by Lee Gibbons, Podango CEO

This is the essence of Podango’s differentiation, so I feel that a post to state Podango’s vision and intent might be helpful to some, especially given the type of comments on the TechCrunch site.

Here are a few of the comments that are inspring this post:

by: juanna-laloca

“and, as a podcaster, what will happen if I decide I don’t want these “expertsâ€� deciding if my podcasts are worthy? Will my shows “cease to existâ€�? This is like about.com deciding what info is worth linking to by their ‘experts’. One of my shows is directed to people in the…”

by: garrett

“One of the selling points of Podcasts is that they’re “audio-on-demandâ€�, surely taking various podcasts and creating channels from them “like old-style television and radio stationsâ€� goes against the grain of this concept…” 

by: Bret

by Lee Gibbons, Podango CEO  

TechCrunch posted about Podango this a.m.  The post brought out some really good and insightful questions and conconcerns. In particular, in response to this comment by Startups.in/India “Well, it does say “$25k to 250k per year or more. (Mileage varies)â€� but how exactly? Any details on that front?”  Mike Arrington responded, “My guess is that Podango will take some grief over that quote.”  So, in anticipation of that grief, I thought I would post and help clear up questions related to “that quote.”  There are a few things to understand about the model that will help this become more clear:     

1. Station Directors own their Podango Podcast Station. It is their media property. And, anyone with passion, demonstrable influence within their niche or community, and the drive to make a Station a success can acquire their own Podango Station for FREE.  
2. Podango is subject to all the normal economics that affect content oriented companies; we are not defying gravity or anything here. We fully acknowledge that the distribution curve of money earned by podcasters and Station Directors will look like any other product serving the markets we serve. It will have a very narrow, tall head, and a very long tail. We are planning on, and have built our product around, a verrrrrry long tail. What this means, in direct response to the quote, is that most “successful Station Directors” will be on the low end of that scale. Still, compared to what they can garner without a model like ours, that is pretty sweet.  
3. The quote was focused on “the earning potential of successful Station Directors,” not individual podcasters or, as noted above, the average Station Director. Many Station Directors will be content to serve their communities of interest out of their passion for the subject matter, and won’t even care about the money end of it. Others are definitely signing on in response to the opportunity created by the aggregation of great podcasts within a niche market, and the sponsorship dollars that will flow as a result. 
4. The standard split between the Station Director and Podango is 70%/30%, where Podango keeps 30%. for that 30%, Podango provides the infrastructure–including storage and bandwidth, payment systems and analytics, and sponsorship acquisition, allowing the Station Director to focus on acquiring permissions and relationship building with podcasters. Podango’s early experience in dealing with sponsors and podcaster who are signing on is that we will achieve between $20.00 and $50.00 CPM. Stations, by their aggregated nature, will attract more listeners than the individual podcasts comprised in the station. Stations also have more ad slots or impressions to sell than do the individual podcasts that make up the station. Stations are also highly targeted, making their audiences more appealing to sponsors and pushing the CPM potential northward. 

Here is a review of the math. Although Podango Stations are sponsorship based, it is still useful to use CPM to calculate potential. 

The components of the equation are: Number of Listeners (L), Number of Impressions per Month (I), Revenue per Impression (R), the Station Director’s Revenue Retained in Split with Podango (D), the Average Percentage Retained in Split with Podcasters (P), the Number of Sponsors (A), and Periods per Year (n). 

The formula then looks something like:  L * I * R * D * P * A * n 

A practical, relatively conservative, and round example would be for a Station Director that has 10,000 Listeners to her station, to whom she delivers an average of 40 impressions per month (that is just 10 per week), for which she receives $0.03 per impression, retaining 70% of gross sponsorship revenues, and 20% of her 70% after paying podcasters, over a 12 month period, with an average of two sponsors. 

That is 10,000 x 40 (400,000) x $0.03 ($12,000.00) x 70% ($8,400.00) x 20% ($1,680.00) x 2 ($3,360.00) x 12 = $40,320.00 

So that is the math. The degree to which our Station Directors can realize projections like those included in the TechCrunch post will depend upon many variables, but it is within reach, in our opinion, and we have built a great site with world-class infrastructure and a great team to do all we can to help it happen.  We think this is the kind of model that will ultimately solve a number of problems that exist in the podcasting market today.  We sure hope we’re right!

If you disagree with elements of the model, please don’t just go away mad. Help us figure it all out! Better still: grab yourself a Podango Station and give it a whirl!           

