363 - Podcast News: AI Platform “Fable” Lets You Step Into TV Shows

0:05 Good morning podcasting Morning Chat. Today is Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025 and today we're unpacking a wave of creator news from YouTube's latest collab move to a brutally honest podcasting study viral LinkedIn data in an AI powered twist on binge worthy entertainment. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're listening via podcast, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. Good morning again, podcasting, Morning chat. Thank you for being here.

1:24 I am your host, Mark Ronik. And here with me on stage, we have producer Ashley Feller, Dr. Faye, Sid Meadows, Jonathan Howard and Nick Nolbach. We'll see who else from our cast and crew will be joining us in a few. We'll see who'll be joining us in the live audience in a few. It's not often that this happens that there's like 0 people. Zero people. We're very transparent here. We don't mind sharing this with our podcast audience. And this week has just been a little weird. It's just it's taken everyone a minute to file in and buy halfway or so through the show. All of a sudden we have a full audience. But yeah, I guess this new month, this new fall month has got people's schedules a little out of sorts. So we're patient.

2:12 And being that we've got five other people here on stage with me, the show will go on. And as I said at the top, it is news and comment day. So let's play that music and what I'm going to ask the moderators, the Co hosts here, the share button, bottom left hand side. Please go ahead and ask people to join us here on Clubhouse. And we are live on YouTube by the way, as well. And actually, before we get into the news I promised yesterday, a quick note about chatter chatter online.

2:53 The, as Jonathan puts it, the app across the street. It's a similar app to Clubhouse, but I would have to say probably a more robust 1, or at least promises to be. So far it seems to be. So it's like Clubhouse, but also has video and lots of other features, including some monetization stuff. We dabbled with it in July, yeah, in July specifically. And overall it was going fine. There were a couple hiccups here and there and I've forgotten really how to do the whole simulcast thing because I was away for a few weeks and forgot the sequence to make this thing happen. So I just have to get a refresher from our friends at Chatter and we'll get back to it soon. Jonathan, anything else you want to share about Chatter before we go on?

3:45 Since you are our Chatter representative? I think we're we'll get a set back up over there and get things moving once again, OK? Cool, I'll share that. All right, so let's dig in to the news and the way I like to start. Like of course, even though I played the music already, I feel like I gotta hit the music as we officially dive in. So the way I like to start is with some podcast data. Total podcast episodes posted over the last week was 422,968 which is up 2.7% from the previous week and new episodes it is up finally but sorry to let you down. New episodes over the last 30 days, 1.9 million and change which is down but only really, if I'm being honest .3% from last month.

4:41 We need some sound effects. Whoa. And. We all you did just fine. We can use you Dr. And also by the way, the number one podcast on Apple as of yesterday, September 2nd, the Level Up podcast with Paul Alex, Paul, Alex Espinosa and the number one podcast on Spotify is yet again, the Joe Rogan Experience. And that is why we go to Dr. for our top fives because we'd like to hear some other charters, charters. Is that really the right way to put it? You know what I mean? So we will dig into that first. I just wanted to stick with the podcast data that I'm sharing for a moment. Pod News had reported last week that Buzz Sprouts network stats for August show a drop for Spotify, specifically year over year of 3.1%.

5:40 However, those figures don't include video played on Spotify, so that could increase their overall numbers. Apple Podcast continues to lead in terms of downloads at 37.1%. We sometimes hear these revolving door statistics where sometimes Spotify is #1 sometimes Apple is and YouTube, etcetera. Well, currently, year over year, Spotify is slightly down. OK, Dr., Let's hear from you and those top fives. OK so Spotify #5 is this past weekend with Theo von #4 is Crime junkie #3 OK just creepy scary stories #2 crime conspiracy called to murder #1 The Joe Rogan experience. Shocker.

6:36 OK. And you have another top five list from a specific category. Yeah, I do. So I, I like these like off the cuff kind of random categories. And this category today is education for the kids and #5 I actually think this is kind of cool. I might tune into it #5 is trivia for the kids #4 is who Smarted educational podcast for kids #3 is Smash Boom best, a funny smart debate show for kids and family. Number 2 is brains on a science podcast for kids and #1 wow in the world. Wow in the world.

7:24 I want to point something out about this list. Dr. And by the way, side note, Ashley's going to add in the timpani, since I forgot to hit the button on your second top five S. Our audience will hear that timpani, our podcast audience. But I wanted to point out that I, I just think it's interesting now #5 when we look at this education for kids list #5 the title is Trivia for Kids. Straightforward title. It's something it's it's very smart as far as searchability, right, because you would imagine a lot of parents are probably Googling trivia for kids, especially if they're going on road trips or that kind of thing. But if you notice the rest of the list, these aren't titles that are quote UN quote discoverable. Who's smarted, which I think is a fantastic title, but even the other smash boom, best brains on wow in the world. So.

