What Do The Changes To The iOS 11 Podcasts App Mean To Podcasters? - The Podcast Report

Here's a quick catch up. Podcast Movement 2017 was fantastic, and I'm looking forward to Podcast Movement 2018. The new Apple podcast app is out along with iOS11, the new iPhone X, and the Apple Watch 3 that I can make calls on.

In this episode, I'll be chatting about the new app and in future podcasts I'll discuss other things from Apple. There is also some great stuff out by other companies this year. The new website is launched. We also have a giveaway for today's episode.

Tip of the Week:

Tell your audience to subscribe. Smart podcasters know that podcasting is about subscriptions, and the best audience comes from subscribers, but your audience might not realize that they can subscribe and have your show sent to them automatically.

Podcast App Changes in iOS11:

• [03:04] Apple has made some huge changes to the podcast app, and I'm going to talk about them in this episode. You can also grab the PDF I made that includes all of the changes.
• [03:58] There are podcast seasons, stats from Apple, show types, episode types, and a best of the podcast option. All of these together become really important.
• [04:26] Podcast seasons. Seasons have been around for a long time. Seasons are powerful because you can get thematic about your show.
• [05:23] Building your podcast as a season changes the game. Seasons are a fantastic way to chunk together podcast episodes.
• [06:59] There are rumors that there may be options to click and download entire seasons. Seasons have been around for awhile, but they are now supported and something that you should take advantage of.
• [07:15] Apple stats. In the past, we had to use what we could from our download stats.
• [08:26] These will only be Apple stats. This won't be your entire audience, but you will see trends like how long your audience listens. These are huge, so start thinking about it and be willing to make a change.
• [09:32] Show types. The App plays the most recent episode when you subscribe. The average audience member listens to whatever podcast is given to them.
• [10:15] There are serial types of shows that you may want your audience to listen to in a specific order. You can now set that inside of iTunes. You can start with the episode of your choosing or the most recent episode.
• [11:25] Episode types. Now we have three types of episodes: full episodes, trailer episodes, and bonus episode. Being able to tightly define your podcast experience is exciting.
• [12:58] Most of the podcasting platforms have these options in play. If your host doesn't, it may be time to look for other options. Seasons, stats, show types, and episode types are four very big new Apple podcast app features.
• [13:24] Best of the podcast. If you search shows now on the app, there is an idea of the best of the podcasts. They pick an episode and decide that it is the best of the podcasts.
• [14:11] For some reason my March 15th episode was chosen as the best of my podcasts on season 4. We don't know why Apple decides on certain episodes, but it must be based on downloads or how long they were listened to or some other metric.
• [15:30] Podcast seasons are now part of the system. Stats and tracking will help with future decisions. Show types will let your audience download the podcast in the order you like. You can play with bonuses and trailers when in between episodes, and best of the podcast will allow you to treat your podcast like the media entity that it is.
• [16:56] You're not your client. You may not be interested in tags. Take the time to do the tags and set things up to provide a better experience for your audience. This will become the new standard and set things up for future listeners.

Links and Resources:

• Podcast Movement
• Michael Hyatt
• Serial Podcast

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