Is podcasting a viable medium?

Today’s Myatt on Mondays question comes from a CMO for a professional services company asking, “Is podcasting a viable medium?” I’ve answered questions like this every time a new medium hits the market. Over the years, I’ve commented on fax machines, infomercials, email, electronic commercials, CD-ROMs and DVDs, Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), instant messaging (IM), webinars, blogs, and now in this publishing, podcasting…

I’ll start by defining podcasting for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term. Podcasting was created by former MTV VJ Adam Curry. The term (which rhymes with streaming) describes the technology used to deliver audio content from websites to end users of the content who prefer to use iPods or other mp3 players to listen to said content. Podcasting is simply a new content delivery method that combines audio content delivery with RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Instead of reading new content on a computer screen, you listen to new content on an iPod, an iPod-like device, or through your computer.

Now that the term Podcasting has been defined, let’s address the issue of feasibility. Most of you who are familiar with my work know that I am a big believer in being an early adopter. I am always in favor of being a market leader vs. a market lager. Fast movers in today’s market (see “The Need for Speed”) increase brand awareness, mindset, and market share, while slow movers face higher barriers to entry, increased competition, and increased market share. reduced margins. Few consumers like (B2B, B2C or B2B2C) to work with companies that are behind. Once there is proof of concept validation, it is time to move aggressively.

So the question remains whether podcasts are viable. The answer in my opinion is a resounding yes. According to Nielson Analytics, around 9 million Internet users have downloaded podcasts in the last month alone. If the number above doesn’t jump out at you, you might want to consider the following statistics taken from a white paper produced by KnowledgeStorm, Inc in which nearly 4,000 respondents comprised of business and IT professionals in a variety of job titles, industries verticals and companies. heavy sizes in:

41 percent of respondents say they have listened to podcasts more than once, while 13 percent said they download or listen to them “frequently.”

32 percent of respondents said their use of podcasts has “increased” or “increased significantly” in the last six months.

72 percent said they have downloaded or listened to technology-related podcasts more than once; 23 percent do so “frequently.”

Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said information on business or technology topics, currently delivered as white papers or analyst reports, would be more interesting as podcasts.

55 percent of respondents would be more likely to consume white papers and analyst reports if they were delivered as podcasts.

57 percent of frequent podcast users said that their biggest challenge with podcasts is a lack of interesting content.

65 percent responded that they listen to podcasts for both personal and business interests.

Bottom line… Podcasts are here to stay and I suggest that if you’re not using this channel, start immediately. Happy podcasting!