href=”http://www.emediawire.com/prfiles/2005/06/16/252248/chartpodcasting.jpg”
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What, your customers aren’t into podcasting?  Don’t
worry because a recent study by href=”http://www.tdgresearch.com/” target=_blank>The Diffusion Group
estimates that the podcasting audience will grow to roughly 60 million people by
2010.

I personally believe that number is a conservative, especially when you
consider how competitive the mp3 consumer electronics market has recently
become. 

True, podcasts are mainly accessed through a PC, but with Apple’s title=”USA Today article”
href=”http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2005-06-28-apple-podcast_x.htm”
target=_blank>iTunes now distributing podcasts—as does some of the other
online music and audio product channels like Napster and title=”Mac Observer Article On Audible’s Podcast Feeds”
href=”http://www.macobserver.com/article/2005/06/27.1.shtml”
target=_blank>Audible.com—the focus will continually shift to podcasting for
mobile devices.

But also consider podcasting’s older sibling: blogging.  href=”http://www.pewinternet.org/”>The Pew Internet and American Life
Project released a report earlier this year stating that there were 32
million blog readers at the end of 2004.  That’s already half of The
Diffusion Group’s estimate for the five-year growth in podcast
listeners.   href=”http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/144/report_display.asp”>The Pew study
also gives a brief on the mainstream consumption of RSS feeds.  According
to their research, at the end of 2004 5% of all adult US-citizens online own an
rss aggregator.

The point?  As blogging and RSS consumption continue to grow, so will
podcasting as their natural offshoot.  (A podcast feed is nothing more than
an rss feed with a download url embedded in it).

Additional numbers from an April 2005 Pew title=”Pew’s summary statement about their podcasting study”
href=”http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/154/report_display.asp”
target=_blank>study on podcasting states that 29% of the 22 million American
adults who own iPods and mp3 players have downloaded podcast programming.

So if your company thinks podcasting hasn’t reached enough of a critical
mass; think again.  Just look at the summary of a study on podcast
marketing just released by href=”http://www.digitalpodcast.com/” target=_blank>Digital Podcast.

According to its title=”Digital Podcast’s News Release on the Podcast Value Chain Report”
href=”http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200506/1118769271.html”
target=_blank>press release, the study demonstrates:

• Podcasting is growing extremely fast and will drive large markets in many
  parts of the value chain
  
• A clear value chain from raw content to listeners is emerging
  
• Supply and demand for podcasts by content type is still unbalanced and
  presents opportunities for new breakout podcasts
  
• Opportunities and issues are developing at each step in the value chain
  
• New businesses, business models and technologies will be required for full
  commercialization of podcasting

Because podcasts allow any business, in any vertical, to create audio
programming that markets directly to a customer, the chances of any one industry
becoming flooded is great. 

If you don’t jump into the fray and stake your positing as the leading
podcast marketer in your industry today, by the time you realize your mistake it
will be too late.