Have Podcasts Become a Thing of the Past?

-- The New York Times stopped producing podcasts in December 2011. Not long after, Boston Globe editor Marty Barron posted on Twitter, "We dropped podcast years ago. Big time commitment, little gain."

The folks at Slate apparently don't agree, however, as downloads of its podcasts have nearly doubled since 2010.

In fact, according to Slate doubles down on podcasts, courting niche audiences and happy advertisers, podcasts are the one facet of Slate that users appear to appreciate above all others.

More from the article, published June 4, 2012 by the Nieman Journalism Lab:

"Slate podcasts have ballooned not only in number but in length. The Gabfest was originally 15 minutes, the longest [podcast executive producer Andy] Bowers thought listeners could take. But listeners kept writing in and asking for the podcasts to be longer, then longer still. Now most programs are about 45 minutes long.

"Where else on the Internet do people go and seek out something that's 45 minutes long and listen to it week after week after week, year after year?" Bowers said. "That kind of engagement is pretty extraordinary.""

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