Automatic, clickable time-references in our show notes?!

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Well this is interesting! I’ve been adding time-references to quotes when I include them in show notes. I simply put the <minute>:<seconds> after the quote.

Today I realized that Overcast auto-magically makes those time codes clickable — touching the time code jumps play right to that point!

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This is amazingly great for the listener.

For years there’s been discussion about chapters in podcast episodes. They are supported, yes. But there’s complicated to actually set up. The original way, is to embed the information within the mp3 audio file—that requires either special software which does just that, or your DAW has to support marking the chapters as you’re editing. Either way, a bit tedious.

But if this little feature of link-up-time-references in the notes works across more players… this is HUGE.

So: Take a look at your favorite player. Find an episode (any episode of Podtalk, for example) that has time-references in the show notes… and tell me if it works in your player.

ɕ

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That’s very, very cool! Thanks for sharing Craig.

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Honored that you personally edited the episode with me @craigconstantine!

Tom and I have not been seeing value in chapters from within the podcast app - we do not recommend it to podcasters. We are big supporters of it on YouTube though. But within the podcast apps, we see lower play through rates for those that use chapters versus those that don’t. Ironically, we see the opposite in YouTube - we see more minutes played with those who use chapters. We believe that it has to do with the fundamental differences between audio consumers versus video attention spans and the way the apps work.

We did an episode on it in Feed your Brand if you are interested in what we found and the debate: Exploring The Impact Of Podcast Chapters On Viewer And Listener Consumption

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