After Michael Geoghegan stated that Podcasting Is Dead in his presentation at the 2007 New Media Expo, I said that I would no longer entertain this debate and stating anyone who does is trying to link bait.

So, here I am, four months later, posting about this debate as to whether or not podcasting is dead. There’s a reason why I’m addressing this now:

• Wizzard, the company that owns Libsyn, released some statistics that the number of podcast requests across their network is in the billions. Very encouraging.
• Mark Evans called me out wondering whether I would lay in on this debate.
• Paul Colligan stated that when he attended CES, podcasting wasn’t the star, going as far as to say that podcasting is no longer the story.
• And I’ve finally figured out the #1 reason why most people claim podcasting is dead and I must share this epiphany.

Why Being a Specialist Matters

First let me say this – I believe in the longevity of podcasting. It’s here to stay. It’s not going away. As the industry matures, the cream will rise to the top. In other words, those who take the time to improve the quality of their content will be the ones who will become part of podcasting’s elite.

Also, I prefer to be known as a specialist in one area of social media, than to be a generalist in all areas of social media. I’ve been in a place where I was a generalist and I was heavily in debt.

As soon as I became a specialist, my income improved. Since money is one way to measure success, I’m a true believer that finding a niche and sticking with it will pay out in the long run.

So, I echo Rob Walch’s sentiment as stated in his column in the December issue of Blogger & Podcaster magazine:

“I am a podcaster and I am damn proud of it.”

Correlation Between Lack of Money & Podcasting’s Demise

I wasn’t sure how to articulate this, but after writing a book on podcasting, I now see why some are saying podcasting is dead. Quite simply, it didn’t work for them because they didn’t make money.

I’ve seen this over and over. Podcasters who give up on podcasting simply because they didn’t make any money. Rooted in their claims that podcasting is dead are feelings of hurt, frustration and anger. In particular, they are:

• Angry that they spent so much time slapping together a podcast week after week only to muster $100 in donations through PayPal.
• Upset that advertising and sponsorship seem to be the only monetization option, something that requires cold calling which goes against their morals.
• Pissed that a model they copied from Ask a Ninja or Rocketboom isn’t working for them.
• Disillusioned with podcast advertising networks that promised them the moon but either didn’t take their little podcast seriously or took a long time in paying out commissions that turned out to be just pennies.

Podcasters Need to Stop Being the Victim

I just read about one podcaster who keeps looking for “representation” from podcast advertising networks and has been disappointed with each endeavour. As I read through his post, this podcaster kept making the very same mistake over and over.

You’d think he would’ve learned. When something isn’t working, you don’t do more of it. You stop and do something totally different, totally radical.

In my comments, I challenged him to stop looking for representation and instead, look at other ways to monetize his podcast that has a total audience of 30,000:

“If being part of a podcast advertising network hasn’t worked for you and you have such an impressive audience (I like your numbers), why the heck are you still looking for representation?

“There are tons of ways to make money podcasting that doesn’t involve advertising or sponsorship. It’s time for you to be confident and be bold and look at all the other monetization strategies that exist.”

Podcasting Is Alive and Well

I’ve been gainfully self-employed as a podcasting consultant since March 2006. My money comes from no other source except my podcasting business.

I have never gotten a check from anyone for running an ad in my podcast. It’s because I don’t run ads in my podcast. I have a few ads on my blog, but I have yet to get a check for that.

I decided very early that I would get my income from several sources without using ads or sponsorship. I was happy to discover that while writing Podcasting for Profit, I was able to find a few dozen case studies of individuals who are making money podcasting. Some are using ads, some are using sponsorship, yet many others are using a dozen or so OTHER ways to monetize their podcast.

My Recommendations

I urge podcast producers to be creative when it comes to monetization. Here are some of my suggestions:

1. Stop thinking that advertising and sponsorship is the single, ONLY way to make money podcasting and instead, start developing a multiple streams approach.
2. Get my book from Amazon for more ideas. Can’t afford it? Download the 2 free chapters to give you a jump start. Then, stay on my ezine list for weekly ideas and inspiration.
3. Subscribe to Jason Van Orden or Paul Colligan‘s blogs for more monetization ideas.
4. Attend my upcoming event for ideas. Too expensive? Attend a Podcamp for free.
5. Other ideas from profitable podcasters? Leave them in the comments section below.

Why other areas of social media aren’t beat up like podcasting is when it comes to monetization continues to be a mystery to me.

Update: Mark has yet again called me out asking me for monetization tips. Here’s a link to a 7 minute audio recording where I offer some ideas on how to podcast for profit beyond ads and sponsorship (BTW Mark, I’m going to put salt in your coffee when you’re not looking for pulling me back into this debate ;).