Poddies get ready to take over the world
What fascinates me about podcasts – homegrown audio and video shows distributed via the Internet – is not the people who make them, but rather the people who consume them, and the way they behave as consumers.
Podcast consumers – let’s call them Poddies – are first and foremost accomplished technology enthusiasts. The Poddie demographic today includes predominantly tech-savvy men between the ages of 15 and 35, who own multiple computers and are considered technology experts by their meatspace peers. I can almost guarantee that the smart 20something male in your office not only knows what a podcast is but can name a dozen or so of the top podcasts in the world.
Curiously, a growing contingent of the Poddies also includes a more mature demographic. They too are male in their 40s and 50s who have higher disposable income, are seemingly fearless about getting themselves into and out of tech trouble, and are willing learners.
Poddie demographics are not the curiosity here, however. That will change over time as podcast audiences broaden. A February 2007 report from eMarketer (emarketer.com) forecasts the potential podcast audience will grow from 10 million in 2006 to 55 million by 2011.
What’s curious about Poddies is their loyalty to the topics presented in the podcasts and their willingness to evangelize what they love. That’s not to say that loyal, niche audiences are unique to podcasts. They do occur in fragments of the mass media (think: specialty magazines and cable channels), but those old media niche audiences aren’t the powerful influencers that the Poddies are.
Poddies are potent because they are wired into the new generation of Internet communication tools. At their disposable are social networking tools, like MySpace and FaceBook. They also create their own content and post it to video sites like YouTube. Most importantly, Poddies use these tools to maintain networks of ifriends – groups of Internet-connected peers who communicate with each other on demand, and who change opinion among themselves minute to minute.
This is how podcasters win over their audiences. When Poddies fall in love with something, they spread the word using the social-networking capabilities of the Internet. They can endorse and ideas on a whim and at remarkable speed. But they can also cause havoc. The same tools used for evangelism can also be used to dismiss an idea, or more potently ruin a brand.
But Poddies are fickle. What’s hot today is not tomorrow, but it could be back the next day. The rollercoaster ride of opinion, however, over time settles out and hardens. And this provides a challenge to marketers, especially those who get caught on the wrong side of it.
Failing to capture favorable Poddie opinion for your product or service can be deadly. Take the Microsoft iPod challenger the “Zune”Â. It’s a product that’s dead in the water, primarily because Microsoft failed to capture the hearts of cynical Poddies.
Winning them over, by speaking their language and using their tools, can be extremely rewarding. All you have to look at is Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ad campaign to understand that. It is a textbook example of how to win over the Poddies. Viral Internet marketing is at play here with e-mails that say: “Check this out. Hilarious!” Poddies have spoofed the Apple campaign (affectionately) with their own YouTube videos and they also post blog voraciously about it on their blogs. Search for “blog” and “I’m a Mac” and you get 2.25 million hits. Of course, at the center of all this is that Apple posted the ads on Apple.com’s getamac
The lesson for marketers here is to keep a careful eye on how Poddies view the brands the represent. As they grow up and marry and live into the mass market, they will take the instant-opinion-forming culture with them. But will they approach all products and services as they age into their 40 and 50s?
I think they will. While the Poddie ethos will certainly mellow, its cynical core and the opinion making mechanisms will mature and entrench themselves into the mainstream. But I don’t think Poddie evangelism will go away. I think it’s here to stay for a generation.
So if you market minivans, wine, soap or gardening tools, beware the Poddies and learn to love them. They may not be your market today, but tomorrow they will be.