I helped ADM standardize the measurement specs around downloads, and the process was contentious around the metrics question, “download requests” or “completed downloads”?  The most final of all metrics , “plays”, was not considered because it simply was not feasible. During the current economic downturn, the need for the best metrics has become even more important for publishers and advertisers.

Over a year ago our engineers decided to resolve this issue in the most practical way we could – connecting iTunes to Google Analytics. We are announcing this product today. Before I go into the specifics, I would like to emphasize one important point – this free service does not require any relationship, contractual or otherwise, with VoloMedia.

VoloMedia’s Bridge-to-Google Analytics is a plug-in to the iTunes Media player, now installed with over 100 thousand iTunes consumers in the US – precisely 94,296 iTunes plug-ins were active over the last 5 days. Publishers are free to use this free service if it meets their needs, i.e. collect annonymous usage statistics regarding usage of their content on iTunes and to analyze them using Google Analyics: a free and robust industry-standard platform. If you have ever used Google Analytics, then you are familiar with “GA_ID – Google Analytics ID”. With a simple modification of the RSS feed to incorporate the GA-ID the publisher can start flowing aggregated play and download data to their Google Analytics account.  More information is on our website: http://www.volomedia.com

I hope this initiative is seen as one that is beneficial to the entire podcasting community, one more step forward to making podcasting a dynamic and vibrant medium for consumers, publishers and advertisers.

However, once you look past the “glass half empty” headline you’ll see real opportunity. Opportunity to do so much better. Opportunity that was really the reason a group of forward thinking people decided to form the Association for Downloadable Media.  How about, “Podcasting Not Too Profitable…Yet!”

First, let’s look at some of the facts about podcasting consumption. After all, you can’t make money on a product or service unless there are people using it, right? Well podcasting is being used…alot. This fact will be reinforced by data to be presented during our May 21st webcast with Edison Research’s Tom Webster and that same fact was noted in data the aforementioned eMarketer have themselves touted as recently as March 9th of this year. “As a percentage of Internet users, podcast downloaders will grow from 9% in 2008 to 17% in 2013.”

To be clear, when eMarketer states that “The appetite for podcasts is fairly light” they are referencing the appetite of media buyers, not podcast users. So, it’s not a matter of finding audience, it’s a matter of increasing the appetite of advertisers for, or even making them aware of the existence of, that audience.

We must seize the opportunity. Or as Tom Webster says in his Infinite Dial post, “Projections generally describe a possible future–perhaps even a probable future–but not the only future. The key is, what are podcasters going to do to change it?” Downloadable media producers (in this case podcasters, must work harder, whether it’s  an organized manner through the ADM, or by individually approaching advertisers to sing the praises of reaching consumers through this new and highly personal medium.

While eMarketer* “projects” ad spending will increase to $43 million in 2013, we will continue to champion a medium that is growing in appeal and audience to those that seek to reach that audience. Enough so that the current projection looks like chump change when we look back at it.

(*Update: As noted below the “projection” was that of Zenith Optimedia rather than eMarketer’s.)

1. The overall podcast audience continues to show significant growth: the overall UK figures rose from 6 million persons indicating they had ever downloaded a podcast in May 2008, to 7.2 million today. Also in that same period, the number of persons indicating that they listen to a podcast each week rose from 3.7 million to 4.1 million.

Two things strike me about these numbers–first, of course, podcast consumption continues to grow at a very healthy rate. More significant to me is the fact that 57% of the total podcast audience listens to a podcast each week. That, combined with the fact that the number of podcasts subscribed to increased from 3.6 to 4.4 is clear evidence that listening to podcasts is becoming more of a habit, and less of a novelty, for the majority of this ever-growing body.

If you are monetizing podcast content, habit is most definitely what you need. It is vital for content producers to encourage, promote and even reward regular, timely listening–again, the fact that podcasts can be consumed any old time is a benefit to the listener, but means that ‘campaigns’ can stretch for weeks–even months–and occur asynchronously. The more podcast producers can create and reinforce the habit of listening to a podcast, the more they can control variables and show demonstrable results for advertisers within a finite window of time. So listen whenever you want–but listen this week–and be creative about how you encourage your listeners to make the habit.

2. 33% of podcast listeners responded positively to the idea of podcasts without advertising that would have to be paid for. However, the same study showed that the number of podcast listeners who had actually paid for a podcast remained unchanged–3%.

I am sure that the 33% figure will get some headlines, and provide some comfort for podcasters trying to make a go of a paid subscription model. The proof, however, is in the Yorkshire pudding here–the real number hasn’t budged. That’s not to say that some paid subscription models won’t work–just that they won’t be common occurrences. Selling a podcast of a one-off event, for example, is a perfectly valid model. The last thing most of you should be doing, however, is putting up a barrier to growing your audience. Howard Stern’s reach is a fraction of what it used to be when you could hear his show for free on broadcast radio–and that’s Howard Stern.

