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Why bloggers and podcasters should be happy about a Comcast/NBC deal

The report that Comcast has been discussing a deal to buy 51% of NBC Universal is good news for bloggers and podcasters.

It is evidence that a company with wires into hundreds of thousands of households sees the future online.  Comcast saw its broadband sign ups last quarter nearly double from a year ago as people turn to the Internet for more and more of their information and entertainment.

You might argue that getting a lock on NBC programming is a defensive move.  Even though the network’s audience has been shrinking ever since Seinfeld had his last cup of coffee at Monk’s Cafe (aka Tom’s Restaurant in real life), NBC shows attract millions of viewers a night.  Consider like ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Trauma’ as loss leaders to build foot traffic for Comcast’s other programming, its owned cable channels.  They include the Golf Channel, E!, and lots of sports.  NBC, on the other hand has cable, too, including Bravo, CNBC, and USA Networks.  (Photo courtesy of Flickr.)

A few decades ago, the Big Three networks owned it all.  Now, cable channels targeting cooks, gardeners, gays, farmers, and gamers are vacuuming up advertising dollars.  And, soon, the Internet.  In the UK, Net advertising already eclipses TV ad dollars.

While the average TV household watches ‘only’ 17 of the several hundred channels available, that's 500% more than when there were just NBC, ABC, and CBS. The growth has come from special interest programming.

And what is online audio and video? Nothing but special interest programming.  You offer me high-protein programming about Macintoshes, digital photography, and start-up investing opportunities, and I’m there.  Goodbye CBS shows or, at least, get me a DVR that records three shows at the same time for later viewing.

The point is that there are more than 125,000 podcasts available on iTunes.  Many could be aggregated into special interest channels, and programmed into a 24/7 wheel of audio or video.

If Comcast or any cable company is going to grow, the challenge it faces is to bring more people into the tent at the same time that those people have more narrow interests in content. 

I think Comcast is recognizing that tomorrow’s cable channels are today's Netcasts.  By adding NBC’s mass appeal programming and niche channels, the number one cable company’s strategy is to grow its subscriber numbers by constantly promoting of its ‘old’ cable channels and to fertilize the green shoots of a thousand more 'new' flowering programmers.

Morning News 'Pack-o-Podcasts'

Listening to music or an iPod while you run is nothing new.  Millions of people do it.  Even my minister. I know because I gave him an iPod for Christmas last year. And I virtually gave up radio while commuting, in favor of hearing podcasts using a cassette-adapter in the car. 

Now I’ve gone a step further. Well, several thousand steps further. On my morning run, I catch up with the overnight news via podcasts.  I stack up a few favorites that total about 25 minutes. I created a “Morning News” Smart Playlist on my iPod so that when the shows download they go into that folder. It's easy then to  sync them to my Shuffle.   

My morning “pack ‘o podcasts” is:

•     Wall Street Journal Tech Briefing
•     Front Page Preview of The New YorkTimes
•     Cynopsis Digital (tech news)

    So far, I haven’t been able to find a good Sports update.  Anyone have a suggestion.

These short-form podcasts, from reliable and specialized information providers really give new meaning to the phrase “News on Demand.”

PodShow hearts Dvorak

With a voice and a personality only a geek and his Mother could love, John C. Dvorak is signing on as a programming executive with Adam Curry's PodShow.  A news release says Dvorak.org/blog will head up a channel of tech shows on PodShow, to debut in about nine months.  The release suggests Dvorak's job will be to identify tech podcasters who deserve more attention and distribution, and presumably to find some new voices to add to PodShow's network.

That Dvorak gets a shot at the brass ring (eventually shares of a PodShow IPO), and Leo Laporte doesn't is odd.  Maybe it's more proof that not only do nice guys not finish first but also that cantankerous, even 'crank' self promotion pays off.  Sometime ago, Curry told Laporte that he only listens to "This Week in TWIT" when Dvorak's on the panel. 

Now, Leo knows why. (Did Dvorak?)

I'm not yet sure whether the addition of The Chief Crank and other "tastemakers" for programming verticals, is a sign PodShow’s having trouble or not.  Since its start, the podcast distribution and programming company has highlighted, to use the music industry as an analog, the "Indies."  Now, with Dvorak it could be argued PodShow is going for "major acts."  Truth be told, however, he's barely a Trivial Pursuit answer.

Could it be that Indies' podcasts don't attract a large enough or marketable enough audience for all the advertising that's shifting online?

I could argue that the agencies and their clients just don't 'get' the Indies like Dawn and Drew and American Cliche.  General Motors and Procter and Gamble want more efficient ways to spend their marketing dollars.  Backing "unknown" talent is an edgy idea.  Maybe even career-risky. 

What Dvorak's hiring means is that brand matters.  In the tech world, Dvorak is a known quantity.  Love him, hate him, or laugh at him - you get what you expect.  Now, let Curry and Co. aggregate cooking podcasts under a "program director" like Rachel Ray, or even a Dan Rather-labeled lineup of news podcasts. 

Rather than a change in business plan for PodShow, I think this move with Dvorak is the kind of thing you would naturally do with a new and growing and morphing distribution medium. 

Bigger names can't help but be more attractive to bigger advertisers.  And if that helps the advertisers get through this glacial "experimentation" stage with podcasts, all the better.

I'm happy for John C.  I'm sorry for Leo. He invented Dvorak-the-podcaster.