Posts filed under ‘podcasts’
Carolla’s World Record: Most Downloaded Podcast
Adam Carolla has broken the record for most downloaded podcast, according to Guinness World Records, receiving 59,574,843 unique downloads from March 2009 to March 16, 2011. The previous record was held by the Ricky Gervais Show.
Carolla launched a pr campaign to boost awareness that he was closing in on the record, urging listeners and followers to download his podcasts so he could beat Gervais. “Be a part of history, and help us bring the World Record for Most Downloaded Podcast over to America—where it belongs.” The broken record was announced during Carolla’s live appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
The most recent Arbitron/Edison Infinite Dial Study reported that 31 million Americans have listened to a podcast in the past month. That translates to 12% of the 12+ population, a share which has not increased in the last year.
While it’s not growing at the rapid pace that streaming audio is, podcasting seems to be holding its own as an audio delivery platform that is uniquely suited to Carolla’s style – personality driven programming. Carolla’s story is a great one – from out of a job at CBSRadio in LA, to building his own show, to podcast of the year, to Guinness World Record for most downloaded podcast.
40% of Public Radio Listeners Are Streaming Weekly
Jacobs Media has updated their annual survey of lots of public radio listeners about their technology habits. Public Radio Tech Survey 2010 interviewed more than 21000 public radio listeners in the US. The results reveal a continuing trend toward the use of mobile devices. “There’s been a lot written and said about how new technology impacts ‘old media,’ notes Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs. “ Our findings clearly show how the smartphone continues to be the hot item, led by the Apple iPhone.”
Jacobs is only releasing highlights, so I have not had the chance to parse the info myself and think about it, but here are some highlights from them:
- More than one-third of PRTS3 respondents now own a smartphone, up 29% from last year’s study. IPhone is the top choice.
- One-fourth of public radio survey takers listen to Pandora monthly or more.
- Nearly two-thirds of respondents now have a social media profile. Facebook and LinkedIn are the big gainers.
- Four in ten survey participants listen to streaming audio at least weekly, up 17% from last year’s survey.
- In the past year, six of every ten respondents say they have downloaded and listened to a podcast.
- More than one in ten owns an eReader, such as a Kindle or Nook, while 6% have already purchased an iPad.
- Overall, 6% say they have an HD Radio, up 22% from last year. On the other hand, satellite radio’s 13% is similar to last year’s levels.
Typically, Jacobs will release additional info from the survey over the next few weeks or months.
AOL Mines iTunes For Great Programming
It was bound to happen. Adam Carolla, whose standalone podcast project consistently ranks multiple shows in the iTunes top ten audio podcasts, will join a late night video block of programming on AOL that will, no doubt, extend his reach and build his brand while contributing to increased audience and revenue for them as well.
Last week AOL announced a new late night video block of programming featuring content from “The Adam Carolla Show,” ”Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show,” and Kevin Smith’s SModcast Network. Fans will be able to both hear and see the best moments from these popular podcasts and talk shows on a nightly basis exclusively on AOL.com.
This move will feature weekly highlights from ACE Broadcasting’s “The Adam Carolla Show,” where the celebrated author of the bestselling In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks interviews celebrities, athletes and other persons of note. That programming will be paired with highlights from Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Podcast network, and Kevin Pollack’s weekly video show Kevin Pollack’s Chat Show.
Carolla, Pollack and Smith will each maintain their own online presence and continue producing their programming. AOL will feature highlights, and no doubt extend their reach. When I checked, Carolla had 3 podcast shows in the top ten audio podcasts on iTunes, with another at number 11. His show has seen over 50 million downloads, making him the most popular audio podcast of all time. Pollack and Smith are video guys. Pollack produces a weekly video show that airs on sunday nights and is available on YouTube and iTunes. Smith’s Smodcast Podcast network is a veritable treasure trove of creative online content.
Carolla’s been an advocate of podcasting, but he’s made no bones about the fact that the revenue wasn’t rushing through the door. I’m sure this deal offers him a better financial outlook. AOL meanwhile, sees the opportunity that popular content on iTunes can offer in terms of building a network. Their ability to offer a revenue solution to independent content creators is a win for them and the talent.
Podcasting Growth Slows to a Crawl
70 million Americans have listened to or watched a downloaded podcast, according to a recently updated report by Edison Research: The Current State of Podcasting. That’s 23% of the population, a number that’s increased just one percent from a year ago.
Awareness of podcasting is sitting steady at 45%, up just slightly from last year’s 43%. That’s not the kind of growth that inspires hope that the medium will spread like wildfire. Podcast listening and/or viewing just hasn’t gone mobile – 71% of people who listen to podcasts do so on their desktop and that number has actually increased from last year, according to the study. 
So while cell phone usage has soared, podcasting usage has gotten stuck on the desktop, which is one possible explanation for the stagnant growth of the audience. Smartphone streaming has made downloading audio files for listening on mobile phones unnecessary.
