Speaking of podcasting, an article out today on eMarketer speaks to the value of the niche audiences created by topical podcasts.
According to long-tail theory, these targeted audiences should be especially valuable to advertisers and marketers. Although the audiences are small, each listener or viewer is very interested in the subject, and the audiences should therefore carry commensurately higher ad pricing.
In fact, eMarketer predicts that US podcast ad spending will grow to $435 million by 2012 from $165 million in 2007.
The article quotes information from recent studies by Podtrac, a service we use, and TNS Global, that shows why having your ad or message in a podcast is well worth the investment. This seems to be so difficult for traditional marketing folks to “get.” In order to do so you really have to understand the Long Tail and why small audiences of highly motivated consumers (could be farmers) is so valuable. The bold highlights are mine.
The companies studied podcast advertising from February 2006 to March 2008 across multiple product categories and ad types. Unaided awareness for podcast ads was 68%, compared with 21% for streaming video and 10% for television.
The data suggest audiences are paying close attention to show content and the embedded ads within them which greatly increased ad effectiveness in the studies, said Doug Keith, president of Future Research Consulting. The high unaided ad recall figures are no doubt the results of a less cluttered environment.
The studies showed a 73% increase in likelihood to use or buy an advertised product,” said Velvet Beard, vice president at Podtrac. “The studies showed that 69% of audience members have a more favorable view of in-show advertisers.”
Podcasting is, by its nature, a niche medium, and this is not likely to change,” said Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer. “But podcasting delivers a level of end-user engagement that is rare in todays multi-format world.