Is it the Right Time to Start Podcasting During a Pandemic?

While someone treats the global crisis that is happening now as the end of the world, others find advantages in it and go the extra mile. Every stick has two ends, let's stick to the optimistic one! ;)

While so many people stay at home nowadays, it's easier to find some spare time to read that appeared on "must read" list at some point of time (probably it's one of your New Year resolutions for 2020?). For others it's a good time to start some kind of new activity - maybe yoga and meditation? What about learning a new language? Or do you prefer some fun things like watching your favorite TV shows or maybe gaming? There are plenty of things to do while staying at home, but is it a good time to start podcasting? If you had such plan for a long time and didn't find time for it. (yes it takes quite much time, especially when you're a novice). The short answer is - YES - it's the best time to start podcasting or grow your existing show during this worldwide lockdown and we will write down all the arguments below.

All growth tactics works really well during pandemic, but there are some nuances and points to consider and pay more attention than ever before.

It's very important to choose the topic (several topics) for your podcast during pandemic. Existing podcasts reporting download numbers recently and while for some podcasts these numbers go down, others enjoy increasing downloads up to 40%! And after we made a short study, it's clearly related to podcast topics. The wise choices are mental health, indoor fitness training, entrepreneurship (because people lose their jobs), also various sports topics are popular, because all sport events are postponed and people are interested in sport news and sights. So before choosing a topic for your podcast think twice - does it relate in any way with the unusual situation we have in the World.

Not sure about the topic? Simply pick some topic that refers to Corona / COVID-19 and talk about it from your point of view or event mate with any topic you're excited about, it could become a very interesting combination, just be creative. News agencies during the pandemic have started creating “corona-specific” podcasts. NPR has its Coronavirus Daily podcast, which gives short 10 minutes updates about the most important things of COVID-19. The upcoming Home Cooking helps you to prepare quarantine meals while you’re at home. Epidemic brings analysis from epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder and former ebola response coordinator Ronald Klain. “The number of shows that are popping up is just amazing,” said Smyk.

Staying at home actually increased consumption for any kind of media, many people are spending days watching TV series, gaming various games or even browsing the photos of puppies and cats. But we should not forget those who prefer to listen to podcasts. And the numbers of this audience is really impressive. You probably have heard that 22% of the US population listen to a podcast weekly? Did you know that according to recent studies 49% listening to podcasts is done at home and 22% while driving? Shouldn't we sum these percents? Even more: 11% listening at work and 4% while riding public transportation - let's sum up everything, in case almost everybody stays at home nowadays? Huge potential audience isn't it so? (Numbers based on recent studies bit.ly/edison-infinite-dial, https://bit.ly/3atqNgc)

Today people are looking for information sources that are long-form and could be refreshed very quickly. So podcasts are the ideal choice. People are listening to podcasts to help stay informed and entertained during these troubling times and of course they are seeking for the new interesting podcasts, so don't doubt, just start your podcast today!