Proof that iTunes’ Podcast Recommendations Are Meaningless

So, if you know me or follow either of my podcasts, you know that I do a fantasy football podcast called Extra Points. My good friend Scott and I have done it for two full years (entering our third season), before any of the major FF sites were doing podcasts. We’ve got a decent sized audience and we’ve actually won a Podcast Peer Award for best sports podcast back in ’06. I know we’ve got a good show. So, naturally, I was hopeful, when I saw that iTunes decided to feature fantasy football podcasts, that we’d be featured. No dice. Oh, well, that’s the way things go, no biggie.

Or, it was no biggie until I saw who they did decide to feature:

Now, I’m not going to knock anyone else’s podcast. That’s not my style. And, to be honest, I don’t listen to any other FF podcasts because I’ve OD’ed on information by the time I release my show. But one particular show really surprised me, mostly because it only has two episodes, neither of which has anything to do with fantasy football:

Now, again, nothing against the people who did this podcast; there’s no shame in podfading, and it’s not their fault that they’re still listed. But wouldn’t you think that someone at Apple would, I don’t know, go through their recommendations before they posted them and make sure they’re actually relevant? Basically, what you say to me with this choice are two things. One, you don’t give a damn about who you feature and just picked thirteen podcasts that had the words “fantasy football” in their titles without even looking at the podcasts in question. And two, my podcast (and every other fantasy football podcast that wasn’t featured) is apparently less worthy than a show that has no episodes. Plus, you invalidate all the other recommendations in the process, since you’ve just killed your credibility by deciding to feature a dead podcast. Those other podcasts could be great (and I’m not saying they’re not), but how can I trust any of those recommendations now?

Great job, Apple. Way to be a responsible and influential partner in promoting podcasting. I’ll stick to Google from now on.