As a member of the Education and Outreach Committee at the Association for Downloadable Media, I see the ease with which new media fits into the mold for an educational program. Sometimes I think that I’m the only one, though. It seems as if the educators I talk with are either scared by the concept of new media access for students or fearful of the perceptions about the web and web-based content.

To address some of these concerns, I am going to publish a series of posts here on the ADM blog that will:

1. Demonstrate value for teachers using downloadable media in all educational settings
2. Point out the very real advantages of using new media production tools for instruction, as study aids, and in project assignments for students
3. Look at the life skills that new media production and consumption build in those who consume them.

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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.

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Today the Internet Advertising Bureau announced guidelines for rich media advertising. This industry association has a tremendous amount of credibility with the press and the market place - both buyers and sellers. The involvement of the industry is strong, too, so though it’s difficult to create standards that make everyone “happy,” the standards are instituted by all when they are ratified.

This quote, from a MediaPost article, by Jeff Lanctot perfectly expresses the value of ad standards:

Jeff Lanctot, senior vice president for global media at Avenue A | Razorfish, said the guidelines were an important step for the industry. “The more closely aligned publishers and ad servers are on operational standards, the more efficient digital channels will become for advertisers,” he said.

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Last year was a really exciting time during MacWorld in January.  The anticipation for Apple to enter the cell phone market had reached a boiling point.  Steve Job’s presentation was perhaps his best.  The phone or as I like to call it, a palm laptop with a phone, is an incredible piece of technology.  A product that is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

The iPhone has been a valuable device in meetings with potential sponsors that haven’t downloaded Culture Catch’s vidcasting show.  As a digital assistant, the iPhone has been a homerun for me.  Apple really delivered another great digital device.

January is upon us again. What does Steve have up his sleeve this year? I don’t know.  Those who say they know, don’t.

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Over the past couple of years, I’ve had a fair amount of experience with trying to get Porter Novelli’s clients to advertise with, sponsor, partner with, or do media relations with a number of podcasts. And I’ve learned a lot from this process. I come from the traditional world of television syndication and advertising, and that has provided an interesting perspective through all this. Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve discovered along the way:

• Look professional. When I use Podcast Alley or contacts I’ve made at P&NME/PodCamp to check out a show’s site, I often make a snap decision as to the level of professionalism of the show, based on the quality of the Web site. Here and here are two great examples of very professional-looking sites.
• Respond quickly. After researching a show and (hopefully) finding an e-mail contact on the site, I’ll put the word out to the producer to contact me. Be sure to respond to those inquiries quickly. Business happens fast, and sometimes a decision whether to go with one show over another can come down to who got back to me quickly.
• Media kit. One of the must-have tools you should have on your site, if you intend to monetize, is a media kit. This is in most cases a link to a nice one- or two-page PDF detailing your show, its content, its audience, contact information, and advertising details. I like to have this to e-mail to my colleagues or clients as a quick “slick sheet” on a show.
• Rate Card. Another item you should have on-hand and up-to-date is a rate card. That’s the “suggested retail price” for advertising on or sponsoring your podcast. Again, this should be in PDF form to easily share with others. Don’t put it right on your site, unless you’re comfortable with that. It should also include a few different package deals (10 shows, 6 months, etc.).
• Know your numbers. When contacted, be sure to know your audience numbers. The ADM will be formulating guidelines for metrics in the coming months, but some good top-line numbers would be: downloads per episode, subscribers per episode, episodes produced per month. From those basics, I can extrapolate more detail. Another good metric is growth over time. If your show gets small numbers, it will grow. Keep with it. I can estimate a show’s future growth for a campaign starting 6 months from now based on historical data.
• Act like it’s the 6th advertising call you’ve gotten that day. This is a tricky one. While you don’t want to seem cocky when dealing with potential sponsors, you do want to seem buttoned-up. I once had a podcaster say to me, “I’m not sure … what do you think I should charge for this sponsorship?” Someone will rake you over the coals in that case (I didn’t.). Your content has value, so act like it does.
• Audience Research. Here’s the golden egg, and it’s something the ADM will be concentrating on. Ultimately, I’d love to know the demographic, geographic, and psychographic make-up of your audience. Without regimented research data, that will be a tall order. But it is something ad agencies get from their other media outlets. Even if you have any anecdotal information about your audience (based on e-mails, listener feedback, etc.), that would help.
• And finally, this is a tough pill to swallow, but one I must relay. Advertisers don’t value you or your show. They value your audience. They want ears, eyeballs, and clicking fingers. That’s the simple truth. That said, when speaking with potential sponsors, talk up the value of your audience over your show. It’s your audience that they care to reach.

Thanks for reading this far. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to post, and I’ll do my very best to respond.

Now that we’re formed and on the eve of announcing our election results, I’m eager to accelerate our visibility. We’ve been briefing press this week and I’m starting to find bloggers that I don’t personally know (;8) writing about the ADM.

Here’s a nice post from Mark at Mashable about the value of the ADM.

And here’s another post from BBDO, a major ad agency, saying there need to be standards for podcasting advertising. Obviously, they haven’t heard about us. (Yes, I posted our URL with my comment on the blog.)

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Many if not most understand the timeshifting benefits of podcasts and other downloadable media; you can listen to or watch your favorite programs where you want to, when you want to and on almost any device you can imagine. But perhaps no aspect of downloadable media is more striking than its complete disregard for borders.

Whether you are producing a fifteen minute personal podcast about the local music scene, or managing a major media house’s hourly news video podcast, you probably have an audience in dozens of countries worldwide. Since your show is not tethered to a terrestrial broadcast station or a cable operator’s network, it can be downloaded (almost) anywhere in the world… and probably has been. But that widespread distribution raises some interesting questions:

• Do you know where your audience is?
• Do your feeds actually work with the local aggregators and distributors worldwide?
• Do your advertisers and sponsors really want to reach all of your audience?

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