December
Podcasts Still Cold
Before you go to your next marketing conference and listen to the trend prospectors hawking Podcasting as a holy balm for your enrollment woes, make sure it’s not snake oil!
Michael Stoner pointed out that the PEW Internet & American Life Project has released a new study that throws some doubt onto the efficacy of the Podcast miracle-cure. Some of you may remember the study I conducted internally in August that said:
Fully 56% of incoming students own a portable mp3 player and another 26% would like to. Despite the high numbers, only 26% of respondents said they listened to audio Podcasts and only 15% watched video Podcasts. Of those that listen to audio Podcasts, the majority by more than half said they only listen to music or music-related casts.
Because of that data, WWC steered clear of Podcasting because it simply wasn’t going to give us any ROI (yay buzzword), and I also snarked about it some. Now PEW adds to that data and shows us a more representative picture of Podcast use from American Internet users:
Some 12% of internet users say they have downloaded a podcast so they can listen to it or view it at a later time. However, few internet users are downloading podcasts with great frequency; just 1% report downloading a podcast on a typical day.
Now those figures are for all ages that participated. Here’s some numbers comparing an undergrad market to an older demographic:
Reported Podcast use for study participants age 18-29 grew %4, going from %10-%14 from February – August. Not bad, but consider that growth was slowest among those with only a high school education (of all ages) and fastest among participants age 50-64! In fact, the younger age group encompassing the Millenials and Gen X grew at the same rate as the median age group (30-49-years-old).
What does all this mean? It means that most Podcasts, like radio shows on NPR, are going to appeal much more to an older, more educated audience. The undergrad market has an iPod to listen to music. It also means that, no matter what the market, Podcasting is not the ubiquitous, miracle medium that it has been sold as. It is growing, but it is still a small niche and primarily for an older, richer, more educated demographic.
The Devil Says: Podcasts are for your uncle. Give the kids what they want.
December 5th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Morgan, once again you are dead on with one simple statement “The undergrad market has an iPod to listen to music.” simply put.
December 5th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
Always nice to have data come back on the side of one’s hunch. :)
December 7th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Hey Morgan, naturally your post grabbed my attention. I have a couple of reactions.
First, who is hawking podcasting as a singular cure for enrollment woes?
Second, in this context, you seem to be referring to programming that’s consumed on an iPod. I tend to define the term podcast more broadly to include virtually any type of media that’s delivered via syndication, i.e. RSS — whether it ends up being consumed on an iPod, a PC, a phone, etc. Quite commonly, the term is used to refer to individual episodes that are part of a podcast series. Furthermore, sometimes the term is used to refer to audio or video clips posted on a web site that aren’t being available via RSS at all. So I would argue that the variation in usage of the term “podcast” makes it difficult to determine exactly who’s using what.
I would approach your topic from the standpoint of asking whether prospective students and their parents watch video or listen to audio via the web. I can’t imagine that anyone would suggest these aren’t valuable tools. On petersons.com, for example, we’ve seen many admissions and financial aid related podcasts downloaded more frequently than static articles on similar topics are accessed on the site. Once you have the media files, it’s a rather short and inexpensive step to create RSS feeds for them. So why not? I’ve created feeds for audio clips in less time than it’s taken to write this comment, and so can everyone. :)
Cheers – and keep up the good work!
Dan
December 7th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
[...] Update: Here’s some discussion about this topic from a higher ed marketing perspective. You can follow the trail of links and comments to find more. [...]
December 7th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I’m laughing here, I think, because this is what I’ve been saying for the last however many months–I didn’t even know colleges were making these podcasts until I really started looking into the marketing trends, but even the students I know that might be applying to the schools that have them are pretty largely uninterested. Seriously, ask some applicant about college podcasts and they’ll go “snuh wha” at best. Not much better for enrolled kids. Maybe admitted but not-yet-matriculated? Some sweet spot somewhere, perhaps. Parents!
Because of venue as much as the content itself. People listen to podcasts on computers, too, after all–but a ‘packaged’ sounding audio bite is going to be as unappetizing in front of a screen 20 inches or 2. With glossy viewbooks one can at least flip through and see some nice pictures. Which brings up the question of vlogs, but that’s… another question.
