I have seen more and more mainstream crossover in the podcasting world and was wondering if this is going to help or hurt the independent podcasters in the long run.
I personally dont know what to think. The more people knowing about podcasts means the more people are going to listen but are we at the end of the day going to be buried by celebcasters?
More people listening is a good thing... The issue now becomes fighting through the clutter. Not all high profile people are great podcasters, or even an enjoyable listen. Many of them have horrible audio. It raises awareness, but definitely makes it harder to break through the noise.
I see these lists of top things to listen to and they all seem to be retreads of the same people over and over again deserved or not. I would love to see a list on a top website of podcasts you should listen to even though you may never have heard of the host. I think there are a ton of talented people out there with great things to listen to, but no one knows who they are.
Of course it helps, anything that helps raise awareness about podcasts as a platform is helpful. The issue for independent podcasters will continue to be discovery.
Its only going to hurt the people who are not up to par. Audio quality / Video Quality will go a long way when it comes down to standing out. Content speaks for its self.
I think a few years ago there were a lot of "successful" podcasts just because there was nothing else.
