The Evolution of Audio Media: A Conversation with Chris Krimitsos - Part 1

Audio Branding

“So I got involved in YouTube first, uh, in ‘06, and then audio, I got involved in 2012. I started, like, paying attention in 2013, um, the summer of 2013. I really got heavily in podcasting ‘cause I saw the opportunity and what it could do for people. And like you said, I love voice. It’s a much more nuanced form of communication, but it’s so profound ‘cause, right now, um, even today, even though I think people should have a video component of some sort, when you look at people’s stats, the people that listen to audio are much more engaged in that show than the people that watch the video.” – Chris Krimitsos

This episode’s guest has been successfully growing Podfest Multimedia Expo from what started as a meetup at a local café in 2013 to an international conference with more than three thousand registrants. Content creators have benefited from his knack for community building as they build relationships, their podcasts, and YouTube channels through the platforms he’s provided. These experiences, whether in-person or virtual, are built on his experience as the creator of over two thousand live events in his professional career. As a trendsetter, he quickly identified podcasting’s popularity and responded with a 2017 documentary about the evolving medium called The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary. The film has been placed on YouTube for global distribution after having initially been released on Amazon, where he also had his book, Start Ugly: A Timeless Tale About Innovation & Change, hit #1 in the categories of Business Leadership and HR.

His name is Chris Krimitsos, and in this conversation, we find out more about how he decided podcasting would be such a big thing, what it takes to put together a conference of Podfest’s size, and where he thinks this medium will take us into the future. We’re all about sound here – and podcasting is definitely a part of that. So keep listening to learn more from this encouraging, community-minded, giant in the industry!

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(0:00:01) - Evolution of Audio Media Platforms

As our conversation starts off, Chris shares his early memories of sound, particularly hearing the nightly train in Long Island as a child. He recalls growing up in the early days of podcasting and talks about how YouTube, Bluetooth, and even the automobile industry all helped shape the course of podcast history. “That eight-year lag between [having] the Bluetooth device in the car and the Bluetooth on your phone to match up,” he explains, “it gave YouTube and on-demand video about an eight-year head start.” We discuss whether podcasting might eventually replace radio altogether, and its advantages over the increasingly commercialized streaming video landscape. “You might have some ads in the front,” he says about podcasts, “but you listen to a person’s voice and you’re not necessarily scrolling for the next audio show. You’re committed to that show for that half hour.”

(0:11:24) - Podcast Platform Dominance Conversation

Our discussion turns to which platforms are dominating the market these days and where podcasters should start when it comes to building a global audience. “If you leave the country or North America,” he says, “everybody’s on Android platforms, so Spotify is dominant. Like in the Philippines, 96% of people consume Spotify or YouTube.” We talk about Google’s efforts to establish its own video and audio ecosystem, and why, fifteen years later, YouTube is still on top. “They’ve siphoned all their equity into YouTube,” Chris notes. “They’ve tried adding different platforms. It just doesn’t work.”

(0:15:44) - Growth and Impact of Podfest

As we wrap up the first half of our conversation, Chris talks about the very first Podfest in 2015 and how much it’s grown since then. “We did so many workshops helping people get started,” he recalls, “and they started calling me for more help, and, at the time, all these tools that we have today were not in existence. So I said let’s all get it right together once a year and compare notes.” He shares some of Podfest’s most memorable moments since those early days, and how the pandemic helped it come into its own. “I just said to myself ‘I’m going to allow it to grow as big as it wants to grow,’” Chris recalls. “And since then, now, you know, we get thousands of people every year at Podfest.”

Episode Summary

• Chris recounts the shift from YouTube emails to podcasting in today’s digital landscape.
• The value of having your own RSS feed, and which platforms are growing the fastest.
• Podfest’s journey from a community event to a globally recognized convention.

Tune in for part two of our conversation as Chris tells us more about Podfest’s literally record-breaking virtual conferences during the pandemic, his tips for using social media to make the most of your podcast interviews, and the weirdest question he’s been asked in an interview.

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