Topical podcasts and the challenge of repetition

steve_r

I listen to a few podcasts that I would call "topical", as they would be mostly driven by recent happenings e.g. current affairs - Irish times Inside politics, The Stand with Eamon Dunphy, Group Chat.

The nature of ongoing news stories is that the same topics will come up again and again, and after a while repetition can set in (Some worse that others - looking at you Eamon). Also you can have the challenge of all the podcasts covering the same story, and therefore you end hearing the same points repeated in that way.

I used to listen to a lot more football podcasts but I cut back on them for the reasons above.

What do people tend to do in this scenario - pick one and stick to it? Rotate amongst a few. Listen and skip through the overlapping pieces?

Wanderer78

have some podcasts that are my main base, been listening for years, and still do, slowly add others, but im fairly maxed out at the moment, i also tend to follow the work of individuals, some have their own podcasts, some regularly participate in podcasts but dont have their own podcasts. podcasting is a great way of keeping up with things though, while you re on the move and just trying to do normal life stuff….

i try not to skip through, as i learn more by repeating, and different views can be expressed

silliussoddius

They will run into the same content problem as streaming services, youtubers etc. They need to churn out content to keep people happy and there is only so much you can talk about and there's nothing to stop others from doing it. Then you have all the crap ads, I understand they need ad revenue to keep going but there is nothing they are advertising that I want (ball bag razors, therapy aps etc.).

steve_r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122202670#Comment_122202670

Yeah I've always found the majority of ads to be utterly irrelevant to me.

I think the "content" concept is my biggest bugbear, I certainly feel that podcasts are stretching/repeating topics and its really been done to fill airtime.

I was listening to a specific subject podcast yesterday (reviewing a novel - so not an ongoing topic) and I was struck by how better the conversation worked where they had something meaningful to discuss, went through it properly, and wrapped it up.

silliussoddius

For the vast majority of podcasters I think the format is better suited for people who treat it as a hobby. I will use two podcasts as examples: Monkey Tennis which is a look at the Alan Partridge universe and the Rest is History which as Ronseal says is about history.

The Alan Partridge one may have some ads but the timing of the releases and the nature of the ads etc. make some think they are treating it as a past time and if they make something on the side then well and good. Of course this is a niche topic.

The Rest is History has two knowledgeable and likeable hosts who play off each other great (although I do detect a bit of "we're great mates us bantering away" occasionally) and cover some interesting topics. This is a more broad area and I also starting listening to Dan Snow's podcast and he already covered similar topics. They also have a subscriber class which gives early access and has one off specials only for subscribers, and they have a youtube channel with the dreaded Mr. Beastesque shocked face thumbnails. To me it seems that they are trying to almost make a living off it, but how much content can they churn out.

I also see something similar in youtube channels; one area is movie reviews, again your content is going to be limited and some channel hosts seem to be putting a lot of time into their episodes but this is a topic which is limited to what happens in the movie industry.

tldr; in my opinion there will be a "culling" of content creators in the near future due to saturation/originality. And I can't wait to see the downfall of Joe Rogan.