Clear Channel Radio’s Online Ops a Bright Spot

Clear Channel Radio’s Online Ops a Bright Spot

August was Clear Channel Radio online division’s biggest revenue month in history. The radio group’s online ops have posted about 20% growth year-over-year in the first part of 2008, a bright spot in the dismal radio ad industry.

Across the radio industry at large, off-air revenues, which include online, suffered a slowing of growth in the third quarter of 2008, per the Radio Advertising Bureau (viaMediaPost).

Clear Channel Radio’s web revenue is expected to reach $70-$80 million by the end of the year, say observers with knowledge of the online radio marketplace.

The company holds over 900 station websites and has pursued an aggressive multimedia strategy that embraces online video content, streaming audio and on-demand options.

Evan Harrison, pres of CCR’s online division, says that third-party research from the Radio Advertising Effectiveness Lab shows a jump in ad recall - from 7% to 16% - when consumers hear the one-two punch of ads on broadcast radio combined with ads on online radio.

Apple might add podcasting downloading facility to iPhone/iPod Touch

Apple might add podcasting downloading facility to iPhone/iPod Touch

software is expected to be released in the coming days.

A lot of rumors are floating around on what would appear in this future update.

One of the reports claim that this update would allow the user to download podcasts directly on the iPhone/iPod Touch.

This facility is not available currently and the user is required to move podcasts from a computer to the device.

Apple had interestingly denied an application to appear on the Apple App Store which made this possible.

The company had said that they do not allow apps which offer similar functionality to the existing iPhone/iPod Touch applications.

Podcast listeners

Many narrowcasts, many different audiences.

They don't all listen to the same programs, they don't all use iPods, and they don't all come from the same background.

They are podcast users, and they defy clear-cut connections between usage and factors such as gender, age and income level.

The increases ranged from a 10-point spike in the
percentage of respondents ages 25 to 34 who said they listened to
podcasts (from 45% to 55%) to a doubling in the response rate among
listeners ages 50 to 64 (from 8% to 16%).

Podcast trends

TREND INDEX

* US Podcast advertising spending increased 106% in 2007 and is projected to rise to $435m in 2012 (eMarketer)
* US Podcast audience reached 18.5m in 2007, and will increase by 251% to 65m in 2012 (eMarketer)
* iPod/Portable MP3 player ownership continues dramatic growth. Nearly four in ten (37%) own an iPod or other brand of portable MP3 player (Edison Research Apr 2008)
* 45.1% of active Internet users have downloaded a podcast (Universal McCann)
* In the past 9 months, downloading podcasts more than doubled going from 14% to 30% among active Internet users (Universal McCann)

from http://www.volomedia.com/

Wizzard Media

Wizzard Media is the industry's leading podcast hosting network, with an unprecedented one billion-plus download requests in 2007. Podcasts are a means for independent and professional content creators to publish audio and video shows for the world to enjoy over the Internet or on mp3 players, such as the Apple iPod and the Microsoft Zune.

Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon, but Wizzard Media collectively broadcasts millions of podcast downloads per day through media aggregators like Apple's iTunes, Microsoft's Zune Marketplace and other podcast aggregators.

For more information, please visit www.wizzard.tv. Wizzard Media is a division of Wizzard Software, a leader in speech technology development.

Podcast growth

While online video, mobile and Web 2.0 technologies grab the digital media headlines, podcasting has grown steadily, stealthily to become one of the most effective ways to extend a media brand.

Tens of millions of video and audio shows a month synch into portable media players, and some providers of podcasting services report a doubling of subscribers in the last year. Publishers like Slate, BusinessWeek, 1Up, and Harvard Business Review have full schedules of downloadable media.

Amazing Ad Recall Rates from Podcasts, Online Video Shows

Ads in podcasts are three times as effective as “traditional” online video ads and seven times more so than television ads, according to four campaign studies conducted by Podtrac and TNS.

Compared with industry benchmarks of 21% for streaming video and 10% for television, unaided ad awareness for podcasts was an impressive 68% on average; aided recall was even higher, at 89% on average. Embedded ads in online video shows are also highly effective, the study found.

