In addition to SCA’s Grant Blackley making the trip to Malmo and then London, to talk about the future of digital audio and podcasting, was Brisbane-based Podnews editor James Cridland.
Also labelled a radio futurologist, Cridland was onstage presenting at both events – Radio Days Europe and The Podcast Show.
Cridland’s duties in Malmo included hosting a conversation with Johan Seidefors, the Nordic head of content at Spotify. (See below for more on that.)
In London at The Podcast Show, Cridland was kept busy on Day 1 of the 2-day event. He started the day presenting the very first session of the event, The Future of Podcasting, where he shared thoughts on the global landscape and how markets differed.
Later in the day he was the host of the entertaining and informative session, Supercharging Subscriptions, Driving New Revenues. It was during this session that Sony Music Entertainment dropped the news it would be launching an on-demand audio platform called The Binge.
Speaking to Mediaweek at The Podcast Show after his busy day, Cridland expanded on some of his topics.
“There are two things to consider when talking about the future of podcasting,” said Cridland.
“One is that no one company is ever going to own all of the content. In addition, the future will be multi-platform, with multiple ways of earning revenue.
“It’s a very exciting future ahead for podcasting because there are so many different elements.”
One slide in his presentation recommended his audience brawl less and talk more.
“The choice facing the industry is that we can choose to fight amongst ourselves and elbow each other out and grow at the expense of a competitor.
Or, the podcast industry is small enough for us to all work together to grow the sector. A rising tide lifts all ships as the saying goes.”
Cridland also commented on the size of the UK commercial radio investment in podcasting: “It is smaller here probably because the UK commercial radio industry is essentially three companies – Global is very forward-looking in terms of its Global Player, its advertising system and all the content it has access to.
“I don’t see anything exciting coming from Bauer which is the other big UK commercial player. They have a similar market share to Global. They are doing very little in terms of podcasting which is a shame.
“At some point Bauer will find a strategy and decide what they will do in the sector. They have been very successful in the Nordic countries, but here in the UK, not so much.
“The only other commercial radio player of note is News UK and they seem to be in building mode with the more recent launches of TalkRadio and TalkTV. I would expect to see News UK at this show next year.”
James Cridland spoke to Johan Seidefors, the Nordic head of content at Spotify during Radio Days in Malmo, Sweden. The music and podcast streaming platform also had a huge presence at the London event.
James asked Seidefors in Malmo whether the radio industry is doomed and if Spotify sees it as competition. Seidefors laughed and said that his mission was for Spotify to be the biggest audio company in the world and pointed out that his company was following the audience, not driving the trends.
Seidefors added Spotify is always trying to highlight content that audiences might be interested in. And he noted that personalisation will become more and more important in the future. Although he identified one potential issue with this: “You cannot lose the element of surprise for audiences, this is the challenge.”
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See also
SCA’s Grant Blackley tells international market about five-year digital transformation
Blackley on the launch of LiSTNR: ‘We are happy to take risks, but they are calculated risks’
The future of SCA audio content: Turns off feed to major streaming platform
Later this week
Thursday: Special double edition of Podcast Week with news of the hottest sessions from The Podcast Show London