Tag: podcasts

Traditional media like the Ten Network commercial free-to-air TV establishing an online presence

I often hear remarks about people, especially youth and young adults, not using traditional media like newspapers or broadcast media for their news. Rather they are using social media or other online sources as news sources and reading their news from a smartphone or tablet.

This has been driven by the “cord-cutting” issue within the USA especially where younger people are cancelling pay-TV subscriptions and relying primarily on online media. In some cases, this underscores the idea of moving away from established media outlets towards what there is on the Internet.

But the way we view media is changing now that we are in the online age.

Media publisher types seem to be divided between two major classes.

One class is the established media outlet who has been a publisher or a broadcaster for a long time. They have been associated with long setup costs and requirements such as printing presses and distribution infrastructure including newsstands; or broadcast licences and RF infrastructure (transmitters, satellite systems or cable-TV setups). Examples of these are the major newspapers or the public-service or commercial broadcasters.

The other class are the online-first publishers like bloggers, podcasters or YouTubers who publish their content primarily on one or more online platforms. They typically set themselves up on the online platforms typically by creating an account; or in some cases, they rent hosting space at a Web hosting provider and buy “online real estate” in the form of one or more domain names to create a Website.

An increasing role of online services that aggregate content

Smartphones, tablets and laptops being the devices we consume media on nowadays

Then there the online platforms like social media, news aggregators, podcast directories, Internet-radio directories and video servers that simply serve a purpose of aggregating content produced by other online publishers.

This can also include portals like MSN.com, Google or Yahoo hat show news at a glance on a home page along with search directories like Google or Bing. We are also expecting to see more of these services come about as the Internet becomes the backbone of media distribution.

Publishers have seen these services as being of questionable value due to them not being able to monetise their work especially if their work is reproduced verbatim by the aggregator. This has caused continual spats between the established publishers and Big Tech who have been seeing themselves as publishers rather than aggregators.

What is the reality

Established media appearing online

RSS Webfeeds appearing through Feedly

But established media outlets have also set up multiple online front-ends whether free or paid. These also include at least a news portal ran by the publisher or broadcaster. But they also include RSS Webfeeds, podcasts or videos that appear in podcast and video directories, and content that is posted to the Social Web by the publisher.

Examples include TV broadcasters setting up “broadcast video on demand” platforms where they have their broadcast content available for viewing at any time; established news outlets offering their video reports on YouTube or some radio stations running online news portals. Or there are the Internet radio services that work with apps, Internet radios or smart speakers to bring traditional broadcast radio from anywhere in the world to you without the need of local RF-level presence.

Add to this attempts by TV and radio technology guardians to blur the distinction between consuming broadcast media via RF and Internet means and assure a familiar user experience when listening to or watching broadcast content. There is also pressure from established broadcasters to improve the discovery of their content that is offered linearly or on-demand through newer Internet-based devices.

Media outlets catering to the younger audience

A significant trend for established media publishers is to establish “youth-focused” media brands intended to appeal to teenagers and young adults. These nowadays appear exclusively or primarily on online platforms and the content is created and edited by young adults. As well, the content-presentation style is designed to appeal to youth and young adults, typically with snappy audio and video presentation, youthfully-fresh writing styles or simply on-trend with the young audience.

It is in addition to new “young-audience-first” media outlets appearing with content pitched to the young audience. Previously this would have been one of these media outlets running a magazine or radio station, where the content was primarily about fashion or pop-culture trends. But nowadays this manifests in the form of a podcast or online masthead accessible on the Internet and covers all issues of interest to young people including lifestyle issues.

This is something that some of the established media have been working on prior to the Internet, typically through running magazines, radio stations or broadcast shows that appealed to younger people. Here, these shows were seen as being complementary to the rest of that media outlet’s output so limiting the content of that brand to topics like the latest pop culture news.

Here, youth-focused media was seen as a way for business to court a valuable market that was represented by young people, using these platforms to pitch products and services relevant to that age group. Or, for broadcasters that didn’t rely on advertising, it was a way to see themselves as being relevant and attractive to younger audiences.

