Comment: Podcasters beware, the marketeers are coming

Posted on 16 Jun 2006 at 13:51

This year has been earmarked as the tipping point for the new age of online media, with blogs, podcasts and video podcasts beginning to challenge the dinosaurs of broadcasting. The supposed mass migration of people to the web will relieve traditional media firms of their viewers and listeners, putting pressure on the old-school rules of advertising.

If you read too much into the meanderings of many online blogs, this new frontier promises a world of free entertainment, bereft of adverts and annoyances such as having to abide by the strict schedules of TV or radio. But, unfortunately for those hoping to sidestep adverts, product placement and the hard sell, technology is giving with one hand, and taking with another.

The over-hyped Philips patent that proposes a technology to make it impossible for set-top box and digital recorder owners to skip past adverts (even on programmes they have recorded themselves) has had video iPod-touting techies up in arms. The wording of the patent suggests that viewers 'may either watch the advertisements or pay a fee in order to be able to change channels or fast-forward when the advertisements are being displayed.' This is enough to persuade many people that their digital entertainment future lies solely on the Internet, where entertainment costs nothing, is on-demand and free from the clutches of such restrictive technology.

But the brute-force marketing approach - a category that also includes cunning pop-up designers who are getting better at disguising the obligatory 'close' button - will get advertisers nowhere. The new business model needs to provide ads that aren't as intrusive, delivering a more seamless experience that compels us to buy things directly rather than having to go to another website, or remember a URL.

My research in this area was inspired by Ricky Gervais' highly successful podcasts. After 12 free downloads, it became a paid-for product through Audible and iTunes. It's an important benchmark for this market that proved people were prepared to pay money for independent audio downloads. In fact, Audible is now charging for a bundle of the original 12 free podcasts, showing that people are even prepared to pay for podcasts that used to cost nothing. Although Audible won't reveal the sales figures, The Ricky Gervais Show has been deemed a financial success and more recently has become a short video podcast. Could this be the next money-spinner for the writer of The Office?

But Gervais' production wasn't typical of the new world of online media. Already a major celebrity, his initial shows were backed up with heavy promotion from The Guardian. So, with many people feeling compelled to start offering podcasts without being sure of how to monetise them, how should lesser mortals maintain anything other than a hobbyist production?

Well, advertisers are already targeting this market. At the top of the scale, Rocketboom - a three-minute daily video blog from the US that's downloaded 300,000 times per day - used eBay to sell a week's worth of advertising for $40,000. Such figures prove that small independent video productions can generate serious revenue over the web.

At the bottom end, how long before Google works out a podcasting or video podcasting alternative to AdWords, the highly successful system that allows small website owners to outsource advertising slots in return for a few cents from 'pay-per-click' advertisers?

As you'd expect, the world's biggest software developers are ready to capitalise on the changing media landscape. Microsoft, for example, has been heavily promoting its AdCenter technology, and among its newest innovations are video-hyperlinking ads. This detects products displayed on TV, allowing viewers to zoom in on products then click through to more detailed descriptions and a 'checkout' to buy the product.