8:23 So how did they get to where? Right look. And they're still in the top five. To me, that means that they must be doing because I tell my clients, listen, if you want to name your show Hot Topics and there's only about 3 million shows out there named Hot Topics, you're really going to have to opt in the marketing game. You're really going to have to really go out there and man hammer it in, you know, advertise. Paid advertising will help. Maybe getting on a lot of other shows will help. You're really going to have to punch it up. That's the only thing I can think. Agreed. And I mean, So what, what can we take away from this just in the sense that do you happen to know just at first glance or when you were putting this together, Dr.

9:06 do you happen to know if these are produced by big name production companies? Oh yeah, You know what? I don't know. Yeah. OK. So you know that could be part of it too, right? If you already have a built in large audience, you have a little more flexibility. If you're playing the discoverability game right, you can get a little more. Creative let's talk about these random lists because they're very kind of niche. There may be some really good marketing out there. I'm child free by choice, so I don't, I'm oblivious to where the where this advertising would be for kids. Yeah. So I don't know.

9:46 I'm on this bandwagon like more so and again lately where at the end of the day, do what you want to do with your title. If you've got something that you really feel is creative and clever, I don't want to tell you don't do it. I think the idea here is just to remember that when we suggest doing something like the number 5 under education for kids, trivia for kids, when we were suggesting that it's just to help you with your discoverability, It's to help you grow. But if you've got something like who smarted, I can't tell you not to use that. Sid, did you want? I was just going to say if anybody wanted to comment on that, go ahead, Sid.

10:26 Good morning. I'm just curious. Recently I did some research about starting a new podcast and naming was something that was really challenging. I haven't done anything with that other than just do research, right? But there's so many podcasts out there that finding an original name is really hard. And they're really, there aren't any underwritten rules, are there about podcasts with the same name, right? It's just the discoverability kind of thing, right? That you type in something and somebody else has already named it. Well, I say that, but you know, I remember there being a lawsuit not long ago. There was an independent podcast, something about shattering the glass or something like that, and a celebrity came along and called their podcast the same thing and taken to court and the celebrity lost.

11:21 If you trademark the name, I think that's one thing, but it just was interesting that now there's so many podcast shows, finding an original name is actually going to be really hard if you're trying to find one that nobody else has. Yeah, agreed. And the more straightforward these days, the harder, right? Like I looking for trivia for kids. Obviously we know that's taken, but you know, if you're going to be that straightforward, more and more of these days, even that's more challenging to secure. But yeah, I mean, I try to avoid naming a podcast when I'm working with clients the same as another one just to avoid confusion, just because I would hate to see somebody searching specifically.

12:05 They could have landed on your show, but they accidentally land on another one. Right, but this is also where the subtitle, or some people call it an extension can come in to differentiate, you know? Absolutely, 100%. Let's check in with Nick. Nick, what did you want to add? Hey, good morning. Wasn't related to this but on that topic, usually what I would do when I like, when I was like for the AI briefing, I remember you and I mark went back and forth on names. Then we'd go check online and a lot of times I'd check if other podcasts did exist with a the same or similar name, check to see if they're active because there were some shows that had the same name that I wanted, but they put out one episode back in 2022.

12:52 If you're going to be consistent with the episodes and you're going to constantly be putting stuff out, it's probably not going to be too big of an issue because you're going to blow past them at the rankings and search results that pop up. But when you have multiple active podcasts with the same game, that's where it can get probably a little bit more tricky. I I tend to avoid. Great advice, Nick. There may be some people using that name, but just cuz they're using that name doesn't mean they're actively publishing new episodes. And that could be a good cue for you to do that. But I will end this part of the conversation by saying this. Consult a lawyer. If you're really taking this thing seriously, consult a lawyer.

13:33 Reach Outlook up Gordon Firemark, the podcast Lawyer, if that's a direction you may want to go or use an attorney you already have just to get some guidance, some official legal guidance if you're going, if you're considering naming your podcast the same as another. So let's dig into another area we do every week when we cover the news, some events happening around the world, and I do mean around the world. Podcast Day Asia starts today, September 3rd. There's a full schedule available over at Pod News. And Speaking of Pod news, they're also streaming the entire event from 4:50 New York time and it says 10:00 PM to 5:00. AMI think it's supposed to say 10:00 PM to 5:10 AM to 5:00 PM, but I could be wrong.

14:25 Check Pod News for details and we'll try to put a link in the show notes if that's of interest to you. Also, I've been sharing Pod Summit YYC 2025 that's a podcaster event in Calgary, Canada, and of course the Empowered Podcasting Conference 2025 that starts September 26th, Friday, most of the day, Friday into the evening with a happy hour, and then all of Saturday the 27th doing workshops, presentations and a hell of a lot of networking. This is a prime opportunity to really not just network with attendees, but you have the opportunity to network with all the speakers and presenters as well, which of course you can do. And you do have that technically that opportunity at these other conferences.

