PolyCast: Most Preferred Episode Length

[Ming]

Originally posted by Locutus
They are cleary not doing what your survey says, so it's getting something wrong...

Many are... and maybe if more people made their long podcasts available in smaller sections, even MORE people might listen to them.

And it't not "my" survey... it was a survey done by a legitimate research company.
Usually, the best way to find out what people really want is to simply ask them.

Many people put their money up for many things, and many end up with something they didn't really want.
Just because people do something is not proof that they wouldn't like a better alternative.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Ming
Many are...

No they're not. Where? Who are they? Show me some popular podcasts other than Grammar Girl or Manager Tools that are weekly and under 20 minutes long. Other than those two there's virtually nothing in the top rankings of iTunes, Podcast Alley or in the PodCast Awards that qualifies, and those are the best indicators we have of popular podcasts.

Yes, I'm sure *some* people are, but some people want podcasts listen to 42-hour-long podcasts as well, or podcasts that feature people taking a sh*t and recording it (yes, those actually exist). If you can think of a concept you can think of someone who'll like it, but that doesn't make it the norm.

Other than this entirely theoretical survey there is NO evidence to back up your claims.

and maybe if more people made their long podcasts available in smaller sections, even MORE people might listen to them.

I'm sure a few people would, but if it was gonna have any kind of real impact, don't you think people like Wizzard Media, Libsyn, Podshow, KATG and all these other organisations who's revenue is entirely dependent on podcasting would be doing it more? Or am I really such a genius for coming up with this idea that'll suddenly drive droves of new listeners to podcasting and no one thought of this before? I'm flattered you'd think that, but I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree

Again, thousands of short podcasts ARE already available, but for the most part they're not making it into any top rankings. They all have their niche user bases (which is exactly what makes podcasting so great), but there's zero evidence that this is "what people want" and that shorter podcast are more successful. In fact, there's an overwhelming amount of evidence that that is NOT the case, that in fact GENERALLY, LONGER podcast are more successful. Sticking your head in the sand and pretending all those one-hour shows dominating the rankings or <20-minute shows NOT dominating the rankings aren't out there doesn't make them go away.

Usually, the best way to find out what people really want is to simply ask them.

And the best way to find out if people are telling you the truth is by comparing their words to their actions.

Radiohead recently released their album online and set no fixed price on it, they said to their fans: "pay what you want". This is a fairly new phenomenon so 'legitimate research companies' jumped on it and surveyed what people had paid for it. They said on average they paid about $8, but the Register checked the actual sales numbers and revealed they really paid less than $5. So the survey was off by over +60%. And this wasn't even a survey of what people "would be willing to pay", but one of "what did you pay". Again, people don't put their money where their mouth is.

Surveys are a useful tool to get a rough idea about certain things, but they are by no means hard, reliable information. No one in their right mind would rely solely on survey data for anything if they also have hard, verifiable facts to supplement it. Especially since there are a LOT of things wrong with the way commercial research companies tend to do surveys -- they're no science institutes, they're in the business of selling surveys, not conducting them. They're some really interesting surveys and articles about this that were conducted by science institutes, but that's a different story entirely.

Many people put their money up for many things, and many end up with something they didn't really want.
Just because people do something is not proof that they wouldn't like a better alternative.

And even more people put their money up for many things and DO get what they want -- and if not they eventually move on to greener pastures, especially if those are widely available and all travel expenses are paid.

Just because some survey says that people want something doesn't mean that that survey is representative of all people and all situations, especially if that survey is contradicted by a wide body of factual evidence.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Ming
While it would be more work... I like the idea of breaking the broadcast into segments.

We do a lot of pod casts for our clients, and research shows that the optimum length is between 10 to 20 minutes. This is a "comfortable" range for most listeners.
Many people just can't dedicate 50 to 60 minutes at a time. Yeah, you can listen to it in multiple sittings now. But breaking it up into smaller segments would make that a lot easier. And anything we can do to make it easier to listen to is probably a good thing

Exactly - though I think the happy medium for 'Polycast is closer to 30 mins of more focused discussion. Perhaps to balance you would have more releases as was mentioned.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Locutus
I'm sure a few people would,

It's nice to know we can agree on something...

[Locutus]

I suspect we have very different views on the meaning of the word 'few' in there, but I'll take it

[Ming]

All I've been saying is that by providing things in shorter segments, more people would listen, and that it makes it easier on people... all good things

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Ming
All I've been saying is that by providing things in shorter segments, more people would listen, and that it makes it easier on people... all good things

Yup. And asking people what they think about length and then responding that we should just listen in chunks if we would prefer a shorter length is pretty silly.

[DanQ]

Originally posted by DrSpike
[Asking people what they think about length and then responding that we should just listen in chunks if we would prefer a shorter length is pretty silly.

No it is not. Again, we are considering the possibility of shorter episode lengths. We may or may not reduce the episode length ultimately, and even if we do -- again -- it may not be enough of a shortening for some people. Then there is also the matter of existing episodes.

Therefore, in circumstances where you believe an episode is too long to listen to in one sitting -- for whatever reason -- chunking is a reasonable option. A program too long for you to watch in one sitting while it's on TV? With a VCR, DVR etc. you can record it for watching at a time of your convenience and skip the commercials. You can do this once in a while, all of the time or somewhere in between depending upon the circumstance and your preference.

Listening to an episode in chunks is a compromise, just as is the possibility of our making episode segments available in chunks themselves.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by DanQ

No it is not. Again, we are considering the possibility of shorter episode lengths.

Good.

[DanQ]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Good.

Now it's sinking in -- good.

[DrSpike]

It would have sank in a lot quicker if you'd just admitted off the bat I was right it should be considered, instead of what you initially posted.

[DanQ]

Originally posted by DrSpike
It would have sank in a lot quicker if you'd just admitted off the bat I was right it should be considered, instead of what you initially posted.

There was nothing to "admit off the bat" or otherwise -- if we weren't considering shorter episodes I wouldn't have made the poll have options that list shorter length episodes than what we are doing now.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by DanQ



There was nothing to "admit off the bat" or otherwise -- if we weren't considering shorter episodes I wouldn't have made the poll have options that list shorter length episodes than what we are doing now.

Exactly! You should have made that clear when posting your 'helpful alternative'.

[DanQ]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Exactly! You should have made that clear when posting your 'helpful alternative'.

The options were made clear based on the poll options which I reiterated in my opening post no less.

You overreacted. Moving on...

[DrSpike]

Reading back all I see is me posting my view (as requested), you pompously responding to suggest I could "choose to contextualise my answer", and me politely expanding on my view despite that.