Industry leaders from the podcasting community have announced the formation of the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) with the goal of developing standards for audience measurements and advertising for downloadable media.

The ADM will comprise an interim board of representatives from the following 15 companies, which met initially to establish the organization: Apple Inc., BlogTalkRadio, Kiptronic, LibSyn, IndieFeed, NPR, Nielsen//NetRatings, Personal Life Media, Inc., Podbridge, PodTech, PodShow, Podtrac, Porter Novelli, Rev3 and Vogele Law.

Five initial committees will be formed immediately to address advertising standards, measurement, outreach/education, terminology and membership.

The ADM was formed to focus specifically on any content downloaded by consumers and will work in collaboration with related industry organizations, publishers and agencies such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

According to eMarketer, spending on podcasting advertising is expected to increase five-fold by 2011, growing from $80 million to $400 million.