3. 78% of podcast users listen to podcasts that are more than a week old.

This is, of course, the flip side of point #1–on the one hand, content producers need to continue to find ways to make content topical and “unmissable,” as I have written before in an analysis of Edison’s podcasting statistics. On the other, there is obviously a need for “evergreen” content (and detailed, easily-scannable show notes) to help listeners devise their own plans to “catch up” with your content, should they want to.

These are tall words.  You’ve probably heard this story before (the Roomba will revolutionize home cleaning? Pet owners might disagree);  but let me explain the two reasons why:

1. Watching and listening to podcasts is straightforward and simple.   Quick navigation leads to consumption without the prior subscription hassles.  Devices need not sync.  Desktop media management disappears, just sit back, and watch or listen.  The navigation of popular and featured content is a snap.  When (if?) Apple comes out with a qwerty entry device instead of the painful text entry process via the super-simple remote, we might soon easily explore the over 125,000 available subscription points within the podcast directory.

2. A download (finally!!) is a watch.  The untethered nature of prior RSS media consumption has many great benefits, but it also stymies attempts to answer the question:  how can you prove that a download is an actual watch/listen.  In a sense, Apple TV re-tethers RSS.  Developers will investigate whether Apple TV watches are distinguishable in server log so as to aggregate usage in a way that is meaningful to publishers, advertisers and other interested parties.

Is this a fraction of the pie of all RSS media usage?  Today it is a very very small sliver, and likely to grow, but unlikely to amount to the biggest portion of the pie any time soon;  the larger slices will comprise desktop and portable media usage for the foreseeable future.  But the usage data will open up a new revolutionary window into how many people are starting to watch and listen to downloadable media, on the couch.

Chris MacDonald

Some 25 years ago, I was part of the birth of another new media industry — cable TV. I helped start two cable TV companies and then consulted to many of the giants here in Denver. I have applied alot of the lessons-learned to starting my own podcast business; it’s almost identical.

When cable started, consumers subscribed to cable not because of new
content but because of improved reception to local and network TV. Cable was the iPod of that generation — creating convenience for accessing their favorite progamming. The first cable-only networks to
launch were super-stations like WTBS and WGN and then later CNN and
ESPN that were “ad-supported.” To pay the freight of carriage, the
industry struggled to define standards so traditional TV advertisers
would be able to understand and buy niche cable channels more easily.
The NCTA and CTAM were born to help set technical (for insertions)
advertising standards and make it easier for agencies and marketers to
buy cable. Sound familiar?

Shortly thereafter, the concept of ad-free “premium” channels was born
with HBO. It was hated. Remember the consumer boycots against “pay
TV”?

It’s important to remember that:

(1) Ad-supported channels actually CREATED the market for premium and for-pay content. Basic cable “taught” consumers to appreciate cable
TV. And then consumers ultimately saw value in paying to get rid
of the commercials. And as we know, consumers warmed to the idea of
HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and now PPV. So ironically the more we develop ad-supported podcasts, the more value and market there will be in pay-to-play podcasts.

(2) Unlike cable, we can explore new models for advertising and
sponsorship that are less obtrusive to consumers, while creating value
to marketers.

(3) Learning from cable, it pays to think long-term. Content is
ultimately king, and if we do our jobs right as an industry, we should
be able to give consumers the choice of getting good content for free
that is ad-supported, or good content for pay that is without ads.

(4) I have to believe that iTunes, Zune and other podcast portals are
going to want our industry to develop a premium and for-pay model.
How many stores do you know keep allowing customers to come inside and get stuff for free?

Patience. Learn from the past. There is room and need for both
monetization models, and maybe even some models that we haven’t
thought of yet. Some podcasters are making money through PayPal
donations. Has anyone ever donated money to a cable TV or broadcast
channel? Think about it. We can learn from the past, create familiar
standards and at the same time, explore and test new ways.

Let the consumers, not the ADM, decide. And that’s exactly what the
ADM is trying to do.

ad:tech is the leading conference for digital marketers and agencies who focus on emerging media. They are hosting a morning of ADM programming. In three sessions, we will present the latest numbers in podcasting/vidcasting and downloadable media, case studies of successful programs, new ad units around which our industry can standardize and guidelines for audience traffic measurement.

We currently seek panelists for these sessions. If you are an extraordinary speaker who can talk about numbers, case studies, ad standards and audience measurement, please send an email to susan at personal life media.

If you are a brand marketer or agency person or are working with someone on the “client side” whom you think would be a speaker on one or more of our sessions, please email Susan. This is our top speaker priority.

