The Hypersonic Radio Network.

 

Podcasting is the future of Radio. In 2017, one of the main reasons TV streaming services such as

Netflix and BBC iPlayer are so popular, is that people are busy. They are not always going to be at

home at a certain time to watch their favourite programming. There is no such thing as 

“appointment viewing” anymore. It’s the same with radio. Very few people tune in to specific

shows on the radio anymore, more likely they listen to breakfast and drivetime shows, to

and from work. But with the advent of on-demand viewing and listening, the media you actually

want to consume can be done at your leisure.

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In the Ofcom – Communications Market Report 2017, they reported that more

people are listening to podcasts than ever before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an avid podcast listener, myself, this doesn’t surprise me. Podcasts are easily available, great to consume on the go and cover the topics I want to hear about. In 2016, the Radio Journal published an article which highlights something very important, podcast listeners are different to radio listeners.

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“For the radio listener to experience ‘radio’, they only need to approach their radio set and turn it on. They are then presented with whatever programme the station they are tuned to is broadcasting. .. The podcast listener has a different journey, one that starts with making a series of choices over what they want to hear, often before that piece of audio has been produced and certainly before they begin to hear it. This places podcast-ing as a ‘pull’ medium, one where the listener is more active in the process of selection and scheduling (Murray 2009; McClung and Johnson 2010), where there may also be an emotional investment in the process… Making choices about which specific podcasts to listen to, and also when and where suggests that the podcast listener is a more actively engaged participant than the radio listener.”

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With Podcasting becoming more accessible than ever, basically anyone with a phone can record themselves talking about their favourite topic and publish it to the internet. There is more competition for listeners than ever. A new start up podcast that isn’t backed by big companies like the BBC, NPR/This American Life or TED can easily be swept by the wayside or as Adam Buxton says on his successful podcast “added to the giant podcast bin”. This is why, The Hypersonic Radio Network exists. We carefully select independent podcasts on a range of topics (targeting different audiences) and put them under one umbrella. This way, the shows can promote each other, opening themselves to a new audience. This also makes it easy when approaching advertisers, as you would have the listening stats for a number of shows all in one place, you can sell airtime as a lump deal, “you pay this, you get featured on this number of shows and ergo these many ears on your advert”. Also with all my radio and podcasting expertise, these newer shows have the support of someone who has been there and edited very successful podcasts. Technical support and making your show sound right is so important, sloppy editing could lose you listeners. Another benefit of having these shows under one roof is that it creates healthy competition for the shows. Every show will want to have the best figures on the network, driving the best stats on social media, therefore, everyone steps their game up.

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This model has worked successfully elsewhere, in America there is a network called PodcastOne and it is one of the most successful in the world. PodcastOne sees more than 1.5 billion downloads annually, across 350 episodes produced weekly. On that network, they have some massive stars including Adam Corolla, Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Jericho and their Podcasts cover topics such as TV Shows, music, Pro Wrestling, True Crime and even, sex. They have attempted to cover all bases so that advertisers that choose PodcastOne, know there will be a show that attracts the demographic they want to target. One of the most interesting features PodcastOne has, is it’s Premium service. Here you have access to the full back catalogue of their podcasts. With their shows, they keep the last 2 months shows on hosts like Apple Podcasts but if you want the back catalogue you must pay. Instead of employing that method, The Hypersonic Radio Network would instead charge for early access and exclusive content such as video-casts. This option is not enforced and gives the customer an option on whether they want to support their favourite shows or not, they can still access the shows on their normal podcast feed.

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The next steps for making The Hypersonic Radio Network are as follows –

• Source more shows to be on the network, I already have my own show and a wrestling show ready to go.

• Research more into costs of advertising and come up with a pricing strategy.

• Look into branding, social media and web design.

• Also in terms of a website, what would I need to do to have a site that housed a lot of audio for download.

 

This is a business idea that I think can be successful if we get the right sort of shows on board. During the selection process, we need to know how many listeners they currently have, we don’t want to take on a podcast that has a handful of regular listeners, they need to have a relatively good following. I think convincing shows to come on board will be the hard part, but I have confidence in my personal ability and confidence that this product can be beneficial to the podcast makers and listeners alike.

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To see my video pitch CLICK HERE