Podcasting in plain English

Kudos to commoncraft.com:

Podcasting listenership continues to grow

Continued growth in the podcasting sphere... the latest technology poll from Jacobs Media reports an 87% jump in numbers year to year. The survey covered 27,000 respondents, across 69 Rock-formatted stations, so it's not exactly a broad demographic, but a pretty important one. Of those surveyed, nearly one in three people had listened to a podcast before. Lots of room for more growth...

New media ad rates announced

The Association for Downloadable Media announced an industry-wide proposal for advertising standards in podcasting and video podcasts. The highlights, as reported in Podcasting News:

• Insertions - Pre-recorded file provided by sponsor
• Time :10, :15, :30, :1:00
• Location: pre roll, mid roll, post roll
• Frequency: variable by episode or time period
• Audio: 128k stereo/64k mono mp3
• Video: H.264 mp4 Aspect: 4×3 or 16×9 – sd and hd
• Content Participation - sponsors message included in show
• Time: variable from :1 second to full episode
• Location: pre roll mid roll post roll or integrated w/in episode(s)
• Frequency: variable by episode or time period

Check out the ADM website for more. I like the concept of standards here, but as I've been posting lately, podcasters that are in it to make some dineros should probably seek to diversify beyond just ad revenues.

Using New Media to Promote Your Book

Podcasting News has a great story that goes hand in hand with my post from the other day about using podcasting and new media as a way to promote other things you are selling... like your book.

One of Nineball Media's clients has found success in creating an ongoing community that is tied into a book. It's a great way to expand on the concepts and create a launching point for other ideas... different products? a second book? The best part is that the podcast is free content that listeners are excited to receive - not merely a series of advertisements wrapped around some minimal content.

If you're a budding author, think about how you can use new media before, during and after you publish as a companion to what you're writing! With the news that podcasting continues to grow and reach mainstream acceptance, the time to integrate new media into your plans is now.

Will It Blend: a great model for revenue generation from new media

Podcasting News has a terrific article on the Will It Blend phenomenon... using new media as an advertising substitute (although that might not be the right way to look at it).

If you haven't seen the videos, the Blendtec blender company has found a huge earnings jump by showing their product demolish things like soda cans and iPhones. Do yourself a favor and check out what happens when an iPhone is blended. Wow.

Moral of this stor: Think of your podcast or video podcast not as a revenue generator in and of itself... it might be a better awareness raiser for some other business interest: a service you provide or a product you sell. Sure, some podcasters are doing a good job monetizing their shows through ads, but for others this may be your better path if you want to leverage new media into profits.

The latest on LibSyn stats problems

I've long been a proponent of LibSyn as a host for podcast files, and I've generally been happy recommending them to clients. One of these days, they just might get stats right. Here's their latest on the latest in the years-long battle they've been fighting against the lack of scalability of their original system:

We have repaired this mishap as best we can and are moving forward with the work on the next generation stats system which will handle these types of issues in a much better manner. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

This next-gen system apparently will fix the stats issue from the ground up... here's hoping it will succeed (I'm a fan of the LibSyn folks and hope for continued success). One solution in the near term is to store files on LibSyn, but run your RSS feed through Feedburner. Use the Feedburner feed as the one listeners and viewers use to subscribe to your show. Of course, Feedburner isn't immune from issues, but from a stats standpoint, it seems to be a lot more stable than the built in Libsyn option for now.

New Media Expo: Vegas, baby, Vegas

The New Media Expo schedule is official... lots of people were interested in a move from (sleepy?) Ontario, CA to a slightly more uptempo Las Vegas locale. Good thing August 14-16 is a good indoor time in the desert... more quality time with vendors and podcasters in the AC!