“These days, many amateur podcasters are going professional. Major media organizations, searching for answers and bright spots in a fast-changing and confusing digital world, are releasing new shows every week,” John Herrman reports for The New York Times. “Advertisers are starting to follow them, and so are millions of dollars of venture capital.”
“It is, in other words, an industry now, one that Apple essentially gave life to and still dominates. Yet at this moment of triumph for podcasting, concerns are growing in the community about how much Apple actually cares,” Herrman reports. “Late last month, Apple brought seven leading podcast professionals to the company’s campus in Cupertino, Calif., to air their case to a room full of employees, according to two people who were there. The people would speak only on the condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure agreements. The company made no promises, the people said, but several pressing issues for podcasters were discussed in frank terms.”
“After the presentations concluded, Eddy Cue, the executive at Apple who oversees software and services, arrived for a closed session with the company’s employees, according to the attendees,” Herrman reports. “The question for podcasters — and for Apple — is about what comes next. Apple has at least two obvious choices: to rush to accommodate an industry that is quickly outgrowing its origins, or to let podcasting be, at the risk of losing its claim over a medium that owes its very name to the company.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As with apps, music, and books, discovery is, as always, the crux of the issue.
SEE ALSO:
tvOS 9.2 features Apple TV’s new Podcasts app, folders, app switcher UI, and more – January 12, 2016
Apple’s iOS devices continue to dominate Android in podcasting with 82% of listeners – July 20, 2015
CNET reviews Apple’s Podcasts app: All kinds of suck; the worst app Apple ever made – January 4, 2013