15:16 But when we're talking about a smaller conference like ours, an intentionally smaller conference like ours, you can really sit down and get to know these people and learn from these people, not just from their presentations, but after we're or before their presentations in the hallways, at the free lunch that we provide all attendees on Saturday, at the happy hour at the party on Saturday night. These speakers are part of the experience. They're not just there to unload information on you. So if you want to get a ticket for 50, that's 50 percent off, go to empoweredpodcasting.com right now and book your tickets. Use code EPCL D50, that's Labor Day. The LD, we're doing this promotion for this week of Labor Day.

16:07 So that's EPC LD50 to get 50% off your ticket. That's, look, let's just be straightforward. That's 100 bucks for that entire weekend that I just quickly laid out for you. It's well worth it. It's in Charlotte, NC. We would love to see you there. If you have any questions, you're free to reach out to me mark@ironicmedia.com but more importantly, go to empoweredpodcasting.com. DRI know you're about to cook some eggs. You wanted to share something? I did. So I have accepted, I guess a position someone someone asked me to be a regular contributor to a new newsletter that they're trying to get off the ground.

16:53 It's called Feed Drops. It's off of sub Stack, but you can get it right in your e-mail box. And I did my first article all on the Empowered Podcasting Conference and how bigger is not better. You know, as a guy, as a guy, when I say size doesn't matter, it really comes off the wrong way. But I mean it. I meet it and I hope you go and I hope you go to sub stack and take a read and you know, reply comments, tell me what I did wrong, tell me what I did right. I don't care, but just comment on it.

17:34 I'm really proud to be working with feed drops. It's also a community, so they have a bunch of things happening in their community as well, but it's all happening on sub stack and I'm really proud of it, so thanks. And I'm really grateful. Thank you for doing that, Dr. for doing that first article about Empowered podcasting. I shared a link in the chat. We will share it in the show notes as well. And to DRS point, yeah, please comment on it, give it a like, do the things, engage with it because that's just going to help it and help feed drops as well. And more importantly, help us help the Empowered Podcasting Conference.

18:15 And and it will tell the editor that Yar is worthy. That's right, that's right. Let's help Dr. as well. Thank you for doing that, Dr. Very cool. OK, and now let's get to some news bites. I will kick things off because after around 717, Dr. has to go make breakfast for her hubby. So I'll take this first story. A couple of months back we shared that the well known podcast WTF with Marc Maron was coming to an end and I believe it's sometime this month if I'm not mistaken. WTF, as we had shared once before, has been one of those shows, I'll say those. One of those rare shows that helped shape podcasting into what it is today.

19:04 One of those shows that really helped put podcasting on the map, and now there's a way to hold on to that legacy. I giggle just a little bit, because who would have thought? The official WTF graphic novel is coming out and it captures the spirit of the show in a whole new medium. The project launches tomorrow, September 4th on Kickstarter. And believe it or not, it's already fully funded, which means this thing is absolutely happening. But you can still be a part of it from the start and contribute I believe going to Kickstarter. Just search WTF and you should find it. Or maybe WTF is a podcast that would also help. Also, we had announced a while back, probably in June, iOS 26 for you iPhone users is coming out in the next couple of weeks. And with the new update comes some interesting changes specifically to the podcast app.

20:09 First up, the app. And really I think most of the iOS platform is going to get a visual facelift with their new quote Liquid Glass design, which is some translucent shiny UI element. Or Elements. It has more rounded buttons, a floating tab bar and a layered glass look. So that's one. And then on the functionality front, which is probably what you're more interested in, Apple is taking a cue from apps like Overcast. Playback speeds now range from 0.5 up to three times the speed. And get this, you can fine tune it in .1 increments using a slick little dial in the speed menu. Plus there's a new enhanced dialogue toggle that isolates voices and it drops the background noise. I am not suggesting with that new feature in mind that you don't have to reduce background noise if you have a noisy background.

21:17 I still think that's important for you to do, but if for some reason you did accidentally I'll assume upload a show with a lot of background noise, sounds like Apple's going to take care of that for you. And a nerdy bonus for you both your speed settings and dialogue enhancement are saved per show, so no more having to re toggle every time you go to a new podcast to listen it will remember your settings. Or you can pick individual shows to do those features. Very cool feature. I wanted to go to Dr. Next but I have a feeling she's still cooking. Breakfast. No problem.

21:59 We're going to go to some AI news for you. I'm going to skip the news bites for a second and jump to AI news. Which, Nick, I know, at least I think I haven't looked at my texts this morning. I know that. Let me see. Yeah. You don't have anything super notable, although I do know you've been playing with Gemini 2.5 Flash. I know I've been playing with it. We could talk about that if you've got anything there, but Nick and I were talking over the weekend about this TikTok that I saw, and I'll play a clip for you from it in a moment. This is really interesting and fascinating to me. So imagine Netflix. OK, just think about when you open up Netflix and you've got that display of all the different content that they have, but all of that content is actually built with AI.

