Marketing Monster

Skip the details and take me to the
Podcast Listener  Preference Survey.

I created this survey with Donna Papacosta, respected veteran podcaster and consultant, to learn more about what listeners like in podcasting. We hope that you’ll take about 7-minutes to check some boxes and maybe have a rant or a rave (there’s plenty of extra room for comments). Thanks!

Why We Created the Podcast Listener Preference Survey

As a podcast listener, I have definite likes and dislikes about what I hear out there. I’ve pondered (for far too long) about starting a podcast, so I’ve given much thought to what type I’d like to have – the format, the length, the style, the topic.

There are so many styles, so many different voices, and so many ways to share information. There are podcasters who feel their shows are professional if they emulate a radio style with announcer style intros. There are others who use a call-in show format. Some are vehicles for pure creative self expression. Some like to tell stories in the vein of NPR’s This American Life.

It got me thinking: What do podcast listeners prefer? What do they really like? And, what drives them crazy? I decided a survey was needed to objectively discover people’s preferences. Sure, individual podcasters may receive comments about their show through feedback channels, but it is limited to that podcaster’s audience and the information is not widely available.

Alan Middleton, Associate Professor at Ohio University conducted an academic survey a few months back (now concluded). However, it didn’t ask some of the kinds of questions that we thought were relevant for podcast producers. We think that the results from both surveys will be complimentary and will give podcasters a snapshot of podcast listeners as a whole.

Please help us spread the word.

A larger sample size will yield more reliable results, so we’d love your help to get the word out. We’ll share our results in September.

Here is a shortened link for your convenience: http://bit.ly/castsurvey

If you currently produce a podcast, we’d love it if you mentioned the survey to your listeners. You can request a copy of the full results by submitting your email address at the end of the survey.

Thanks for your help.

The survey closes July 31, 2010.

Go to the survey right now!