Finally real iTunes metrics, free via Google Analytics

I founded VoloMedia in 2005 to bring Analytics and Advertising technology to episodic media delivery, “Podcasting”.  As the years have rolled by,  Podcasting has grown from user generated audio to professionally produced video, from mainly an audio iPod  media, to consumption on a variety of screens – increasingly the iPhone. VoloMedia has had tremendous success signing up many of the major TV shows as customers – ABC, NBC, G4TV, How Stuff Works, etc. Today we manage over 45 million monthly media requests, 75% of which is video and the volumes are growing, we had nearly 2 million media requests yesterday. With all of these downloads over all of these years, one fact has remained stubborn -a vast majority of the traffic originates from Apple’s iTunes Media player. This should not be very surprising given that the iTunes store hosts 140,000 podcast feeds – and this is where most consumers are discovering podcast shows.

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

Why do they call it “Ad Insertion” when it can be so much more?

One of the more exciting technological developments for downloadable media is the use of systems to either dynamically insert or assemble content inside of primary content that has already been published.  Many of ADM’s corporate members offer a version of this technology, and many of our publisher members (including me) use insertion within their own networks.  

Usually this is called advertising insertion, because the primary intended use is to embed advertising campaigns within network content, so as to optimize monetization.  This has many benefits, including the ability to assemble and dis-assemble campaigns without laborious and expensive editing.  This post is not about the merits and distinctions between available insertion technologies; while many providers go about this process differently, the end result is generally the same:  ads are placed and at end of campaign they are taken out of future downloads.

As you might imagine,  we tend to use the metaphors associated with advertising to describe the system. For example, you click the “advertising” section of a web-service, run a “campaign,” select an “advertiser,” upload then schedule an “ad.” All this makes perfect sense if you use the service to execute ads within your network.

But we have realized that as with most descriptions, they have their limits, and many customers use the insertion system for reasons that extend far beyond advertising. While the language we use to describe the service might not jibe with these uses, they are both possible and very effective. Here are a few examples of uses that publishers have employed:

“Bumper” Insertion
Audio and video episodes often include bumpers at the front and back of shows. They are standard introductions and ending segments that signal the beginning or end of an episode. They tend to be consistent across all episodes. Organizations are using the insertion feature to publish these bumpers automatically. Why? It allows an organization to switch out bumpers at any point in time, without the hassle of re-editing legacy content. So if your content is “evergreen,” or relevant to the audience regardless of it’s age, you can freshen-up old content to feel current and lively.

Innovation and Standards Beyond the Browser

The type of inventory that can be offered to advertisers is impacted by technology decisions made by publishers and platform developers. Client playback environments vary in capability, and while this introduces new advertising opportunities (advanced players may offer innovative new ad units), the lack of uniformity across platforms complicates the ad-supported media proposition.

Consider the evolution of the web browser as it pertains to the situation with media playback environments. The tremendous presentation flexibility of the browser as a standards-based platform provides a rich palette for creative expression on both the content and advertisement sides. The ubiquity of the Flash player and its cross-browser compatibility opens up even more creative possibilities.  This is an example of two different types of standards—one managed by a standards body (the W3C) and the other a de facto standard (Flash as a widely adopted rich client browser extension).  Early days in the browser wars featured debates over standards compliance versus innovation.  While the numbers show that Microsoft won the browser battle (for now, at least), adherence to standards has also won. Will standards develop around video playback environments to allow all participants in the content publication ecosystem to optimize their efforts? 

Today, publishers have a tradeoff to consider.  They may be able to obtain a high value from innovative, engaging ad units that creatively deliver the advertiser’s message, or better target the desired audience, but possibly at the expense of broad reach.  In a browser environment, this might not be much of a tradeoff. Thanks to a standards-based presentation layer, highly innovative ad types can be delivered to most all viewers.  But as digital media consumption moves beyond the browser, the lowest common denominator comes into play, and the lack of standards constrains the type of ads that are universally applicable. Over time, we may see standards emerge in non-browser playback environments, and this will lead to innovation built on top of those standards.  Today, however, the advertising value calculation has to take into consideration the capabilities of all the environments the publisher wishes to target, and the complexity associated with a client-specific publication process to support client-specific ad units and ad delivery methods.

I Want Better Sound…and That’s Vinyl(?)

I mentioned in my New Media Resolutions post at the first of the year that I want to do whatever I can to improve the quality of audio on line and in downloadable media. I was reminded of that “cause” this past Sunday morning by the folks at, well, Sunday Morning. The CBS show presented a piece on how vinyl records are becoming “cutting edge.”

Just as I pointed out in January, the sound of what is being sent into the cloud needs to improve, if for no other reason than to avoid trying to figure out how to cram a “record” into your iPod. Seriously, for those that are my age, it’s unfair for us let those brought up on listening to audio in the mp3 format think that’s the best music can sound. For those that have never heard the sound of a vinyl LP you owe it to yourself to hear all of what the artist labored to put into the music, especially the parts the mp3 format has had to discard.

I know, I know, you’re going to say that the human ear can’t detect the difference between a vinyl album, a CD, MP3, WAV, etc. I’m sorry, I disagree. I hear a difference. And it’s especially noticeable in the MP3 format, the most popular format for portable devices and online streaming. The reason it is the most popular, if you didn’t already know, is that it is the smallest file size. An MP3 file is a fraction of the size of, say, a WAV file. File size is directly related to download time.

So what do we do about better sound quality on “the net?” First, don’t settle. If you can find a way to make that audio sound better then do it. Start with a Variable Bit Rate setting if you can. VBR allows the music to be compressed in places where the full audio spectrum will most likely not be missed, a fade in or out for example. Another option would be, with such advances in bandwidth and more and more access to higher speed connectivity, offer your audio in the WAV format. I’ll take a WAV over MP3 any day.

Whatever the case, I refuse to settle for what we now accept for high-quality audio. I don’t believe going back to vinyl is the answer. Memories of the cracks and pops of an over-played album and the need for the pennies on a tone-arm are enough to keep me away from climbing on that bandwagon.

Future of New Media Requires Inexpensive Unlimited Bandwidth

The recent announcement by a major cable Internet provider that they will be signing up new customers with bandwidth limits as a trial gave me a new perspective on how important broadband is to New Media.

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.