So, as an end user, you don’t see all that goes on when a launch like iTunes 4.9 comes out. I was annoyed about feeds not working, things being very random. What I was forgetting, was where the data was coming from. For instance, the great F1 show at formulapod.com mentioned the other day that since going onto iTunes listings, they were looking at 12 terrabytes of downloads for the month. Some podcasts have had to go offline, the show creators not being able to afford the bandwidth costs. All these things will sort out in time I reckon.
What you do have now, is podcasters instantly reaching a much wider global audience. And where you have little shows that reached a few thousand people (if they were doing really well) only last week, now they have the potential to be reaching hundreds of thousands of people. And here is where I reckon we are going to find the next generation of broadcasters.
Why? Simple. Lets say you are mr broadcasting empressario, looking for a new presenter for your radio channel. You have two candidates you are interested in. One is a presenter who has done local radio, very professional, small audience figures, but knows his stuff. The other is a podcaster, slightly laid-back shonky style, but oh, he has a global audience of half a million listeners worldwide, that are more than likely to come with him, as long as they can continue to access his stuff online. Hello.
Also, it is an extended CV for broadcasters. Take this F1 podcast again. I could see them doing occasional color commentary for major F1 broadcasters such as ITV or Speed, the fan point of view, that sort of thing. And mark my words, this sort of thing will happen. This is too big for it not to.