Business Case for Podcast Advertising Explored at Podcast Expo

Susan Bratton, CEO of Personal Life Media put together a panel session on the business case for podcasting this morning at the Portable Media and Podcast Expo, Tim Bourquin’s annual confab in Ontario California to introduce her Association for Downloadable Media to the trade. 

Bratton was on the founding board of the Internet Advertising Bureau and knows how to put together a successful industry association.

“We have come together to realize how we can monetize our content.  It’s an opportunity for us to set a level playing field for all of us to go forward as a unified front,” she says, building a busines case for podcasting. 

She invited all the members to get up and introduce themselves, which included a who’s who of podcasters, and podcasting tools and services. In these early days of podcasting, I think I was the only PR Firm owner in the room, although there was another SEO consultant.

“Good content’s got to be paid for,” said Pete Alcorn of Apple iTunes. 

Annual dues are $150 for individual podcasters who’s core business is not podcasting, corporate memberships are $1000 and non-profits are in for $150. 

Originally, I thought any corporate membership was $1000, but Brian Moffet of NPR explained that if you’re a company like Cisco or Accenture and you happen to also do a podcast, you needn’t pay the corporate membership price. 

I just tried to sign up myself, but they don’t take American Express, and that’s the only credit card I’ll use online, because they’re the only ones that offer you any real protection if you into trouble.

Benefits of membership includes:

• Demographics
• Tutorials and white papers
• Boilerplate documents like contracts and proposals
• Standardized metrics and reporting
• Online knowledge base

Now they’re announcing and getting ready to vote on board members and committee chairs.  Committees include Advertising Standards, Measurement, Outreach & Education and Terminology Standardization.  Susan’s IAB pedigree is clearly benefiting this fledgling association well.

Chair nominees gave a series of presentations about why they’re qualified the lead the various efforts. 

But the thing I heard that really stood out most for me was a comment from a guy from Edison Research and it was this: If we want to catch the attention of advertisers, counting downloads won’t do it.  Measuring and monitoring engagement is what needs to be quantified.  How podcasts work to move people along the brand continuum, and how podcasts offer advertisers deeper brand engagement.