How Is Your Podcast Like a Box of Breakfast Cereal?
Friday, March 7th was National Cereal Day and your podcast may have more in common with Corn Flakes and Froot Loops than you realize.
May I be the first person (and likely the last) to wish you Happy National Cereal Day.
Yes, there is such a thing.
The Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company was created in 1906 in Michigan by W.K. Kellogg. And all these years later, who would have thought your podcast has a lot in common with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes or other cereals?
It’s true.
Let’s crunch the reasons for a moment.
MASS CONSUMPTION
Podcasts are now mainstream. Much like breakfast cereals.
According to polling by the CivicScience research team at Carnegie Mellon University in 2023, some 70% of Americans eat breakfast cereal. Some 53% eat cereal at least once a week. And Generation Z is leading the way, chowing down on cereal once or twice a week.
Sound familiar?
Call me cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. But that sounds a lot like podcast consumption, doesn’t it?
According to the Podcast Landscape Report issued by Sounds Profitable last August, 72% of Americans between ages 18 and 54 have listened to a podcast in the last month and another 37% have consumed either a video or audio podcast in the past week.
COMFORT AND COMPANIONSHIP
Podcasts and cereals offer value in our daily lives. They provide nutrition. They provide comfort. They provide companionship. How many times have you turned to a bowl of cereal to feed your hunger, to grab a snack, to have a quick meal? Podcasts do the same - they feed our needs. They’re snacks for our brains.
My favorite cereal for when I’m seeking a companion at the kitchen table? Raisin Bran Crunch.
CATEGORIES AND REPUTATIONS
Cereals have reputations. Some are considered healthy or full of vitamins. (I’m looking at you Wheaties, the Breakfast of Champions.) And some are sugary and rot your teeth, my Mom used to say. Podcasts have reputations as well and fit into categories.
Healthy: Make Me Smart, The Indicator, Mel Robbins, DOAC, Huberman Lab
Sugary Treat: Bad Friends, Smartless, Dear Media’s The Toast (not to be confused with Cinnamon Toast Crunch), Call Her Daddy
Essential Vitamins: NPR’s Up First, ESPN 30 for 30, Planet Money, ABC’s Start Here
Finally…
COVER ART
Cereal boxes use eye-catching colors and lettering to grab your attention in the supermarket - just like you’re supposed to do with your podcast cover art.
And if you doubt there’s a connection between podcasts and breakfast cereals, then who better to connect the two than the Kelce brothers? I spotted Jason and Travis on cereal boxes while shopping at an Arkansas-based retailer recently.
MY RECOMMENDATION If you love cereal as much as I do, then there’s a podcast for you. Check out Cereal Killers. Co-hosts Scotty and Andrew literally love to dig into breakfast cereals in real time. So grab a spoon and listen. Or watch on YouTube.
John Wordock served as Executive Editor and SVP for Podcasting at Westwood One from 2019 to 2024, helping build Cumulus Podcast Network into a top ten network and top channel on Apple Podcasts. He also used to be Executive Producer for podcasts at The Wall Street Journal until 2019. He now runs his own podcast consulting company, John Wordock Media LLC.