Welcome to “Get the Download” from the Association for Downloadable Media.

Matthew Snodgrass from ADM and Lippe Taylor interviews both Tim Bourquin of TNC New Media and Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo about the sale of Tim’s New Media Expo to Rick’s Blog World Expo. Separately, the two conventions were delivering a wide array of content and attendees. As the scope of the two shows started to overlap, Tim and Rick realized that the community would be better served by a single – and greater – convention. You can find out more about the combined show at http://www.blogworldexpo.com. We also get Tim and Rick’s thoughts on social media today and the use of it by corporations.

Continue reading »

Podcast: Download

Welcome to “Get the Download” from the Association for Downloadable Media.

Matthew Snodgrass from ADM and Lippe Taylor interviews Scott Monty, head of social media for Ford Motor Company. Scott, formerly with Crayon, joined Ford just five months ago at a tumultuous time for both Ford and the U.S. auto industry in general. News and rumors are flying around the Web about the auto industries’ tough financial times, but Scott is finding a way to manage the mayhem and create real conversations about what Ford is doing in a time of crisis.

Continue reading »

Podcast: Download

I have a lot of friends who produce podcasts. Many of them are in my podcast subscription list, and I enjoy them all. You guys do a great job of creating relevant, targeted content — and it’s not even your full-time job (except in the case of Cali Lewis :) One thing all podcasters and producers will need to keep in mind is a lesson to be learned from traditional media … always plan for the next thing. Let’s face it, all shows in traditional media eventually come to an end. Take a look at M.A.S.H. As amazing as that show was, it did come to and end. Heck, it lasted longer than the war on which it was based. And let’s not forget the thousands and thousands of podcasts that started in 2005, only to end in, well, 2005. You want to always plan ahead for your show. There are a few steps you can take to ensure you’ll follow your passion for years to come.

1. SPIN-OFF: While this didn’t work very well for the M.A.S.H. spin-off, AfterMASH, it was a formula for success for All in the Family. That show had spin-offs and spin-offs of spin-offs, including Maude, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker’s Place, Gloria, 704 Hauser, Good Times, and Checking In. Your podcast has probably grown in areas beyond where it originated, so capitalize on that, and create a spin-off show for this new audience segment. GeekBriefTV has done this successfully with The Big Trip, iCali, Dear Cali, and CarnivoreTV. Each of these shows is satisfying a sub-set her their audience and, in turn, increasing their downloads and ad revenue.
2. CONSISTENCY: I know this point has been beaten to death, as it applies to both podcasts and blogs. You must put out fresh content on a regular basis, otherwise your numbers will drop off. The listenership of my podcast, The Dave and Matt Show, had a significant drop-off when we went on hiatus. This condition is evident in this year’s TV season with shows coming back from hiatus. Skellie has a great post about blog frequency. Of course, this doesn’t have to mean you have to produce a new show each time. If you have a healthy archive of episodes, you can create a “best-of” episode, a “bloopers” show, or have someone guest-host your show.
3. CHANGE IT UP: This tip borders on Darwinistic, but if you find that your audience is dwindling (downloads, ratings, viewership, etc.), then shake things up and evolve over time. One of the best media podcasts out there, in my opinion, is Shelly Palmer’s MediaBytes. He is perhaps the best aggregator of media business news out there, and he puts his own spin on the news from his many (many, many) years in the industry. However, if you listen to the first episodes, they are quite different in format than what you hear today.
4. NETWORKS: One way to ensure the longevity of your podcast property is to not hang your hat on the one show’s name. For instance, one consistently funny show I listen to is Pacific Coast Hellway. The producer, Mark Yoshimoto-Nemcoff, has made slight adjustments to the show’s format to keep it fresh. However, the property is the show, and vice-versa. When I met with the producers of the Wedding Podcast Network, I thought their move to have their enterprise under a “network” moniker was brilliant. They have around 10 shows in their network right now. If one fails, the network lives on. Similarly, if Private Practice gets cancelled, ABC network isn’t going anywhere.
5. DON’T CALL IT A PODCAST: Now, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, but if you call your show a podcast, you’ve instantly narrowed the perception of what your audience should expect. You’ve identified your show by the medium on which it is distributed. The”pod” portion of podcast has confused a lot of non-listeners into thinking that you have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast. However, according to Edison Media Research, more than two-thirds of podcast consumers listen/view podcasts on a computer over a portable device. Today, people can watch a podcast on an a phone, a computer, a television, a portable media player, an AppleTV, and a refrigerator (seriously). If you call your show a “show”, it doesn’t paint you into a corner in terms of distribution. Leo LaPorte was sort of on the right track when he started calling his podcasts “netcasts.”