“The high unaided ad recall figures are no doubt the results of a less cluttered environment,” said Doug Keith, former vice-president of the Media & Entertainment Group at TNS and now president of Future Research Consulting.

“Audiences are paying close attention to show content and the embedded ads within them, which greatly increased ad effectiveness,” he added.

Other major findings:

* On average, fully 69% of audience members have a more favorable view of in-show advertisers.
* The study found a 73% increase in likelihood, on average, that a consumer would use/buy an advertised product after being exposed to an ad.

Those results indicate successful targeting and the strong influence of show hosts over their audience, according to Podtrac.

The studies spanned two years (Feb. ‘06 to Mar. ‘08) and multiple product categories, including television programming, automobile, financial services, and digital imaging.

Less than 4% of all internet and 1% of TV ad spend currently goes to online video ads, according to eMarketer, but the company forecasts a tripling of current ad spend to reach $4.3 billion in 2011, also predicting podcast monthly audience size to be 50 million by 2010.

“The unaided awareness level of 68% is considerably higher in podcasts and online shows than in other offline and online media,” said Mark McCrery, Podtrac’s CEO and cofounder.

“Narrowly targeted audiences, appropriate ad formats, content relevance, and show host involvement are some of the factors which come together to produce highly effective ads in online shows and podcasts.”

Ad formats studied consisted of embedded :15 and :30 host-read audio and video ads, embedded :10 and :15 produced video ads, ad banners on publisher websites, and social networking in the form of publisher blog entries about advertised brands and related topics.

How to Profit from Podcasting - Solutions by PC Magazine

How to Profit from Podcasting - Solutions by PC Magazine:

"Marketing via podcast gets the arched eyebrow from some companies; podcasting is a relatively new concept. But in successful guerilla marketing, experimenting with the new is key. And current marketing research shows this new concept has legs: A recent study done by Arbitron/Edison found that 13 percent of U.S. Internet users listened to a podcast in 2007, and business users who make tech buying decisions have adopted the technology in much greater force. What are you waiting for? You can tap into this ready-made market for less money than you spend on a tank of gas."

Podcasting hits the bigtime

Podcasting hits the bigtime: "Podcasting has been long been the geeky and underfed younger brother of traditional radio and TV – but not anymore.

Now big stars are being attracted to the medium. Case in point the new podcast by radio legends Wendy Harmer and Angela Catterns called Is It Just Me? – A Podcast For Fertile Minds.

The pair, who met as hosts at struggling Sydney radio station Vega, are determined their show will not just be a radio show online – but a new format unfettered by the rigid rules of talk or music radio.

And it’s easy to take the stars to their word - given their fame and fortune have been made at either end of the radio spectrum – Catterns as a top rating oh-so-serious talk presenter and Harmer as part of a backslapping FM comedy duo.

The two promise the show will be more like a conversation that will traverse topics from menopause to Rick Springfield, from plastic surgery to Joni Mitchell.

“There are not a lot of places where you can tune in and listen to women having a conversation,” Harmer told Fairfax.

“You can go to FM radio and hear a girl screaming, ‘Arrhh, stop it, stop it, you boys,’ or you can go to commercial AM radio and hear a bloke saying, ‘And that’s my opinion.�"

Masters Seminar and Podcast Bootcamp

Hi everyone.

Just quick note. Wishing everybody happy Canada Day, July 1, if you're in Canada. And if you're in the United States, wishing you a happy July 4. Everywhere else. Hope all is well..

Just finished a great Internet marketing podcast episode. You can listen to it at the lead www.askscottpaton.com.

This coming July 4 and 5th, I'm hosting my third podcast boot camp in Vancouver B.C.. We keep it small. Everyone who comes leaves with a working podcast. Got a couple spaces left. So if you're interested in coming, e-mail me at Scott@podcasting-unleashed.com. If you go to the website, www.thepodcastbootcamp.com, you'll pay $2000. But because it's getting late, and you are a valued member of this list, I decided to make an offer you couldn't resist.

