Iām an avid listener of several EC podcasts. In fact, although I have been an enthusiastic lover of bicycle riding for many years, Iād never been a pro cycling fan until listening to Spin Cycle, which converted me by making the sport fun when filtered through the personalities of the podcastās hosts.
Hooooowever! Every time a segment comes up imploring me to support independent journalism, get discounts, or continue listening in After Dark, I feel like my wife is asking me to take out the trash when I already did it five minutes ago. And then she asks me again a few minutes later. Not that this has actually happened in real life, but sure you can see how such a situation would be annoying. Such is the feeling of constantly being asked to sign up for something that Iāve already signed up for, over and over and over again, on a podcast which is supposed to have the Members Only perk of containing no ads.
So, dear Escape Collective, might there be a way to remove those supplications for subscriptions from the podcasts, for those of us who have already subscribed?
Are you talking about the single reference to subscribing, for example, before the Geek Warning pod moves to the Ask a Wrench portion of the podcast? That single very short reference?
In every episode there are one or two reminders, sometimes ~30 seconds long, sometimes a a couple of minutes long, sometimes Johnny Long, reminding us that if we are not members, we probably should be, for various reasons. It would be lovely if, as a member, one of the perks was not having to listen to those ads.
Hey Michael, I suppose the initial part of the answer isā¦ it could be worse? We cut out most of that for non-members. Generally, if something is left, itās because it pertains to members, too. Stuff like the Member Purchase Program promos, which we want current members to know about just as much as potential new members. Beyond those instances, there shouldnāt be EC ads in the member pods. I donāt listen to the final cuts (Iād have to listen to myself, which would drive me insane), but if the EC ads are left in the episodes Iāll mention it to our editor, itās easy enough to yank them out.
Hey Caley, when I hear the shout outs to sign up, I do find it annoying, given Iām on the member feed. Hardly the end of the world, but it does seem a bit daft. I think the issue is that the call to sign up can often form part of a slightly wider conversation, or segue (sachet). Perhaps you separate them into their own self contained snippet that can more easily be dropped in or left out as appropriate?
Caley, youāre right ācould be worse (which is the name of a GREAT kids book by James Stevenson). Itās just a minute or two here and there. But itās a little annoyance that ads (heh) up when you listen to a gajillion episodes.
Agree with the sentiment. It feels like Escape is just being cheap/lazy with editing. Other podcasts I listen to with a free/paid portion generally seem to do better making the paid portion a seamless experience.
I donāt think itās the biggest deal in the world, but also a little bit more deliberate thought about how announcements are made so that theyāre scripted to edit cleanly for the member version could go a long way.
If Dave says as heās wrapping Geek Warning that āup next is Ask a Wrench, unless youāre not a member, in which case youāre missing out,ā is that something we shouldnāt hear because itās kind of advertising or is it ok?
Yeah itās gonna start getting real tricky to determine what constitutes a CTA versus ending a train of thought with āoh yeah btw sign up and become a member to get other stuff like what weāve just been discussing for the last 10 minutesā
In the latest geek warning episode it was about 1:15 between saying that the members section was coming up, previewing the content for non-members, and then reiterating that the following section is for members only. Seemed excessive as a paying member.
A brief transition is fine, but more than that makes me feel worse about paying, not better.
Iām genuinely curious because I clearly am not botheredā¦ Is it a āprinciple of the thingā/āIāve paid money specifically not to hear the adsā situation, or is it something else Iām not seeing?
For me itās one minute out of 45-90. Iām usually driving, folding washing, doing the dishes or some other inane task. Someone speaking about the actual value of people paying money for things we like for a minute or so is not affecting my experience.
I agree. I also think that since EC depends on subscriptions to exist, that short reference might spur a member to gift an article or two. Word of mouth can be valuable
I have no problem with something short like that. What has bugged me are some of the sometimes quite long calls to sign up that have been in some of the Spin Cycle episodes.
It wouldnāt take too much to do a short separate āadvertā that can be dropped in, or left out - Itās what most podcasts do - although if itās always the same length, people will quickly learn how far to skip forward to avoid hearing it again, so one benefit of just having it as part of normal podcast conversation is no-one can skip it easily.