Just what is a podcast?

 


Our recent election has been categorized a few ways.  NYU professor Scott Galloway has used the term "The Testosterone Election" in his "No Mercy / No Malice post.  I have heard the term "The Bro Election" .  It has been categorized using terms such as immigration backlash, and the "red wave".  One aspect that has been discussed is the impact of podcasts.  I have very little deliberate exposure to podcasts.  I find it difficult to differentiate them from more traditional media.  The first podcast I recall listening to on a regular basis was one on the topic of triathlons.  At the time training for triathlons was a new endeavor for me and I was looking for information about how to train for one.  I was interested in information ranging from basic to mid level detail.  I was not interested in highly detailed information.  Information a pro athlete may be interested in.  I cannot recall the name of the podcast.  I did access it through itunes and listened to it on my ipod.

Podcast have evolved since then.  When I started this post I struggled to accurately define what a podcast has become.  Enter the question "What is a podcast?" into google you get the following response:

A podcast is a digital audio or video file series that can be downloaded or streamed on various devices: 

The response from google goes on to explain podcast characteristics such as content. format and accessibility.  Unfortunately very few of these characteristics allow one to differentiate podcasts from traditional media.  For example the format is described as "highly produced or conversational".  How does this differ from traditional shows such as Oprah Winfrey or The View?  Late night shows such as Jimmy Kimmel or The Tonight Show easily fit this format characteristic.  Another characteristic is engagement.  Podcast allow a listener to skip and pause segments.  With a DVR you can do that with Oprah as well.

I do again want to emphasize my lack of deliberate exposure to podcasts.  In general I have searched for information on a particular topic.  I then select a link I feel is the most relevant to my needs and I read or listen to the offering.  If my selection is a blog or news article it is obviously not a podcast.  If I select a audio or video.  When consuming the audio/video information how would I know if it is a podcast?  Only after I started researching this post did I realize that YouTube has a specific podcast section.


Originally I thought that regulations were a defining line that benefit podcasts.  I wrongfully assumed that podcasters could say pretty much anything they wanted and that news media were regulated through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  As it turns out the FCC has no regulatory control over podcasts nor cable news channels.  The FCC only regulates over the air media.  Simply put the FCC only regulates media that is broadcast from transmission towers to your antennae.  That antennae may be in your house or on your vehicle or directly attached to your device (good ol' transistor radio).  As an example the NBC nightly news I watch is FCC regulated where as any thing on CNN or MSNBC is not.  Specifically the FCC regulates over air news content through its "news distortion policy".  News distortion is self explanatory but if you would like more information check this link.  Fundamentally cable news and podcasts are similarly regulated.  Which is to say very unregulated.  The only guidelines I could find for podcasts and cable news involve copywrite and privacy which are the authority of the department of justice not the FCC.

Podcasts and cable news are loosely regulated and their formats are similar, why have podcasts increased their impact?  I started to review a few of the top podcast.  The first thing that struck me was how difficult it must be to captivate an audience for 20 minutes to 3 hours.  Say what you want about Joe Rogan, his podcasts appear to be between 1 and 3 hours long.  I cannot entertain myself for that long.  Joe Rogan has 18 million subscribers on Spotify and millions of others watch him on other platforms.

Reach is one advantage that podcasts seem to excel at.  It is reported that 26 million people watched Joe Rogan's podcast with Donald Trump where as Forbes reported that Kamala Harris's 3 interviews (Fox/60 minutes/The view) garnered 17 million total.  However just because more people watched does not mean more votes for the candidate.  Donald Trump probably gained votes due to Joe Rogan's endorsement.  Candidate endorsements are more prevalent among podcasters.  I do not recall any cable news personality openly and avidly supporting a candidate.  I do believe that the editorial section of most newspapers will endorse candidates.  Here is a compiled list of newspapers and who they endorsed.  Based on the number of Kamala Harris endorsements it is unlikely that the endorsements had a major impact.  I cannot find a similar list of cable news media outlet endorsements.  However in most cases their predilections are usually quite clear.  Pretty much anyone on Fox News is going to support the Republican candidate and anyone on MSNBC will support the democratic candidate.

Another misconception on my part was that political podcasts are exclusive to the right side of the political spectrum.  It does seem that many of the more popular podcasts are right leaning.  Ben Shapiro, Megan Kelly and Sean Hanity are examples of right leaning podcasts.  On the left are the Young Turks, Pod save America and Rachel Maddow.  I will guess that the right leaning ones are more recognizable than the left leaning ones.  Looking at this list of top conservative and liberal podcast the only one that I have watched are The Young Turks.  One name not on this dual list is the most popular podcast, Joe Rogan.  Looking at Joe Rogan's wikipedia page he does not appear to be an ultra right conservative.  He did endorse Donald Trump however, he has in the past supported Bernie Sanders.  He supports liberal causes such as gay rights, women's rights and gun rights.  Economically he advocates for universal health care and universal basic income.  You would never see most of these coming from a conservative policy platform.  Joe Rogan is not perfect he has been accused of spreading misinformation regarding covid and got embroiled in the Litter boxes in school hoax.

Openness is about the only difference I can get a read on between podcasts and cable news.  Cable News shows work under a veneer of a FCC regulated entity but it is mostly self regulated.  I am not sure if people sense this and are turned off by it.  However as I said it is pretty easy to conclude who the cable news channel supports.  I think most people are under the same misconception I was, in that podcasters are regulated differently than cable news.  This misconception than leads us to view them differently.  By viewing them differently we then tend to process the information we receive from them differently.  It may be fair to say that we hold CNN to a higher standard than any podcast.  This higher perceived standard leads us to discount cable news more quickly when they slip up.  Where as we may be more inclined to give a podcaster a pass when they slip up.

As for the election did Trump's appearance on Joe Rogan catapult him to a win?  It is difficult to say.  The appearance and subsequent endorsement may have helped with certain demographics (those that follow Joe Rogan).  The demographics skew to young males (18 - 34).  The majority of this demographic supported Trump.  However Trump made gains in other demographics.  About the best we could say is that it helped but was not the only reason Trump won.

BTW it was Trump's youngest son Baron that encourage him to go on Joe Rogan.  Maybe the best we can say is about his decision to appear on Joe Rogan:



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