As of April of this year, Apple's iPod has sold more than 100 million units worldwide, making it the most successful digital audio player in history. In addition to the success of the iPod, there are multiple MP3 players available to consumers and mobile devices now that phones are progressively more equipped to store digital content such as music and video. As a result, there is a marked increase in the amount of downloadable, serialized short-form content such as podcasts.
As with RSS feeds, media owners are eager to monetize their content through advertising, and there has been an explosion in the number of companies that have developed enabling technologies to insert advertising into podcasts. Additionally, in order to boost advertiser demand and increase efficiency, many of these companies also manage a network of podcasts. Some, such as Kiptronic, also position themselves as an enabling technology provider for advertising not just on podcasts, but on any downloadable media.
However, there are similar challenges to RSS feed advertising facing podcasting in order to grow the marketplace. As with RSS feeds, podcast marketing also faces a chicken and egg quandary, building both advertiser demand as well as available inventory at the same time. Furthermore, on disconnected media platforms such as iPods, PSP and mobile devices, it is a challenge to gather demographic data in order to target consumers. For the most part, demographic profiles are assumed based on content preferences. Some podcast networks such as Kiptronic and Podtrac also use survey data to get a sense of their audiences.
As with RSS advertising, one of the major advantages is that the media environment is still uncluttered. Additionally, an advertiser can reach an active, engaged audience because consumers have self-selected themselves as subscribers. Deploying ads on podcasts is becoming simpler as well, as companies like Fruitcast have begun to emulate the Google AdSense model of a pay-per-click, automated marketplace.
Examples include:
Blast Podcast
Fruitcast
Kiptronic
Personal Life Media
Podango
Podtrac
RadioTail