Live Podcast Tapings are Entertainment and Marketing

Unlike a sterile studio recording a live podcast taping produces an episode with a community feel including laughter and applause from the crowd For listeners at home you get a sense that you were actually in the room These shows are also entertainment as the host and any guests engage with the audience and make them feel part of the showAt the HIBT taping I attended host Guy Raz interviewed the founder of Otterbox protective cases Curt Richardson whose company is based in nearby Fort Collins Richardson39s wry sense of humor played well with the audience as he explained his journey from machine worker in a plastics factory to billionaire business owner At the end Raz recorded a message thanking the show39s sponsor American Express but otherwise everything felt very organicLive podcast shows are quickly becoming big business Major podcast producers such as NPR and iHeartMedia as well as local radio stations are hosting live tapings of their shows to build buzz and generate incremental revenue The How I Built This tour has been so successful that NPR created a spinoff small business and entrepreneur conference the How I Built This SummitWhile some podcast tapings are free ticket sales can produce a tidy profit I paid 45 for my ticket which was a midrange price for a pretty good seat The Paramount Theatre can hold about 1800 people and there wasn39t an empty seat in the house amp8212 adding up to a pretty good haul for an hourlong eventAcross the country podcast tapings are packing in crowds Watch What Crappens a podcast devoted to Bravo39s reality TV shows sells tickets for their live tapings for 25 to 200 for a VIP experience Although the show39s hosts don39t work for NBCUniversalowned Bravo they have such a loyal following that several upcoming shows are sold out Similarly truecrime podcast Crime Junkies has sellouts on its current tour where fans can pony up 100 for a premium package that includes a private meeting with the hostspampgtThese podcast shows are tapping an audience eager to engage with their favorite shows and hosts According to a recent study by MARUMatchbox and Westwood One one in five heavy podcast listeners amp8212 those who listen more than six hours per week amp8212 have attended a live podcast show Among new podcast listeners one in 10 has been to a live show And 52 percent of podcast fans said they39d travel up to 25 miles to attend a live eventThese listeners are shelling out an average of 42 per ticket and many will pay extra for backstage access or a meetandgreet with the host Once podcast listeners attend a live show they39re highly likely to pony up for future tapings Maru and Westwood One reported that half of all podcast fans said they plan to buy tickets for future eventsAlong with ticket sales there39s revenue potential from merchandise and concessions Podcast producers can recruit sponsors for the event to offset costs and brands can set up in the lobby to interact with guests while giving away swag and product samplesThere are also experiential opportunities such as the complimentary headshots offered to the first 40 guests to sign up for the HIBT Denver show Anyone who didn39t make the cut was invited to use the show39s selfie stationsWith podcast ad revenue expected to hit 1 billionamp160by 2021 amp8212 up from 679 million in 2019 per IABPwC estimates amp8212 live shows aren39t going to be a primary revenue source Their value is marketing and promotion which should not be underestimated With 700000 podcasts and counting podcasts need to find ways to stand out and a live show is an excellent promotional vehicleYou don39t have to be a national podcast network or big media company to experiment with live podcast shows Even local podcasters and radio stations can get in on the act In Buffalo local business and entrepreneurial podcast 43North hosted a free live taping of its 100th episode Instead of renting out a theater Nashville public radio station WPLN hosted a free taping of its local innovators show Movers and Thinkers in its studio These free events won39t generate ticket revenue but they do encourage fan engagement which is good for growing the audience and advertisingAfter my first live podcast experience I knew more about smartphone cases and plastics than I ever thought possible however I walked away wanting a little more Like a filmmaker at the end of a movie screening or an author on a book tour I wanted HIBT39s host Raz to take questions from the audience and give us a peek behind the curtainAs the live podcast event business expands podcasters and event producers should keep their attendees39 experience in mind These shows aren39t just about selling tickets and having a novel production style they39re about creating community and building loyalty and engagement The podcast audience is booming precisely because listeners value the medium39s intimacy and engagement A live show can heighten that experienceDone well live podcast tapings should be experiential with the audience treated as VIPs rather than just production extras If a host takes time to explain how the podcast comes to life amp8212 from finding guests to researching questions to recording amp8212 and to answer fans39 questions and pose for selfies podcasters can create legions of super fans After all who doesn39t love a good showClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Live Podcast Tapings are Entertainment and Marketing

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Alli Romano

Powerful New PSAs Showcase the Mutual Rewards and Unconditional Love of Adoption from Foster Care - Ad Council InSites

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Live Podcast Tapings are Entertainment and Marketing

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Alli Romano

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