Podcasting to attract advertising spends
Business Week reports that podcasting is poised to attract a significantly larger share of the online advertising pie. And that a multi-billion-dollar pie.
According to eMarketer, advertisers will spend more than $400 million on podcasting by 2011, while the spend was only $80 million in 2006.
The expected fuels for the fire are: Google AdSense entering podcasting with the ability to insert audio ads via keywords and better metrics for podcast listeners - marketers love metrics, after all.
The medium isn’t waiting for Google, however. On Feb. 14, podcast company Podtrac unveiled a free online service that enables advertisers to research audience information for audio and video podcasts based on demographics, size, and other characteristics. The company, which helps connect roughly 5,000 of the top podcasters to advertisers, includes data for all podcasts in its new service, including those from major media companies with whom Podtrac is not affiliated. It indexes its data to information in Mediamark Research’s Survey of the American Consumer.
The hope, explains Podtrac chief executive and co-founder Mark McCrery, is that the service will give advertisers enough data to become comfortable with the new medium. "We want to grow the market for podcast advertising," says McCrery, adding that advertisers want the same information they get from traditional media when buying ads online…
As the CEO and founder of Kiptronic, a startup that places ads within audio and video podcasts, Cobb says marketers have been skittish about advertising on a digital medium that, though it reports downloads, can’t always charge based on the number of people who interact with the ad. "There is no way for somebody who is jogging and listening to a podcast at the gym to click on an ad," Cobb notes.
The entry of major media companies into podcasting has encouraged advertisers to embrace the medium, says Bob Fogarty, vice-president of sales and business development at PodZinger, an audio- and video-search engine that also sells advertising on podcasts. "When you see major players like Clear Channel (CCU) and CBS Radio (CBS) and personality types like Rush Limbaugh have adopted podcasting, you realize it has sort of crossed over into the mainstream," says Fogarty…
The more targeted the audience, the more likely advertisers can reach a consumer willing to buy their product. And in theory, that increased targeting will at some point lead to higher-priced advertising.
Podcasts, and video podcasts, are increasingly popular in many niche segments. Some niche segments number in the many millions, as YouTube will attest, so there is a driving force to understand podcasts and embrace them, either through podcasting or via advertising on podcasts.
Tags: advertising, Google, marketing, online-marketing, podcast, podcast-marketing, podcasting, podcasts, video-podcast, YouTube