It looks like streaming is taking a bite out of podcasting at this point. Online radio’s audience is 70 million monthly (Arbitron/Edison’s Infinite Dial Study).
Podcast consumers tend to be early adopters and social networkers, according to the study. They tend to respond to sponsor ads – 71% said they had visited a website because of an ad they had seen or heard in a podcast.
With wifi and 3G, and soon 4G access more readily available to consumers who want to stream and listen on demand, it’s looking more and more like podcasting is an interim audio technology that has limited long term audience growth because it’s replaceable by audio streaming.
Podcasting’s Prince Charming
Image by jeremyvaught via Flickr
Adam Carolla is rapidly becoming the forefather of podcasting. His show was named the Best Audio Podcast of 2009 by iTunes and saw some 50 million downloads in just over a year.
According to Arbitron/Edison’s Infinite Dial Study, 32 million Americans or 12% of the 12+ population have listened to a podcast in the past month, and while that number is up only slightly from the year before, industry folks like Wizzard are seeing steady growth and growing interest from advertisers.
Big personalities definitely help. Especially when they’re as appealing as Carolla is in this interview with WebProNews. He jokes about how he got into podcasting (His great great grandfather was a podcaster). He says he’s flattered to be a pioneer, but wonders how you can revolutionize something that’s been around for 11 minutes?
Carolla says it’s challenging, especially trying to get ad dollars (it’s like trying to get people to eat ostrich meat – it may taste great and be really good for you but new ideas are hard to sell.)
Carolla is charming and accessible and happy to be the poster child for the podcasting industry. I suspect he’ll be streaming programming on demand soon as well.
A Record Breaking Quarter for Podcasts
Image via Wikipedia
Podcast network Wizzard Media reports that 3rd quarter was a record breaking one for them, with 445 million podcasts downloaded in the 3 months. Wizzard provides hosting, ad serving tools, measurement and monetization services to more than15,000 podcast shows. Most of that is episodic programming, so the actual number of available podcast shows for download is well over a million.
The record breaking traffic came in the summer months, when listening generally slows. ”We attribute this surge to the continued success of Apple’s products, the expansion of Wizzard’s App product and the growth of the audience that has access to podcasts via iTunes.” said Chris Spencer, Wizzard Media CEO.
In fact, 65% of the podcasts they host are downloaded via iTunes, while other Zune and Blackberry are the other major vehicles. In addition, Wizzard offers an embeddable player that makes it easy for listeners to download podcasts directly.
They’re in the business of helping people make a business out of podcasting – Wizzard sells podcast hosting and ad serving solutions to content providers and also offers them revenue sharing opportunities.
So what are people listening to? Top podcasts on the network include Adam Carolla, English as a Second Language Podcast, Learn French, Smodcast, Joe Rogan, Mark Maron and Grammergirl. Education, music and comedy genres dominate the top 20. Top shows are seeing millions of downloads a month.
Ad sales are mostly based on cpms and range, according to Rob Walch, VP Podcaster Relations from $2 for remnant to $45-$50 for certain programs (Wow!) Their advertiser list includes Ford, Coca-cola, Amazon owned Audible, Subway, Netflix, JC Penney and others. Wizzard uses Nielsen Net Ratings for 3rd party verification of ad impressions, an important piece for agency sales.
Podcasting is growing at Wizzard Media – they’ve watched downloaded podcasts move from 1.1 billion in 08 to 1.4 billion in 09 to 1.8 billion (approx) this year. What’s not to like about that?
UK Listeners Spend Less Time with Online Audio Than US Listeners
A new release of information on digital audio listening from RAJAR, the official source for radio audience measurement in the UK, shows that Brits are not as active as consumers in the US when it comes to listening to online radio and podcasts.
According to the new data, 31% of UK adults have ever listened to online radio, in sharp contrast to the 52% of the 12+ population here in the US that have listened. Granted, the US study (Arbitron’s Infinite Dial 2010) counts the 12-17 population and the RAJAR study does not, but that cell accounts for only 10% of the total weekly listening so does not make up the difference.
Listening to online radio in the UK can include live streaming as well as “Time Shifted” listening where listeners can use “Listen Again” services to record some radio programming and listen to it at a different time. This behavior is prohibited, or at least discouraged by copyright law in the US.
Brits also listen less to podcasts than Americans – according to the new MIDAS6, 23% of adults have ever listened to podcasts whereas The Infinite Dial Study of US listening behaviors says 23% have ever listened. Again, I don’t think the 12-17 age group that’s taken into consideration by the US study and not by the UK one is making the difference.
I’m wondering of course why this is, but I’m not offering any solid reasons at this point I’m just watching and thinking about it. I suspect that UK radio blogger James Cridland might have a few as well…
Internet Radio Has Everyone Talking
One of radio’s oldest formats has found a new home on Internet radio. Talk radio, long the stalwart of the AM broadcast band, is alive and thriving online.
