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.)

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? 

In addition, John Federico calls out to all listeners that the Membership Committee can use your help – if you’d like to volunteer, please contact him at johnfederico@blogtalkradio.com.

Enjoy listening!

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.

Subscribe to the “Get the Download” feed and receive upcoming podcast interviews directly to your feed reader or iTunes.

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.

As an online educator for medical professionals with busy schedules, I hear all of the time from listeners about their successes in classes, performance of skills tests, and in national certification tests. They have this success because they used their non-productive downtime to feed their brain with supplemental information about their courses.

Whether its driving on a daily commute, doing chores around the house, or working out at the gym, it’s important to take advantage of these times when your body is occupied with a task but your brain is not. Adult college students are busy, most juggling family commitments, working full time jobs, and completing a full time course load at school at the same time.

And yet despite the chaos others might see in their day, by using downloadable study aids, they are not in the position of barely getting along in their studies. In my experience, the students using these resources are among the most successful students in their classes. They have mastered the secret of using downloadable, portable study aids as the perfect time managed way to get their information. Whether using an mp3 player, burned to a CD, or listening online, they can listen to just what they need to study and learn, when they have time to study it!

Whether it’s an anatomy and physiology lecture downloaded from a website or a collection of audio files demonstrating different types of heart sounds, using downloadable media during your previously brainless commute is the easiest way to study that I have found. You can download and listen to something that will help your next test, your next work project, or improve general knowledge and save some of your precious family time in the evenings for –

– GASP! –

– spending time with your family.

What do you end up with in the end? Students who are more knowledgeable, more prepared, more confident, more rested, and ultimately more successful. Heck, they might even have a marriage after going back to college.

That’s right, I said it.

Using new media resources while studying for that second college degree can save your marriage!*

(*your results may vary)

What does all of this have to do with Downloadable media? How will media delivery and consumption evolve on the Internet? It is helpful to look back to understand a likely pattern to emerge in the future. Back in 1995, one of the hottest destination on the web was a site which hosted a lot of user generated content. Geocities was eventually bought by Yahoo for twice the price Google paid for Youtube. As the web matures with professionally produced content and applications, the Internet traffic patterns are consolidating with the top 50 or so destinations driving a majority of the traffic and audiences. As we look into the future of video (and audio) on the Internet, I see a trend where the audiences will “go to” a few (consolidating) major web destinations on a regular basis, and a super large majority of consumers will “visit” their own “personal storage” on a super regular basis. Let us call this exploding personal storage as “my site”. My site is where all of my media is delivered to me. There are two forms of download deliveries which will end up my in my site (a) RSS based subscription content delivery (ex. using an application like iTunes, or the soon to arrive Adobe Media Player) and (b) Direct Downloads (ex. using applications like BitTorrent, iTunes store purchases, ripping web video with Real Player, etc.)

So why ADM? Media companies have known for a long time that content needs to be delivered to be successful. For example, Fortune magazine would much prefer to sell you a subscription for a fifth the magazine retail price. Therefore it is a no-brainer to assume all content producers, large and small, will want to prep their content for automatic delivery to subscribers. As consumers continue to snap up large high def TV screens, their tolerance for low quality web video is going to wane in preference to higher quality HD downloads. The problem now, is who pays for all this high quality content on “my site”? Clearly I will pay for the stuff I purchase from a content store. The majority of the content on my site will be free. It is becoming obvious that advertisers have a major role to play in making content free on my site. But there are a lot of open questions. ADM can begin to help answer some of these questions. Questions like – What are the standard forms of acceptable advertising on “my site”? How much should advertisers pay for “my site” audiences? What personal information, if any, should I disclose for the privilege of free content on “my site”? How is all of this measured? Can much of this be standardized in a manner acceptable to consumers, publishers and advertisers? Can the grand bargain of free content for advertisements be well understood and largely acceptable to “my site” audiences?

I founded Podbridge in 2005 to help monetize the “my site” audiences. Over the last two years we have seen a rapid expansion of the medium. Increasingly it is more video content. Big companies like Adobe are joining Apple in adopting RSS subscription media delivery. Many well funded peer-to-peer companies have come into existence to legitimize p2p download content. New attempts to bridge the media on the PC to the Television – ex. Apple TV and Sandisk’s TakeTV. In light of this type of continued expansion of the download medium, we announced today, we are changing the name of our company to VoloMedia (derived from the Italian word volo: flight) reflecting our company’s mission of helping publishers unlock the value of their video and audio content while enabling advertisers to reach the emerging and valuable “my site” audiences. At the end of the day, all of our endeavors will have been for naught if we do not end up in an environment of expanding opportunities for consumers to access to highly desirable downloadable media. That is the vision.