Slate has a long, well thought-out piece on NPR’s digital challenges and opportunities. Namely, NPR seems to be moving slowly as lots of other competitors – especially NPR veterans who’ve left the organization – roll out newer, more exciting audio programming:
The debate also raised an even thornier and as-yet-unanswered question: What is the value of NPR’s core journalistic offerings—the brief, sober dispatches that air every day on its flagship shows Morning Edition and All Things Considered—in an age when its terrestrial audience is growing older and younger listeners seem to prefer addictive, irreverent, and entertaining podcasts over the news?
The article cites a number of new podcasting personalities and companies who’ve begun to step on NPR’s turf, including Alex Blumberg of Gimlet Media and Adam Davidson of The New York Times. As I’ve written before, it’s becoming an increasingly crowded field, and every media outlet, comedian, or person with a garage and a microphone is getting into podcasting.
But all isn’t doom and gloom for NPR. My co-blogger Ben has written about the organization’s flagship app, NPR One, before, and that it potentially presents the future of NPR. Slate observes:
The app isn’t just a delight for listeners. It also generates precise data for NPR about when people skip segments and what keeps them engaged. This data, Sarasohn told me, has been used to train NPR hosts and reporters on how to write copy that is most likely to catch listeners’ ears. (One lesson Sarasohn has learned: Instead of opening with the who/what/where/when/why of a traditional news story, open with a “big idea” sentence that explains the stakes right away.)
The true potential of NPR One is obviously the data it generates, especially since that can be more useful for sponsors. In contrast, content from newer podcasting firms like Gimlet are still only offered through traditional (non-data generating) podcast apps. As I wrote the other day:
Podcasting apps are basically just mp3 players, and since podcasts are – to their credit – so widely available on a variety of platforms, it’s impossible for producers to really see any data about their listeners…The result will be that consumers will eventually require a number of podcasting apps, much the same way a movie-lover probably has Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu subscriptions.
NPR has effectively developed a model for how other podcasting outfits may soon distribute their content. And they can get away with having a separate app because they are such a force in the market. It would take a competing broadcaster a while to build up a substantial, dedicated audience before launching their own app. And it will almost certainly happen – it’s only a matter of time. Stay tuned.
