I am one of those podcasters who fit the following:

1. My podcast is aimed with laser precision at a specific target audience. It is a B2B techie audience who are, by nature, polarized in opinion, a hard sell - specifically in terms of tech related products and services and are somewhat cynical of the unsolicited unless and until it has been fully evaluated and inspected individually.

2. The vendors are mostly large hardware and software companies who sell either directly or indirectly to these techs. Many have ad agencies that are not yet tuned to podcasting with anything but a CPM model. A few will not even entertain the notion of taking a sales call from anyone but a large media company.

3. I am not a salesperson and I have no desire to become one. I can make the pitch, but I have trouble closing the sale. (That is likely typical of many podcasters, although I would also venture to guess that some have trouble with the pitch as well.) I know I could sell the podcast to the right sponsors for the right price, I just need to get to them and convice them we are a good fit.

4. I want a business, not a hobby.

5. I believe podcasting can become an industry, but the fractional goals and visions of podcasters lack a focused intent to transform it into one - yet.

6. I want to be an innovator, not an imitator.

For nearly two years I have been working on my project, The Force Field, with obvious intentions. Although it has come a long way from its beginning in July 2006, I have yet to realize the goal of profitization from it. Indeed, what few ads I have profited from have been strictly barter, not that there is anything wrong with bartering, it just doesn’t equate to cash (as a sales rep in the broadcast industry told me once, you can’t eat barter.) So, no matter how far I’ve come with my podcast, I am still at square one.

I tried the podcast network approach, and I have run a couple of campaigns. I have yet to receive a dime from them. After due deliberation I have come to the conclusion that the only people making money from these campaigns are the networks themselves, by “pimping” out the podcasters for peanuts.

I had a lengthy discussion with Todd Cochrane at the beginning of this month lamenting the fact that the podcast “industry” is stuck in this horrid CPM advertising model that neither fits podcasting or is fair to podcasters. While I certainly am no newbie to the realities of the advertising world having worked in television for fourteen years, it is still no excuse for anyone to accept this reality as The Way It Is or The Way It Will Be.

I can’t accept that. I refuse to do so.

The CPM model may be acceptable for web sites, but not for podcasting. A podcast isn’t a web page and to treat it as one is like treating a dog like a cat. You don’t give catnip to a dog and you don’t take your cat for a walk. Two different animals require two different approaches. CPM does not fit podcasts.

Okay, so Madison Avenue doesn’t understand that or see it that way. So what? If we want podcasting to be an industry why do we let Madison Avenue decide how we sell our inventory? Why are they calling the shots? Because they have the money? The advertisers may have the money but the podcasters have (or are, depending on your point of view) the product. That MUST count for something. The podcasting “industry” has clout. It just doesn’t know it yet.

If we want podcasting to be an industry instead of a hobby, we have to turn it into one. It won’t happen by following the ad agencies and other media buyers who don’t know or understand what it is. It will only happen by leading them to that knowledge or understanding and by setting the rules by which that knowledge or understanding is utilized. Who better to teach the masses how to sell their product or service in a podcast than those who know podcasting best, the podcasters themselves?

About a month ago I heard an episode of Rizwords in which the hosts railed upon the podcast networks because they did not receive the compensation they expected for the placement of spots in their show. Perhaps their dissent can be dismissed as the rants of misguided podcasters with unrealistic expectations or perhaps they have a point, but in either case they are not alone. There are others out there who, whether justified or not, are just as frustrated with the entire “system”.

I listened to Paul Colligan’s frenzied lecture on the Seven Secrets of Monetization from PNME 2007. He is on the right track, but his is not the only train. I do believe there is a lot of truth to what he says and merit in his approach. I also thing there are other ways to profit from podcasting that are yet to be discovered.

This “industry” is still young. How long did it take for radio to find its revenue niche? WWJ-AM in Detroit went on the air in 1920. The early radio stations were owned by corporations who pitched their own products and services, similar to corporate podcasts and webcasts today. The first real paid commercials aired a couple of years later. So, is commercial podcasting late to the monetization party? I don’t think so. I think this party is just getting started. The guests are still arriving. It is our party. It’s up to the podcasters - not the media networks, agencies or buyers - to get this thing going.

If we want to sell spots in our shows we need a sales rep, or a team of sales reps. I need one. I would like to hire an outside sales rep - as in independent contractor - to spots on my show and my site. I would like to find someone who would do it part time, out of their home or office, call these companies, pitch the show and close the sale - for a fair percentage.

Now, what if I could find an outside sales rep who could do this for other podcasters as well? That sales rep could essentially create their own niche market selling for podcasters. They would make more money than they would selling Amway or some other MLM scheme, the podcasters could set their own price and get it, the sponsors would discover the value of direct-market podcasting and everyone would make money.

