Video director and new media pundit Tim Street was at MacWorld this week, where he interviewed New Media Expo founder Tim Bourquin about his recent decision to sell the NME (formerly the Podcast and Portable Media Expo) to the organizers of the Blog World Expo. The combined show will be called the Blog World and New Media Expo.
We speculated about the impact of this merger with Blubrry CEO Todd Cochrane during his 24-hour Podcast Marathon last month. Hearing Bourquin explain the thinking behind the sale helps better understand the situation.
Bourquin was a pioneer in several facets of podcasting; he organized the first commercial podcasting convention, back in 2005, and he was among the first to develop and sell a popular podcast series (Endurance Radio, an endurance-sport podcast) at a profit.
In Street’s interview, Bourquin talks about the changes he has seen as, the podcast industry becomes one more piece of the media creator’s toolkit. “You’re not just a blogger; you’re not just a video podcaster. You’re a media creator,” Bourquin says. “Everyone is broadening their horizons when it comes to creating content.”
As for Bourquin, it looks as though he is not just passing the reins of the New Media Expo to the Blog World Expo folks, he’s leaving podcasting behind. Acceding to listeners’ pleas, he and his brother Emil are going to do one more “wrap-up” episode of their popular Podcast Brothers podcast. He has no other podcasting plans on the horizon.
Does this mark the end of an era?
What do you think the impact of Bourquin’s departure from the podcasting scene will be? For those who’ve attended both the NME and the Blog World Expo, what will the combined expo look like?
