Pandemic Decreases Commute Times and Ushers in Microcasting as the New Standard for Podcasters

Microcasting has emerged as the latest trend in the audio medium. As attention spans shorten and content availability continues to grow on podcasting platforms such as Audible, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, the microcast has gained more popularity as a means of sharing the information delivered through podcasts without requiring listeners to heavily invest their time.

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Perfect to turn on for a car ride to the grocery store, a mid-day walk or when waiting to pick your kids up from school, microcasts are bite-sized podcasts that maintain the impact and informational value of a full-length podcast but don’t require more than 10 minutes of their listener’s time. This format allows for listeners to skip longwinded intros, fan mail segments or rabbit-hole tangents that are used by full length podcasts to fill time and “fluff” the content their listeners came for.

Number Three Productions, a Colorado-based audio production company operated by the GracePoint Matrix is accepting consultations for creatives, authors and entrepreneurs who want to expand into the microcasting space to grow their brand, business and audience.

With podcasting maintaining a presence in mainstream media consumption, it is harder for new podcast creators to capture an audience and build a following when competing with big name podcasts that have been in the game for years. Microcasts have proven to be more easily digested by audiences looking to branch out from their usual programs and not having to put as much of a time investment into exploring what a microcast has to offer. In many cases, microcasts help give speakers and creatives a platform that easily attracts an audience, this in turn creates a following that is more willing to listen to longer more detailed productions as the next step for micropodcasters.

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“In the last couple of years one huge impact we’ve seen on podcasting listenability is the decrease and disappearance of commute times. If you’re now working from home even just some of the time, you’ve lost that commute time to listen to your favorite show. Hour-long, 45 minute, even 20 minute episodes are now too long for some listeners. I really love the idea of microcasts: bite-size pieces of information that you can listen to while washing the dishes, doing your nightly bedtime routine, as you’re eating your breakfast in the morning, any small activity that you now do when you would have been commuting,” says Mark Packard, Director of Number Three Productions and producer for microcasts such as “Amplify! With Karen Curry Parker” and “Cosmic Revolution”.

Microcasting has been adopted for a number of topics as the information-packed mini sessions are just as easy to record and produce as they are to listen to. From everything from grammar or sports highlights or news headlines to dense topics such as understanding Quantum Human Design, the microcast medium is connecting listeners to topics they love and want to learn about in ways that easily fit into any schedule. Each episode being tailored to get straight to the point without delay keeps up with our fast-paced information driven world and leaves listeners fulfilled with receiving exactly what they came to hear and no proverbial “fat” to trim before they get to the source of the information or entertainment.

Microcasting is an available resource to authors and creatives through GracePoint Publishing’s in-house audio production company, Number Three Productions.

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