What makes a podcast truly different from a YouTube video? 🎧 In this 15-minute deep dive, we explore the blurring lines between podcasting and video content, sparked by Pete Davidson's new Netflix show that's being called a 'podcast' despite having no audio version.
Using a fascinating analogy about watching soccer matches across Italy versus attending a live stadium event, this episode reveals that the core difference isn't about length, video capabilities, or even RSS feeds. It's about community engagement and how audiences interact with your content. We'll examine why podcasts excel at building deep one-to-many relationships while YouTube creates real-time communal experiences.
Discover a strategic approach to treating your podcast and YouTube content differently – like wearing the right equipment for different sports. Plus, get insights into upcoming changes for content strategy that could transform how you think about multi-platform distribution.
Ready to optimize your content strategy across platforms? Share your thoughts at streamlinedfeedback.com and let's continue the conversation! ðŸ’
00:00:04 --> 00:00:10 What is a podcast? A question that has been increasing
00:00:10 --> 00:00:16 in frequency for, I would say, the last five
00:00:16 --> 00:00:21 to seven years. Pete Davidson has a new show
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 on Netflix that they're calling a podcast, despite
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 the fact that it's only on Netflix and that there
00:00:27 --> 00:00:32 is no audio version of it. Some would say that
00:00:32 --> 00:00:37 the core of a podcast is that at the very least
00:00:37 --> 00:00:44 you could consume it via audio only on youtube
00:00:44 --> 00:00:48 if you have youtube premium you can turn your
00:00:48 --> 00:00:52 device screen off and still listen to the audio
00:00:52 --> 00:00:56 this is as far as i know at least not the case
00:00:56 --> 00:01:01 with netflix you need to have your device on
00:01:01 --> 00:01:06 for netflix To keep playing. But this isn't the
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 first time, nor will it be the last, that people
00:01:08 --> 00:01:13 ask, what is a podcast? Some people, many people,
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 have told me that if it's video, it's not a podcast.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 I think we're getting away from that idea, though.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 More people have told me that it's not a podcast
00:01:25 --> 00:01:29 if it doesn't have an RSS feed. But if you have
00:01:29 --> 00:01:35 a podcast... only on Spotify, where people can
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 listen only on Spotify, but they can listen to
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 audio only, I would say that's just a poorly
00:01:41 --> 00:01:47 distributed podcast. If we look at the word podcast,
00:01:47 --> 00:01:52 which is a portmanteau of iPod and broadcast,
00:01:52 --> 00:01:57 linguists can argue that if it's not on an iPod,
00:01:57 --> 00:02:03 it's not a podcast. But I'm not really here to
00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 have this debate. I think this is a tired debate.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 I think if you want to make content, you should
00:02:11 --> 00:02:16 make content where you want to. But the line
00:02:16 --> 00:02:21 is blurring between what is a podcast and what
00:02:21 --> 00:02:25 is a YouTube video. What's the difference between
00:02:25 --> 00:02:31 the two? It's certainly not length. An increase
00:02:31 --> 00:02:36 in the number of short podcast episodes that
00:02:36 --> 00:02:40 are really focused. It's not about video. Lots
00:02:40 --> 00:02:44 of podcasts also publish video. No, I actually
00:02:44 --> 00:02:48 think it's a lot simpler than that. When I was
00:02:48 --> 00:02:54 in Italy in 2016, the Euro Cup was happening.
00:02:54 --> 00:03:01 And I was gobsmacked that as we... traveled down
00:03:01 --> 00:03:05 the country first starting in Venice ending in
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 Sorrento that when there was a game on there
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 were people gathered everywhere there were people
00:03:12 --> 00:03:16 in Sorrento in the streets in lawn chairs all
00:03:16 --> 00:03:20 watching the game together it was an incredible
00:03:20 --> 00:03:28 communal experience but it wasn't a fully gathered
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 mass all in the same place there were people
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 at the stadium there were people watching at
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 home there were people watching in the streets
00:03:34 --> 00:03:35 there were people watching in other countries
00:03:35 --> 00:03:45 now compare that to something like a college
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 football game or a high school football game
00:03:48 --> 00:03:53 a broadway show maybe is an even better example
00:03:53 --> 00:04:00 where the majority of the people consuming that
00:04:00 --> 00:04:05 content are all together in the same place where
00:04:05 --> 00:04:12 they can react and interact together. This is
00:04:12 --> 00:04:22 how I view podcasts versus a YouTube video. Podcasts
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 and the thing that makes podcasts great. is that
00:04:25 --> 00:04:29 they are open. They are on an RSS feed. They
00:04:29 --> 00:04:36 are distributed in multiple apps. But that makes
00:04:36 --> 00:04:42 engagement in a single town hall or town square,
00:04:42 --> 00:04:48 we'll say, really difficult. There are people
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 who are going to consume an Apple podcast, some
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 in Spotify. Some in Pocket Cast or Overcast.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 Maybe you're just listening to this on the website.
