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.

Just a quick amen to a couple of points made in a post by Tom Peters that Seth Goden pointed to in his blog.
“At the top of my business priority list, I want my overall market to grow by leaps and bounds. My market share will go down (It was about 100% after In Search of Excellence, when I was more or less the only public “management guru”), but my revenue will soar—the “bigger pie” axiom.

“In short, I want my competitors to thrive. And I welcome their presence at my events. I go so far (see our “Cool Friends” interviews, for example) as to enhance their careers!Does all this suggest an altruistic streak? Perhaps, but I actually think mostly not. I think that when one badmouths one’s competitors or tries to limit their activities, the “word gets around.” And one develops a reputation as prickly and egocentric—and, well, as a selfish jerk.”(tompeters! management consulting leadership training development project management)

Occasionally, Doug and I have encounters with those who are building businesses that “compete” with Podango. In all instances but one, we have had great, productive conversations that have left us believing that we will grow this industry together and have fun doing it. My hope is that we can focus on growing the pie and not on market share! As we do, listeners, podcasters, and advertisers will be better served.

by Lee Gibbons, Podango CEOÂ

There is a question I have been asked numerous times–and admittedly, I routinely ask myself — “When will podcasting become mainstream?â€�

First of all, let’s define mainstream. One useful definition of mainstream is “that wihch is generally accepted or practicedâ€� or “broadly embraced by the populace.â€� Cell phones are “mainstream.” E-mail is mainstream. Notebook computers are mainstream.â€� Broadband Internet access is mainstream. Right?

Maybe! What about in Ethiopia, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia or other non-G7 nations? My point is that there is always a scope associated with the term “mainstream.� It is at best a relative term—relative to the market served by the mainstream product.

In 1988, when email was just beginning to be adopted to take advantage of burgeoning corporate connectedness for file and printer sharing, I had the opportunity to watch that “mainstream� technology as it began its ascent to popular acceptance. Specifically, I watched Union Carbide buy one of the earliest versions of Davinci eMail and roll it out across a specific set of users who had accountability for global crisis management and response. For those fifty or so users, email became a very critical application. It was clearly not “mainstream� in terms of the general populous embracing the technology, but within that specific community, wherein email was a mission critical technology, it was as good as mainstream.

Today, Divinci eMail is long since dead, but eMail itself, as a communication medium, has not fundamentally changed since those early days. Sure, it has improved immensely. It has been rebuilt several times on new and improved standard technologies and protocols. It has become globally available.

Podcasting is going to become mainstream in the same way: one community at a time. One killer application of podcasting at a time. And I believe podcasting will only take off and become mainstream for communities when it is no longer viewed so broadly as a one-way medium: one RSS feed at a time being “caught� by podcatching software and transferred to a computer, then to an MP3 player. Podcasting will become mainstream when it becomes part of the communication infrastructure that enables key conversations within communities.

The current push with Podcasting service providers is all focused on getting your voice heard. I frequently hear podcasting people talk about the virtues of giving everyone voice. Well, that is great, and I get the vision, but what about giving everyone ears—the ears of their friends and trusted fellow community members and thought leaders? Podcasting will turn mainstream one community at a time as it enables and serves the communication needs each community of interest.

Such a conclusion is a natural extension of how most technology markets grow; through relationships, key influencers, and conversations. The conversations that matter to rapid adoption today take place through blogs, forums, wikis, email, phone conversations, and yes… podcasts. These are rich, multi-directional conversations.

More on the vital communication media for successful community conversations in another post.
In the meantime, check out these blog posts to gain greater perspective on the subject from a broad spectrum of vantage points:

• Defining Community Marketing by Jeremiah Owyang
• Blogs/discussion boards/wikis by terryd, a femial educator from Richmond, Virginia
• Are you a 1 Percenter? From Ben Mcconnel and Jackie Huba on the Church of the Customer Blog
• Steve Rowe’s Blog: Naked Conversations – Live
• Web2.0Show – A cool podcast on web2.0 stuff.
• DocSearls Weblog – What can I say? Doc is simply unique in his ability to convey his vision of this stuff.
• The Gilmor Gang Podcast – Steve Gilmor and other leading blogosphere proponents and thought leaders discuss related subjects