A history of adapting to new realities

These are steps being taken by established media outlets in order to keep themselves with the online generation, especially the younger generations. It is similar in prior times to how newspaper publishers had to cope with the new radio broadcasters when radio became popular, and how radio broadcasters had to cope when TV became popular and newer pure-play TV broadcasters appeared on the TV dial.

The main example is to have a Web-driven online newspaper that is offered for free, through donations or through subscriptions dependent on the publisher’s business model. Other approaches also include audio-on-demand (podcast) or video-on-demand material, or having the broadcast stream offered by Internet means.

The media outlets often see this as a way not just to stay relevant but to try different offerings or reach different markets in a low-risk manner. For example, The Guardian and the Daily Mail, two British newspapers, are reaching in to other Anglophone territories by offering an online version of their mastheads that can be read there. Or Communications Fiji Limited who run a handful of radio stations in Fiji and Papua New Guinea are running a Fiji-relevant online newspaper masthead known as Fiji Village.

There has always been criticism about new media types appearing. This tended to occur when there was an increased saturation of that media type amongst the population and the media type offered content that was popular. In a lot of cases, this criticism was directed at newer media platforms that were primarily about content that panders to our base instincts.

Online access to press releases

Most organisations including governments are publishing resources “from the horse’s mouth” online under their brand. These resources typically appear as press releases, blog posts or similar content including audiovisual content. Here, you can find them on the organisation’s Website or on online-service accounts operated by the organisation.

They can come in to play for verifying the authenticity of news material and even be useful for working against exaggeration by media outlets. Sometimes the blog posts can be used to “flesh out” what is being talked about in the press releases.

The issues to think of

A key issue is encouraging people to aware of the quality of news and information they consume from media in general.

Here, the blame about poor-quality news and information tends to be laid at the feet of online media. But these problems appear both with traditional media and the new online media.

For example, tabloid journalism, especially of a partisan nature, has been seen as a long-term media issue. It affects offline media, in the form of “red-top” tabloid newspapers, talkback radio hosted by “shock jocks”, tabloid-style public-affairs shows on Australian commercial TV, and far-right cable-TV news channels; as well as online media especially partisan online media outlets. Here, the issues raised include chequebook journalism, portraying marginalised communities in a negative light, and pandering to personal biases through emotion-driven copywriting.

In the online context, it is often referred to as “click-bait” because end-users are encouraged to click on the material to see further information about the topic. This often leads to seeing many ads for questionable online businesses.

This issue has become more intense since 2016 when it was realised that fake news and disinformation spread through social media was used to steer the outcome of the Brexit referendum and the US presidential election held that year.

What can be done

Media literacy

A key requirement is to encourage media literacy through education. An increasing number of schools are integrating media-literacy in to secondary-school curriculums, usually under various subjects.

As well, some libraries and community-education facilities are teaching media literacy to adults as short courses. You may find that some secondary schools may run a media-literacy short course as part of their community-education effort.

In addition, respected media outlets including public service broadcasters are supplying material about media literacy. Google is also joining in on the media-literacy game by running YouTube videos on that topic. This is thanks to YouTube being where videos with questionable information are being published.

Examples of this include the ABC’s “Media Watch” TV show that critiques media and marketing or their “Behind The News” media-literacy video series that was ran during 2020 as COVID started to take hold.

Here, media literacy is about being able to “read between the lines” and assess the veracity of news content. This includes being able to assess news sources carefully and critically as well as assess how news outlets are treating particular topics.

Flagging, debunking and prebunking misinformation and disinformation

Another effort that is taking place is the flagging, debunking and “prebunking” of misinformation and disinformation.

Fact-check websites ran by established media outlets and universities draw our attention to questionable information and highlight whether it is accurate or not. As well, they write up information to substantiate their findings regarding the questionable information and this is derived from collections of established knowledge o the topic.

Here, one could check through one or more of these Websites to see whether the information is accurate or not and why it is or isn’t accurate.

