TikTok’s podcast boom might be a bust

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The communal contented goes that video is the cardinal to podcast discovery: you instrumentality the juiciest clips from your show, anticipation 1 goes viral each present and past connected TikTok, and past that wider (and younger) assemblage becomes your caller listeners. Uncah jamz is the premier illustration of this, sending a clump of caller attraction to Call Her Daddy. But adjacent podcasters who person cracked the codification connected TikTok person recovered the narration betwixt on-app engagement and existent listening to beryllium weak, astatine best.

That contented whitethorn soon beryllium moot. Last week, seemingly retired of nowhere, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would unit Chinese institution ByteDance to merchantability TikTok oregon different prohibition it from operating successful the US. If it passes the Senate (which is a large “if”), the societal media scenery successful this state would beryllium transformed — the podcasting scenery little so.

Larger outlets usage TikTok arsenic portion of a multi-pronged strategy — and astir of the time, it doesn’t instrumentality off. Gen Z-skewed personage interrogation shows similar Call Her Daddy and The Really Good Podcast fare good connected the platform, but they are the exceptions. The imaginable of a TikTok prohibition and however it impacts selling strategy has hardly travel up during interior discussions astatine immoderate of the bigger audio companies, I hear.

NPR’s Planet Money is 1 of the fewer nationalist vigor shows that has recovered its mode connected TikTok. Featuring quirky explainer videos starring Courtney Theophin and Jack Corbett, the Planet Money TikTok has 785,000 followers, which is 325,000 much than the main NPR account.

“Anecdotally, we bash find radical travel to cognize astir the podcast due to the fact that of the TikTok (and vice versa) based connected emails/comments/surveys/etc.,” Planet Money executive shaper Alex Goldmark told Hot Pod successful an email. “It is conscionable precise hard to quantify oregon measurement which downloads are caused by immoderate 1 circumstantial TikTok post.”

Even aft moving hard to make a pursuing connected the platform, Goldmark knows amended than to trust connected it. “We adapted to TikTok. Jack and Courtney bash astonishing enactment gathering the benignant and code of the assemblage there,” helium said. “We’ll accommodate to what’s next. We’ve been good since leaving Twitter arsenic a company. We’ve ne'er thought we should number connected immoderate level to enactment the same.”

Gary Arndt, an autarkic podcaster who hosts top-ranking past amusement Everything Everywhere Daily, has managed to get immoderate of his explainers connected topics similar the Little Ice Age and the improvement of Route 66 picked up by the TikTok algorithm. But done his nexus tracker, helium tin spot that precise fewer of those viewers really fuss to click disconnected the level to perceive to the show.

“Even erstwhile a video gets aggregate tens of thousands, I would beryllium fortunate if I got much than single-digit numbers of clicks successful a day,” helium said. “The information is, astir societal media apps don’t privation radical to permission their environment. They privation to support them there.”

For him, it is nary lucifer for accepted selling similar buying promos connected akin shows oregon advertisements wrong podcast apps similar Overcast and Castbox. And that purchased media seems to beryllium moving — Arndt says helium gets astir 1.5 cardinal downloads a month.

“Even if it’s an autarkic podcast, it’s inactive a media property,” helium told Hot Pod. “Yet a batch of podcasters look to deliberation that they tin bash nothing, oregon they conscionable stock worldly connected societal media. That doesn’t work.”

But determination are definite cases wherever TikTok tin determination the needle. Cristina Lumague, who hosts existent transgression amusement Espooky Tales and Latin American past podcast Historias Unknown, has amassed 215,000 followers connected TikTok and occasionally produces posts that get much than a cardinal views. While her downloads are much humble — astir 2,000 a week — Lumague says a viral video tin temporarily triple her listenership.

Lumague whitethorn person an borderline for a fewer reasons. Her demographic skews young — she says the bulk are betwixt 24 and 30 years old. She has besides successfully adapted to TikTok’s preferred benignant of front-facing explainers utilizing greenish screens. Even if TikTok does not turn her assemblage successful a accordant way, it is simply a cardinal portion of her distribution.

“I ever perceive radical accidental TikTok doesn’t person to listeners,” Lumague said. “It does for me. And I’ve gotten I don’t cognize however galore messages saying, ‘I recovered you connected Tik Tok and I emotion it,’ and truthful yeah, losing the discoverability and engagement would beryllium a lot.”

As the Senate considers however to proceed with the bill, Lumague has joined different TikTok users successful advocating against the ban. She is reposting calls to enactment connected the app and emailing officials (“not calling, due to the fact that I don’t similar telephone calls”).

The astir communal refrain I person heard from podcasters is on the lines of “we’ll conscionable spell to Instagram.” But for Lumague, it’s not an capable replacement. Even if Reels is akin successful format, she says it prioritizes aesthetically beauteous content.

“TikTok is way, mode much casual. I could conscionable person a greenish screen, and I don’t person to look large connected video, and it would bash fine,” she said. “The podcasts that bash good connected Instagram person professional-looking videos with truly bully cameras. You tin archer they person a team.”

Even Arndt, who gained a pursuing of 180,000 connected Instagram arsenic a question photographer, says Instagram is simply a bust for podcasts. “Somehow, the video contented does adjacent worse there,” helium said. He is nary instrumentality of TikTok, but “to beryllium honest, it is 1 of the amended ones.”