Proposal: <podcast:action>

[pizzapanther]

Call To Action Tag

Proposed tag for adding "Call to Actions" to a podcast or episode/item. Can be used to sell your warez, event sign ups, special donation drives, newsletter sign ups, etc. The tag can used at the top level or inside an item so you can promote on the podcast level or promote things per episode. You can supply optional images. Images could be used to display merchandise like Youtube merchandise store feature.

Examples

<podcast:action href="https://merch.com/coffee-cup" thumbnail="https://storage.com/ccup.png">Coffee Cup</podcast:action>
<podcast:action href="https://merch.com/t-shirt" thumbnail="https://storage.com/tshirt.png">Buy a Shirt</podcast:action>
<podcast:action href="https://signup.com/podcast-is-cool">Sign Up</podcast:action>
<podcast:action href="mailto:feedback@podcast.com">Contact Me</podcast:action>

Display

Possible display with and without images.

App Considerations

• Apps should consider putting a display limit of number of actions shown.

Questions

• Recommended image size?
• Recommended square thumbnail?

[theDanielJLewis]

It's an interesting idea, but why would a podcaster use this in an episode instead of chapters, which can also include images and URLs? I just see too much overlap with what's already available for episodes.

But I can see some potential uses for this at only the channel level that aren't already handled by <podcast:funding> or the proposed <podcast:merch>. Those separate but extremely related ideas could actually be merged inside of your<podcast:action> idea. Even my proposal for <podcast:contact> (#770) could be merged with an "action" idea instead.

So if we look at this at only the channel level, I think the big question to answer would whether we need a single tag to handle all/most calls to action. Or should types of calls to action be split into separate tags with more purpose-driven attributes (such as contact, funding, newsletter, etc.)?

[pizzapanther]

That's why I suggested this so you wouldn't need to create so many tags, contact, funding, newsletter, sign up, etc. You can have one tag and change the action language.

As for the episodes, I was thinking of youtube merch links you can put on top of a video. You can still have chapters and associated content but the actions links would stay static at the top. Yes they could duplicate functionality but chapter content is often hidden at first and not shown initially.

[pizzapanther]

here's what it looks like on youtube

[pizzapanther]

Not saying it has to be like that, but trying to cover the same purpose

[pizzapanther]

These are essentially podcast marketing buttons that should be prominent in the app. It could still live with contact and funding tags because those are often "evergreen" and don't change much. Especially contact info you probably want to hide away under a small button somewhere because it doesn't need to be always seen. However, you may want to drive sign ups or purchases during a particular episode or time. That is what these actions are for.

[pizzapanther]

no more need for code BONGINO just click a button in the podcast app