Glad to see you and WWC were sharp enough to not be suckered into a low-return game! :)
December 7th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
I don’t understand how the data mentioned in this posting (the Pew and Warren Wilson surveys) support the stated conclusion that “…most Podcasts, like radio shows on NPR, are going to appeal much more to an older, more educated audience.” The statement may be true but I don’t see support for it in the data. Unless I am missing something (and please tell me if I am!), the Pew survey simply states that growth and popularity of podcasts in the sample of younger persons surveyed is smaller than in the older sample. The Warren Wilson survey only presents views of the current student body and incoming students. No reasons for those growth rates, measures of popularity, or other findings are given. Further, neither of these surveys seem to have much predictive value, a limitation not acknowledged by the stated conclusion. Of course, it’s both of those unanswered questions (“why?” and “what about the future?”) in which most of us are really interested but those are more difficult questions to ask and answer.
I surmise that the perceived divide between young and old is not only a function of culture but also of geography and location. I would guess that those who have longer commmutes may be more likely to listen to podcasts – if anyone knows of data that support or refute this supposition please let me know! I would further guess that traditional college students are much more likely to have very short commutes than older persons; it’s much more common for traditional college students to live on or near campus than for older persons to live on or near their work site.
I also take issue with the stated conclusion that podcasts are “primarily for an older, richer, more educated demographic.” I read that statement not only as a statement about the current state of events (which is accurate) but also a predictive statement about the future. Again, these data provide little basis for making claims about the future. More research, particularly on the qualitative side, needs to be done to support or refute such claims.
To end on a more positive note, I do agree with the claim that “Podcasting is not the ubiquitous, miracle medium that it has been sold as.” I don’t foresee that ever changing as there too many competing and complicated factors involved. Like almost everything else, it will likely remain a niche activity. The big question is: which niche and who will inhabit it?
December 8th, 2006 at 4:06 am
I ran across this when Dan cross-posted on his site. Two thoughts:
There is no silver bullet. With increasingly segmented delivery methods and individual tastes, there is no one thing that’s going to get it done. As with any marketing/advertising ventures, diversifying is the best strategy. I think most EM professionals would be skeptical of anyone who pitched to them that ‘it’ is ‘it’ (to borrow from eBay).
So if the data skews older and podcasting is more for older ages (see: influencers), podcast with them in mind. Have to pay attention to those with the checkbook (or second mortgage as it were).
One other point (I know I said two): podcasting can be done virtually free so the I in ROI is time. Something which I’m struggling with right now…..
Thanks for the great topics and the RSS.
Blake
February 5th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I may an early adopter.. but i think podcasting is NOT dead. im 18 and an Undergrad in Marketing and i use podcasts nearly everyday – im subscribed to a variety of educational sources such as stanford lectures, philosophy discussions and political and scientific podcasts, not to mention many audiobooks.
I think its only time before people start to utiliise the on demand aspect of podcasting, primarily because its FREE and high quality content.
im all for it, and beleive in its progress. podshow.com etc are making it easy as well as itunes.
and despite your studies, i think its only a matter of time.
February 5th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Thanks for your thoughts Ed. I agree that podcasting as a medium/distribution format is not dead. My objections to it are mostly about creating audio content solely for the purposes of marketing a higher ed institution. Using podcasts for class lectures is great, as are many of the other, more general casts out there.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I don’t know about the “older” part of the the “older, more educated” audience, and as Kevin notes, it’s not necessarily in the data we see here (which is more about growth than use).
But if we take the “more educated” bit at face value, this seems to reinforce the power of podcasting for enrollment rather than dismiss it. I’m not sure what other institutions want, but where I work we are always looking for ways to reach out to high achievers.
We have a professor at my institution that puts out maybe a podcast a month on a highly specialized subject on which he’s an expert. The listenership is not large by interent standards, but the effect has been tremendous — so much so that we don’t necessarily have space for all the students that want to enter that program. As you can imagine, the students who do come because of the blogging and the podcasting are highly motivated, and their interests are a perfect fit for our strengths…
So I guess what I’m saying is it is not always about the raw “reach” numbers…it’s about how those numbers transfer into qualified applicants — and that ratio is probably very different from other channels.
Does that make sense? Although I admit, I despise all silver bullet talk as much as you. And I hate hearing the term “podcast” as if it was something worthwhile in itself — it’s what’s in the podcast that determines your success.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Great points, Mike–thanks for the comment. I wish we had some professors that would be willing to (or could?) pull off a really engaging set of podcasts on a timely topic. I also wish I could justify the time to explore the possiblity :(
February 9th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Well, the second part of that is that it’s not really your job to lead that. Academic IT should lead, and they need support from higher up. This particular professor did it on his lonesome… that’s the anomaly. We’re in the process here of trying to show them how much it helps us reach students (and media) when this happens, but we make our argument, sit down and cross our fingers… it’s all you can do.