For five people, and I seriously mean only five people, you can come for almost nothing. Is there a catch? Of course, you have to e-mail me at Scott@podcasting-unleashed.com. Tell me that you want to come. I'll get you the details. No fancy sales page. No arm-twisting. Just come without a podcast and leave with one.

You'll learn a bunch of stuff, some technical, some soft skills, meet some amazing people and learn all the secrets that Shane and I used to grow our weight loss and the mind podcast to over 120,000 subscribers and three quarters of a million downloads in a year. For more details if you need them go to www.thepodcastbootcamp.com.

By the big news, is that I'm going to Chicago in July. To the Masters Seminar by Ross Goldberg. You can read more about it at this absolutely amazing sales page. Gee, I wonder who really wrote it?

www.podcasting-unleashed.com/Masters

The seminar costs $497. However, since I wrote the sales letter, Ross owed me. So if you use this secret Code - "chivip", you get not $100, not $200, but even more off the price of the seminar. Want to know what all know how much more? Go to that link, put in the code, and you'll find out.

Here is the link to use for reserving your room:

http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/TTG17A

The special rate is $119 per night and is cheap for this hotel.

I spoke more about it on my latest podcast at www.AskScottPaton.com.

One last thing, I decided to focus more on writing sales copy. Just finished writing one for the good people over at NicheBOT. Once it's live, I'll give you the URL. Jim Morris, the founder, told me he thought my sales letter, which is a rewrite of the original one, would pull in three to four times what the old one did. I'll let you know how close to us.

So, I have a goal now to write four sales letters a month. This month I'm going to exceed it but if you've got a project and need some copy for it, you can let me know at Scott@extremecopy.com. We can discuss it and see if there's a fit.

That's it for this time,
Scott Paton.

The Dean of Blogonomics and Podology

PS Hope to see you at a live event this summer.

The Impact Factor

Hi

Well, the Podcast Bootcamp this past weekend was a huge success.

Every student got their podcast up and running. Each one had subscribers in minutes.

So many people are jumping on the bandwagon now that my head is spinning. My plan originally was to hold an annual Podcast Bootcamp, but I have to run another on July 4th and 5th to look after the people who wanted to be at the May one, but I had no room, since I keep it hands-on and limit the attendees to 20.

More details: http://www.thepodcastbootcamp.com <--- cool use of video by my friend Pesi at http://www.mediastreams.ca.

+++++++++++++

One of my favorite people is Ken McArthur, founder of JVAlert. He is a real teddy bear with a Heart of Gold.

He has worked for the last 8 months on his book, Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions and Make a Difference in a Noisy World is scheduled to be published May 13th of 2008. It also happens to be my son and sister's birthday.

http://www.podcasting-unleashed.com/jvalert

What is Impact?

Well, it's an amazing book, a systematic mentoring program, a wonderful membership site with interviews and information and much, much more.

This is the start of something very exciting.

So check out: http://www.podcasting-unleashed.com/jvalert and if you are interested in marketing at all, I recommend you follow what Ken is doing and see where you can use it in your business...

...and, of course, buy his book.

+++++++++++++

More BIG News...

After almost two years, 125,000 subscribers, number one for weight loss on iTunes, and ober 750,000 downloads, my podcast, Weight Loss and The Mind, http://www.freeweightlosspodcast.com, is spawning a local radio show. Shane and I recorded our first 'professional' show last week.

The producer took the finished show to the station manager. They listened to it and called us and are now planning to syndicate nationally.

We are pumped! So if you can tune into 650 CISL, www.650CISL.com, on Wednesdays at 8pm PST.

And to our amazement, 650 CISL does not archive their shows. So we are adding 50+ minutes a week to our membership site starting late May. That's at www.weightlossandthemind.com.

So lots of exciting things happening.

All the best,

Scott Paton
Dean of Blogonomics and Podology

************************************************************

Listen in on my Internet Marketing Podcast:
http://askscottpaton.com for all the latest Internet
Marketing news, strategies and reviews.

