Pew Podcast Trends

Pew released some stats showing that 19% of internet users have downloaded a Podcast — 17% of that 19% download Podcasts regularly.  Not huge numbers but it has grown from 7% just two years ago.  The growth can be attributed to the proliferation of iPods and folks discovering the enormous wealth of content (I’m a big fan of Byzantine History). Expect this number to increase as iPods and iPhones continue to mature.

Podcasts offer paid placement opportunities in the form of commercial breaks.  I haven’t bought these yet but have heard a bunch of them on the Podcasts I listen too -  I’ve heard Audiable, Visa, and GoToMeeting ads a bunch of times.  Keep an eye on this space and if the podcast content attracts your target it may be worth a test buy.

Pew Podcast Demo

Now let’s mash the increase in PodCasts with the news today that Netflix and LG are developing a TV that allows direct movie downloads.  (link here).  This is not a huge surprise, Netflix has already deployed a set top box and is streaming into XBoxes.  But there is a BIG event happening here below the waters that will change the way to look at internet marketing.  The net and TV are merging together and couch potatoes will soon have access to the nichiest niche content ever conceived.

Thoughts:

• Anyone in the online marketing business is not surprised at this trend — we’ve been talking about it since broadband hit 5% penetration.  And we have all read the stories about Madison avenue scrambling to keep up. What I am surprised at is how much ink goes to Twitter compared to the oncoming TV/Net merge.
• Content is king.  When the day comes when Joe consumer can access internet video over the net he’s not going to download commercials — unless that commercial adds value.  Think about developing video content that adds value to the viewer while communicating a marketing message.  Example: Lego has just started to offer their web videos through Comcast On Demand (link here).
• This revolution will has been slow coming and will be slow to evolve.  We won’t wake up in 2012 and choose to watch our favorite LonelyGirl38 espisode every time we flip on the tube.  Mostly we will watch what the networks push at us — but that 19% of web users downloading Podcasts today will be 75% of TV watchers downloading internet content by 2015.
• The opportunity here is to start to think about video content that communicates your brand/product message while creating an audience of your target consumers willing to download that content on their TV.