As well, mainstream online service providers are joining in the game by flagging potential disinformation and providing links to accurate resources on the topic. This was an effort that was very strong through the COVID pandemic due to the misinformation and disinformation that is swirling around cyberspace during the height of the pandemic. Such disinformation was at risk of causing people to make the wrong health choices regarding limiting the spread of COVID like not masking up or avoiding COVID vaccinations.

Then there are “prebunking” efforts typically undertaken by government departments or civil society to warn us about potential disinformation and propaganda. This is to make the public aware of the questionable information in a preemptive manner and publish accurate information on the topic at hand.

A common analogy that is used is how vaccinations work to defend our bodies against particular diseases or reduce the harm they can cause. I also use the common reference to the “guardrail at the top of the cliff” versus the “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” where the guardrail protects against incidents occurring.

It can be in the form of online resources like FAQs carrying accurate information on the topic at and, typically to rebut the common myths. This can be augmented with other efforts like public-service announcements in traditional media or experts making appearances in the public space or on broadcasts to talk about these issues.

Conclusion

New approaches to distributing and consuming news will require us across the generations to adapt our thoughts regarding the different media outlets that exist. This will be more about the quality of the journalism that these outlets provide rather than how the news is distributed.

This will including identifying sources of good-quality journalism and, where applicable, supporting these sources in whatever way possible. As well, keeping ourselves media literate will also be an important task.

Articles

Spotify dabbling in podcasts and strengthening its ties with podcasters is placing it at risk of carrying anti-vaxx and similar disinformation

Joni Mitchell joins Neil Young’s Spotify protest over anti-vax content | Joni Mitchell | The Guardian

Nils Lofgren Pulls Music From Spotify – Billboard

My Comments

Spotify has over the last two years jumping on the podcast-hosting wagon even though they were originally providing music on demand.

But just lately they were hosting the podcast output of Joe Rogan who is known for disinformation about COVID vaccines. They even strengthened their business relationship with Joe Rogan using the various content monetisation options they offer and giving it platform-exclusive treatment.

There has been social disdain about Spotify’s business relationship with Joe Rogan due to social responsibility issues relating to disinformation about essential issues such as vaccination. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell had pulled their music from this online music service and an increasing number of their fans are discontinuing business with Spotify. Now Nils Lofgren, the guitarist from the E Street Band associated with Bruce Springsteen is intending to pull music he has “clout” over from Spotify and encourages more musicians to do so.

Tim Burrowes, who founded Mumbrella, even said in his Unmade blog about the possibility of Spotify being subject to what happened with Sky News and Radio 2GB during the Alan Jones days. That was where one or more collective actions took place to drive advertisers to remove their business from these stations. This could be more so where companies have to be aware of brand safety and social responsibility when they advertise their wares.

In some cases, Apple, Google and Amazon could gain traction with their music-on-demand services. But on the other hand, Deezer, Qobuz and Tidal could gain an increased subscriber base especially where there is a desire to focus towards European business or to deal with music-focused media-on-demand services rather than someone who is running video or podcast services in addition.

There are questions about whether a music-streaming service like Spotify should be dabbling in podcasts and spoken-word content. That includes any form of “personalised-radio” services where music, advertising and spoken-word content presented in a manner akin to a local radio station’s output.

Then the other question that will come about is the expectation for online-audio-playback devices like network speakers, hi-fi network streamers and Internet radios. This would extend to other online-media devices like smart TVs or set-top boxes. Here, it is about allowing different audio-streaming services to be associated with these devices and assuring a simplified consistent user experience out of these services for the duration of the device’s lifespan.

That includes operation-by-reference setups like Spotify Connect where you can manage the music from the online music service via your mobile device, regular computer or similar device. But the music plays through your preferred set of speakers or audio device and isn’t interrupted if you make or take a call, receive a message or play games on your mobile device.

What has come about is the content hosted on an online-media platform or the content creators that the platform gives special treatment to may end up affecting that platform’s reputation. This is especially where the content creator is involved in fake news or disinformation.

