New Might Only Mean New, Not Necessarily More Revenue - NPR, Podcasting, and Layoffs

 Those supposedly in the know pontificated: podcasts. That was the sure thing for getting, holding, and growing attention - as well as revenue.

Not so, it seems. New might only mean new. 

That's the tough lesson non-profit NPR has learned. It embraced podcasting. That includes its popular "Fresh Air." But the strategy didn't pan out. As The Washington Post reports, the revenue from sponsorships hasn't come in, at least not enough of it. 

That disappointment, along with other falloffs in advertising revenue, has generated a massive reduction-in-force at NPR. 10% of the workforce or 100 employees are being let go. They are being set loose in a glut market of others displaced by layoffs in media. 

What I recommend to my career coaching clients is to be wary of the new. Its early success could peter out and/or it will soon enough bring up a growing number of competitors. Soon enough podcasting became oversaturated. 

There is every reason to keep extracting influence and income from the old and true. Blogging, for example, is a mature medium. However, it remains a useful tool. Power players like large law firms such as Paul Weiss invest major resources such as the leadership's time in old-fashioned in-person networking. That's what develops new business. 

Innovation is a wild card. The classic disaster had been New Coke. 

For the unemployed in media, here is my article on career change, published in O'Dwyer's Public Relations.

Intuitive career coaching about your present and your next. Shut down the noise from that committee in your head and open to possibility.  In addition, Jane Genova is an award-winning writer on Human Resources issues.

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