The Highly Anticipated Eric Nuzum @ RemixNYC

If it’s already been done, then why would you do it? This was the main take-away from the talk given by Eric Nuzum SVP of Content Audible, citing the extremely redundant Richard Branson interviews across 30 different podcasts.

Worldwide there currently exists around 450,000 podcasts, in 100 languages, with 15 million episodes of content (and about a thousand new podcasts are produced a week). So with all this content already out there, and even more exponentially developing, how do we create something new, fresh, and different that people actually want to listen to? Eric describes the how success of a podcast doesn’t always have to derive from its commercial viability. Some of the best podcasts are more of “a communication tool for a tribe”. What he means is, the content can be niche, specific, and relevant for only a small demographic, and that is OK. As long as the story, character, and voice are clear and consistent. Even his friend’s podcast with very few listeners, called “Whiskey Cats” (can you guess what it’s about…?) can be considered a success, because these three elements are so clear to the niche of listeners it retains.

So how does this translate to what we do at Antenna? Well, can you describe your museum’s story in ten words or less? Who are the characters of your tours? What is the voice? What makes your institutional story special? Are you telling your audience anything different, than what they could google? What makes you part of a community? What makes you ‘niche’?