These are just a few tips, and I encourage you to use the comments section to add your own. And please incorporate at least a few of these tips, because I wanted to listen to you experts-in-your-field for many years to come.

Continue reading »

December is always a good time to take a moment to account for all the great things that have happened over the year.  Even in the midst of these uniquely tumultuous times, there is plenty to be thankful for, particularly in the progress that we have accomplished as a volunteer member-driven association.  The following list comprises highlights of ADM advances In 2008.  Many people worked extremely hard, on a volunteer basis, to achieve these goals.   Please have a look at what we have collectively accomplished, and let’s use this good-will as fuel and incentive for the wonderful achievements we have yet to make.

• Our association’s first Director has been solicited, reviewed, then hired.  Thank you Meredith for your recent and critical contributions to the ADM!

• We created then sent to member vote, and then passed the ADM ByLaws, which govern our organization.

• We released the world’s first downloadable standards for ad units.

Continue reading »

Welcome to “Get the Download” from the Association for Downloadable Media.

This episode is hosted by John Havens, VP of Business Development at BlogTalkRadio, and also a member of the ADM’s Board of Advisors. In this episode John interviews John Federico, VP of Marketing at BlogTalkRadio, who was recently appointed the new ADM Membership Chair.

This informative podcast provides an overview of the ADM:

• What is the ADM?
• Why was the ADM established?
• Why join the ADM?
• What plans does John have as the new Membership Chair? 

Continue reading »

Podcast: Download

This is reprinted from Ken Radio.

The Podcasting World
As gadgets with digital audio capability proliferate, podcast downloading continues to increase. Currently, 19% of all internet users say they have downloaded a podcast so they could listen to it or view it later. This most recent percentage is up from 12% of internet users who reported downloading podcasts in our August 2006 survey and 7% in in a new survey from Pew Internet & American Life Project. Podcasting has yet to become a fixture in the everyday lives of internet users, as very few internet users download podcasts on a typical day. Even of those who say they download podcasts, just 17% do so on a typical day.

More Options For Podcast Downloaders
As demand for podcasts has grown, so too has the catalog of offerings for users. In November 2006, Podcast Alley, a popular podcast directory, cataloged over 26,000 podcasts with more than 1 million episodes. Now, that number has nearly doubled to over 43,000 podcasts and well over 2 million episodes. The most extensive podcast genre is “technology” with over 4,000 podcasts available on the subject; this genre is followed closely by comedy, religion and spirituality, and business. Companies like iTunes regularly prompt users to subscribe to automatic daily downloads of their favorite podcasts. “Get podcasts, served fresh daily,” reads an advertisement on the iTunes Store podcast webpage. Instead of getting your morning newspaper delivered to your doorstep, you can get your daily podcast delivered to your iTunes desktop. (For instance, users can subscribe to daily podcasts of newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, KenRadio and The Economist.) College campuses have also served an important role in promoting podcasts. Many colleges and universities now provide podcasts of various lecture series and important speakers on campus. Some professors are experimenting with podcasts in other ways, such as producing their own podcasts or having their students respond to readings and lessons by creating podcasts rather than (or in addition to) traditional papers

