Surviving The Balkanization Of Podcasting [S3E19]

You’ve likely heard the news the administration of these United States is putting the squeeze on Tencent, a company from China that runs or has an interest in the social apps TikTok and WeChat. I don’t know what ownership stakes Tencent has in podcasting. And at least for the purposes of this article, I’m not fretting Americans’ loss of access to TikTok or Wechat. But it does allow for a great framing to talk about what balkanization could do to podcasting as we’ve known it for the last 16 years. 

Countries get to decide what will and will not happen inside their borders. They also control what travels through their borders. Take, for instance, India’s stance against content flagged as “Explicit” in Apple Podcasts. According to my friend Rob Walch from Libsyn (and I’ve zero reasons to doubt the veracity of his claim), if you flag even a single episode of your podcast as explicit, the entire show will not be displayed to users of Apple Podcasts in India. 

The current administration’s beef with TikTok and China’s retaliation could just be the opening salvos in an ill-fated battle of wills that could both escalate and spread to other countries. It’s the ramifications of the retaliations that concerns me. 

There are a few podcasting apps that have Chinese connections. Will they get caught up in the purge? And will China in turn block podcasting apps owned by American companies? Or will either country (or both countries) place onerous demands on tech companies, making it too arduous to operate, resulting in self-imposed geo-banning?

When the citizens or subjects of a country are no longer able to use a popular podcast app to listen and/or find new content, they won’t stop listening to podcasts. They’ll find another app that does work in their country.

Are your podcasts listed in that new app? 

My go-to-source for relevant podcast directories and apps is maintained by James Cridland of Podnews.net. Check out his aptly titled page “How to add your podcast to every directory” and make sure your shows are listed on all of those places. And if not, fix it!

My globalist leanings are on full display, but I think it’s important that your podcast be available everywhere and to everyone, regardless of how their government feels about your government. Furthermore, I think it’s important that podcasters continue to grow their audiences outside of the base where their current advertisers want impressions. 

To think otherwise is anathema to me, and rather short-sighted. 

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Read the full article and share with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/surviving-the-balkanization-of-podcasting

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is designed to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Mentioned in this...

You’ve likely heard the news the administration of these United States is putting the squeeze on Tencent, a company from China that runs or has an interest in the social apps TikTok and WeChat. I don’t know what ownership stakes Tencent has in podcasting. And at least for the purposes of this article, I’m not fretting Americans’ loss of access to TikTok or Wechat. But it does allow for a great framing to talk about what balkanization could do to podcasting as we’ve known it for the last 16 years. 

Countries get to decide what will and will not happen inside their borders. They also control what travels through their borders. Take, for instance, India’s stance against content flagged as “Explicit” in Apple Podcasts. According to my friend Rob Walch from Libsyn (and I’ve zero reasons to doubt the veracity of his claim), if you flag even a single episode of your podcast as explicit, the entire show will not be displayed to users of Apple Podcasts in India. 

The current administration’s beef with TikTok and China’s retaliation could just be the opening salvos in an ill-fated battle of wills that could both escalate and spread to other countries. It’s the ramifications of the retaliations that concerns me. 

There are a few podcasting apps that have Chinese connections. Will they get caught up in the purge? And will China in turn block podcasting apps owned by American companies? Or will either country (or both countries) place onerous demands on tech companies, making it too arduous to operate, resulting in self-imposed geo-banning?

When the citizens or subjects of a country are no longer able to use a popular podcast app to listen and/or find new content, they won’t stop listening to podcasts. They’ll find another app that does work in their country.

Are your podcasts listed in that new app? 

My go-to-source for relevant podcast directories and apps is maintained by James Cridland of Podnews.net. Check out his aptly titled page “How to add your podcast to every directory” and make sure your shows are listed on all of those places. And if not, fix it!

My globalist leanings are on full display, but I think it’s important that your podcast be available everywhere and to everyone, regardless of how their government feels about your government. Furthermore, I think it’s important that podcasters continue to grow their audiences outside of the base where their current advertisers want impressions. 

To think otherwise is anathema to me, and rather short-sighted. 

-----

Read the full article and share with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/surviving-the-balkanization-of-podcasting

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is designed to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Abortion is a basic healthcare need for the millions of people who can become pregnant. Everyone should have the freedom to decide what’s best for themselves and their families, including when it comes to ending a pregnancy. This decision has dire consequences for individual health and safety, and could have harsh repercussions for other landmark decisions.

Restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health and independence of all Americans. Even if you live in a state where abortion rights are upheld, access to safe medical procedures shouldn’t be determined by location, and it shouldn't be the privilege of a small few.

You can help by donating to local abortion funds. To find out where to donate for each state, visit donations4abortion.com.

If you or someone you know needs help, or if you want to get more involved, here are 5 resources:

1. ShoutYourAbortion.com is a campaign to normalize abortion.
2. DontBanEquality.com is a campaign for companies to take a stand against abortion restrictions.
3. Abortion.cafe has information about where to find clinics.
4. PlanCPills.org provides early at-home abortion pills that you can keep in your medicine cabinet.
5. Choice.CRD.co has a collection of these resources and more.

We encourage you to speak up! And spread the word.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podsights - https://podsights.com/privacy