Cuban on Podcasting
Mark Cuban has added a second post on his BlogMaverick in reponse to the feedback and comments he received on his initial post where he discusses why he thinks the podcasting phenomenon will run its course and not be economically viable, stating:
“Creating your own podcast and trying to make a business out of it is a mistake.”
On this follow up post, Cuban goes through a list of how he sees podcasting playing out in the mainstream, ending with:
“..in about 3 years, the Podcast phenomena will have run its course and will just be a normal part of the digital media landscape.”
Interesting words from a guy who knows business, and has plenty of experience in content distribution over the internet. I have no great insights myself into how it will exactly pan out, but I do think that there will be a healthy amount of sponsored and subscription based podcasts in the very near future. I think there is some obvious merit to what Cuban states, but I think I am a little more bullish on podcasting than he.
July 16th, 2005 at 5:28 pm
Stop and ask yourself: What is “podcasting”, other than a carefully crafted marketing campaign to boost sales–of iPod’s in particular? Think about how many people were sold camera phones, and never use them. It is a pull technology, and most people are lasy asses.
Cuban is right here, I think. The whole thing seems like a trumped up, kistchy term bandied about by peeps who would’ve probably taken the time to download the file even if it wasn’t called a “podcast”.
I think technophiles sometimes confuse words with concepts: they glom on to the words quickly, but if the practicality is not inherent and/or getting better, it is destined to go the way of the Furby. Analyzing this ‘error’ is not really important to them, as there’s a good chance they’ve already moved on to Sony’s newest robotic dog.
Perhaps I am wrong, and there are two guys with a DAT in a basement somewhere that will storm the media marketplace with their witty and brilliant take on… whatever… but for now, ‘podcasting’ is relegated to a (by far) secondary method of media distribution, and as Cuban intimated, will probably stay that way.
July 16th, 2005 at 6:58 pm
Thanks for the comment Joshua. Yes one can see it many different ways. However, unless there is a big conspiracy that most of us missed “podcasting” actually never had anything to do with a “carefully crafted marketing campaign to boost sales of iPods” - certainly it didnt hurt the sales of iPods in any way, shape or form. In fact Apple stayed away from it entirely until the release of iTunes 4.9 with built in podcatching, they ceased the opportunity and capitalized on the rapidly growing trend. The stars aligned for Steve Jobs no doubt.
The future of the medium is certianly wide open. Look at www.odeo.com, check out music.podshow.com, there is a movement occuring here. No flushed out business models as of yet, but that is secondary. It may not be two dudes with a DAT in their basement, but there is sure to be some rising stars who do things that mainstream media cant do. Anywhere you have unregulated media and no shortage of producers, there is bound to be some intereting developments. Keep your eye on this one Joshua, Cuban may be right in the long run, or he may be wrong. Either way we are in interesting times