22:50 And here's the real twist to it. You don't just watch it, you can actually step inside as a character and you also have the option to create brand new episodes, alternate endings, and even spin offs of your own. So it's like binge watching Meets World building. The company behind it is called Fable and they're saying they've just invented a whole new category called playable shows. Now I'm going to play this clip for you first and then we can talk a little bit more about why I think that this is an important conversation for us to have and maybe you can make some assumptions along the way but let me play this clip for you and then we'll talk more about it on the other side. This company is building an AI version of Netflix. It looks like Netflix, but all the shows are made with AI and here's the crazy part.

23:43 These aren't just movies and TV shows that you watch. They're actually interactive, where you as the viewer can become a character and even your own episodes. The company's called Fable, and it turns out they might have just invented a whole new category of entertainment. Now, two years ago, Fable went super viral for recreating South Park with AI. You could just type in the plot for any South Park episode and boom, they could generate it from scratch. The characters, the sounds, the scenes, everything. It was pretty incredible. Now, the South Park stunt was just a demo, but it was also the seed for something much bigger, playable shows. And this is where things get wild on Fable showrunner platform. New shows aren't just episodes that you watch. They're more like. Like worlds that get created for viewers to build on top of, each show has a unique design aesthetic and things like characters, environments, locations, and plots.

24:28 But here's the difference. Viewers can dive into the show's world and make their own episodes. They can add themselves as characters, turn real locations into scenes, and even come up with their own alternate endings. And this means every show has a base world and hero episodes, and then thousands of spin off sequels and fan versions combining together to build out the cinematic universe. And if you're into business? Here's the cool. Part for all those fan spin offs there's a revenue split back to the original creator the one that had dreamed up the original world in the 1st place So for example let's say you dreamed up the original cinematic world for Game of Thrones and you're a small team produced the first couple dozen episodes. If you added that show on fable millions of fans around the world could build on top of your original IP and how great would that have been to get alternate endings of the real Game of Thrones.

25:13 Now it's still early days for this technology but Amazon just invested in Fable so it looks like this is going to be a thing. I think Fable just sneakily invented a whole new category of playable content. There you go. And that was from creator Kane Callaway. We'll put a link to Kane Callaway, but it is at Kane Callaway and he spells that with 2K's, not 2C's. So Kane KA etcetera. King Callaway. So check that out if you want to learn more. So Nick, we were talking a little bit about it and then I kind of stopped talking to you because I figured, you know what, let's talk about it on the show. As podcasters often say, hold it and save it for the show. So with that Nick, what are some thoughts? What are some questions that comes to mind for you when it comes to this kind of content creating? Awesome, I like the idea like there's so many creative people out there in the world that don't have the resources, don't have the ability to put together these shows, but could take existing shows and create some really awesome content around that, which I think is awesome that it gives a lot of power to these creative individuals.

26:28 And I guess there are two big things that I noticed and I, I, I kind of mentioned to you this weekend, but one, the fact that the original creator of the IP gets revenue share of that I think is awesome. That helps with a lot of the issues that artists and creatives have had with AI since it came out. So they are giving credit back where credit is due for the original idea. But the bigger question I had as the creator, I imagine some of these big shows like Game of Thrones as an example that was mentioned in the video, the writer of it has this big grand vision of what this entire world entails.

27:10 And yeah, it might take some time to get all of that down on paper or down on a show or whatever that medium is. But if other people are able to spin off of that show, would that not pull away from that original creators grand plan for it all with that kind of loop? The overall image that the creator wanted to give the viewers? So let's talk about that first. I want to hear from those of you on stage. And we do now have an audience. We started with zero. We now have a bunch of people here. And you all are welcome to come up and chime in on this because this is, look, let's start with Nick's second point, right, Will?

27:53 And which really raises a question for me, Will big shows and creators even take advantage of this? Like the HBOS, you know, when we talk about Game of Thrones, would they even take advantage of something like this? They may opt out of stuff like this for those reasons. You were saying that it could hurt the integrity of the show or the intention of the show, and it could affect how people are viewing, consuming the content that the original creator put out there. I think is it really something that big shows will take advantage of, or is it a better play for smaller creators, for creators like you and me that are looking to put themselves on the map to get their show or their content out there? Because I think that that could be a great way for a content creator.

28:49 A smaller one that doesn't have a big production company behind them could be a great way for them to grow and get their stories out there, get their content out there, get their creativity out there and allow people to expand on it. And Oh yeah, by the way, let's not blow past. They'll get some a revenue share for it. They'll still get paid for that content. Also see that as an opportunity. Like I think of the creators of South Park, like those two guys are hilarious. They been around for a while, they're getting a little older. Who knows how long they're going to want to continue doing it, but if if some hilarious creator is making spin offs to South Park episode and they see that, they could see that as an opportunity to bring that person on as a potential writer or member of that show looking forward.

