Three Takeaways from Podcast Movement 2024

and what that means for indie podcasters

I’ve just returned from Podcast Movement 2024 in Washington, D.C. Hailed as “podcasting’s most important annual event”, it’s the showcase event for bringing together podcasters, industry pros and leaders, and software and hardware companies under one roof.

This was my second event (last year in Denver was my first), and as always it’s an amazingly well put on event, with a host of keynotes, speaker tracks, panels, and more offering great insights for attendees.

This year's event did feel a bit different from last year, so here’s just my thoughts on that as a mini-recap, if you like, and what that means for indie podcasters as well as the industry in general.

Podcasters Are Becoming More Strategic

It used to be that podcasters “worried”, for lack of a better word, about two things - downloads and monetization. While that’s still kind of the case, it’s also a more mature and strategic version.

While there’s no harm in looking at your download numbers, these are really just the starting steps to what you should be looking it. After all, thanks to auto-download features on podcast apps as well as “save for later” options and bots, you can have a download that’s never listened to. So, downloads don’t really tell you the story around your podcast and its growth.

And this was evident at Podcast Movement, as podcasters asked and talked about listeners, listen through completion, audience intent, etc, which is a far more effective data set to be looking at.

Couple that with revenue models like Value4Value(V4V), hyper-local sponsorships, live recordings with guests, merchandising sponsorship, physical gifts for content, etc, as opposed to the traditional advertising and CPM models, and it’s clear that podcasters are thinking more analytically and empirically, as opposed to anecdotally.

This makes them better placed to place the correct “dollar amount value” on their show that’s not driven by high download numbers, and work much more in tandem with the right kind of monetization partners that benefit all parties - podcaster, sponsor, listener.

Production Quality is Increasing

Perhaps with the above in mind, podcasters are now taking their production more “seriously”. Now, to qualify that - there is absolutely nothing wrong with recording on your smartphone and uploading that to your hosting platform, and sending that out to your listeners.

Many podcasters do this and it works just fine for them, and more power to them.

But for podcasters looking to work with certain kinds of sponsors, join certain kinds of networks, compete with other shows in their niche, etc, increasingly they’re looking to see how their production process and results can be improved.

You saw this at stands from the likes of Descript and talks from the good folks over at Auphonic, as well as in conversations in the halls and networking events. Podcasters are looking to offer the best listener experience, and as such are looking at tools and processes to improve audio, flow, segments, interviewing skills, mic technique, and more.

Given that the industry is still relatively young compared to say, TV and radio, this increased attention to detail and quality is encouraging to see.

Is it Time for Cross-Country Smaller Events?

As I mentioned at the start, this year’s event in Washington felt a bit different from last year’s in Denver. The floor space and rooms at the conference centre - The Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center - felt more open space, which was nice, and the flow of foot traffic because of that seemed more natural.

There did seem to be less attendees this year, though that may be down to the more open floor set-up, and there also seemed to be less hardware manufacturers there this year. In 2023 there were 67 exhibitors; this year there were 46 exhibitors.

Noticeable exhibitors that didn’t have a presence this year but did in 2023 include ABC News, ESPN, National Geographic, Wondery, Amazon Music, Focusrite, Mackie, Streamyard, and Veritonic.

Now, there could be a few reasons for that - venue size difference, or some companies have changed since last year (Mackie being acquired by RODE, for example). But it did feel a bit quieter, and that makes sense when you see the exhibitor list has around 1/3 less companies than 12 months ago.

Listening to attendees at the event, and seeing some conversations online afterwards, one of the recurring questions/thoughts was whether a large-scale annual event like this still has a place.

There’s no doubting the value of Podcast Movement, and the huge amount of work and planning that goes into it, and all the amazing connections, takeaways, insights and more attendees and speakers/exhibitors receive.

But it may be that because of the single location, and time of year, etc, as well as podcasters and companies increasingly looking to be more strategic with budgets and expense, that the cost and time outweighs the many pros of the event.

It’s been suggested that perhaps smaller, multi-city events under the Podcast Movement umbrella may be an option, which opens up the event and learnings to a wider audience. Obviously you can buy recordings of the the talks and panels afterward to negate any cost issues, but then you miss the networking and connection that becomes beyond valuable, getting to meet people who you admire, respect, and learn from.

Whether this is something that may happen down the line, or whether the event continues in its current form, Podcast Movement remains a valuable piece of the podcasting ecosystem and industry, and it’ll be interesting to see what comes next from the team, with PM 25 already planned for Dallas.

Final Thoughts

One thing that was evident, whether you were an attendee or part of the event itself (I was there with Captivate), while there may be some doom and gloom headlines around the industry (lower ad revenue, less podcasts being released frequently, etc), from a creator point of view there’s a very palpable sense of excitement.

• The opportunities wider support of Podcasting 2.0 brings

• The multiple ways to earn revenue regardless of audio size

• Podcasting being recognized as a proper industry

• New equipments and software to make the best content possible

• and much, much more

While the numbers of active shows may be down, a lot of this can be put down to experimentation during the pandemic, where everyone and anyone started a podcast. While that was great, and opened up a whole new wave of podcasters joining the industry, now it’s settling down and starting to reward those in it for the long run.

It’s a great time to be a podcaster.