MWGblog

I did an interview for Boston area radio station WZLX this morning; the subject, as usual, was podcasting. An interesting topic came up during the course of the interview. The host, who is a proponent of podcasting, mentioned that it was getting more exciting (I am paraphrasing) now that the professionals are getting involved. My answer, was not what she expected. In fact, I know it wasn’t because we had a great ten-minute discussion about the term “professional podcaster” after we completed the interview.

It is an interesting topic. What is the definition of a “professional podcaster”? I have a feeling it means different things to different people. Having been around from the start, I always thought that those of us doing it were becoming the “professionals.” Personally, I wasn’t waiting for anyone to show up and take over to show us how to do it. After all, we were the ones creating and shaping the medium.

Are you a professional if you earn your living podcasting? A few of us can answer yes to this question. Are you a professional if you create and deliver quality content that you give away with no financial incentive? I know countless people who can say yes to this. Are you a professional if others turn to you for guidance, advice and consulting – often paying for the privilege? Again, some of us can say yes to this. The person interviewing me, I found out, meant people skilled in interviewing and the production of audio shows. Fair enough. I know many people who work very hard on their interview and audio production skills. Are they professional podcasters or professional interviewers?

What about broadcasters entering the arena? Are they more professional than those that have been doing this for almost two years now? Does having a radio background make you a professional podcaster? Many would argue that these are the same pros that drove people to podcasting, the ability to hear independent voices – authentic voices. In fact, many of these pros are huge proponents of podcasting, because they can regain some autonomy through podcasting. Podcasting allows them to no longer be beholden to a corporate playlist or station IDs every five minutes. They can speak their mind, to be authentic.

To me, polished radio, ported to MP3 is not a podcast. While it may fit the technical definition, podcasting as a concept means something more – something greater. As an example, is a MP3 version of the “Zanny Morning Zoo” what you think of when you think of a podcast? Is that why we started this? Is that what people think a podcast is? Yes, it is semantics; it is distributed via podcast, but is it a “podcast”? I know, more questions than answers.

With all of this said, Adam Curry, who I think we can all agree was the driving force in the popularization of podcasting is a broadcast professional. He is also a podcast professional. While some of the skill sets may crossover, I for one, think the terms are not interchangeable.

I was just working on a quick interview I did with Eric Rice back at the beginning of March. It will be posted soon, but one phrase really caught my attention. When we were talking about large corporations adopting podcasting – or frankly, their slow uptake (trust me, many are talking, but doing nothing.) Eric had this to say:

Thirteen year olds can do this in their basement, what’s your excuse?

Classic! (And true.)

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with someone heading up an initiative to get podcasts on mobile phones. There are lots of companies moving into this space and I have spoken with many of them. What was particularly interesting about this conversation was we spent a lot of time dealing with the “hypotheticals” of the content and what others could do with it, based on copyright or Creative Commons restrictions. Can you sell ads around it? How would podcasters react? What if the carrier charged to receive the podcast? What if they charged a monthly subscription fee per podcast to use their network etc.? As you might imagine, it got technical and frankly was quite interesting.

Then today I see this article from Business Week online. Here is the section that caught my attention:

And for $600, an advertiser can become the exclusive sponsor of a particular podcast for 30 days, says Pod2Mobile co-founder Brad Zutaut. As the business picks up, Pod2Mobile plans to share its ad revenues with podcasters that sign up to be in its directory.

Huh? Someone is selling exclusive sponsorships around podcasts for 30-day periods and the podcaster is not participating in the revenue? Or at least they are not participating until “business picks up”? I can only hope the reporter misquoted Mr. Zutaut. Does anyone know from firsthand experience if this is actually taking place now? (One of the shows I produce is in his directory and I know we did not “sign up.”)

Regardless, once again we see an Advertising Aggregation/Distribution plan underselling the value. Lets assume they split the revenue 50/50 with a podcaster when “business picks up”. And for arguments sake lets assume they can sell out the entire year at that rate. That is a whopping $300 per month or $3600 per year to the podcaster to have an “exclusive sponsor” over this mobile distribution network. Those numbers are abysmal – assuming 4 episodes per month, the podcaster is receiving $75 per episode for the “exclusive” sponsor. Can the podcaster sell sponsorships for the show for its traditional distribution via RSS and the web? Will Mr. Zutaut’s company remove those sponsor messages to preserve the “exclusive sponsor” position that his company has sold? Does the podcaster have to produce two versions? Is any of this worth it for $75 bucks? Ugh, has anyone thought this through? From the issue of the podcast publisher’s consent and licensing for the sponsorship to the potential hassle factor for so little revenue – this whole thing can make your head spin. Please tell me this is like a Three’s Company episode – it is all just a big misunderstanding.

I have just agreed to participate on a panel at the NAB Podcasting Summit. It looks like the audience will mainly be broadcasters so it should be interesting. If you’ll be at NAB, shoot me an email. I know some other podcasters are going including my “podcast pal” Tim Bourquin.

Here is my updated April speaking schedule:
April 3-5th: Media Canada Marketplace 2006, Beverly Hills, CA
April 22-23: NAB Podcasting Summit, Las Vegas, NV
April 28-29th: The Podcast Academy at Boston University, Boston, MA

I have just turned on the newest feature at Reel Reviews in all its AJAX goodness: the DVD List. I am often asked whether or not I have a particular film, now people can check for themselves and request a Reel Review. We have created a catalog section that lists all the DVDs in my collection. It allows visitors to browse the collection, purchase via Amazon (thanks for the support) but most importantly it lets people request a review. The review requests are tabulated and displayed in the admin panel. Here are some screenshots and explanations.

Read more…

Some of you know, a goal of mine last year was to appear on IT Conversations. I missed it last year, but I finally made it. IT Conversations just put up a presentation I gave at last November’s Podcast Academy. The part I am most excited about is that I have the honor of being the very first video cast that IT Conversations has produced. That is quite an honor. I know that it was a long time in development and I need to thank to Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani for choosing my presentation. They also deserve a pat on the back for all the hard work I know that they put into the project. As I understand it, they have used this presentation to develop standards for future video casts. As a result, in addition to the standard MP3 you can download a video of my presentation. This morning I watched my presentation on my video iPod.

If you are interested, the presentation is titled “Making Money Beyond Podcasting“. I discuss my thoughts on how experienced podcasters can derive more revenue from leveraging their expertise in podcasting than trying to value their audience using a CPM model. In layman’s terms: you can make more from consulting and podcast production than sponsorship and underwriting. This is a unique opportunity that exists now, it will change, but as my friend John Furrier says, play to where the puck is. [link]