Long time PC Mag columnist John C. Dvorak has jumped aboard the podcasting train. Not too surprising since he’s part of the regular (semi-regular?) TWIT.TV crew which he refers to as “probably the most listened-to podcast as of now.”

There is no doubt in my mind that podcasting is not only here to stay but will also shortly threaten established media broadcast systems. It’s not so much that they will all be destroyed by homebrew networks, but podcasts will be taking away just enough listeners to be a major concern.

This seems like a reasonable prediction, which Mr. Dvorak believes will be coming the middle of next year (including a Time magazine cover), but I’m still not there yet for one big reason: revenue. There are some excellent podcasts and a few of them are making money (like TWIT.TV) but the vast majority aren’t making money and I think that spells doom for the content. Yes, there are podcasters who do it for the fun of it and hobbyists who don’t care about making any money, but if they receive any sort of notoriety they will need to figure out how to cover the costs. I think those who will abandon podcasting before the financial boom comes will be greater than those who stay. And that is the reason I haven’t completely gotten aboard the train.

This isn’t to say that I don’t support podcasting and believe in podcasting and am still trying to find a good business model for it; I just haven’t figured out how to monetize it (properly) myself. Yet. I am seeing some glimmers of light. Guess I need to read some more books, study more podcasting models that are making money, etc.

Seems odd that I would ever be more cynical about something than Dvorak, but even he still wonders why people listen to podcasts like TWIT.TV:

From what I can tell, the combined audience numbers are in the hundreds of thousands. Are people this hard up that they’ll listen to a bunch of guys chatting up news and gossip about computers? Apparently.

That’s a nice statement to your listeners. In the tech arena, few do dripping sarcasm better than Dvorak. He has had some real biting commentary on blogging in the past, but then he took up blogging himself and his blog bashing quieted. I suspect he’s finally realized he can’t surf against the tide and since his primary business is writing, he better figure out how to ride it.

CNN has internet reporters which cover “what the blogosphere is saying.” Regularly on local talk radio I hear bloggers being cited as sources. Blogs aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and neither is podcasting.

2005 truly has become the year that blogging earned its street cred. Will 2006 be the same for podcasting?

Did this post make you go hmm?

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