00:04:58 --> 00:05:02 Maybe you've downloaded the audio and you're
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 listening to it somewhere else. Maybe you are
00:05:04 --> 00:05:10 listening to it on YouTube. But unless I, as
00:05:10 --> 00:05:16 the host, get to some critical mass where I can
00:05:16 --> 00:05:22 point people to a single place to interact, It's
00:05:22 --> 00:05:26 going to be hard to get that engagement. And
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 I don't want to get too technical here, but I
00:05:28 --> 00:05:33 do know that in the podcasting 2 .0 spec, there
00:05:33 --> 00:05:38 are features that allow for things like live
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 streaming and podcast apps and some sort of engagement.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:48 I know there's a proposal for adding comments
00:05:48 --> 00:05:53 or donating. And at rss .com, we support a lot
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 of those features. Full disclosure, I am the
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 rss .com evangelist. I'm also a podcast host
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 and a podcast coach. And so I've been around
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 the block. But I know that rss .com and a few
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 other podcast hosts and podcast apps support
00:06:08 --> 00:06:13 stuff like that. But not all of them do. And
00:06:13 --> 00:06:17 certainly the major ones don't. I mean, Spotify
00:06:17 --> 00:06:22 does have comments and polls. Apple Podcasts
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 at this point, at this time in recording, doesn't.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:32 And countless other apps definitely don't. So
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 if I want engagement from my audience, I'm going
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 to have to say, go to Spotify or go to YouTube
00:06:38 --> 00:06:43 or go to streamlinedpodcaster .com and click
00:06:43 --> 00:06:48 on this post and comment or go to a generic forum.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 And that's hard. It's a lot harder than what
00:06:52 --> 00:06:56 you have on YouTube, which is a comment section
00:06:56 --> 00:07:00 right under the video. And so as we think about
00:07:00 --> 00:07:05 what is a podcast, what is a YouTube video, or
00:07:05 --> 00:07:11 you, dear podcaster, dear solopreneur or small
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 business owner who is listening to this wondering,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:20 should I put my podcast on YouTube? I think the
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 answer to that is yes, like you just want your
00:07:22 --> 00:07:27 content everywhere. But should you have parity
00:07:27 --> 00:07:32 between YouTube and your podcast? I think no.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 Because if we go back to that soccer example
00:07:36 --> 00:07:43 or football example, it's like dressing for American
00:07:43 --> 00:07:48 football when you're going to play soccer or.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 what the rest of the world really calls football
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 you're wearing pads and a helmet and it's hard
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 to see and move quickly and that's just not optimized
00:08:00 --> 00:08:08 for how quickly soccer moves and conversely if
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 you are just for soccer and playing football
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 you're going to get deeply injured there is content
00:08:14 --> 00:08:19 that is more suitable For this audio only medium
00:08:19 --> 00:08:23 and more content that is suitable for the YouTube
00:08:23 --> 00:08:28 video medium. And I know I've talked about this
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 before, but I've been thinking a lot about the
00:08:30 --> 00:08:34 direction of Streamline Solopreneur, my, I guess
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 we'll call it my flagship podcast, and how I
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 want to approach YouTube. And I think I've worked
00:08:40 --> 00:08:47 out my next experiment, at least. I want the
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 Streamlined Solopreneur to be largely solo episodes.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 I am wrapping up my last couple of interviews,
00:08:53 --> 00:09:00 but I suspect by April of this year, the show
00:09:00 --> 00:09:04 is going to switch fully to solo episodes where
00:09:04 --> 00:09:08 I'm really focused on solving a specific problem.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:14 Those solo episodes are going to provide me content.
00:09:15 --> 00:09:20 for not just the show, but articles and newsletters,
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 right? Or it could be the other way around. Usually
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 I write my newsletter and then I record the podcast
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 episode. Neither here nor there. All of that
00:09:27 --> 00:09:31 is around the thought leadership, long form content,
00:09:31 --> 00:09:37 adding my voice to the internet. But I really
00:09:37 --> 00:09:41 like doing interviews. I love talking to other
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 people. I love getting their perspective. In
00:09:44 --> 00:09:49 the 10 years I've been doing this show, the Streamline
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 Solopreneur show, I've learned a lot. It's had
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 a positive impact on my business, and I think
00:09:55 --> 00:09:59 it's important to not just be in a silo or an
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 echo chamber. So how do I square that circle?
