by Lee (Podango CEO)

Sometimes the stars align such that they become bright enough that I actually see them! So it is with these articles on new media and podcast advertising that caught my constant, wondering gaze at new media news. Or perhaps they are just amplified by one of my favorite echo chambers (ugly thought, but probably true)! Never the less, here are some recent articles that point up some relatively new numbers around new media advertising.
Podvertising To Grow Fivefold, But Remain Niche (by Gavin O’Malley, Monday, Feb 26, 2007 6:00 AM ET)

The Next Big Ad Medium: Podcasts - Advertisers will spend more than $400 million on podcasting by 2011, but they’re still not sure who will be listening to them (by Catherine Holahan)

The things that stand out for me are the relatively few internet users who are using podcasts regularly and the number of dollars projected and aligning those numbers with the numbers I know are being garnered by certain podcasters, which if included in the numbers sited here point up a power distribution of ad revenues among podcasters that is much fatter at the head than the distribution of listeners (if that makes sense). And what that tells me is that there is an opportunity to spread some of those dollars down the tail. What will it require? Here is my list:

1. “Podvertisers” will have to be given a reason to trust the long tail of podcasters.
2. Podcasters need help reaching up the tail for some of those dollars.
3. A long-tail advertising mechanism that spreads podcast advertising dollars down the tail can work (am I cheering Google on here?) if it can tie the content and ads close enough together.
4. Everyone will need to apply healthy measures of patience and hard work. This is a very young market, and will continue to behave like one for the next several years.