At last week’s Mid-Atlantic podcast conference in Philadelphia I was reminded of the need for critical thinking.
Talking to a speaker during the event, they insisted that podfading is a bad thing and should be avoided at any cost. With as many as 75% of the 500k shows in Itunes having ‘podfaded’, this could be considered a valid point.
On reflection though, I believe that recording just one season of a podcast can work well. Many people highly recommend Seth Godin’s Startup School for example – a self contained mini course which was recorded over a three day course he taught back in 2012 and lasted 15 episodes. Mark Asquith took a similar approach by repurposing his back catalogue and splitting the episodes up into several stand alone mini-courses.
Some shows would be better off if they had podfaded after their first season. Gimlet’s Startup started with an excellent first season following the birth of the company, but subsequent seasons have never quite managed to live up to the same promise.
Another approach that successful podcasters have used is to experiment by creating multiple shows and podfading the majority of them in their search for product-audience (or product-market) fit. A good example of this is Mike Russell – if you check his account on Spreaker (a hosting platform that allows for unlimited shows on the one account) you will see he created no less than fifteen shows.
Ultimately, I think it really depends on the intention of the podcaster – and instead of blindly following a formula or following the motions, it’s necessary to figure out a strategy that aligns with your goals.
