Beth Worthy
4/5/2021
When a podcast is said to experience podfade, it usually indicates that the podcast's creator has suddenly stopped coming up with new episodes without any prior notice.
This may not be an intentional end to the series. If the creator of the podcast is unprepared to create good-quality content for the series, podfade is the foreseeable consequence.
In a 2018 interview with the CEO of Blubrry, Todd Cochrane in Amplifi Media stated, that out of the 540,000 podcasts available at that time, only one-fourth (25%) had published a new episode during the year before, i.e., about 75% of all podcasts in 2018 were not producing any more episodes.
This article discusses key causes of podfade and gives practical solutions to continue a podcast and avoid podfade.
Podfade can occur in two situations. The first situation is when podfading occurs if the podcast host starts publishing episodes with gradually decreasing frequency.
In this case, eventually, the host stops publishing the episodes completely, and the podcast fades away into oblivion.
The second type of podfading happens when after regularly publishing episodes, a podcast suddenly stops creating anymore. This means that all the hype generated by the show and the audiences gained are lost.
Each of these situations results in adverse outcomes for a podcast.
Therefore, unless your podcast was planned to last for only limited episodes, it is certainly a good idea to take steps to ensure that your podcast series does not fall victim to podfading.
Several podcasting industry experts believe that around episode 8, the tendency to podfade generally sets in. Some causes of why podfading occurs are as follows:
Podcasting requires a lot of time and effort, especially if it intends to be effective, informative, and engaging.
The entire content creation process needs thorough research and time to write the material. Next, the actual recording process needs time to ensure that all the necessary takes are done to compile an organized and consistent show.
Next, the editing procedure might take a lot of time and patience. You might also want to transcribe the podcast and add timestamps to it.
This can either be done through software applications or be more efficiently handled by a professional podcast transcription services team.
Finally, you need to properly market and promote the podcast to build its audience, increase the host's credibility as an expert within the concerned niche, and increase the reach of the show.
This indicates a shortage of content within the selected topic or subject matter to create a long-lasting podcast.
Sometimes, a podcast team might believe that they have an excellent idea for a podcast and immediately start churning out one or more show episodes.
However, by the time they reach the 6th, 7th, or the fateful 8th episode, the initial idea seems to have lost its novelty, and there is not enough content or scope left in the chosen niche to continue the series.
Thus, the initial hype and the memento created by the podcast fizzle out, and the production of the series eventually stops.
Hosting an ongoing podcast requires a lot of time and effort.
With so many podcasts starting regularly, you might think that creating a good podcast is simple and merely requires some content, recording equipment, and recording and publishing the series.
However, starting a good podcast is far more difficult, although the entire process gets easier with time. Creating a successful and long-lasting podcast from scratch requires a lot of preparation.
Often people might be attracted to the idea of making a podcast and start doing so without much preparation or considering the finer details of podcasting.
Remember, it is impossible to create a good and lasting podcast if the team makes it without doing the necessary research, and groundwork and without laying a strong foundation for the show.
Have a clear estimation of the time required to create good-quality and engaging podcast episodes continuously.
It is best to try to develop a workable publishing schedule. It is not necessary to always create a weekly podcast. Several successful podcasts publish monthly or fortnightly episodes.
The key is to generate consistent good-quality episodes that stick to the schedule. You need to clearly communicate their publishing schedule to your audience to ensure that they view the episode when it is available.
Developing a feasible podcast schedule will also help the creating team to consistently and efficiently develop new content.
Along with specializing in your selected niche, ensure that the chosen subject is not too broad because this might make it impossible to find a proper sequence for the content, which might confuse the viewer. It might also be difficult to choose a topic from a broad niche.
Contrarily, a narrow subject might mean a shortage of good content. This can either result in stretching too little content into too many episodes or running short of useful content within a few episodes.
Start your podcasting journey by learning everything possible about starting a podcast.
Additionally, systematically understand everything possible about your recording and editing software application to optimize your time utilization.
That will help you be better informed about the required software applications and how to get the job done in the most efficient possible manner.
Knowing well about the podcasting processes and their related tools prevents a podcasting team from becoming overwhelmed by the job and helps them plan and prepare well for the task, gradually making the entire process easier.
Recording as many podcast episodes as possible before the scheduled publishing date reduces your workload and ensures that you do not run on a tight schedule every week or month.
However, also ensure that your content is not outdated when the previously recorded episodes are published.
The following strategies can increase the effectiveness and engagement level of a podcast:
Contact us at GMR Transcription Services, Inc. for professional podcast transcription services to expand the reach of your podcast and increase its effectiveness.
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