I just finished listening to The Podcast Brothers discussing this very page on your blog for the second time. There is a lot of podcasting wisdom exchanged in that episode. It brings me to the following conclusion:

Everyone is still trying to figure it all out and make it all work, just like me. This tells me one thing. Whether it is a community or an industry, if you want to be an innovator instead of an imitator, now is the best time to be a podcaster.

Is podcasting a community or an industry? Does it really matter? It is the New Media. We as podcasters are making history.

2) “When podcasters, bloggers, vidcasters, etc. see themselves as creative business people, the new world media moguls, THEN podcasting - for that matter all RSS feed, internet based subscription medias - will be an industry.” Interesting quote, but I think it is demonstrative of the larger problem. I think many podcasters, blogger, vidcasters etc., do (incorrectly) see themselves as new media moguls, when really they are miniscule cogs in very, very large media wheel. Until the level of quality produced by these “media titans” has a level of quality that makes the majority of it listenable, then maybe we can worry about creating podcasting moguls. The average podcast is of poor quality, not well produced and in trying to be antithetical to traditional media, becomes so loosely developed, recorded and produced that it is usually an incomprehensible, interminable dialog– Let’s face facts (while there are MANY MANY exceptions) the majority of Podcasts are bad, and (thank goodness) fade immediately.

3) The term podcasting itself likely sealed the fate of the media as a likely profitable enterprise. My mother can’t understand from context what a podcast is and her eyes begin to glaze when I discuss RSS feeds. The term podcasting, while a good thing for Apple, from a marketing point of view, is a terrible name that doesn’t have resonance outside the podcasting echo chamber.

http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/tv-history.html

There are hobbyists in all forms of telecommunications - student radio, public access T.V. Does the existence of a large number of hobbyists preclude the possibility that an industry does or can exist?

The distinction is T.V. evolved commercially through the established radio industry. It was a top down evolution. Podcasting, and for that matter most all Internet Based Social Media, is primarily evolving from the bottom up. Does that make it any less an industry? What, for that matter, does it take to be an “industry”? Traditionally it required a manufactured product, but today “industry” refers to any basic category of business activity.

So is podcasting an industry? It can be when podcasters treat it like a business. Which brings me to agreement with this article in that many podcasters need to determine whether or not they are also business owners. But I think there is another issue involved here.

Because of its bottom up evolution, I think that there exists a self-perception problem in Social Media. Internet based media needs to stop trying to fit into established media models and see itself as new, distinguishable and powerful in its own right. A new distribution model of entertainment and communication. Sure the audience is fractional compared to established Medias, but a single shot from a sniper is just as, and possibly more lethal than a shotgun spray.

When podcasters, bloggers, vidcasters, etc. see themselves as creative business people, the new world media moguls, THEN podcasting - for that matter all RSS feed, internet based subscription medias - will be an industry.

Marcia Ruf
Founder, Independent Internet Media Associates
a 501(c)(6) trade association

I have to agree that the rush to podcasting we all hoped for is not actually coming. I see opportunities as content creators for various industries. In this forum, we are creating community, as you said.

I contacted a small publishing house about finding a way to promote their books through podcasting. I’m not making spectacular money (it barely amounts to a part-time job) but I’m honing my craft by interviewing authors, sharing their vision, and allowing readers an opportunity to preview books prior to purchase.

The trick here is to convince these folks that podcasting is not just something a dude in your technology can throw together, but an opportunity for a company to collaborate with an experienced podcaster to create a new community with consumers.

My podcasts are also mostly listened to on the websites they are posted to. (Like Chris Penn said with his)

Keep up the good work and someday podcasting will be used as much Email is. Email is not an industry either, but people have found ways (annoying as it is) to make money with that.

Also, to some of us, podcasting is a hobby. If it makes money thats great. If it doesn’t, it’s still fun and a good way to meet new friends.

-Mike

Except that “writing” in and of itself does not mean that you can “shut down Hollywood” or “have[ing] a union”. The writers strike was about scriptwriters. The writers that I referred to are novel and short-story writers…a whole other cup of tea. There are no novel writers union, and if a large number of novel writers decided to “strike” for a period of time, it wouldn’t matter at all…most books have been scheduled a year in advance or more. The schedule would far outlast the savings of almost all of those writers.

Whether an industry had a union or not, I would think, shouldn’t determine whether it was an “industry”. I think what determines an industry should be economic activity in exchange for products or services delivered with a degree of regularity. I don’t think there needs to be a bar, a certain amount money exchanged, to determine that. The regularity, as you mentioned earlier, is more important.

I appreciate your comments. Two quick points related to your examples.

1. Most writer’s don’t make much money - agreed. But any group of people that with a strike can shut down Hollywood and make the front page of all the papers etc. is most certainly an “Industry.” Just having a union gets you that status.

2. Game developers I don’t knw much about, but any trade show where companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote produtcs rates as an industry. Heck, doesn’t game development compete with dollars from Hollywood right now? What podcasting ad network is competing on that level? Want a better idea - convert your podcasting ad network to a video game product placement ad company and suddenly you are in business!

Michael Geoghegan