29:43 So it could create opportunities like that that yes, aren't necessarily AI related, but shine light on some of these funnier creative individuals. Renee, hi, welcome to the stage. And what's your take on it? I had two quick thoughts as you guys were talking. So the first thing is to answer Mark's question, I think, you know, the big companies are going to be slow to the game and they're going to follow the money. So some are going to want to keep their legacy pure and they're not going to want it touched where others are going to be motivated by money. So if they're seeing how much money is coming back to the original creator, they're going to watch it with other people. And then I think at that point, they may put their their show out there and just offered up as a sacrifice just because of the residual money that people would want.

30:33 Because I'm sure there's a lot of shows out there that people say, Oh my gosh, I would love to be in that show. I would fit. So like, let's say Seinfeld, you know, Seinfeld, Oh my gosh, I would love to be in that show. Or just something like that where you can just see like if, if they were real people, they'd be my best friends and I would hang out with them so much. That would be the coolest thing. So I think following the money is the main thing. The other thing is I think that will happen. And then the other thought was right away was how virtual reality is going to play into this when that matches up with it. So now you're going to be playing, you're going to be watching the show, and then you're physically going to be in it.

31:14 So you're going to be augmenting it to write maybe yourself into it or change the direction that it's going. But then the VR is you're now going to be in it. So that'll be the next iteration of this. I totally agree with you, Renee. I think VR is still, I don't want to say underrated, but maybe I do. I can't think of a better word. But you know, I don't think people are thinking about it in terms of content creation enough. And with AI making its impact the way it has over these past few years and how it will be integrating a lot more with technology, especially VR, that stuff to really think about. So I appreciate you you sharing that. And I want to check in with Reza who is on stage with us. And it's, hold on a second, is that yeah, it's DJ Rez. You tricked me.

32:07 Is this something that anyone can just create or like, do you have to kind of know what you're doing like as as a creator? I'm just a little confused. It's new technology. It's still in its early phases. So it's not a full roll out yet. So we just have to kind of watch this as it's developing, but it is a thing. And as they said in the clip, you may have missed it, but in the clip they said that Amazon has invested in this company. So it's a real thing. It's definitely coming. It's just not something that's available for to all of us just yet. Did you have any other questions, DJ Rez? What I'm wondering is it's going to open up a whole new world of content creation. Like, for example, all the creators on Instagram, like a whole different world of, of people that are able to monetize off of this.

32:57 Correct. Like, yeah, I mean, that's that's in theory what it's supposed to be. Yeah. Like if you're majoring in film or television as a college student, this is something you can go into. I guess I'm wondering like, it's I can't just do this myself if I'm if I don't come from that background. Well, no, this is all done with AI. So the idea is that the creators on this particular platform will be able to create content using AI and then their followers, their audience, their community can insert them into the show using AI. They can create spin offs of the show. They can create alternate endings of the show, all using AI technology similar to the technology that you and I are already playing with that's available today.

33:44 Cool, Google. Thank you. You're welcome, You're welcome. Anyone else want to comment on this before we go to the next story? Yeah, so Renee kind of inspired my thought process on this when she brought up Seinfeld. I'm wondering how many old, defunct shows will have a new life. You know, bring back, Bring back A Little House on the Prairie, bring back I Love Lucy, bring back, you know, all these shows that we haven't thought of for years. They could live again in this kind of genre. So it's gonna be interesting. Or think of the shows that get cancelled after one season and sends all of the fans in an absolute uproar talking to you, Netflix and Waterfront.

34:32 That's a perfect embellishment to this because so your show you did, you invested your life, it's not bringing in any residuals anymore. So you offer it up to this platform and say, OK, go for it. It's not doing anything for me. Here's my show. Take it. However, let's think about this. These contracts, I'm sure they're ironclad, but this is going to have to be written into the contracts that your likeness is going to be able to be used by third parties, fourth parties, whatever. Those old contracts, would they hold up? I guess so because they gave up their rights. But how would these these new contracts be written? I can understand that there would be some of the some of these actors that would be saying, wait, I don't want my likeness to be able to be used by third parties or whatever we would be called that are using this.

35:18 So this would have to start being written into all these contracts right away. We have to see it first before it goes out or something like that. Agreed. Let's keep things moving. And yeah, again, Renee, I completely hear you. There are a lot of IP things to consider, a lot of legal stuff to consider with something like this, and it's fascinating. There are lots of pros and cons to it, and we will keep an eye on this as it develops. I do think as content creators, this is a fascinating area for us to pay attention to. Dr. Will you go ahead and take the next story? Go ahead, your choice because you prepared some stories.

