What makes a good podcast?

Here is a Bambi Francisco  video podcast about Feedburner that is an excellent example of how to do it right. I wrote an earlier post "The problem with podcasts and web video" where I gave the reasons I do not watch video or listen to audio podcasts. My basic problems with them are; they are often too long and unfocused, they are usually not well defined, tagged, or searchable, and most of them are not professional quality.

What makes a good podcast?

1. Short and focused - Less than 5 minutes focused on one topic
2. Timely interesting topic
3. Offer an insight that hasn't been exposed in print
4. Professional quality - the audio track of a video is particularly important
5. Descriptive headline that explains what the podcast will be about

The above referenced Bambi Francisco video podcast hits all the points. Well, almost all of them. The descriptive headline that grabbed me was "Turning RSS into R$$". Unfortunately there was only one reference to RSS monetization, and surprise surprise, it was "we attach text ads to our RSS feeds and split the revenue 65/35". However, the interview did include lots of interesting statistics about RSS feeds and business details about Feedburner.

I hope Robert Scoble and PodTech can deliver on the promise of audio and video podcasting. There are lots of really bright people out there trying to get it right.

What are your favorites? What should I be watching and listening to?

Comments

[Gerald Buckley]

Mr. Dodge -

When I came out with what Mr. Rubel tagged as the first "corporate podcast" it was the short, focused topic that clenched it for us. It's what caught WIRED's eye anyway (that and my droll voice). And to this day we haven't gone but a few seconds over that 5 minute mark in any of our podcasts.

Frankly, PodTech's going to do a lot right and do a lot wrong. We all do. I bet Mr. Furrier's got the smarts to emphasize what's working and jettison what doesn't, though. Where most of us just keep doing the same thing over and over whether it's optimal or not.

Gerald in Tulsa

[Robert Scoble]

Awesome advice.

Here's a podcast I was on that's getting good reviews. http://www.podtech.net/technology/1034 is the podcast.

Here's what Brian Bailey wrote about it: http://www.leaveitbehind.com/home/2006/09/15_minutes_on_b.html

I disagree on that it should be short, though. Some of the best podcasts I've listened to are an hour long.

[Eric]

Hi Don,

I invite you to come checkout my marketing podcast over at marketing.fm Myself and coauthor have been blogging for awhile and we recently started our podcast in which we discuss all things marketing and advertising 2.0

Hope you enjoy!

[Gerald Buckley]

I should have added...the podcast is for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (most definitely not one of the general interest of adult programs) who wants a non-geologist (me) slaughtering their technical terms for any longer than necessary? 5 minutes for some might be 4 too many.

The thing I like about some of the newer (and, yes, longer) podcasts is they have the slices/bookmarks/chapters. So, if they ARE a longer format I don't have to wince through all the crud and can go from topic to topic. When it's available I ALWAYS use it.

[Andre Frech]

You've defined good guidelines for the current events summary podcast.

I listen to several excellent podcasts that violate your length and timeliness rules. Here's a few guidelines I've accumulated on what makes a good podcast, and I regularly listen to the examples:

- Educational podcasts can be excellent if they don't rely on external references, such as what's on the blackboard. Example: Life of a Law Student.

- Speeches and in-depth interviews are events that many mere mortals would never otherwise have been able to access. Examples: The [Wall Street] Journal Report, Seminars About Long Term Thinking.

- Subject matter that does not have a shelf life, such as many non-news podcasts. Lots of public radio podcasts fall in this category.

- Video or text to audio podcasts sometimes get awkward, but may be tolerable. Examples: Crypto-Gram Security Podcast, ABC News Nightline (in audio form).

- Use an intro and outro, and give contact information. Abruptly starting or stopping a podcast is disorienting. Not knowing where a podcast came from is self-defeating, unless you're the protagonist from William Gibson's _Pattern_Recognition_.

I agree that good descriptions and indexing are a must, however current mainstream technology provides limited support (and even less usability) for these features.