Making money out of podcasts
All eyes are on podcasting now that Apple has integrated this function in its new iTunes release. We start feeling we could make money out of podcasts, but somehow it is still early to realize which way one has to follow. The main challenge at the moment is to find a way to effectively measure listening. The difficulty is in tracking, because once someone downloads a podcast and puts it on a (portable) player, it is no longer connected to the Internet, and therefore no longer trackable. What if this person shares the podcast with a friend? What if he doesn’t listen to it at all? These questions still have no answer, and advertisers for the moment are just happy to know the number of downloads and therefore willing to pay on a CPM basis.
The other point we need to think about is the kind of audience listening to podcasts. It isn’t yet a mass media channel, so it could make no sense for big brands in the consumer segment to advertise there. But, at the same time, the audience is precisely segmented, so advertisers are able to deliver extremely targeted ads.
Tags = Podcasting, Podcast Marketing
You’ve probably heard all this before…Maybe non industry-based casters could try to energise their audience and encourage participation and useful feedback on a website - a bit of old-fashioned community building to learn more. Podcasting allows people to build-up a cult following (your own “cognoscenti”) - its potentially a more personal and direct medium than a web-page - it should be treated as the driving force of the relationship. Yawn.