35:58 This floor is yours. OK, so under 500,000 Subs. YouTube just gave you algorithmic steroids, people. So a while ago, maybe about a year or so, we shared a new feature called Hype HYPE Hype that YouTube was rolling out. Well, Podcast News Daily reported last week that the platform is expanding its hype feature now live in about 39 countries, including the US and Canada and the UK. Here's how it works. Fans can hype in quotation mark. Fans can hype up to three videos per week from creators under 500,000 subscribers. Those hypes translate into points, pushing videos into a leaderboard and slapping them with a like a hybrid badge across YouTube.

36:58 And the best part? Smaller channels can get an even bigger boost, meaning the underdogs finally have a fighting chance to grab attention in the algorithmic jungle. And I said algorithmic without screwing it up. All right, you'll do that. Thank you, Dr. appreciate that. Speaking of YouTube, they're also taking a page out of Instagram's playbook with a brand new feature called Creator Collab. Launched in testing this past August, the tool let's creators Co own a single video, publishing it simultaneously on multiple channels and cross recommending it to each other's collaborator to each collaborator's audience.

37:45 So big names like Mr. Beast is already trying this out and early signs suggest this could really reshape how collabs Dr. growth on YouTube. So if you're familiar with Instagram and it's collab feature, you will probably have a good sense of what we're talking about here. It's basically if I'm making a video and put publishing it to YouTube and let's say Dr. and I, it's a clip from this show and we're talking about something I could tag or add Dr. as a collaborator and that same content will appear on her YouTube pages the way it appears on mine. So for podcasters and video creators, I think that this is huge. I wish all social media platforms had that collab feature.

38:32 It's one of my favorites on Instagram. Until now, collaborations meant, you know, those messy workarounds and you're you're duplicating the uploads. I'm uploading it on mine, DRR is uploading it on hers. It's kind of messy. So YouTube's making this collaboration a native. Well, I don't know what to call growth hack. So I'm curious if anybody would or likes this or anybody feels like it's not necessary. I like I said, I think that the collab feature is a necessary feature in today's content creator world. And at the very least, just wanted to make sure you know that this is starting to roll out and be on the lookout for it. Like I said, tested it in August and I think they're starting to roll it out slowly.

39:23 So be on the lookout for that and maybe we can talk more about it when we when it's more available and we start using it and see what we think about it. Go ahead, Ashley, and then we'll go to Jonathan. I just wanted to say I love this and I'm sort of hoping that this is something that can be done with it is that you can go into your past episodes and add that collaboration feature. Because a couple of the shows that I produced that are on YouTube, they're with people that have significant YouTube followings. So if I could go back to those past episodes and add collaborator, that would be so cool. I really I'm with you. Yeah, and I'm even thinking for Instagram you, if you have some old content as A and you want to add a collaborator now, I would consider.

40:07 Test strategy of adding the collaborator and then using the new Instagram repost feature. I wonder if that would help its reach after it's been quote UN quote on the shelf for a little while now. You're adding a collaborator. Want to give it some more life? Inject it with a little more potential. Maybe doing a reap the repost feature would help as well. Jonathan, did you want to add about this YouTube collab feature? I just wanted to say I think Mr. Beast did one with the Savannah bananas. The gentleman who runs the Savannah Bananas. And it was actually a really interesting collaboration and I do love that it's over there on YouTube because it is a huge. Feature on Instagram and I just wanted to say because I didn't get to this last.

40:48 Week but you. Also can link your reels to other reels on Instagram, which means that if you do multiple collaborations, you can actually link them together with your other collaborations. And your people are going to stay on your account much longer because there's multiple videos for them to watch and they're going to play consecutively. Thank you, Jonathan, appreciate that. And looking at the clock here, what I want to do is I want to keep things going. And I have a feeling we may have more to cover tomorrow as well. We have a lot of interesting stories to share. I'll let you know as soon as we finish the hour here this morning. Dr. There's more to share. Go for it.

41:32 LinkedIn, they're shifting, maybe they're podcast focus to more video. Now LinkedIn is changing up its podcast strategy. By the way, did you know that LinkedIn has a podcast strategy and network? No, they have a podcast network. It's a network and leaning hard into short form video instead of locking into exclusive podcast deals. This just makes me laugh because I had no idea that they were doing. Me neither. OK, they're opening things up. Well thank God they're opening things up so more creators can actually monetize video content on the platform.

42:16 They did. They did end their partnership with I Heart Media, but they also rolled out some new programs called Brand Link. It connects advertisers directly with trusted creators and publishers, and the early numbers are showing stronger engagement, higher video completion rates. The whole shift is really about helping brands reach Linkedin's professional audience in a smarter, more targeted way through video. It's crazy you think that LinkedIn is like a serious place for short form video. Or, well, yes. I mean, yesterday we were talking. With you're doing it, so I'm going to do it.

