One might think, in a world of real doom and gloom, death and destruction, that there was no need for another “the sky is falling” headline, but some media just can’t resist paying homage to the dumb chicken.
Netflix loses subscribers, cancels shows. CNN+ cancelled. “Streaming services are having a bad week,” writes one easily-excited observer, adding, ”Netflix turns twenty-five this year. Will it make a comeback or disappear into anonymity?”
One might think, in a world of real doom and gloom, death and destruction, that there was no need for another “the sky is falling” headline, but some media just can’t resist paying homage to the dumb chicken.
Of course, no-one wants to address the fact that CNN+ was halted after a company takeover, or that a substantial part of the Netflix drop was due to its pulling its Russia operation – why let mere facts get in the way of a headline moment?
And so we should brace ourselves for a spate of mindless “end of podcasting” headlines as news breaks that Facebook is pulling its podcasting operation, after barely a year of trying to position itself in this still fast-growing arena.
Audio has never been a big part of Facebook, and parent Meta will now be chasing video even more strongly, as it tried to keep TikTok at bay. According to Bloomberg Facebook has informed partners it will exit the podcast sector as soon as June 3.
The reality is Facebook never seriously entered the audio-market, simply throwing out a few add-ons to its operation that were never meant to try to compete with the big players in the podcasting field. More a case of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what stuck.
Elsewhere podcasting continues to go from strength to strength and remains one of the most exciting opportunities for publishers to get involved with as this decade unfolds, and that likely will have longer legs than the regular audiobook market, where production costs and luddite resistance to AI at the retail end will continue to hold sustainable growth at bay for the immediate future.
