// This article was first a podcast episode on Building an Indie Business
As makers creating content is important. Creating content is how we can bring people’s attention to our projects. There are many different kinds of content that can be created, from blog posts to tweets or short videos, all with their pros and cons. In this article, we will be comparing the pros and cons of podcasting versus publishing videos on YouTube.
Podcasts can be consumed everywhere
Due to their format and distribution system, podcasts are incredibly versatile, which make them a great option to reach your audience wherever they are.
Multiple platforms
When it comes to podcasting, there are several platforms where you can add your content and share it. If one platform does not fit your needs you can always use a different platform. This is different from creating videos because YouTube is the dominant video sharing service.
Listened to in many different situations
People listen to podcasts in many different situations, such as cooking, commuting, or walking their dog. On YouTube, people have to sit down and be in a situation where they have access to their screen.
Podcasts can be uploaded to YouTube
Podcasters can always convert their audio to video using an app like Headliner and add their podcast to YouTube. On the other hand, creating a podcast from your YouTube channel would be difficult if you rely on visuals.
But podcasting comes with some challenges
Despite these advantages, there are some limitations to podcasts that are important to be aware of before getting started or decided to make it a main focus of your content strategy.
No visual aspect
Unlike YouTube, there is no visual aspect involved with podcasting. Why can this be considered a con? Because YouTube videos lets you grab the attention of two senses, sight and hearing. There is a chance while listening to your podcast that someone will get distracted by something they see and tune out your podcast.
More difficult to set up
To create a basic podcast you need a microphone, recording software, and a podcast host to get started. You have to wait at least 3-4 days to be accepted by iTunes. On YouTube, anyone with a Gmail account can upload a video in minutes. The minimum amount of equipment needed to create a video for YouTube is a smartphone.
The industry isn’t very developed
Despite the fact that podcasting has been around longer than YouTube, companies have not invested as much into the podcasting industry as they have in video sharing. The lack of focus on the podcasting industry has prevented the industry from growing as fast as it could have. Some features that seem standard for YouTube such as a comment section or very in-depth metrics are missing for podcasts.
Shareability
There are many platforms that listeners can use to listen to your podcast. This is great but can cause difficulty when sharing your podcast with others. Some platforms are for IOS only and won’t play on Android devices and vice versa. This can make sharing a previous episode in the show notes difficult. On YouTube, people can always watch your videos in the browser of their phone if they don’t have the YouTube app.
What’s good about YouTube
Because it’s been around for a long time and is popular with a more mainstream audience, YouTube comes with many advantages.
Organic traffic
YouTube uses algorithms to show their viewers content they might like. There is a good chance that YouTube will show viewers your videos. This will increase your potential audience and increase the amount of potential customers for your product. There are no algorithms being used in podcast apps, limiting the organic discovery aspect. The only way to get organic traffic in a podcast app is from listeners using search in their app and for your podcast to show in the results.
Straightforward monetization
To monetize your videos on YouTube a channel needs 4,000 hours watched and 1,000 subscribers. This is a big amount of listeners and subscribers but it is straightforward. There is no clear roadmap to monetizing a podcast. You can do ads related to your content but there is no clear number of listens or subscribers that is known to start shopping around for advertisers.
But YouTube may be too big
YouTube is the biggest video sharing platform by far. If you want to create videos to grow your audience, YouTube is your only real option if you have no existing audience. To grow your audience on a different video sharing platform would be difficult because YouTube has the most viewers compared to any other video sharing platform.
But the company can make a decision that will negatively impact your small channel. They won’t care if you stop making videos. For instance, this happened when they decided to raise the monetization requirements.
There are millions of people creating videos on YouTube everyday. Even if you create the best videos in your industry on YouTube there is a chance that your video will get less views because someone else created a similar video that is favored by YouTube’s algorithms.
There are many different types of content that makers can use to bring people’s attention to their projects. While both podcasts and YouTube videos have their pros and cons they are both great platform for creating content, and a great approach is simply to use a mix of both, playing on each platform’s strength to better engage with your audience.
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// This article was originally published on makermag.com
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