Article

The Amazon Echo and similar devices will create new applications for audio content

2019 will see the end of baked-in, generic podcast ads | Mumbrella

My Comments

Previously there were the radio shows which were a packaged item of audio content that was broadcast by one or more stations at one or more known times. These effectively drove radio along before television came to the fore but still exist mainly in an informative manner.

This can happen in the form of talk shows primarily run on stations that run informative content to music documentaries and Top-40 countdown shows run on the commercial music stations. In some cases, scripted radio drama still exists, especially with the BBC or some community radio stations who syndicate drama series. This is in conjunction with some radio stations doing book readings, mostly for vision-impaired people but also appealing to other users like drivers.

Often what would happen if other stations are interested in the same radio show is that they would “syndicate” the show by buying rights to broadcast the show themselves. In most cases, each episode of the show would be delivered as a recording that would be played at a scheduled time that is part of the agreement. A live show prepared by an originating station may simply be streamed out to local stations who are syndicating it thanks to satellite or similar communications technologies.

But this concept is still being pushed onwards in the form of the podcast which is today’s equivalent of these radio shows. Here, these shows are available for download and can be followed using a podcast manager that you run on your regular computer or mobile device. The podcast manager, typically part of a media management program, would check for and download the latest podcasts on to your equipment and, in some cases, synchronise them to MP3 players or similar devices.

Increasingly, streaming-audio-content services like Internet-radio or music-on-demand services are becoming podcast-delivery platforms themselves. Here, the content is streamed out via the service rather than being made available for download to your computer’s local storage, but the service may offer a download option for offline listening.

Infact the podcast is being valued by radio stations in a few different ways. For example, a radio station who runs a regular radio show will offer past and current episodes of this show for download as a podcast. This can come in handy for people new to a show, who have missed episodes of that show or like to hear it at their own time and pace.

Similarly, radio stations may syndicate a podcast that their network or someone else has created. This may be used to fill a programming void that may exist while one or more of the regular shows is on hiatus.

An issue that is affecting podcasts today is how they can work with an advertising context especially if people are moving away from advertising-driven radio. Typically the podcaster who wanted to sell advertising time would have to run the same approach as a syndicated radio show that is sponsored by one or more companies.  Here, the sponsored show will have “baked in” advertising offered by the show’s sponsors that is recorded as part of the show, which is different from the “spot” approach with ads that are inserted by the broadcaster airing the show.

This arrangement will lead to situations where advertising isn’t relevant to the listener due to such factors as the advertiser not in the listener’s location. The fact that an advertisement “baked in” to a podcast can be listened to ant any time can affect material that is time-sensitive due to campaign or jurisdiction issues.

What is being looked at now with various podcast infrastructures like Spotify, Apple or Google is the ability to provide dynamically-inserted content for podcasts. This will initially be investigated with news and current-affairs shows that have up-to-date content, including the idea of using local up-to-date newsbreaks. For advertising, this can also be about the introduction of localised spot advertising in to podcasts just like what a local radio broadcaster does to a syndicated show when they air it.

Listening to podcasts will be a similar experience to listening to syndicated radio shows

The problem I see with this kind of setup as far as how podcasters are paid is that it will follow the same rules as the syndicated content aired on commercial radio and TV. If the show has sponsorship with the “baked-in” advertising, the show’s producers and talent will be paid while the localised “spot” advertising simply pays the broadcaster. They may pay the show’s producers a “cut” of that advertising revenue as part of the syndication agreement.

But with this application, it will lead to an emphasis towards addressable advertising focused on narrow factors such as age, gender or detailed location like one’s neighbourhood. There will also be some influence based on the kind of podcasts or audiobooks you play through the podcast platform.

Here, it may require podcast formats to support the addition of standard metadata in order to identify logical breaks where advertising or other content can be inserted. Then the various podcast apps and platforms that run their own ad platforms will end up inserting the localised content in to the break. This may affect approaches like downloading for offline use, where it may be about downloading a collection of files that are joined by a podcast-specific playlist or creating a single concatenated audio file representing the main and supplementary content.