42:57 Too. Yesterday we were talking with Sid about that and yes, I think the answer is yes, Sid said he has had success with short form content and I see Sid wants to add in to this. So go ahead, Sid. I'm not familiar with this podcasting network or something that you're talking about, Dr. So I'm going to have to go look it up, which is fine. LinkedIn changes every day, right? So it's hard to keep up with. But like I said yesterday, Lincoln's leading leaning hard into video content. And I know that they've even started for their creators sending out like they have a video feature now in their newsletter where your newsletter can be a video of you talking. They also do that themselves.

43:40 So their creator, the newsletter that they send out for those of us that subscribe to it is a video. So I think yes, they're leaning heavy into this. And you know, I do like the idea of a, you know, 5 minute potential video. If you can be really captivating that you can share the message of your podcast in the video, I would certainly watch analytics to see if people are listening to it right or watching it. But yeah, they are definitely leaning heavy heavy into video. Thank you Sid, appreciate your take on that. And I'm seeing in the chat that a lot of people are surprised Bez says what? Me neither. Meaning he hadn't heard about it either. But they never tell us anything.

44:24 Billy goes on. Give it up LinkedIn so late to the game. Just be a business directory. Janae says LinkedIn doesn't care. Bez comes back in. LinkedIn blew it the first time with their creator program. They do it for a minute and then it will fade away. So yeah, sounds like a lot of people are a little bitter with LinkedIn, just in the sense of they don't seem to do a great job communicating their efforts, their strategies, their features that they offer. We need Renee. I'm not Renee. I'm sorry. Who was it yesterday that Stacy? Was it Stacy? Yeah. Stacy's a LinkedIn top voice and it's great, but but listen, they keep us in the dark. I mean, to Bez's point, they make these changes and they don't tell anybody and then we hear about it, you know, word of mouth or something to that effect. So yeah, it's they had definitely have a communication problem.

45:21 And we've got some people interested in adding on the people I was mentioning in the chat. We'll first go to Billy. Billy, good morning. What did you want to add? Said Oh, Billy in the chat. And so I just wanted to get up here and hear him saying like the cable guy. Oh. Billy. So. Anyway, I think LinkedIn did, I think they break trust, same with Clubhouse. First of all. We waited for a video over there and then no one even knew it. Launched. That sucks for those guys, I think. Somebody in their office is like. Oh yeah, we're podcast. OK, send that out. And then they don't follow up. So yeah, just breaking trust and especially content creators, because most content creators, I feel like I'm business first, content second, but most content people are content first, business 2nd. And so I think they got to figure out how to communicate to that audience and.

46:09 Do a good job. Yeah, And I think to what you're saying, Billy, I think as a creator, the thing to do about LinkedIn is continue to make posts, continue to put out content and maybe not rely so much on any new features that you hear about until you see it established and working for other people. Bez, what did you want to add? I'm with Billy, a long time LinkedIn superfan super user. I may not be a top voice but I use it a lot. When they did LinkedIn Audio, they, they were doing a creator program. They pulled all those people in and then those creators kept giving them feedback and they got frustrated because they wouldn't make changes to the platform and or to the LinkedIn Audio.

46:52 And so after about a year, all of them were, I'm never going back. They just wasted our time. Come to find out, they actually disbanded the LinkedIn Audio engineering team four months after they launched it, and barely anybody knew. And I found this after the sunset today and I was like, good riddance. But to Billy's point, they break trust. And all you have to do is look at Linkedin's products. They make about 1718 billion a year. And out of that, LinkedIn recruiter makes about 11-12 billion. So figure out what's going to be important. You look at what where they make their money. It looks like they had just hired a new VP and they're trying to get cute. But I wish them well. I mean, I love LinkedIn.

47:34 Back to you. Thank you, Bez. Yeah. And I know you do. I, I see you on there actively using the platform and taking advantage of some of those features. And I know you were doing social audio at one time. And yeah, it can be frustrating, especially, I imagine especially somebody who loves a platform so much. It's having that love hate relationship, I suppose, and that that's challenging. Here's something that will, I think probably be the last story of the morning. And it's piggybacking on LinkedIn and piggybacking on something I said a moment ago about really just focus on making content over there because it does. It is effective using LinkedIn, according to a major analysis from Buffer that examined over 2 million LinkedIn posts across 94,000 accounts. More posts equals more reach.

48:31 Big time. Sure, in sheer numbers when you think about that, Yeah. So if I post 3 pieces of content on LinkedIn, it will likely get three times the reach. But this is more than that. OK, so this study, this analysis says if you post two to five times per week, you're going to reach roughly 1000 impressions per post. If you post 6 to 10 posts per week, it's going to be around 5000 impressions per post. So the actual impression numbers seemingly are going up if you are posting more times and that's per post. And here's the other 111 or more posts per week, a whopping 16,000 impressions per post, along with three times more engagement and a bump in engagement rate of 1.4% points compared to posting just once a week. So if LinkedIn, yeah, we talked about this yesterday and I talked about that.