As an ADM member, you are entitled to a FIFTY PERCENT 50% (woo hoo!) discount on a full conference pass to ad:tech. The Early Bird rate is $1395, so you pay $697.50 if you register before March 14th. Don’t forget or you could end up paying $1895!

Email Bryan Moffet at membership at downloadable media dot org for the promotional code to use on this registration page. You can attend the ADM sessions FREE, as well as attend ad:tech’s exhibit hall and keynote sessions FREE, but only if you pre-register. You must be registered to attend this event.

Thanks to Kiptronic and Porter Novelli for hosting the meeting in San Francisco and New York City respectively, and for Blog Talk Radio to connecting the dots through conference and chat. The hour was packed with reports and ideas. There was a lot worth covering, but I want to lay out the two biggest initiatives on our near-term plate.

Ad Units – (part of the Ad Standards Committee)

We are moving quickly to establish an advertiser-vetted list of the most common ad units to be deployed in our industry. Similar to the way IAB brokered known frame sizes for banners, we will release defined types of units that will be consistent and replicable across the largest swath of the industry. Why? Two reasons.  One:  We need a common currency to promote liquidity in the marketplace. Using these proposed units will not be a requirement to do business, but we believe they will further encourage transactions and get buyers, advertisers, publishers and intermediaries on the same conversational page.  Two: For advertisers to be interested in using our channel of distribution they need to be able to buy large amounts of media across many shows and networks, having a creative standard that allows them to do this ensures that marketing budgets will be placed in our industry.

Audience Counting Guidelines (part of the Measurement Committee)

Advertisers are much more likely to place advertising dollars within an industry that can demonstrate known quantities of measurement output.  In other words, an advertiser that calls on two separate publishers, should be able to make data-driven decisions on an apples to apples basis.  Today this is not an easy task.  ADM can enable these transactional analyses by offering guidelines to the most common practices that our industry uses to measure audience.  ADM will poll its members and develop a set of criteria that are currently being used to arrive at audience measurement.  We understand that not every member handles these actions the same ways, so articulating the variety of ways that are used, and agreeing on some basic operating principles, will take us much further toward creating a framework that advertisers can understand.

I consider these to be the most important objectives of the first quarter of 2008. There are plenty of other issues to focus on and work toward, as we certainly will. But expect ADM to drive towards delivery of these essential two outcomes in the very near future.

High speed unlimited Internet bandwidth is vital to the success of Podcasting and New Media. Unlimited broadband is just as important as Dave Winer’s work with Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and compressed media formats such as mp3. Broadband is one of the key ingredients that makes this industry possible.

As a result, some United States broadband users may soon experience a “bandwidth crunch”. Although relatively new to the U.S. market, bandwidth crunches currently exist in many other countries including Canada. There is no direct evidence that bandwidth crunches deter Podcasting and New Media, but it is true that most New Media downloads come from the United States.

The Internet community has created creative ways to deal with bandwidth issues. BitTorrent solved this very problem on the hosting side of things. For broadband consumers, the only option is to switch services, which is most likely what will happen.

I believe this broadband company’s trial will fail, not because it didn’t make the broadband provider more profitable, but because this model of charging per bandwidth does not lend kindly to New Media. Today’s announcement that HBO will start offering downloadable content has reinforced my thought that New Media will influence broadband services in a positive way. Once this broadband provider discovers this, I am confident the trial will be terminated and we will not see a bandwidth crunch in the United States anytime soon.

We are currently seeking an ADM member to help assist me with managing the second core goal listed below. If you are knowledgeable with the challenges of calculating download measurements and would like to help, please contact me at measurement (at) downloadablemedia (period) org.

Core goals and objectives:

1. Create terminology, definitions and classifications of download measurement techniques. We will be interacting with the Terminology Standardization Committee.
2. Create formulas for calculating auditable download measurements of media.
3. Research methods to gather audience information and revenue reporting in the space.
4. Create procedures for accurately gathering audience demographics.

Beyond the core objectives, the Committee may also address the following objectives, if time allows.

• Make recommendations for the HTTP protocol to report completed downloads.
• Create an exportable file format, most likely in XML, that reports download statistics from video sharing web sites such as YouTube. The format would allow video content creators to easily export statistics from these sites to quickly combine for reporting total audience statistics.
• Recommend formulas for unifying the download measurement of different media formats for a specific episode. For example, video podcasts are typically distributed in multiple formats such as wmv or mp4. The formulas would allow for reporting of these downloads as a unified total.
• Research future media technologies that could add additional download measurement information such as play totals.

The ADM Committees have an opportunity to forge standards in the space that will give confidence to those who are unsure of the industry. If you are not an ADM member, I encourage you to join and help us mold the future of new media.