The above-mentioned logical breaks will also be of importance to the radio station who wants to syndicate that podcast. This may be to allow them to fulfil their obligations whether just to call the time and identify themselves on air, or to insert other content like news flashes, advertising / sponsorship and the like.

It will also apply to how you can listen to podcast content so you can, for example, recap parts of these shows that you were distracted from. This will be of importance for those of us who listen to podcasts in areas where we can be distracted easily like in the home or office in the same manner as listening to radio there.

There is also the idea of taking audio content further. For example, BBC and Amazon tried out the idea of an old-time radio play that works in a similar manner to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. This is with you talking to Alexa to steer yourself through the adventure very much in a similar form to interacting with those text-based computer adventure games on an old home computer.

Other ideas being looked at include driving or walking tours with rich audio commentary that plays when you are approach each point of interest.  This would be augmented through the use of GPS or similar navigation technology in order to play audio content relevant to the location. Similarly, you would be able to use the navigation software to lead you towards other waypoints that are part of the tour.

There are also the possibility of creating games that are augmented with the various pieces of audio content. This application would be driven by voice-driven assistants, perhaps in conjunction with sensors for various board and card games. It is a similar practice to some “Name That Tune” and similar board games which are based on a regular audio CD that has audio content essential to game play.

What is happening now is audio-focused content is gaining a stronger role in our lives and there are efforts to introduce flexibility in to how this content is presented. This is more so as we listen to this kind of content on many different device types.

Traditional radio and TV broadcasters could augment their newscasts by having them on-demand

A question that can be raised in the online era is whether radio and TV broadcasters need to place their latest newscasts “on demand” alongside running them at the appointed times.

This is to encourage us to find relevance for traditional broadcast media in an age where the preferred source for information and entertainment is from online media services including social media. It is also about finding ways where traditional public-service and commercial broadcast media can maintain their influence in an age where Silicon Valley is obtaining more clout.

The typical newscast situation as it stands

What typically happens with radio is that most stations will ordinarily run a short-form newscast of up to five minutes long on the hour. Some of them even run an additional newscast on the half-hour during the breakfast programme as people are getting ready for work. It doesn’t matter whether the radio station serves as an informer like the talk-based stations or as an entertainer like music-based stations. Some stations who don’t have their own news-gathering team usually syndicate another station’s short-form newscasts to keep their listeners up to date with the news.

For TV, the traditional broadcasters, especially free-to-air broadcasters, frequently run regular short-form news updates, commonly known as “newsbreaks”, inserted between programmes or during commercial breaks. They are typically used to announce breaking news or updated news items or provide a succinct overview of what’s going on. This is in addition to the main long-form half-hour news bulletins run during breakfast, midday, early afternoon, early evening (which is TV’s prime time) and late evening.

Some of these stations may run dedicated newsbreaks focused on particular themes like local weather or financial / business news. The TV stations who advertise on local radio during the afternoon drive-time programme are more likely to run an audio equivalent of a newsbreak as their commercial for that daypart in order to create public interest for their main evening news bulletin.

Let’s not forget that all these broadcasters will run newsflashes, even interrupting regular programming, when there is significant breaking news.

The current way we consume media

But we are living in an environment where we rely on on-demand entertainment like Spotify, podcasts, Netflix and catch-up TV services. We even end up in an environment where sports is the only reason for watching or listening to linear real-time broadcast content. Similarly, some of us use PVRs to record TV shows and may find ourselves with “banked up” TV-show collections on these devices especially if we travel or not watch any TV for a while.

But most radio and TV stations’ Websites provide news clips for each of the news items that occur through the day, more as a way to allow people to learn more about particular events or share them on blogs or the Social Web. This is based on the “portal” idea that was started when the Web cam in to the mainstream and these broadcasters wanted to augment their daily broadcasts with a Web-based newspaper.