Add http://scottp.podomatic.com/rss2.xml to your iTunes
program. Never miss an exciting, profitable episode
by clicking on this link if you have iTune installed:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=118486959.

************************************************************

Please pass this email on to someone. If you
think the content is good, please share it with
someone else. They'll appreciate it and so will I!

Feel free to tell any and everyone you know about this as well.

LITTLE ITTY BITTY PRINT:

Here's where I would normally insert a witty call for
comments, to be sent here: scott@podcasting-unleashed.com

Naturally, this is where I'd use an irresistible and
brilliantly humorous line saying "signup here"!
http://www.podcasting-unleashed.com

Oh, and then...

Of course...

"All the above is Copyright 2008 by Scott Paton"

Now was that so hard?
************************************************************

The Voice of Career Leadership | Podcast Audience Growth is Exploding

TotalPicture Radio - The Voice of Career Leadership | Podcast Audience Growth is Exploding | Podcast, Paul, Emarketer, Audience, Advertising:

"eMarketer estimates that there was a 285% increase in size of the US podcast audience in 2007, a growth to 18.5 million. Furthermore, that audience will increase to 65 million in 2012. Of those listeners, 25 million will be 'active' users who tune in at least once a week.

Based in New York City, eMarketer conducts market research and trend analysis on Internet, e-business, online marketing, media and emerging technologies. Joining us for a special online savvy edition of TPR is the author of the eMarketer podcast report, Paul Verna. Paul covers digital media Writers-Strike-Hurts-LA-Economy and entertainment, including music, digital movies, online video, video games Videogame-Simulator-Job , user-generated content and podcast advertising."

Kelowna woman's podcasts top U.S. charts

Show on creating wealth, happiness gets more downloads than Oprah

Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun

Published: Friday, March 21, 2008

When it comes to iTunes podcasts, Karen Luniw is No. 1 with a bullet.

Normally, that gets you online fame and little else.

In the case of Luniw, a Kelowna entrepreneur, she's generating income from those podcasts, most of it coming from south of the border.

Luniw's Law of Attraction Tips podcast -- which is not so much about attracting a romantic partner as it is about attracting wealth and peace of mind -- ranks No. 1 in the iTunes health category in the U.S. (self-help podcasts are lumped into the health category), and is among the top 20 podcasts for all categories, including Oprah Winfrey's.

Luniw says Law of Attraction Tips has been downloaded more than 600,000 times since January 2007, and 30,000 times this week

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2519d4fe-aee6-4e4c-ae71-79cfd70ee3b7&k=15318

Have you seen The Secret?

Hi

In five weeks I will be hosting the Podcast Bootcamp in Vancouver, BC. I am very excited about it. Bootcamp Number TWO!! Whoo! One year ago I hosted my first one and it was tremendous.

In fact, I already have over 20 people signed up and I was not going to add anymore. The Bootcamp is a hands on learning experience. Everyone leaves with a working podcast. A lot of work is done during the Bootcamp and a lot of networking after hours in the most beautiful city in the world IMHO.

But one of my mentors challenged me to go BIG and head for 50 students. So I convinced two of Vancouver's top enrollers to help me fill the room. If you ever wanted to come to Vancouver, or live here already... head over to http://www.thepodcastbootcamp.com and join us!

Already, some of the top Internet Marketers from Europe are coming over. Plus I have some special guest speakers who will be sharing the stage with me and you won't want to miss them. Tons of cutting edge information you can use immediately to grow your business.

But...

Before the Bootcamp I will be giving a four hour workshop as part of Dov Baron's Wealth Symposium. I don't have all the details yet, but I will be sure to update you when I get them. It takes place the week before my Bootcamp and looks like a must see event.

Dov started out in a ghetto in the UK, then when it looked like he had it made, he fell 120 feet (that's like 12 stories) while free-climbing at Brandywine Falls - just north of Vancouver. I have been there a few times and it's a long way down...

I attended his one day workshop, The Secret Beyond the Law of Attraction, last Saturday. Dov goes WAY beyond the Law of Attraction. It was so powerful, I attracted over $5,000 worth of patio furniture the next day! For FREE!

