Podcasts, Storming the Internet.
According to Apple statistics, there are 525,000 active podcast shows with more than 18.5 million episodes. The amount of Americans listening to podcasts has nearly doubled in the past nine years and is projected to continue to grow.
Some of the most popular Podcasters can earn over $50,000 per episode, but the average Podcaster across the industry can earn from $25-$50 per 1000 listeners. Certain sponsorship agencies look for 3000 to 5000 listeners per episode before they consider taking on a podcast to have them advertise their products, and that’s when the money starts rolling in.
Generally it only takes about $200-$500 to start a good quality podcast although you can start a decent one for about $100. Live 365 states that a Podcaster using only “Necessities”, could do it for $290 up to $3,700. Those Podcasters that use “Necessities with Extras” could pay from $705 – $5,185. Here are some other interesting statistics.
[musicoomph.com > podcast-statistics:
77% of podcast consumers prefer to click on a podcast and listen immediately.
61.2% of podcast listeners spend more time every week listening to podcasts that they do watching TV.
6% of Americans are avid podcast fans with the largest group being age 25 to 34 at 28%.
Now what does all this mean? Well it means more people are starting to listen to podcasts than watch cable or satellite TV.
So, why start a podcast?
Well there are some people who want to start a podcast with the intent to make money so they can quit their day job. Visions of becoming the next Rush Limbaugh or Art Bell, dance in their heads, while dreaming of fame and fortune in their future.
Then there are those who start a podcast on their free time while still working a day job, who believe getting information out to the public is more important than making money. These guys run on a shoe-string budget and are generally pretty cool to work with.
As a UFO Field Investigator I enjoy being on a podcast from time to time talking about my current or previous investigations or discuss other UFO related topics. You don’t get paid for being a guest on a podcast, some guests are pushing a new book or promoting something which would have a financial benefit to them, but other guests like me, just like to talk and share information.
But one big “negative” thing I learned within the last year about Podcasts was; Out of all the podcast shows I did, and with all those interviews, did absolutely nothing to help me get a second season of Alien Highway. It didn’t matter how much I promoted the show, it turns out, based on statistics, the majority of people who listen to podcasts don’t watch a lot of TV, and that is a “Catch 22” scenario when trying to promote a TV show.
Travel Channel stated Alien Highway didn’t capture their niche audience although we had solid ratings. Also, Travel Channel only advertised Alien Highway on their Facebook and Twitter pages which tells you what their niche audience is. But, if their niche audience is age 25 to 34, then they are slowly loosing their audiences to on-line podcasts.
Heck the majority of people in that age group that I’ve talked with, don’t even have cable or satellite TV! They stream the shows they want to watch from different media sources and also listen to podcasts. This is why Disney+ was created, Disney knows eventually cable and satellite TV will fall to 5G at least with the Millennial’s. Oh, and 6G is just around the corner, China, Japan and the European Union are already working on it.
As for UFO/Paranormal related Podcasts, there are quite a few of them, and most are pretty good! Open Minds UFO Radio is a favorite, others are, “Odyssey Files”, “Project Aries Radio”, “Double J Paranormal Radio”, “Mysterious Universe”, “Unknown”, “The Strange Story”, “Astonishinglegends”, and “Whatareyouafraidof”, just to name a few.
Early and late night radio is still popular with a lot of good shows on “KGRAradio.com”, from “Fade to Black”, “Somewhere in the Skys”, “UFO Live”, and my goods friends, ” Sky Tour” with Marc D’Antonio and the “Richard Dolan Show”. Plenty of shows to listen to, tons-o information to consume.
There are a lot of Podcast shows out there that deal with the UFO topic, and it appears new ones are popping up all the time. Some of the new ones will fade away due to lost interest and some will stay, but it’s up to how well they do to win approval from the listeners that will determine their fate.
I’ve had some complaints come through my website about a couple of particular podcasts I was on, that pretty much butchered my interview and focused more on the host and their sponsors. These are the guys that do this for fame and money and not so much for the love of the topic, so beware of them.
It’s your decision what you like and what you don’t like, but the nice thing is, there’s plenty to choose from. One thing I like about this is, information is getting out more rapidly than can be achieved through TV. As a society we went from radio to TV, now we’re going from TV stations to Internet TV and evolving radio from AM/FM to Internet radio. This is an exciting time and thanks to the Internet and Social Media, UFO sightings are being reported much quicker, UFOs in general are being discussed more frequently, and this will ultimately help global disclosure.
But beware of the Posers, Trolls, and Liars who will also post sightings, pictures and videos strictly for financial gain. We’re starting to see more and more fake pictures and videos on the Internet, because if there’s an advertisement attached to the video link, the more people who watch the video, then the more money the video down-loader gets put into their account. These guys I like to refer as, A-Holes!
The only way to combat against this is, if you have to watch a quick advertisement before you see this fantastic, sensational, one of a kind video, then that’s your Red Flag that it’s probably fake! So stay aware and don’t get sucked into the UFO Fake Vortex of disinformation and this goes for those Podcasters that strictly do it for financial gain too!
Category: Chuck Zukowski, The Z-Files