Who is Downloading Podcasts?
Men continue to be more likely than women to download podcasts; 22% of online men compared with just 16% of online women report ever having downloaded a podcast. However, men and women are equally likely (3%) to download podcasts on a typical day. Age differences are more defined with regard to podcast downloading than they were in 2006 when all age groups, except for those 65 and older, were almost equally likely to download podcasts. Now, the dividing line is around the age of 50, with internet users under 50 years old significantly more likely than older users to download podcasts. Fully 23% of those under 50 say they have ever downloaded a podcast and 4% downloaded one yesterday, compared with 13% and 1% of their older counterparts. Since 2006, younger generations have more fully embraced the technology, their percentages nearly doubling since 2006. Internet users with six or more years of internet experience are significantly more likely than those with less online experience to have ever downloaded a podcast, and they are also more likely to download podcasts on a typical day.

Continue reading »

Savvy marketers know that sponsoring podcasts work extremely well for a couple of reasons:

1. The medium, being new, is still a clutter-free place for your message to stand out
2. Fans are ardent about the hosts of their favorite shows and that connection offers a halo of positivism for brands that advertise in shows
3. Episodic, on-demand media increases the engagement of the listener/viewer in both the content and the advertising in those shows

Now a fourth reason for considering adding episodic video and audio content to your media mix has surfaced.

Continue reading »

Welcome to “Get the Download” from the Association for Downloadable Media, hosted by Betsy Flanagan of Startup Studio.

We will be featuring regular interviews with leaders in the new media industry focusing on the business of monetizing downloadable content.

Today’s guest is Kent Nichols, the co-creator of the online video show “Ask A Ninja,” which has been featured on major television and print news outlets that include CNN, ABC News, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and NPR. “Ask A Ninja” has been downloaded over 80 million times and was named YouTube¹s Best Series in 2006. The show has propelled the co-creators into Hollywood with a feature film deal and the popular Ninja Handbook. “Ask A Ninja” is one of the first independently produced internet shows to achieve monetary success.

Listen in to hear how Kent and his partner turned $60,000 raised from friends and family into a brand that generates estimated revenues of over $1MM per year. Kent offers recommendations for content creators including the most important rule for building an audience and reasons for working with ad buyers and Hollywood agents.

Continue reading »

Podcast: Download

In the unprecedented socio-political-economic climate unfolding before us daily  — the doom-and-gloom projections in the news regarding finances and unemployment rates, volatility in the markets — all have contributed to a collective sense of the need for belt-tightening.  The knee-jerk (and in many cases fiducially necessary!) reactions tend to follow similar patterns:  reduce spending; curtail projects with weaker ROI outlooks; leave intact only those programs that contain a clear line to revenue.  Jettison the bloat.

There is also an unintended response to this constriction, what I would call “mind-tightening.”  That is, a dogged relinquishment of the experimental, open-mindedness that is the hallmark of emergent technologies.  It is as if the value of abstract thinking plummets alongside the Dow, and the pendulum swings from the right side of the brain to the left.  It’s a tough time to champion new ideas that lack readily accepted, quantifiable results.  The ramp for ideas has shortened dramatically.

More so than ever before, we have a monetization environment that values:

Continue reading »

The Pew Internet and American Life Project just released some new data on podcast consumption, estimating that roughly one in five Americans have ever downloaded a podcast:

These numbers are extremely close to the Edison numbers on podcasting and certainly validate that study’s conclusion that podcast consumption continues to grow. This is a good study, and a worthy addition to the growing body of credible research out there on the consumption of downloadable media.

The Pew report does draw one conclusion that is likely to draw comments from a number of podcasters, if not outright controversy. With 3% of Americans indicating that they download podcasts “on a typical day” (and 17% of actual podcast consumers claiming the same), the data suggests, as Mary Madden indicates, that “podcasting has yet to become a fixture in the everyday lives of internet users.” One could point to the “300% increase in the daily podcast audience” here, as the headline reads in today’s Podcasting News, and see the glass half full, or one could focus on the number “3″ and be fairly dismissive of podcasting.

Continue reading »