A podcaster (and Youtuber) who I really enjoy is CGP Grey. He has been proposing allowing voluntary <i>removal</i> of view numbers from Youtube and similar platforms.<p>I think Apple should fix or remove their rankings but, <i>please</i>, don't add any more metrics.<p>The podcast world is currently mostly immune from so much of the clickbaity trash on Youtube (that arguably isn't even YT's fault).<p>I admit it's very counterintuitive or almost subversive these days to suggest that internet points be kept secret.<p>Edit: Here's a CGP Grey video where he talks indirectly about how he sees the internet fracturing his (our?) ability to pay attention and focus. <a href="https://youtu.be/wf2VxeIm1no" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/wf2VxeIm1no</a>
I think this article should be retitled to remove the word "How" at the beginning, since it doesn't even really speculate how one would go about doing this. It's interesting nonetheless.<p>Any ideas? Assume that someone decided to harness one of the many click-farms to do automated podcast subscriptions?<p>I suppose it's also possible that Apple did an ill-advised algorithm change or something that changed the weights very heavily, and the spammers who had been quietly doing their thing for months suddenly all got promoted.
It's going to be just like record charts. People are looking for those popularity lists to find the interesting and good stuff that other people are listening to. We'll have scandals, companies will be pushing up their own ratings via nefarious means. Then you get more viewers, more money from advertisers, your network benefits - there must be podcast celebrities who get the equivalent of payola to say they like another podcast. History repeats itself.
The algorithm seems to be weighted to boost new subscriptions - looking at the Chartable top US-all there is one at #20 which recently launched (has 6 episodes) which is above This American Life at #28
I have never used a podcast top X chart before. I usually think, hmmm, I wonder if there's a podcast about <some subject> and search the internet for that.<p>I guess I care more about a subject than popularity.
Startup idea for anyone so inclined: Create a podcast distribution service where podcasters pay the current cost of a postage stamp per listener to push podcasts onto devices. If the recipient listens to the podcast, the money is refunded to the podcaster. If they delete it or ignore it for 30 days, they keep the money. The podcasters are allowed to see anonymized metrics for who listens to what. Listeners can use their earnings to tip their favorite podcasters, or just cash out.