Edison Defines the Word "Podcast" | Rob Blatt's Culture of Content

Edison Defines the Word “Podcast”

by Rob Blatt

Edison Research releases a presentation each year about digital media. The most interesting to me, of course, is the podcasting aspect of the studies. While the Association for Downloadable Media has not yet defined what a podcast is in their Glossary of Terms, Edison clearly defines what a podcast is.

Audio podcasting does refer to the download of program-oriented online audio (such as a talk show or a hosted music program), usually as an automatic download that can be listened to at the user’s convenience.

They also say that podcasting doesn’t refer to downloading individual files or songs. I assume that means they are not including individual downloads of podcast episodes. That removes people who are snacking on showing here and there but not committing to subscribing.

Do you define a podcast as something else? I gave a talk at PodCamp Montreal about how we use the word podcast, and Edison is the first group to step out and make a clear definition like this in their research.

Tom Webster

Thanks for the post, Rob. When we first started asking about podcasting in 2006, we *agonized* over this definition. We knew we needed it, but as with any such survey instrument it is an imperfect solution (no perfect one exists, btw). We have kept this definition consistent for 4 years (our 4th podcast study comes out next month) and we are not likely to change it, as that would toss trending out the window. We like to think it is inclusive, not exclusive: for every exception you can name, I could also point out that the people listening to those exceptions are also highly likely to be consuming other podcasts that aren't exceptions--plus the definition does use the word "podcast"--so we believe we are capturing as much of the behavior as anyone could reasonably hope for. Still, everyone has their take and we welcome the dialog on this or any of the questions in our podcasting series. I missed your talk--is it posted online? Love to hear how you tackled the sticky nomenclature issue.

Thanks!

Edison Defines the Word “Podcast”

by Rob Blatt

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