynamic ad inserts. The most popular (and most responsive) ad for podcasters is where the host actually reads the ad during the recording process. This is done “pre-roll, mid-roll or post-roll”.

Holding on to an old model could be the reason some of these companies lose tens of millions of dollars each year in advertising costs each year. That is also the reason why they are very particular in dealing with only the biggest and most well known podcasts.

Podcasting is really about the creators. It could be called “grassroots journalism”! This is a new medium, with hundreds of thousands of podcasters, that needs a new model to generate advertising revenue.

Podcasting started as an amateur platform where everyone could create and publish their own content. You didn’t need an editor-in-chief or a media publishing giant to tell you what to do, what to talk about, or how to promote your podcast.

Today, people around the world record, edit and publish their own content. Your listeners can listen to your shows whenever and wherever they want. In truth, citizen journalism in the audio space was created by podcasters and has grown exponentially.

I like to podcast today where FM radio was in the early 1980s. FM radio was “available” (usually in elevators or doctor’s offices) but it was not widely distributed or listened to. Just as FM radio became a “standard feature” on new cars (rather than a “special request”), the ability to listen to podcasts is now becoming a “standard feature” on new cars. Almost all new cars have a USB port and the ability to listen to podcasts through the car stereo!

To answer the original question, “Will podcasting replace radio?” the answer is “NOT.”

However, podcasting is going to take a BIG market segment away from traditional radio. In fact, it has already begun. That is why many smaller radio stations have closed. It’s also evident in the recently released podcast audience stats! Listening to podcasts is growing exponentially!

There is a great example, using an “old saying”. It looks something like this:

“When is the best time to plant a tree? Answer: “Twenty years ago.”

“When is the second best time to plant a tree?” Answer: “Today!“

Regarding podcasting, “When was the best time to start a podcast?

Answer: “Five or six years ago!”

“When is the next best time to start a podcast?” Answer: “TODAY!”

If you’ve ever considered starting a podcast, now would be the perfect time to do so. The exponential growth curve is increasing. For the foreseeable future, it will continue to grow and the dominance of podcasting will only grow. Get podcasting today and “catch the wave!”