Growing and engaging podcast and radio audiences are at the intersection of how marketing and technology need to work together. Check out our Q&A with Jason Hoch, CEO, Creative Officer at Wavland to see what trends are impacting the podcasting community.

Get your pass for the Radio & Podcast Interactive Forum and add How Marketing and Technology Work Together to Grow and Engage Audiences to your myNAB Show New York Planner.

What are the biggest trends impacting the podcasting community right now?

The disappearing lines between audio and video and what it actually means to have a podcast has presented new opportunities for creators to reach new audiences that consume content differently, especially young people.  This transition is not without it’s challenges (and expense and time to make all of this content), but is an exciting development in the space.

Additionally, monetization of content now includes multiple pathways – host reads, direct response, brand integration, ‘network’ ads, and programmatic are all helping optimize the inventory available in smart, scalable ways.

What challenges does the community need to overcome, because of these trends?

The podcast community needs to look forward not back.  We need to not only welcome in new voices, but new types of consumption, like video or social.  To many young people, a podcast is very much like a YouTube-like experience.  How do we embrace this?

What’s one thing you wish more podcasting and media pros knew about?

How voracious consumers are in listening to podcasts.  We need to feed them more content, but also make sure this is of a premium quality.  This is not a race to the bottom, like so many other digital experiences.  Podcasts in their many forms, are not disappearing from the public’s consciousness anytime soon.  But that could change if we don’t make the very best content.

What are the top 3 things that attendees should go hunt down on the show floor to expand what they just learned in your session on talent and how it works across the team?

1. Understand your content
2. Understand your audience and how you will reach them
3. Understand how to be a smart and long-term sustainable business by listening to your audience and by incorporating the very best of modern day story telling with updates in technology.

What discussions should they be having with the exhibitors?

• Asking for help.
• Learning as much as they can
• Experimenting
• Trying not to do it all.  If you need help, ask someone who has done this before to take you on the journey.
• Understand what ROI means in the context of the podcast-specific industry. What we learn here is quite different than in other digital-first experiences.  Don’t try and compare them.