WHAT WOULD A TIK TOK BAN MEAN FOR PODCASTING?

Well, like most things in life, it’s all about knowing your audience.

 

OK, I’m not going to get into all the international politics about TikTok, and their Chinese-owned parent company, Byte Dance.   But as you may have heard, President Biden, depending on when you consume this podcast, is expected to sign a bill requiring Byte Dance to sell off their ownership in the company, or have the app banned in the US.   

In 2023 and 2024, the big discussion around podcasts has been about video.   And while I’ll spare you the audio only or video for FULL podcasts discussion today, short video clips can be a great way to market your show to new audiences.   I can think of two shows, New Heights with the Kelce brothers, and Games with Names, with Julian Edelman, that I’ve seen hilarious short clips from, and it’s resulted in me checking out the full podcast.

Now the jury is still out on what the conversion rate is between short term video clicks to podcast downloads, but the more places you can market your show, the better.

According to my favorite annual survey, Edison Research’s Infinite Dial, Tik Tok is now the #3 social media brand among Americans age 12 and up, trailing only Facebook and Instagram.91% of this total population is aware of it, and 35% use it.   (Some of that actually comes from Twitter and X being a dumpster fire lately. Thanks Elon!)

Now as you might expect, Tik Tok usage DOES skew younger. While 13 % of everyone age 12+ say it’s their MOST used social media app, that number jumps to 23% among age 12-34.  And it falls to single digits age 35 and up. 

So back to my original question.  WHO is your audience?  Who is your podcast talking to?  If it’s a younger demo, a Tik Tok ban could affect your discoverability.  And you’re going to have to keep tabs on WHERE your audience Is going, and be where they are.   If your audience skews older, keep banging the Facebook and Twitter drum.  If your audience is more in the professional space, don’t forget about LinkedIn too.   Fish where the fish are.

As always, if you have any questions about podcasts or the industry, you can always find me at JAGinDetroit.com.Lata!

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