00:10:03 --> 00:10:07 Well, the other thing I've been struggling with
00:10:07 --> 00:10:13 is live streams on YouTube. When I was a programmer
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 and when I was heavily in the WordPress space,
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20 live streams were super easy for me. I would
00:10:20 --> 00:10:24 get on and start writing some code and showing
00:10:24 --> 00:10:29 people some stuff. When I wasn't coding, I was
00:10:29 --> 00:10:34 usually demoing some new software and showing
00:10:34 --> 00:10:38 people how it worked. But since moving away from
00:10:38 --> 00:10:42 the WordPress space to... Let's say a more 10
00:10:42 --> 00:10:46 foot view of how I can help people. It's
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 been hard. Building automations on live streams
00:10:49 --> 00:10:54 is not fun. There's a lot of silence and silent
00:10:54 --> 00:10:58 live streams are just not my thing. I don't really
00:10:58 --> 00:11:04 think they're a lot of people's thing. And so.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:09 I've been at a loss for how to consistently live
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 stream in a way that makes sense for me. Well,
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 you could probably see where the puck is going
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 here if I'm going to add more sports analogies.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:23 I think I'm going to do interviews or let's say
00:11:23 --> 00:11:27 joint live streams with other people on YouTube
00:11:27 --> 00:11:33 where I can get questions ahead of time from
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 my mailing list, but then people can show up
00:11:35 --> 00:11:39 in the chat and ask questions and we can react
00:11:39 --> 00:11:43 to them in real time. Or if I don't have a guest,
00:11:43 --> 00:11:49 then I can do a Q &A where I show something off,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 but mostly answer questions. And I can engage
00:11:52 --> 00:11:57 with my audience in a way that I really can't
00:11:57 --> 00:12:04 on my podcast. Platform control and creating
00:12:04 --> 00:12:08 walled gardens is not really one of my favorite
00:12:08 --> 00:12:14 things, but it does have some benefits. YouTube
00:12:14 --> 00:12:22 and Substack and Spotify are walled gardens in
00:12:22 --> 00:12:26 a sense. Yes, you can embed a YouTube video anywhere.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:30 YouTube has an API. It's a little less of a walled
00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 garden. than, say, Substack, which is a completely
00:12:34 --> 00:12:40 walled garden. But having platform control in
00:12:40 --> 00:12:46 the way that YouTube does has benefits. Just
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 like if you want to watch a football game live,
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 you have to go to a stadium, and that's a totally
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 different experience than watching it at home.
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 Bringing people together on a single platform
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 allows for... more of the type of engagement
00:13:02 --> 00:13:07 I'm talking about. So I know that this was a
00:13:07 --> 00:13:12 little bit of a thought experiment. I'm thinking
00:13:12 --> 00:13:17 out loud. But this is what I'm going to run with.
00:13:19 --> 00:13:20 Podcasts are great for deepening relationships
00:13:20 --> 00:13:24 on a one -to -many level. People will listen
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 to my show. They'll hear what I'm about. Most
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 of what I'm talking about on my podcast is not
00:13:28 --> 00:13:35 time sensitive. And my podcast gives me the opportunity
00:13:35 --> 00:13:39 to create other forms of content. If people want
00:13:39 --> 00:13:44 to engage directly with me in real time, YouTube
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 is the place for me to do that. And YouTube live
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 streams are going to be a place for me to maybe
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 talk about some news or current events or things
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 that are happening, as well as bring on guests
00:13:54 --> 00:13:58 and create more of a communal experience. Now,
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 where does that leave the Pete Davidson show?
00:14:03 --> 00:14:07 Where it's neither audio nor is there a way to
00:14:07 --> 00:14:12 engage? It's a television show. Simple as that.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 That's it for this episode of the Streamlined
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 Podcaster. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know
00:14:20 --> 00:14:24 what you think. Do you have an idea for how you're
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 going to treat your podcast and YouTube differently?
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 Should they not be different? Are you someone
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 who believes that it's only a podcast if it's
00:14:31 --> 00:14:36 on an iPod? Let me know over at streamlinedfeedback
00:14:36 --> 00:14:40 .com. Thanks so much for listening. And until
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 next time, I hope you find some space in your
00:14:43 --> 00:14:43 week.