Today, people all over the world are listening to podcasts and the audience number grows every day. In fact, six million more Americans listened to weekly podcasts in 2018 versus 2017. Why are podcasts so popular? Because it’s easier than ever to find, subscribe, and listen to literally thousands of podcasts on every topic! Podcasts have everything from news, arts, business, comedy, education, politics, sports, technology, music, health, spirituality, hobbies, and more.
Podcasts are free (with very few exceptions)! Podcasters create content and publish their episodes on popular platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, PodParadise.com, as well as a variety of other podcasting directories and apps.
Listeners tune in to specific podcasts for many different reasons. Podcasts can inspire, educate and inform, help you grow your church, help you grow spiritually, and optimize your time!
People listen to podcasts while walking, driving, commuting, or working out. For members and nonmembers of the church alike, listening to a podcast is convenient. Many people subscribe to the podcast they’re interested in on their smartphones. That way, they can easily play audio in their car, on a jog, or while they’re shopping in the grocery store. Podcasting is a form of Internet radio that benefits from the fact that it’s on-demand, allowing you to start and stop the playback at any time and pick up just where you left off later.
Churches can use podcasting to reach new members in a variety of ways. The easiest way for a church to get started is to simply record the Sunday service with an audio program such as Audacity. Audacity is a free audio recording software available on both Mac and PC computers.
If you stream your services, StreamingChurch.tv now offers an opportunity to have your video archive’s audio automatically stripped and used for a podcast. StreamingChurch.tv has implemented this new feature that integrates with PodServe.fm. If a church has videos in their media vault, PodServe.fm will automatically take the audio from the video and create a podcast for them. The podcasts are shared on your churches’ own PodServe.fm website and popular podcast platforms.
If you’d like even more information and tips on podcasts, we’re here to help! Email us at [email protected] and we’ll assist you in starting your own podcast today!