Television Syndication and Podcasting

It can be very helpful to see how people with a similar business problem are dealing with the same issues I'm facing. One of the projects I'm working on is trying to come up with a syndication model that accounts for podcast-style online subscription paired with distribution through traditional media like radio and television. We own the content and are negotiating licensing to the third party venues. It would be a simple matter to simply offer the syndicated segments in an RSS feed with enclosures from the official project site and be done with it. That doesn't leave the syndication partners feeling good about the relationship because they are paying for programming based on their ability to sell advertising around the content. If we offer the show directly from our site, we cut out the partner and potentially damage the business relationship.

But who needs the partners? This is the Internet with instant syndication to the entire world. If it were that easy someone would have created an economically viable to network television online. BitTorrent doesn't count because nobody, including the people who invested money in the project, sees any revenue. For a production of any budget to continue over time, infrastructure costs must be met, people involved need compensation and a revenue stream needs to exist or the incentive to continue eventually goes away. NPR and its continual begging for money is prime example of this. The shows aired have a syndication fee, although it's not called that. Without enough sponsorship, the local NPR station won't be carrying This American Life, Fresh Air, All Things Considered, etc.

NPR has long streamed segments from various shows online at NPR.org. They also distribute segments on demand for a fee through Audible.com. Just recently they announced plans to abandon the relationship with Audible.com in favor of something more like podcasting. Dave Slusher offers some interesting commentary on NPR suggesting the two main distributors of NPR content, NPR and PRI, should not podcast their material, rather allow member stations to podcast instead. Dave is right. Without member stations, NPR and PRI wouldn't be in a financial position to leave Audible. By podcasting content directly, NPR and PRI are in direct competition with the stations providing funding.

This is the same problem we are facing with the syndication dilemma. For argument's sake, the project I'm talking about is launching with ten syndication partners in ten unique geographic markets. In the traditional broadcast space, that means no customer overlap, so none of those ten markets competes for viewers. If we offer a podcast from the official project home, all ten markets will view the project as a direct competitor.

My proposal is to empower each syndication partner with a podcast unique to their audience. Any local advertising sold in the syndication market is still included with the podcast, keeping it relevant to the local subscriber. This could be centrally managed through some geographic redirection at the syndication source or by simply creating a list of links to content sources. I like the idea of geo-smart subscriptions because new syndication partners would automatically join the program with traffic specific to their location. Anyone living outside the ten markets would remain a customer unique to the show until some point in the future where distribution is established in an eleventh market.

In theory, this could be managed entirely from a central server. When a person in Nashville subscribes to the podcast, the server assigns them a unique URL pegging the person as from Nashville, which delivers the Nashville-packaged version of the subscription. When someone from Des Moines, IA subscribes, they get the Des Moines version of the subscription. A service provider could make a ton of money developing the infrastructure to handle this, but that's a different discussion.

This doesn't jive with the "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Transmitters" philosophy of syndication. It doesn't need to. The transmitters, the local broadcast stations of radio and television, still provide value in connecting the local audience in ways the Internet is still trying to figure out.

Posted by Jake

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Television Syndication and Podcasting

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