How can radio and TV news fit in with today’s media habits?

Amazon Echo, Google Home or similar platforms could be used to summon the latest news

But having the latest radio and TV news available in an on-demand context can earn its keep with a significant number of use cases.

For example, a short-form newscast like a radio news bulletin or TV “newsbreak” could earn its keep with a voice-driven home assistant where you could ask for the latest news. In this case, you could say “Hi Alexa, what is the latest news from the ABC?” and you would hear the latest local ABC Radio newscast together with the ABC’s newscast signature tune we have loved. If you are dealing with a voice-driven home-assistant device equipped with a screen like Amazon Echo Home, you could ask the voice assistant for the latest news from a TV station like the Seven Network whereupon you would see the latest newsbreak. In those situations where you have separate short-form newscasts for finance, sport, weather and other topics, it could be feasible to ask the voice assistant for one of these newscasts.

Even a device like Amazon Echo Show could run the latest TV “newsbreak”

Similarly, a podcast or music player app could support the insertion of short-form news bulletins between podcasts or between tracks after a certain time has passed. A TV network having the latest newsbreaks online through their catch-up TV services or through YouTube can allow users to “pull up” short-form news content as required.

There could be the ability to draw down that long-form prime-time TV news bulletin via a “catch-up” TV service so one can catch up with the day’s news at a time they see fit. Even offering an audio-only version of one of these bulletins could earn its keep with a range of users like vision-impaired people or drivers.

What can broadcasters do?

Most broadcasters and networks don’t have to do anything with the news content that they make available through their channels. They simply have to keep the recordings of short-form and long-form news bulletins available and indexed according to time of publication.

Radio stations can even record the bulletins that are not normally recorded like traffic bulletins to provide an experience similar to what Blaupunkt achieved with their Traffic Information Memo feature on some of their 1990s-era car radios. This was where the car radio would operate in a standby mode for three hours when the car is parked and record traffic bulletins as they come through from the last-tuned radio source. It relied upon established standards commonplace in Europe for providing machine-to-machine signalling for these broadcasts, namely the RDS system. Then the driver would be able to press a blue “TIM” button to hear the last four traffic bulletins that were recorded.

This can be facilitated in a manner similar to what happens with podcasts where the latest content is available through an RSS Webfeed. Most talk stations would be familiar with this practice when they make their shows available as podcasts or for syndication to other stations. But they also need to keep their “branding” alive with these newscasts like maintaining the use of their news signature tunes at the start of each bulletin so people know they are dealing with their favourite broadcasters. Let’s not forget that a single URL should then be used to provide a Weblink to the latest news bulletin for the various voice-driven-home-assistant skills, mobile apps and the like to locate that resource.

The idea could be augmented by having a standard metadata flag for RSS Webfeeds containing audio or video content like podcasts that represents the fact that the feeds are news bulletins. Here, it could allow “podcatcher” and similar software to treat them as a news bulletin then retain and play just the latest newscast. As well, if the software has always-live Internet access, it could make sure it’s always up to date with the latest news bulletins that the user wants.

As well, broadcasters and allied organisations can create “skills” for voice-driven home assistants along with “channels” for on-demand video services. It can extend to linking them to standard application-programming interfaces to facilitate “news-on-demand” apps and services.

There has been some investigation by online media providers, especially those who have advertising in their business model to permit free or freemium access like Spotify or YouTube to allow the insertion of newscasts in online-advertising spaces. Similarly, providing it as an optional service or “channel” on a streaming service is being seen as a way to add value to these services.

But this kind of application especially where newscasts are inserted in to a playlist could be seen as heretical by the Millennial generation who want to break away from traditional broadcast media and the methods they use. This is although having the latest radio and TV newscasts on demand through various mechanisms is really about mass customisation.

Conclusion

What will be required of traditional radio and TV broadcasters who maintain a strong profile with their newscasts is to “think outside the box” with how they are used. This means being able to take them further and integrate them with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant & co; or effectively have them as part of “custom-content” strategies.