We're evolving! Upcoming changes for Genre Blender

Hey friends! We've hinted at it in our last couple of podcast episodes, but Genre Blender is currently evolving! We're like Metapod evolving into Butterfree. OK maybe not that dramatic—I'd like to think we're a bit more entertaining and useful than a Metapod (no hate to the fans), although 'Harden' is a good move to have on the internet where thick skin is required)—but the point remains: we're undergoing a few changes and wanted to formally announce them to you in this handy-dandy explainer.

The TLDR version:

• More videos more often!
• A new focus on the YouTube channel and video-first content
• More variation in the topics covered and the types of videos we make

Why the changes?

Firstly, we've wanted to do more than just a podcast for a while now. We're a year into this gig and it has proven to be sustainable, and now Kris and I have a ton of ideas that we're excited to turn into actual thought-provoking-and-hopefully-entertaining videos.

Secondly, YouTube isn't especially favourable to podcast-only channels. Longer videos don't do very well on YouTube. The algorithm likes the shorter, sharable stuff, and the longer episodes were not helping our channel growth. A lengthy podcast is also a big time commitment for a lot of people. So while we'll continue to do the podcast, we also want to make content that is shorter and primarily in video format where we don't have to worry about the compromises necessary when your audience is split between video and audio.

Last but certainly not least, being able to create more freely, on different topics and in different ways, will help keep us doing this for longer, and keep up the fun-factor and novelty well into the foreseeable future.

What's changing?

Podcast
Our podcast episodes will now be recorded and published monthly instead of fortnightly. The format will also be changing. We'll have a few more recurring segments, and a few occasional segments that we'll do periodically or for special occasions. There will be even more focus on our read-watch-play updates, plus a news segment, writing updates whenever they happen, and some other shenanigans that I'll keep as a surprise for now. The goal with the podcast is to have a place for an extended casual chat about current and topical things without worrying about having to add a coat of polish in the editing room. It'll be longer (probably) and a little more raw, while allowing for even more tangents (uh-oh) and the magic that happens when you allow a conversation to go to unexpected places. The podcast will continue to be available in video format on YouTube (and here on our website), video and audio on Spotify, and audio-only in your podcast app of choice.

Discussion videos
Twice per month, we'll have a discussion video on various topics. They'll be shorter (ideally under 30 mins), a little more focused on a single topic, have some tighter editing (hopefully—no promises, as you know we like to waffle), and available only in video format on YouTube (and, of course, linked here on the website). Think of these as the section of the podcast where we would focus on a single topic, but as its own standalone video.

Solo videos
Both Kris and myself will be making a topic-based solo video of our choice each month. This is where we get to stretch our wings a bit, experiment, and really make the stuff that is interesting to us. Less rules, more opportunities to keep it weird and try something new. Like the others, these will be video-only on our YouTube channel.

And that's all for now! I'll take this last opportunity to say thank you a ton for coming along with us on this ride. Kris and I do this because we love it, but making videos on a regular basis in one's free time is definitely a commitment, and it's always a motivational boost to learn that there are people out there who are watching it and enjoy it. So thank you, and we look forward to reading your comments and feedback on our videos and on the socials. Stay safe out there!