Casting a Wider Net

January/February 2006 Issue: Page 30

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Podcasting is ripe for online advertising and profits.

Podcasting is emerging as an interesting and potentially lucrative opportunity for online marketers who want to reach a wider audience.

The figures for podcasting vary, but by all counts the podcasting market is poised to explode and online marketers want in. A report from The Diffusion Group, a technology research consulting firm, showed that the use of podcasts is expected to grow from an estimated 4.5 million users in 2005 to 56.8 million by 2010.

Also called audioblogging or blogcasting, podcasting is a term formed from the combination of the words iPod and broadcasting. Podcasting started cropping up with some frequency in early 2004 and, despite its etymology, an Apple Computer iPod is not required - any MP3 player or computer will play the audio files that are created and downloaded from the Web.

These audio files, which can be about a diverse range of subjects (from cooking to computers and religion to comedy), are posted online and, by subscribing to RSS feeds, can be automatically detected and downloaded to a user's computer.

Until recently, podcasting, like blogging, was the domain of those with a desire to create whatever sort of content they chose without regard to advertisers' preferences, editorial guidelines, format or demographic targets. They were even exempt from government regulators such as the Federal Communications Commission.

Then in 2005 several events occurred in the span of just a few short months that shone the spotlight on podcasting and pushed the grassroots movement into the mainstream consciousness.

In April some impressive data emerged that showed podcasting was a large and still-growing market. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that more than 22 million American adults owned iPods or MP3 players. Nearly 30 percent of them had downloaded podcasts from the Web to listen to audio files at their leisure. Then in May 2005 BusinessWeek put podcasting in front of the average business Joe by running a cover story and special report focused on podcasting.

By October, Apple had announced the integration of podcasting into its popular iTunes music service software. This made it easier for users to search for and subscribe to podcasts. The move struck a chord with users who signed up for more than a million free podcast subscriptions in just two days after the announcement.

Also in October, Apple launched its much-anticipated video iPod. Users were overjoyed to find out they would be able to download episodes of their favorite TV shows including Lost and Desperate Housewives.

Marketers began jumping on board just as quickly. Only a little over a month after the video iPod was unveiled, fastfood giant Burger King sponsored a set of comedic shorts that could be downloaded and played on the new device. The Burger King sponsorship entailed a branded page for video files specially encoded for video iPods.

Also just shortly after the device debuted, a group of users of Adobe Systems' software launched what may have been the first podcast infomercial, a half-hour tour of the company's popular photo-editing software, Photoshop.

All of this was bolstered by surveys, data, research and reports predicting huge gains for podcasting.

A November report by radio and media market researcher Bridge Ratings estimates that 4.8 million people have at some time during 2005 downloaded a podcast from either a radio station or other source. iTunes was referenced as the most often accessed portal for podcast downloads. This 4.8 million estimate is up from 820,000 podcast users in 2004.

By 2010, conservative estimates say that 45 million users will have listened to at least one podcast. Aggressive estimates place this closer to 75 million by 2010.

The study shows that approximately 20 percent of current users who have ever downloaded and listened to a podcast do so on a weekly basis. This group downloads an average of six podcasts per week and spends approximately four hours a month listening to those podcasts. More interestingly, on average less than 20 percent listen to their podcast downloads on an MP3 player or other portable digital device.

A lot has changed since a year ago when Allen Weiner, research director with market research firm Gartner, referred to podcasting as largely a hobbyist phenomenon, attracting "anybody who's ever had a microphone or worked at a college radio station.''

Now this burgeoning podcasting market, which had already quietly developed a huge and fiercely devoted following, was the object of interest for venture capitalists, traditional media players, advertisers and online marketers - all working overtime to figure out how to make podcasting profitable.

And that is a polarizing topic for the podcasting community.

At the Portable Media Expo & Podcasting Conference in Toronto in early November, keynote speaker Leo Laporte said, "If somebody gives you money, you owe them something. I listen to my listeners, but I don't want to listen to advertisers."

Laporte, an author and high-tech guru, appears in advertising-supported radio and TV shows but shuns commercial advertising and promotions for his popular "This Week in Tech" podcast.

But for most the basic questions are no longer, Is podcasting an advertising vehicle or a marketing vehicle, or is it an art form or a commercial form? The discussion has moved beyond that to acknowledge that it's all of those things and more. Now the real question is exactly how and who will make money from podcasting.

Add Advertising and Stir

Adam Curry, a former MTV VJ from the early 1980s, is widely credited with helping get podcasting off the ground. Curry was among the first to create a podcast by working closely with Dave Winer, a programmer, who is also often acknowledged as the first blogger, credited as the father of RSS and a former resident fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

In November of 2005 Curry's company PodShow, which promotes podcasts and finds sponsors for them, acquired Podcast Alley, a grassroots podcasting directory that played a big role in sparking the podcast craze. Many define success as a spot in Podcast Alley's Top 10 list. Those with top rankings are often downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.

The acquisition comes less than a month after news that PodShow, which also helps mainstream companies produce and distribute podcasts, received $9.85 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. Curry's plan is to launch a podcast network with anywhere from 30 to 50 shows that will split ad revenues.

While Curry's been in the podcast mix since the start - he often refers to himself as "the Podfather" - there's no lack of jockeying for position among big tech players and some newcomers, many of whom are attempting to lay the foundation for selling shows and advertisements. Continued on Page 2...

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