Podcasting And Vlogging

INTRODUCTION

The emergence of the internet has brought about many advertising opportunities.

Podcasting/Vlogging is one recent innovation in Internet communication and entertainment. Businesses serving niche market are capitalizing on this new concept to directly target their markets with there advertisements.

This assignment attempts to broaden ones understanding of this new initiative and how it fits into the marketing world. For the purpose of this assignment we are going to refer to Podcasting as a general term to describe both Podcasting and Vlogging.

THE 'CORE' LOGIC

What is podcasting and vlogging?

"Podcasting" derives its name from Apple Computer Corporation's iPod. This however has become total contrary to what Podcasting is all about. The name is no longer specifically related to iPod but instead refers to any software and hardware combination that permits automatic downloading of audio files (An MP3 player is most commonly used, as per format) for all end-users convenience. Unlike the traditional radio or other Web-based streaming media, Podcasts allows listeners to have the freedom of time and place, in other words listeners have the ability to decide and control what programming they want to receive and when they want to hear the recording. It is the new radio on demand with online media delivery.

Podcasting's roots reportedly date back to 2001 and are closely linked to the development of blogs (or web logs). It was derived from the desire to have downloadable audio and video content delivered automatically to your digital media player (eg. your iPod). In addition to this, people were interested in providing content for Podcasts. Many technologies had to be in place for this to work including generally available high-speed Internet access, MP3 formats, software that automatically tells you when a podcast/blog update has occurred, and digital media players.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_podcasting)

Vlogging and Podcasting are very similar and classed and being one and the same as the only small difference is that Vlogging only permits the downloading of video casts, whereas Podcasting allows for the downloading of both audio and video casts.

The first known videoblog entry was November 27, 2000 marking the early 2000s as a challenge to create videoblogs. Vlogging didn't truly emerge until 2004, when small communities of vloggers began to pop up and big media started to notice vlogging. Articles were published in the New York Times and other publications. Vlogging is still rather small today, but online video is starting to take off, with websites like Google Video and YouTube offering free storage space.

GOING ABROAD

(Impact Globally)

Podcasts are a fast growing phenomenon globally. Consumers are getting more and more tired of traditional media. TV and radio are out and online media is in.

Marketers and advertisers are following consumers as they move from more traditional media to online media. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau advertising revenue on the Internet was projected to increase by 34% between 2005 and 2006 (http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004552&src=article1_newsltr).

Podcasting has become a growing way for marketers to reach these audiences. Although the medium is not big yet, it is incredibly fast growing.

"eMarketer predicted strong audience growth for podcasting until the end of the decade, with active U.S. podcast users climbing 500 percent, from three million in 2006 to 18 million in 2011, and the total podcast audience jumping 450 percent during the five-year time frame, from 10 million to 55 million." (http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/55990.html)

Feedburner, one of the websites that allows for the downloading of Podcasts has over 44000 Podcasts. According to the CIA fact book there are currently more Podcasts than there are radio stations worldwide. The listenership per radio station is obviously a lot higher than the average Podcast, but some Podcasts have managed to attract a large, loyal fan base. Podcast spending is also predicted to sky rocket over the next few years.

In 2006 podcast advertising spend was 80million this is a enormous jump from 2005 figures of 3.1million (http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004552&src=article1_newsltr)

(http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004552&src=article1_newsltr)

The introduction of Apples iTunes software has allowed podcasters to freely share their shows. It has also allowed people to easily search for shows by topic. You can now quite easily search for a Podcast on gardening and find hundreds of results within seconds. Not all Podcasts are downloaded through iTunes. According to Feedburner 43% of all Podcasts are downloaded from other websites or feeders.

It is clear that Podcasting is growing in the USA. But the largest growth is coming from outside the USA. Japan, China and the UK have an even larger base of users that both watch/listen and advertise on Podcasts (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/9614.asp). On China's biggest Podcasting directory Podlook there are nearly 145 000 different Podcasts. Most of these are different episodes of a series of shows, but this still shows appeal that it has.

Podcasting is not a major force, yet but indication points to a medium that could and probably will overthrow TV and radio in the not so far future. With a power like this marketers will not want to miss out on what it could possibly do for their brand. Podcasting is growing into an unstoppable new medium and if it is growing so fast overseas, South African marketers must keep abreast of advancements because it can become a serious tool in their integrated marketing strategy.

GOING LOCAL

(Podcasting in South Africa)

Podcasting in South Africa unlike countries like the US, Great Britain and the like, are lagging behind. The major reasons being; that the number of households with Internet connections are low, there is limited