    

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Podango Unveils Podcast Station Service at
TechCrunch Meet Up

New company to change the podcast experience by delivering free, hosted services for the management of podcast stations    

Orem, Utah – August 28, 2006 – Podango, a Web 2.0 company that integrates the “live conversations� of blogging with audio conversations to create a complete online and offline experience, was unveiled at the TechCrunch Meet Up in Menlo Park, California where 700 people attended to see new Web 2.0 products.
The new company delivers free, hosted services for the management of podcast stations by giving Station Directors, who own their Podango Stations as independent media properties, a complete platform to create and converse with subscribers. Podango’s services benefit the growing number of podcast listeners and viewers by providing:
·         simple, tailored, targeted information delivery
·         a trusted Station Director for each Podango Station that sifts, sorts, and prioritize podcasts
·         moderated services for easy community involvement and contribution
·         consistently high-quality content
·         a steady flow of the best podcasts in their area of interest
“This moment has been a long time in the making,� said Douglas G. Smith, president, Podango. “We have been working hard under the radar to bring podcast solutions to market that we believe will dramatically improve the online and offline experience for the growing number of podcast listeners. We also believe it will greatly enhance monetization opportunities for podcasters and business people looking to leverage the growing podcasting market.�
 

Podango Services
Services provided by Podango available as a beta include:
Castback™— encourages community involvement by providing a simple way for listeners to record their comments about a podcasts and provide it as part of future podcasts.

Podcast Surf™— allows podcast listeners to see and interact with their content. Podcast Surf is supported by a Web page that is automatically created as a companion to the podcasts distributed for every station, showing the podcasts related to each day’s programming. The Podcast Surf page contains a transcription of each podcast, relevant links and references for the important names, places, people, terms, sites, and vendors mentioned in a podcast. It also contains instant access to the community forum, Castbacks, and ratings for each podcast.

Transcriptions—Text transcriptions of podcasts are provided to Station Directors by Podango to greatly increase visitors from search engines, listening from those visitors, and ease on content usage through links.

Marketing—Podango’s marketing services help Station Directors build their audiences through several co-op marketing programs including search engine keyword buys, email programs, affiliate relationships, press releases, blog mentions, natural search engine optimization, sponsor and strategic partner links, and home page spotlighting.

Search Engine Optimization—Podango’s site structure and marketing helps Station Directors aggregate textual content for Podcast Stations and format it so that search engine spiders give higher page rankings. The overall Podango domain traffic and partner links also add to page rankings.

Advertising—provides the tools to profile audiences, measure listenership, and promote ad spot opportunities to a growing set of advertisers.

The Podango Dashboard—The Dashboard gives Station Directors the key metrics they need to in an easy to understand format. The dashboard is constantly updated with marketing, customer, and revenue metrics that can be displayed in daily, weekly, monthly and annual views.

Easy Payment System—handles all the payment side of the business including, collecting revenues, distributions of funds to partnering podcasters, receipts from sponsors, fees from the affiliate program or the payments for traffic generation activities. Payment is a PayPal-style fund distribution system that allows Station Directors to monitor results and activate decisions from the Dashboard.

Podcasting Momentum
Podcasting is a new and exciting market that personalizes the distribution of audio and video information. The term “podcast� comes from combining the terms “iPod,� the name of the world’s most popular MP3 player—the Apple iPod, and the term “broadcast.� Podcasts are delivered or broadcasted to listeners’ personal computers and MP3 devices such as the Apple iPod. 

The rapid acceptance of digital audio devices like the Apple iPod is rapidly fueling the demand for digital audio music and spoken-word content. Apple has sold over 100 million iPods to date. In addition, Microsoft has just announced entrance into this device market with the upcoming Zune product line being released under the XBox brand. These two giants will increase the pace of the feature and value race further driving acceptance and demand for these devices and therefore the content that is played on them.

About TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to new companies, TechCrunch profiles existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new Web space. TechCrunch is featured on CBS News, Technorati 100, Feedster 500, and CNet Top 100 Blogs.

About Podango
Podango, a Web 2.0 company, enables rich community conversations by integrating the “live conversations� of blogging and community forums with the rich communication value of audio and video podcasts to create a complete online and offine experience. The company provides a complete platform that allows the creation of podcast stations, independently owned and run by Station Directors who act as guides, to bring together the best podcasts in their focused area of interest and interact and converse with their subscribers. Each station distributes multiple podcasts and includes community intereaction tools to enable an enhanced community conversation. In addition, the listener can tailor the information they subscribe to, via a custom RSS feed, to participate in the information most relevant to them. For more information, visit www.podango.com or email info@podango.com.
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Contact:
pr@podango.com###Contact:pr@podango.com###Contact:pr@podango.com

###Contact:pr@podango.com

by Lee Gibbons, CEO

In real estate, they say, “location, location, location!” when citing the key element of success. The web entrepreneur’s equivalent element would be, “differentiation, differentiation, differentiation!”� � When I first wrote Podango’s 10 Rules, and in particular Rule #8, the thing that was standing out for me was the importance of letting each Podango Station Listener customize their Podango feed to meet their precise needs. This gives them the best podcasts coming to them by way of the sifting sorting and prioritizing provided by their Station Director, AND they can opt out of and re-arrange the priority of the podcasts to� match their tastes.

