Looking for podcasting app validation
I recently got into the habit of listening to podcasts pretty frequently and there seems to be something lacking in this space.
I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into the problems that podcast hosts currently have.
It seems like there's no straightforward method of communication between podcast hosts and listeners outside of twitter or email (which I don't believe to be sufficient).
My initial idea would be to create an app that podcast hosts could create a page for their podcast where listeners could post questions and suggestions for the host that could be upvoted or commented on by other listeners. The questions could be directed toward the host and any future guests that are expected to be interviewed. Suggestions could include topics that the listeners would like to be covered in future episodes.
Before going any further with this idea, I'd like to know what kind of problems podcast hosts are facing and if getting feedback from their listeners is a large enough problem for this to be viable.
Any and all feedback would be much appreciated!
Agree with kjk about reaching out to podcasters individually.
Also, my recommendation when starting any business is to look at where the money is. Find out what kinds of transactions are actually being made. Find out where money is changing hands. What are podcast hosts/listeners paying for? What are they charging for?
Okay, now stick to those areas. You know for sure there's value there. Other areas, yeah, maybe you can solve a problem, but there's zero proof that the problem is valuable enough to be worth any more. It's a safer bet to look at what people already find valuable enough to pay for and innovate around that.
Some thoughts:
Hey @csallen
Quick question
What if a single platform does all the above-mentioned "paid" tasks for you, for free?
editing a podcast simplified by generating a text transcription. Edit text, the same gets reflected in the audio file.
auto transcription in the editing step itself
you need not host in manually anywhere, the platform does it for you right there
you can also distribute your podcast to Spotify, apple, google, etc with a single click
be able to have direct conversations with fans/ followers/ subscribers right in the app
have AMAs with a live audience which can directly be converted into a podcast episode
clips short memos from the entire episode and share it across social media handles in an interactive visual
would you use such an app ? let me know your thoughts
Thanks Courtland! I'll be sure to reach out to more hosts to get a better idea of what they are looking for.
Definitely sounds like a solid starting point. I guess I'm starting by looking at "what problems does X face?" but I should probably start by looking at "what does X currently pay for that could be improved upon?"
Your last two bullet points about matching advertisers with hosts definitely sounds like an area that could be promising. I'll have to investigate.
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You're onto an interesting idea here — essentially an audio-only version of YouTube Live or Facebook Live.
There's no question that many podcast listeners would love this kind of platform. Less clear is how welcoming podcast hosts would be of it, considering many of them like to pave a kind of "conversational roadmap" ahead of time by doing plenty of preparation going into the episode and taking preliminary questions from listeners (via Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
Slightly unrelated but possibly helpful: if you're interested in what our process looks like producing episodes for the Indie Hackers Podcast, here you go:
Thanks Channing! Never thought of it that way but yes it would be quite similar to Youtube Live or Facebook Live.
That's the part I'm wondering about. If I can get the hosts on board with something like that, it would be easier to get the listeners to follow along by having hosts direct them to an app like that.
Definitely helpful! That was something I'm curious about. Understanding a podcast hosts' workflow and pain points would be crucial to making a successful product in my opinion.
Do you and Courtland ever have trouble with getting listener feedback?
We both have relatively attentive audiences following us on social media, so we don't often have trouble getting listener feedback.
And as I said before, we do a good bit of preparation ahead of each show, and tend to optimize more for getting the guests to give their "best stuff" than getting them to interact with listeners.
That said, we've been thinking about supporting AMAs somewhere on our platform, and the podcast is an intriguing candidate.
My guess it's not but I'm not a podcaster.
But why are you asking this question here? I doubt many people here are podcaster.
Most people who do podcasting can be easily reached via e-mail or twitter.
Contact them with "I love your podcast. I have an idea for an app that could possibly help podcasters but before I start I would love to know your thoughts. The idea is ..... Is it something that you would use?" e-mail.
I'm pretty sure that if you phrase it correctly, they'll be happy to tell you (although you should correct for the fact that people don't like to be mean so the responses will be more encouraging that their actual willingness to use such product).
Thanks for the feedback! I do plan to reach out to more podcast hosts and I started with Courtland since I've listened to all of his podcasts already. I also wanted to know how much interest there would be in something like that from the listeners.
I'll be sure to reach out to more hosts and report back.
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
I suspect he's doing something like that. He asked me personally over email, and I redirected him to post on the forum, because I'd prefer to give advice/feedback/ideas in public.
This is funny because I've been trying to validate a similar idea myself for the last two weeks or so.
You should do your own research, of course, but my results so far are that less than 10% of the people I've contacted had any interest. I'm teetering on just throwing the idea out right now unless my next round of outreach proves more successful.
If you want to email back and forth a bit about this let me know.