The future of podcasts is a Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactivity
Podcasts are an intimate experience, but they aren’t interactive. PHD’s Amelia Ward challenges us to imagine a podcast experience resembling a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, unique and rich for listeners, podcasters and advertisers. It might not be too far off if voice technology continues to grow.
You might fall in love with the sound of your favourite podcast host, the intimacy of their voice inside your headphones. It could be inspirational, heartfelt, intelligent, educational and familiar, but it’s ultimately one-way dialogue. The linear design of podcasting means that as much as you get to learn about your favourite podcast and host(s), they know nothing at all about you.
But imagine podcasts that were interactive and immersive, like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel or interactive video game.
In order to imagine this future, we need to look back into the past. The 70s were a goldmine for interactive experiences. In 1972, Atari released the arcade game Pong – not the first video game ever made, but it was the first commercially successful one. It established interactive gaming as one of the universally most popular pastimes.
And how popular are chose your own adventure books? When I was at Uni this same PHD was being written about hypertext fiction. Didn’t happen. This sort of stuff will always be fringe because the human desire to listen to stories. We don’t generally want to make narrative decisions. That’s not to say the odd example wont happen like Bandersnatch but It will always be a small segment of the market because creative people generally want to tell stories. Not create story trees and structures for audiences to explore. Video games are the only medium where it really works.
I actually already host an interactive podcast called Your. Decisions. Matter. where each fictional story revolves around the Listener making decisions using their Skip button. Obviously this is a little different than what is being described here but I think it is somewhat the beginning.
I don’t think that all podcasts need to go this route because I enjoy just listening to shows while doing my errands and chores. But I do believe there will be more interactive shows in the future utilizing this voice command method. It’ll be interesting to say the least!
This isn’t true. I give you the Bandersnatch episode for Black Mirror.
People will always want and need stories. Stories crafted by storytellers.