More recently, with the launch of PodShow Plus, I have become convinced that Podango’s uniqueness is its model with Station Directors at its core. Rather than having people create a glorified MySpace playlist of their favorite podcasts and calling that a channel, which is really no better than just subscribing to the various RSS feeds that comprize the channel, but for the ability to share the lists and see the lists put together by others (I am not knocking PodShow, here, just expressing a belief that there is a deeper contribution model that enables a richer set of benefits to those served by it.), Podango’s Station Model, with Station Directors who own their stations provides a truly differentiated set of benefits for listeners.

Podango Stations reflect the wisdom of passionate Station Directors whose proven expertise� guides their ongoing sifting, sorting and prioritizing of the best podcasts that serve the needs of their listeners. Station Directors are explorers, critics, infectors, organizers, combiners, refiners, and creators. They provide an invaluable service to a deliberate mass of people with a focused, shared interest. The result is a very useful set of podcasts that contain the most important conversations going on in their field of interest. They also sit at the center of the community comprising the station listeners and� podcastsers as well as the community’s luminaries, key thinkers and leading vendors/sponsors. From this spot they can enable rich, on-going conversations that align important agendas and move the community forward. They bring forward the most compelling podcasts. They help introduce important new podcasts. They spotlight podcast episodes that truly matter that were created for other audiences. They monitor and highlight the best conversations happening within the community.

I now strongly believe that even as important as customization and giving users choice is to our success, giving users expert guidance and voice in the important conversations that define their areas of interest is of superior importance. Station Directors make that happen. Their passion and empassioned service of the communities served by their Podango Stations will continue to be the key differentiator for Podango. This is what Podango will work to empower and enable with the highest priority going forward.

It is what will separate Podango stations from ordinary podcast feeds.

It is what will keep listeners and sponsors coming back for more, and more and more.

By Doug Smith – Podango President
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Unlike most podcast networks, Podango stations target specific audiences with multiple podcasts to make advertising dollars perform better, so advertisers and sponsors spend more with Podango.

Podango Stations are popping up in all types of niche markets including snow skiing, family matters, event planning, automotive tools, mountain biking, business leadership and more.  The profile of Podango Stations will clearly follow the “long tailâ€� distribution curve.  Stations will focus on highly targeted niches where niche savvy Station Directors will coordinate the “conversationâ€� with likeminded listeners. We are beginning to talk more about the “conversationâ€� that will evolve as selected podcasts are delivered to these niches with simple mechanisms allowing the listener to join in and provide their own insights, questions, and answers. Each episode becomes the catalyst for a deeper conversation. Â

By subscribing to the Station, the listeners self-select themselves for these conversations. What a perfect target for relevant advertising and sponsorships.  As Dixie has become the perfect sponsor for the MommyCast show, we will see the likes of Shimano, Sram or Trek for the Mountain Biking Station, or Marriott for the Event Planning Station, or Salamon, Atomic, Fischer or K2 for PodSki Station and FranklinCovey for Business Leadership Station.  Sponsors are loving the results, but it is yet very early. Major ad buyers are moving to take advantage of the targeting opportunities of this “new mediaâ€�. Greg Stuart, CEO, IAB recently said: “The steady growth of online advertising is a clear indication that marketers continue to believe in the opportunities and effectiveness that this medium delivers in reaching and engaging their consumers,” He also reported that: “Online spending for advertising is on a pace to reach $15 billion in revenue for all of 2006.â€� Take a look at the graph.

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The attractive relevance of these niche-oriented stations is only part of the appeal to sponsors. The mix of advertising elements is also appealing. These elements include sponsor impressions (audio, video , text and image), product mentions and discussions, spot ads before or after podcasts, banner ads, infomercial podcasts, video ads, surveys, polls and more. Also the consolidation of multiple high quality podcasts into a single station will bring larger audiences and this focused variety (strange combination of words) will hold the attention of the audience.  To top it off the community features will bring the audience into the conversations about the products and services of the sponsors yielding great feedback and great testimonials.

I listened to a Mommycast episode (#105) this week, (I am a Dad however) to see how they support their sponsors. They took their children the new Atlanta Aquarium, an affiliate of Georgia Pacific, the parent of Dixie, Mommycast primary sponsor. Their description of the experience and awesome nature of the exhibits had me wanting to jump a plane for a visit. My next trip to Atlanta will include a visit to this new site. What a great way to advertise.

Podango go!Stations will become wonderful revenue opportunities for Station Directors and Podcasters. As Directors add more podcasts to the station, there will be incremental ad spots. And Podcaster will love to join a station with an existing and growing audience getting instance exposure.  Podango is about teamwork, strength in numbers, relevance in advertising and creating deep conversations about product, services and especially about life. Come and join us, the train is leaving the station.

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