Nielson Reports on the Economics of Podcasting

Marianne Richmond — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:52:59 -0500

This week Nielson issued another report on podcasting which highlights the economics of podcasting. It contained some interesting data: 6% of those surveyed describe themselves as "regular" downloaders of podcasts and 75% of those "regulars" are male and 38% are listening to less radio. Last week Nielson made an unfortunate comparison between those downloading podcasts and those writing blogs that produced a number of critical posts.

"Among this week's key findings:

The most successful podcasts are garnering as many as two million downloads a month, enabling them to attract mainstream advertising. An example -- Dixie Paper Company now sponsors the Mommycast Podcast Series starring Gretchen Vogelzang and Paige Heninger.
Overall, 60% of respondents surveyed said they â€œalwaysâ€? fast forward past commercials in their podcasts. Women were more likely to fast forward than men, with 67% saying they â€œalways fast forward.â€?
Given the ability to skip commercials, advertisers are already devising more effective means to reach consumers, such as embedding their messages within the program content or having podcast hosts endorse their products and services.
The survey found that the average length of the podcasts being listened to was 44 minutes. This may change with the growing popularity of video podcasts, which generally tend to be shorter, said Gerbrandt.
Some 72% of respondents who regularly download podcasts say they download an average of one to three podcasts per week. About 10% of all podcast downloaders could be characterized as â€œheavy usersâ€?, downloading 8 or more podcasts a week."

Their reference to blogs this week was in reference to business applications, " Like their largely text-based counterparts â€” blogs â€” podcasts are being adapted by a broad range of businesses and organizations."

To note,a Forrester Research on podcasting written by Charlene Li and published in March 2006 reported that 25% of online consumers expressed interest in podcasting. Well, I would not even attempt to compare "regular" to "expressed interest" but suffice it to say...podcast is a word we should know.

The message to advertisers from the Nielson PodcastingÂ Research? The ad model is dead, long live the ad model...

Marianne Richmond also blogs at Resonance Partnership

Tags: Nielson, Nielson Podcasting, Forrester, Charlene Li, Social Media, Mommycast, Research, Blogs

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Nielson Reports on the Economics of Podcasting