49:35 I've struggled to really get a a consistent and strong reach on that platform. It sounds like after doing this really major analysis, it sounds like if you're posting more often across the week, you're going to get more impressions on each of those posts. Go ahead, Bez. Well, on LinkedIn, the only metric that that matters if you're a business person, hey, did you bring in more revenue And you know, you can get reach likes all this engagement impressions and that really does, you know, for something for our ego and and and don't and gives us that opening hit. But on LinkedIn, you don't really need that.

50:16 I mean most of the people that make money, I've seen 567 figure deals because of LinkedIn and I'm 2016 when I got laid off someone reached out to me and we ended up doing a three month 5 figure a month deal and I had a crusty LinkedIn profile was that's when I said oh I better invest in LinkedIn. And I was a recruiter using it since I was beta testing LinkedIn recruiter back in the day. So metrics, yay, where it really benefits people is like, you know, you get a 10,000 dollar 20,000, you know, $100,000 deal. Those things can happen on LinkedIn. I just want to add it to real quick. I agree with everything that Best said, and I do think this research is really interesting, but you got to think about what your strategy is on LinkedIn and understand that I'm saying three times a day is not necessarily going to have the impact that you want, like it potentially can on TikTok, right?

51:12 And so LinkedIn actually encourages you and rewards you for going on the platform, commenting, engaging with content about 15 minutes before you make a post. And then what you do within the first hour after your post has been done, like meaning if people comment that you comment back, Lincoln really rewards that and they pushed that content out. So you got to pay attention to some of those unwritten rules of how their algorithm works. And I mean, they want you just like everybody else. They want you on the platform as long as I can get you on the platform. So I think it's important to remember that if you just post something now and an hour later post something else, I think you're actually going to get throttled down rather than pushed up.

52:01 Thank you, Sid, and thank you Bez. I hear you and appreciate that. You pointed out that we don't need the impressions on LinkedIn, that it's really more of a vanity metric and I get that. And LinkedIn, like you said, a lot of the the revenue matters and a lot of networking happens there. A lot of big business deals can happen there. And my impression, for lack of better word, is that if I'm getting more reach, it's potentially increasing my chances to network with more people I wouldn't have connected with before if it wasn't for my extended reach due to my content. Does that make sense?

52:44 I agree with you 100%. Where a lot of people fail is to make that connection and jump because they're so fascinated with the metrics, they don't have anything to offer, right? So of course, and, and LinkedIn behaves like maybe all the media, social media platforms, they push out stuff to 2%, see how it gets and then it it'll keep pushing it out just depending on what the engagement is. So one more thing on this, to tag into the switches comments are actually by LinkedIn considered content. So and LinkedIn shows you the impressions that your comments get. So if you're targeting businesses to create podcasting for businesses and you're commenting thoughtfully, 9 words or more tagging the person, right, Lincoln shows that to people.

53:37 And I have had the experience where my comments are getting more reach than my actual posts are getting. And to the original point that Bez made, I can't tell you the number of people that I've worked with over the years since I started my business and 2017 that say things to me like, yeah, I've been following you on LinkedIn and I really like what you're doing. I'd like to talk to you about working with you or I follow your podcast or whatever it is, right? And so though I've never made any money directly on the platform, I have gotten clients because of the platform. And to your point, Mark, because of being visible and sharing what it is I do without actually going for the butt or to the throat and trying to sell directly on the platform. Go ahead, Bez.

54:22 One real quick story, somebody I knew decided to post on LinkedIn, one from her business proof you know page and one from her personal page twice a month and did it religiously and somebody reached out to her. They have known each other since high school, K through 12 of course went on to college, became CEO of the company. Was not liking or clicking her post but told her I've been watching your post. Every time you post I print it up and take it to my executive team and we analyze your post. Brought her on and gave her a consulting gig before the 1st consulting gig finished. Gave her two more consulting gigs.

55:03 This thing could turn into a permanent job for her, right? So sometimes the even the lurkers are the ones that you don't know, but just keep on doing what you're doing. Great point, Bez. Thank you for mentioning that and thank you, Sid, for sharing your share there because I think it's important to pay attention to a lot of those details, including commenting, right? I appreciate that LinkedIn and other platforms put so much weight into the comments because that's the that's the meat, right? The engagement that happens. That's where those connections start. That's where business happens. That's where you grow as a creator, as a business person, etcetera. Thank you for sharing that as well, Sid. And we are back tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern Time. Come join us.

55:48 I will go through and see all these stories and see if we have enough to continue these conversations tomorrow. If not, I have a whole other topic planned for you. And actually it could be one of these stories. It's about a study that recently happened where most of the audiences are saying the podcasts that they stop listening to. The number one reason is that it's just too boring. Not audio quality, not bad video quality, but just that it's too boring. So we will probably dig into that as well tomorrow. Thanks for a great conversation today.

56:29 Join us at 7:00 AM Eastern. And until then, make it a great day. Everybody take care.