Any time you can experience this master, go for it. Dov recently wrote a book, The Secret Beyond the Law of Attraction, and you can check it out at http://www.podcasting-unleashed.com/secret. Start Making The Law of Attraction Work For You In 3 Simple Steps! - Even if you've never consciously manifested before.

The only other news I have to share with you is that I am participating in a series of coaching calls for Realtors. One of the top - I think he is the top - Real Estate/Mortgage Trainers is holding a series of coaching calls on relevant topics for Realtors. And he asked me to speak TWICE!! Once on copy writing for Realtors and once on Podcasting.

I am excited to be working with him on it.

He has 12,000 Realtors in his membership site and, yes, he will be attending the Podcast Bootcamp as an Allumni (He came last year and got so much out of it, he told me there was no way he wasn't coming again!)

Thanks for spending this short time with me. Talk with you soon!

Take charge of your Life!

Scott Paton

PS My 'Weight Loss and The Mind' Podcast with Shane Jeremy James is still hitting the top of the charts on iTUnes and elsewhere. You can listen to it at http://www.freeweightlosspodcast.com

And if you need help with your sales copy: http://www.extremecopy.com

Podcasting Local Events

When going into the Podcasting world it can sometimes be hard to find something of interest that is not over done. You will want to find something that keeps people interested, yet what others have not already covered. A good place to start is in your own community. You will want to see what is available that interests you as well as the rest of the community. One of every town’s hot relations is sporting events. Most people follow sports in some capacity. National sports are largely talked about in all areas, including Podcasts. The commodity you want to hit is the local sports events. Go for children’s sports, middle school and high school sports, and local university sports. These are all of major interest and not over played in the Podcasting community. Depending on what you have the most have in your community and are most likely to follow and Podcast on daily is the big thing. You want to be able to keep your listeners and/or viewers informed.

Children’s sports are a great way to begin Podcasting. It is fun and parents love to hear how well their kids do. Most times it is about learning the game and doing well as a team. Podcasting at older children’s sporting events can be a great way for future teams to pick their star players. Most people will be willing to be interviewed and will not have an issue with you Podcasting to local parents. This should be considered a practice run is school and local sports events for Podcasting. This is a great way to get started in the ways of Podcasting, but very efficient if you want many listeners. You will want to move up into something more competitive such as middle school or high school sporting events.

Middle school sports actually have to be tried out for and are far more covered in the local media than the younger kids. Parents are actually very interested as well as peers in hearing what happened at the local sporting event through Podcasting. Now a days many kids have iPods and a school-sporting event that they have to miss can be easily retrieved through a Podcast. You will be able to either make an audio or even a video Podcast. If you are doing a video Podcast of the game you will need to make sure it is smaller than the actual game. You might want to use some of the highlights while talking about the game and its stars. You will always have something to Podcast because no matter what time of year there is always some form of school sports occurring. Most junior high schools offer football, baseball, basketball, and track for boys. They also usually offer field hockey, softball, basketball, and track for girls. This gives a wide range of local Podcasting options. You might want to do two separate Podcasts for the boys and the girl’s teams. You might make your Podcast more seasonal and include both the current boys and girls sporting events at the same time.

High school sports will be the biggest local sporting events that occur for most places. There is a high demand for Podcasting in this area. This is when many athletic students are going for college scholarships. Usually most towns and cities are really into their high school sports teams and especially if they have kids in that age group parents love to hear all about what happened at the local game. Not only is this a popular way to get parents more involved with Podcasting and how it works, but also the kids can download local event Podcasting to listen to during lunch or study hall. Teens are very much into their local sporting events and most have iPods today. Podcasting local high school sporting events can be a very effective field. If you are gearing your Podcasts toward teens you can also talk about other local events as well. You can Podcast any concerts that are coming or any entertainment in the area geared towards teens. Podcasting is a great tool to keep people informed on what is going on in their own communities. The idea of being able to easily access the local events in your area is wonderful.