As Networks Grow, Independent Podcasters Face A New Challenge

April 26, 2018 8:56 am

Everywhere you turn, podcasts are visible — which is a funny concept for audio content. Whether it’s a poster of 2 Dope Queens promoting their special with HBO, that mug with an NPR logo on a colleague’s desk, even people streaming their favorites during the morning commute or at the gym; podcasts are everywhere.

2017 has been widely regarded as the year of the podcast and it doesn’t seem like industry growth is slowing anytime soon. VentureBeat reviewed the progress of podcasting over the last year and suggested that 2018 could be another landmark year in the field.

Last year an estimated 112 million people across the US listened to a podcast at least one time according to a government report commissioned by the New York City Mayor’s Office. NYC’s podcasting networks alone have an estimated national audience of 42 million listeners on a weekly basis and podcast networks such as Gimlet, Wondery, and Panoply have become household names.

Though there have been very positive trends in podcasting over the last year and the well-celebrated success of networks, a large portion of the podcasting world is still struggling. Podcasters who make content on their own time as a hobby or passion project, without a network providing funding or advertising, are having a difficult time monetizing and building a large audience without access to the resources that network-backed podcasts enjoy.

Some independent podcasts have still been able to achieve prominence in spite of challenges they face. Wolf 359 is one of just a handful independent podcasts that have been successful without the backing of a network.

It’s a biweekly, science fiction audio drama podcast that recently wrapped up its fourth and final season. According to their website, the show is about the “advantages of floating, tiny and alone, in the middle of nowhere.”

Sarah Shachat, a writer and producer on Wolf 359, said that making the podcast is frustrating, maddening and a ton of fun.

“It involves a lot of caffeine and late-nights, pacing and muttering back and forth. But then you get something into the hands of this incredibly talented cast and crew, and everything after that is pure joy,” she said.

The kind of influence that Wolf 359 has gained is impressive, and that’s putting it mildly. The podcast, much to the surprise of the cast and crew, has had more than six million downloads, amounting to about 30,000 per episode. Their audience has grown organically, without advertising or any type of backing. They were also nominated for a Webby Award.

“I don’t think any of us properly understand the reach it’s had, although getting to see all the fan art and responses to the show is both humbling and gratifying,” said Shachat.

Wolf 359 boasts a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and has been reviewed by more than 1,000 listeners. These numbers, which are similar to those of larger network-backed podcasts, would seem to suggest that the Wolf 359 audience is as passionate and large as those of shows on major podcasting networks like Gimlet and Wondery.

However, it is out of the ordinary for an independent podcast to have a listener base that is comparable to that of a network-backed podcast.

Podcasters supported by networks like Gimlet have had the privilege of their podcast turning into a full time job — with funding for studio time, a wider reach with network support and a paycheck. These networks also have the capability of cross-promoting their shows by placing ads for one podcast inside of another.

Networks’ ability to internally transfer listeners from podcast to podcast has allowed them to quickly grow listener bases and generate reviews to gain enough popularity that they are able to monopolize the top of the Apple Podcast charts.

Apple Podcast is one of the best places for podcasters to grow their listener base, and as a result of podcast network growth, the top of the Apple Podcast charts is almost entirely occupied by their content. At the time of writing, only a little more than one third of the top 100 podcasts on Apple Podcast were independent.

Without access to the type of commercialized-backing that a network provides, Wolf 359 has not had the same network-provided opportunities that help with listener growth and monetization. Instead, Shachat said that podcasting is still more of an “abusive hobby” than a job.

“The advertising we did was very minimal, and also – I think all three of us [she, Gabriel Urbina and Zach Valenti – other Wolf 359 team members] would agree – very much us fumbling in the dark,” said Shachat.

Word of mouth is what really helped them to grow an audience. Fostering relationships with fans and podcasters was really important to their success in terms of cross promotion and helping each other out over time.

“Engaging with fans, wherever we found them – mostly on Tumblr at first, Twitter and Instagram later – really upped the enthusiasm around the show, and added ‘the creators take the time to interact with fans’ as a dimension of why people might give the show a try,” said Shachat.

“You weren’t getting just a story, but a community of people who cared about it,” said Shachat.

And that was enough for more than 1000 fans to monetarily support Wolf 359 on Patreon and spread the word about their show.

Despite Wolf 359’s success, the biggest battle for most independent podcasters remains their ability to grow an audience. This is particularly the case as the podcast landscape becomes more and more commercialized and the podcasts with the best marketing have been able to garner the most visibility with new listeners.

The good news is, there is a growing number of new podcast apps that are trying to work for independent podcasters — specifically, those not already topping Apple’s podcast charts– that need help with audience growth and funding, while still catering to the larger podcasts.

This opens a door for the independent podcast community to reach listeners in a more evenly balanced landscape, where networks can’t monopolize podcast enthusiasts’ ears. Instead, listeners are able to focus more on the content podcasters are creating rather than listening to podcasts based on messaging they see or hear from large-scale marketing initiatives by larger podcast networks.

That drive to create good, passionate content is what keeps independent podcasters in the game and with apps like Podible coming out, podcasters working without any kind of backing will have a better chance at growing their audiences.

For now, regardless of the strain that comes with an “abusive hobby” like podcasting. Shachat is happy to be exploring her talents for podcast writing and producing.

“Podcasting is the perfect place to experiment, to build your creative muscles, and to do it surrounded by a community that’s supportive and interested in what you have to say. There’s a lot we all learned about writing audio through making Wolf 359, but we were able to learn by making – and have one hell of a time doing it. That’s what I’d tell someone new to podcasting: just dive in.”

Now that Wolf 359 has wrapped, she’s thinking about what to do in the space next.

“Something that isn’t science fiction, I think,” said Shachat about possible next endeavors. “It’s amazing that there’s so much sci-fi and horror in the audio drama space – we’re spoiled with riches, really – but I’d be curious to figure out how to make a podcast compelling that didn’t lean so heavily into mystery and suspense.”

Podcasting has been a platform for passions to spread, less prominent voices to be heard and knowledge shared for more than ten years. Now that it’s becoming commercialized, it’s important to make sure that people have the ability to continue participating and achieving growth in podcasting even if they’re doing it independently. Otherwise, some of the best content could be lost.