Sure, the big name hosts like Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Schlessinger and Savage are all streaming their broadcast shows online. More interesting is the long list of talkers who are using Internet radio as their primary distribution channel. That list is growing, and so is the audience.
The number of conservative talk shows online is really growing, according to a recent article in the LA Times. BlogTalkRadio, a streaming platform that enables anyone with the desire to easily start their own show, has seen a 25% increase in the number of conservative talk shows this year, while progressive talk shows are up about 14%. All of that has resulted in bigger numbers of people listening as well. 
Take the case of Marie Stroughter, founder of African-American Conservatives. The site is home to her radio show, which features “topical political commentary from a right-leaning, cultural perspective.” She’s interviewed the likes of Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich and Steve Forbes, among others. She uses the BlogTalkRadio platform for her webcasts, and her show has become one of the more popular in that network.
Talkers Magazine, the self-proclaimed Bible of Talk Radio, agrees. This year they published their second annual list of the Frontier Fifty most outstanding webcasters, a list that features names both known and unknown. “This new platform is well on its way to becoming the establishment at an exponentially increasing rate of acceleration.” says Talkers Magazine founder Michael Harrison. “Keeping that in mind, we should savor this creative, opportunity-rich period of its infancy while we still have it –– a colorful chapter of new media history that this list endeavors to celebrate.”
By enabling such a wide array of voices and points of view, Internet radio is on its way to re-inventing one of radio’s oldest formats. It’s a good thing, and one that broadcasters can easily take a lesson from. Got an interesting local character in your community? Give them a voice for an hour a week or even a day and offer the stream on your website. Now that’s a thought worth talking about..
Pew Study: Audio Is The New Radio
Radio is well positioned for a transition to a digital future, according to a new study by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. Radio has the ability to maintain and grow its audience through several digital audio platforms and is doing a better job than other traditional media such as television, newspapers and magazines.
Radio is on its way to becoming a new medium called Audio, according to this study. Listeners are tuning in via many channels including Internet radio, podcasts and satellite radio, which are contributing audience growth. Not all newer digital audio technologies are growing audience however — the study notes that HD Radio continues to struggle both with the lack of audience and a static number of stations converting to the HD platform of delivery.
Radio is experiencing an “intriguing fragmentation” across other audio platforms, which are also providing broadcasters with opportunities to grow revenue. Over the next five years, Internet radio and mobile revenues will continue to increase.
Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, “Communications Industry Forecast 2008-2012”
The main focus of the study is the impact of new media on news, and the appetite for radio news is dropping on AM/FM stations. But 24% of adults 18+ indicated they had listened to a newscast online – either streamed or downloaded. A stated conclusion is that the slow increase in online listening corresponds to a simultaneous loss of broadcast radio audience.
All of this emphasizes the wisdom of broadcasters who are distributing their audio content across multiple channels. It’s more important than ever to strategically develop a diverse digital audio platform that feeds the digital audio audience’s diverse appetite.
Displaced DJs Make Happy Podcasters
It happens – radio stations change formats and suddenly popular personalities are out of a job. And Arbitron’s new PPM audience measurement technology has caused station owners to take a harsh look at what’s working and what’s not. But that’s not all bad for several displaced radio personalities who have found that podcasting is a great way to reconnect with their audience directly.
Early last year CBSRadio changed the format of LA’s KSLX to all hits, and radio personality Adam Carolla was out of a job. By March, he was producing shows for downloads and making the top ten on iTunes. And in September he announced a partnership with CBSRADIO that had them promoting the show, handling ad sales and letting Carolla program his own Web radio station.
In Chicago CBSRadio took Steve Dahl off the air, following some format shifts in that market. Not long later, he was producing daily podcasts, this time in partnership with CBSRadio from the get-go.
Now we have displaced DC dj Mike O’Meara, who lost his gig at CBSRADIO owned WJFK when they switched programming to Sports Talk, and is generating 15,000 downloads a day with his weekday show. (Which doesn’t involve CBSRADIO apparently)
It turns out, personality driven radio makes for perfect podcast content. Radio personalities have fans and followers with strong affinities for their shows, which means they’ll go to the extra effort to subscribe, download and listen loyally. Personality driven podcasts are a nice enhancement for radio broadcasters to offer their listeners. The nature of podcasting means those listeners are registered, so it’s easy to target ads to them, and they’re engaged and loyal, which makes them very appealing consumers for advertisers.
As radio stations begin to understand that their broadcast is simply one distribution channel for their content, more and more will create ways to extend relationships with long time radio personalities, even if they’re off the broadcast dial. Podcasts are a good place to start.
Um, Mr. O’Meara? CBSRADIO called while you were out…
