It Seems Petty, But I Endorse It

**Marco Arment** (0:00)
I'm happy to report that we have not yet been classified by the US government as dangerously capable. Therefore, you're still able to listen to our show.

**Casey Liss** (0:10)
Do you think that Apple has classified us as dangerously capable, and that's why we aren't getting invites to things?

**John Siracusa** (0:15)
No, that's not it.

**Marco Arment** (0:18)
I think the world of audio-only podcasts was never super high on Apple's list, but it sure is invisible now. I think they just don't care. We should probably talk about the idea of should we really be doing video.
I don't think any of us are super into that idea, but if we want to continue to have that kind of visibility to the rest of the world, that might be a good idea, but it would so complicate the production of the show and the editing of the show, that I don't think it's enough motivation for us, but I don't know. How do you guys feel about that?

**John Siracusa** (1:02)
I don't want to pivot to video.

**Casey Liss** (1:04)
So I think there's a couple of things here.
It's a little rude of me to say this, but I think all three of us have faces for radio, so there's that.
Secondly, I know for me and for John, our physical spaces are not really conducive to doing video. I have done it. It can be done. Every time I am asked to guest on a podcast, which doesn't happen that frequently, to be clear. I'm not trying to humble brag here, but on the occasions that it does happen, I often ask up front, are you doing video for this? And annoyingly, the answer is typically yes. And if the answer is yes, I have to go through this whole internal dance of, do I really want to clean up the rest of the office? Do I really want to just, do I want to do this at all? It's just not for me. It's not what I enjoy. But the flip side of that is, I think it's clear that that's where attention is. Certainly for Apple, though honestly, I don't really care if Apple pays that much attention to us. It would be lovely to be able to go to WBDC, but it's really not that big a deal.

**John Siracusa** (2:07)
They're not gonna pay. Do you think when we suddenly start doing video, they're gonna pay attention to us? No, they're not.

**Casey Liss** (2:11)
Well, no, that's fair, but they seem to ignore everything that is not video these days, or print for that matter.

**Marco Arment** (2:18)
I mean, and to be clear, we were never like super reliably getting press access, but it has really turned to zero in recent years, like the last couple of years where...

**John Siracusa** (2:26)
I think it was always zero. I think the only time it happened was in aberration, otherwise constant zero, which again, I'm fine with.

**Marco Arment** (2:33)
Honestly, like it does help to a degree that we don't have to worry about losing our press access because we don't have any. And so we are able to be really honest and really direct. That's more difficult. Because I know when I have had times in my career where I've had press access with Apple, I have worried about losing it. I don't think that ever made me do anything major, majorly different from how I would have otherwise done it. But I'm sure it had to have like a minor impact or some kind of like subconscious biasing that like, maybe I would soften things or not go near certain things because I was afraid of losing that access. Whereas when you have nothing to lose, it does give a certain degree of freedom. But I don't know, I'm going back to the video thing for a second.
Maybe a good guiding principle on this for us to keep in mind is like, I don't think any of our audience has asked us for that.

**Casey Liss** (3:27)
But that's a very good point.

**Marco Arment** (3:28)
I think that the reason why YouTubers have pivoted into a lot of podcasts is because they're easier. You don't need to write and edit nearly as much as you do for other formats that succeed on YouTube. If you can just have a casual conversation and do minimal editing and minimal writing, that is much easier. So there's a reason why YouTubers like it. And there's a reason why some podcasters enjoy it because they think they can get YouTube audience with their podcast. And that's, of course, very tempting.
What podcast wouldn't like more listeners or more of an audience? And so I think that's why people are doing it. But if we are happy doing what we are doing and our audience is happy doing with us doing it this way, and we're all happy with the numbers and how everything is going, I don't think we should feel compelled to have to push into an area that none of us seem like we actually want to do.