Category: Podcasting

NBC Nightly News Tops iTunes Podcast List

Apparently I’m not alone in my high opinion of the NBC Nightly News podcast. It’s number one on the iTunes Store’s list of most-subscribed podcasts. I think that means it has the most subscriptions in the last 24 hours.

When you think of it, if programs are good enough to have high ratings on broadcast TV, they should be really strong in the download market too. Given that lots of people are paying for TV programs like Lost, getting broadcast-quality content for free should be even more appealing.

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ABC vs. NBC: Different Approaches to Video News Podcasting

I just watched my first video podcast of NBC Nightly News, and I really like it. No commercials from non-NBC sponsors (at least so far); only brief spots highlighting NBC news programming and different means of getting it, along with promos for an early news web site. I guess that would be one way to monetize, by serving ads on that web site, but obviously at least for now the network, which announced some big layoffs and restructuring last month, seems to be focusing on building the NBC brand in this new space.

(As an aside, TiVo has an interesting new service that enables users to play additional web video on their TVs. I guess for some people that will be appealing; I don’t have TiVo, and don’t mind watching video on my laptop screen, or video iPod, or on my TV using my video iPod adaptor.)

NBC Nightly News isn’t available until about four hours after it runs over the air here in the Central zone. But from my perspective, seeing it the next morning on my laptop as I ride the bus into work is just fine.

ABC’s World News podcast, on the other hand, is shorter and does not reflect what goes over the air. It is a different product from the broadcast, and it included (this time) an advertisement from AT&T at the beginning. It wasn’t obtrusive, and I didn’t have any problem with it. On the plus side, I’m watching today’s news this evening instead of having to wait several hours. ABC’s podcast also has a built-in hyperlink that says “click for more” which, on today’s podcast, takes you to this page.

ABC

So, I have mixed feelings about their approaches. ABC feels like it has worked out more of a sustainable business model, and that its podcasts could actually be profitable. But it is producing something different for the podcasts as compared to what goes over the air, so it has some expense involved with production that NBC doesn’t. NBC has to delay its podcast to avoid angering local affiliates, so it’s not as timely…but you see the “real” news program featuring Brian Williams, and not something mashed together for podcast.

I have links to both of these podcast sites here, or you can get them through iTunes.

So…what do you think is better? More timely news like ABC’s podcast? Or time-shifted, broadcast-quality content like NBC?

:LATER – ABC’s podcast uses chapters, too, so you can jump to the stories you want to see. So, all in all, ABC’s podcast is really a native podcast, not a re-purposed broadcast like NBC’s.

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NBC Podcasts ‘Nightly News’ and ‘Meet the Press’

Video podcasting gets a bump from NBC, which has announced it will make complete podcasts of Meet the Press and Nightly News with Brian Williams.

RussertWilliams

Thanks to Lost Remote for the tip.

ABC also is extensively into podcasting. The thing I like about the NBC offerings (at least from what I’ve seen so far), is I think we will be getting the whole programs as they go over the air, but just time-shifted. ABC seems to be focusing more on “extras” – which is fine, but I like to see what has actually gone over the air on the network.

Part of my job is to stay up-to-date on health news, and particularly to be able to get copies of news clips that feature Mayo Clinic and its physicians and scientists. We have devices to record the network news and scan for relevant stories, but now with NBC this may have gotten even a little easier. At least it seems like a good back-up.

The NBC Nightly News file for last night is 81 megs. I’m in part of the house where the wireless signal isn’t strong, so it will take a bit to download. This might give me a good way to watch the news on the bus in the morning, since I’m on the bus at night while the show is on. I understand each night’s program will be available after 10 p.m. Eastern. I may have some more thoughts on this tomorrow after I’ve viewed some programs.

It may not be as entertaining, but it’s cheaper than buying episodes of Lost (which I think is still a pretty good deal anyway.)

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Strategic Health Care Podcasting Audioconference

During the noon hour today we listened to an audioconference presentation sponsored by Strategic Health Care Communications, which outlined several ways health care organizations are using video and audio podcasting to communicate with employees, patients and potential patients, or for continuing medical education classes.

One interesting point I heard from the Arizona cardiology group was that they found video was about nine times more popular than audio, based on a year of podcast delivery.

It was good to hear some practical experiences from some other groups using podcasting, and I also thought the idea of hosting podcasts within a blog made sense, to make the segments easier for search engines to find.

The listing of online podcast directories and search engines also was helpful. In addition to using a blog, it would be good to get podcasts listed on iTunes, Yahoo! Podcasts, Podcast.net, Podcast Alley, Pod Feeder, Podcasting News, Podnova, All Podcasts, Loomia, iPodder.org, Odeo, Podcast Directory, Digital Podcast, Podcast Bunker, Pod Feed, Podcast Pickle, Pod Tower, and Podscope.

A CD of this audioconference is available on the web, and for my fellow Mayo Clinic listeners, let me know if you want a copy of the presentation materials.

I would welcome any thoughts from others who attended this audioconference, in terms of what would be most applicable and actionable.

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The Long Tail and the Economics of Abundance

Chris Anderson’s best-selling book, The Long Tail, is predicated in large part on the assumption that as inventory and delivery costs approach zero, and with highly sophisticated search able to help people find what people want, choice becomes practically unlimited and niche content becomes economically viable.

He goes into this concept in more depth in a new post on his blog entitled “The Economics of Abundance,” in which he reviews (and links to reviews of) a presentation he made on the topic. The review by David Hornik has a particularly appropriate paragraph:

The same businesses that are the poster children for the Long Tail, are the poster children for the Economy of Abundance. And the same businesses that are the victims of the Long Tail are the poster children for the Economy of Scarcity. With bandwidth and storage approaching free, iTunes can offer three million songs (P2P offers nine million). In contrast, with limited shelf space, Tower Records can only offer fifty- or sixty-thousand tracks. The end result, consumer choose abundance over scarcity (something for everyone) — Tower Records gets liquidated while iTunes grows dramatically. Television is undergoing a similar transformation, from scarcity to abundance. TV initially consisted of only the major networks. Consumers were limited to 3 choices in any given time slot. With cable the number of channels was dramatically increased and a broader range of content became available (Food Channel, Discovery Channel, ESPN, CNN, etc.). To many, 250 channels may constitute sufficient abundance as to approach infinite choice in their minds. But the true television of abundance is YouTube. With unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage, television is subject to microprogramming — millions of shows, viewable on demand at any time. Now not only should NBC be worried, so too should be Comcast.

I highly recommend both the post by Chris and those to which he links. I also would add that there is a point at which content creation costs (not just storage and distribution) approach zero. When content is being created for TV, for instance, putting it on YouTube, or creating a video Podcast, is almost free. And instead of being time-bound and limited to scarce airwaves and cable channels, it can be available as long as you want it to be…and as long as potential viewers want to see it.

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