Spilling the Tea on All Things Podfading
Although Podcasts remain a highly preferred media around the world and the podcast industry is changing at a high pace, not many survive in the long run. This is generally due to a term known as podfading, which later results in pod-death, the death of the whole podcast.
Podfading occurs due to two main reasons. One, the host publishes episodes inconsistently with a huge interval between episodes. The other, when the host stops publishing any episodes at all instantaneously. The podcast then disappears into oblivion.
A little bit of History:
The term ‘Podfading‘ was first coined by podcaster Scott Fletcher, a computer program analyst, in February 2005 when he gave up on two of his very own podcasts.
I liken it to losing interest in a hobby and then coming up with the reasons you don’t have time anymore.
Fletcher told in a discussion of podcasting news.
Podcasting is one of those things that’s cheap and easy to begin to do but takes a tremendous amount of time to keep going with no payoff. There was no money in it and it did nothing to push my career forward.
Freelance writer and blogger Brian Reid, former host of the gender-issues program Sex Talk, who quit in August.
Besides, the reasons for podfading vary according to different podcasters. Not everyone stops publishing episodes due to losing interest like Fletcher or due to the lack of money like Reid, for instance, in the case of Ozawa’s, it was a massive success story that overwhelmed them.
Causes & Consequences of Podfading:
Podfading occurs due to the following reasons:
- Time: To publish a great podcast episode means to invest a lot of time and effort into creating one. From content research, writing, recording to the final editing and promotion process, a podcaster will need to spend huge hours of his day in the making of interesting podcast episodes. This is one main reason why most podcasters eventually lose interest while creating the fourth or fifth episode.
- Content: Sometimes, the chosen content of a certain podcast isn’t a broad subject matter. As a result, after just a few episodes, the podcast podfades and is forced to end.
- Unorganized: Another cause of a podfade is being unorganized in terms of creating enough episodes to publish consistently. Most podcasters are excited about just the first few episodes and don’t think of or plan about the rest of the episodes leaving it for the last minute. This leads to late publishes, huge intervals, losing interest in recording podcasts little by little, and podfading.
How to Avoid Podfading:
- Make Time: It’s important for a dedicated and passionate podcaster to make time for creating podcasts. It is important to have strict deadlines and a consistent way of getting things done without lazying around. When one feels like giving up, it’s advisable to remind themselves if this is why they came this far.
- Choose wise content: Every podcaster needs to make a thorough research about the content they choose for creating a podcast. The broader the subject matter, the better. Instead of simply choosing a trendy topic every other person is talking about and jumping into the bandwagon, it is better to take some time doing proper research and choosing a topic that is guaranteed to not bore the audiences. Something that is deep, valuable, informative, witty, and interesting.
- Organize: Podcasters need to organize themselves in order to create enough episodes to publish consistently on the specified days. This could be quite tough at the beginning, but practice makes perfect. It is advisable for podcasters to have a reminder or a diary with a To-Do list so they can tick off one by one as they complete the relevant task to creating a podcast episode.