In August I wrote about Bell Media's The Social becoming a "video podcast". I wasn't sure what that meant, but now that it debuted this week, we have some clarity.
To be completely honest, it seems like the old show, only without the live studio audience. I'm not sure what makes it a "video podcast" except it apparently drops on YouTube an hour before it airs on CTV. Here's the debut episode from Season 14 so you can see how little has actually changed, other than the fact Melissa Grelo is no longer a co-host.
I have been producing podcasts since 2006. That's when we collected at Dan Duran's house to record the very first Humble and Fred podcast. At the time, it was clear what a podcast was, and what it was not. A podcast was an RSS feed that syndicated audio content, typically an MP3 file. RSS, of course, is XML, which means it's non-proprietary. Anyone can build an app that parses an XML file. It's true democratization.
Lately it seems marketing and PR people have tried to completely alter the term "podcast". The Social can re-brand itself a "video podcast", but it's essentially the same show as the old studio show, airing on traditional television while maintaining a presence on YouTube. That's not a podcast, despite what the Bell Media press release says.
Twenty years into my podcast production pivot, I realize I may sound stale resisting the definition creep for a term I never particularly cared for. I always found it too Apple. But it's the term that stuck and Apple could never own and control the RSS feed that drives the format. I like that. What I don't like is that every show, be it audio or video, available just about anywhere, has the term podcast slapped on.
If you like The Social, more power to you. I've never been their target audience. And speaking of audience, that's the only thing missing in their 14th season. And that does not a podcast make.
