National Public Radio hasn't had a history of being cutting edge, but a story in April's issue of Fast Company magazine suggests that these days, it's making all the right moves. Its bold move into digital media has been an unqualified success: some 14 million podcasts are downloaded each month.
Here's an excerpt from the feature, written by Anya Kamenetz:
[NPR] was the first mainstream-media organization to enter podcasting and often has several programs in the iTunes top 10. An open platform introduced last year allows listeners to mix their own podcasts and play around with NPR content—one fan built an NPR iPhone app.
Podcasts are just one of several digital methods they're using to connect with listeners, but it appears that it's the most popular.
And the results speak for themselves: newspapers, which have mostly resisted new media, have shed 11.4 percent of its audience in the past decade. NPR's audience has bounced up an impressive 95.6 percent. Its podcast audience is just the sort of youthful demographic they're hoping to appeal to: while the average radio listener is 49, the median age of a podcast listeneris 33.
The story certainly speaks to my experience: I'll be 33 in a few months, and I listen to NPR stories constantly—but almost never on the radio. Being able to mix my public radio podcasts the way DJs mix music is delightful—I can listen to whatever I want whenever I want, and it's what keeps me coming back. If only other media companies would take NPR's cue.
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2 comments:
Like you, I listen to NPR (and lots of other content,) and like you, I avoid the "tyranny of the transmitter".
I haven't turned on a radio in years. I barely watch the news and Jeopardy on tv.
I started my own podcasts in 2006 on something that would never get any traction on the mass media; multiple sclerosis.
Now after three years, and over 120k downloads of my episodes, I'm back in college in Communications only to witness that the academics who I was looking to for guidance are instead looking at me.
That's fascinating.
I am working on a story (in my other life) about a medical center that's using social media, including things like podcasts, to tackle niche topics that appeal to a relatively small audience—but for that small audience, it's absolutely critical information. It sounds a bit like what you were doing on your own.
I suspect that we're at the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the ways people will use podcasts to share information with both large and small audiences.
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