CitizenSpin

Podcasting is good for radio – new research

Session 5 – Audience metrics for portable devices: Answering the ‘who’ and ‘how many’ questions

This session at the Portable Media Expo looked at what kind of measurement of the audience was taking place. This was of particular interest to existing broadcasters (my perspective) and there were a number of established companies on the (rather large) panel:

Speakers: Dave Van Dyke - Bridge Ratings, Diane Williams - Arbitron, Mark Donovan - M:Metrics, John Federico, Audible.com, Peggy Miles - Intervox, Mark McCrery - Podtrac

Dave van Dyke kicked-off the session with news that research he’s carried out for Bridge ratings has concluded that radio stations can actually benefit from podcasting.   
The study of used a sample of 4000 people, including 2000 listeners to non-commercial radio stations such as NPR. It was conducted between January and October 2005 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, DC, St. Louis and Miami.
To quote from the press release: “Listeners to NPR and other non-commercial stations reflected a 5 percent increase in cume listening and generated 10% more time spent listening after regularly (2 or more times per week) downloading station podcasts.”
Bridge Ratings President Dave Van Dyke explains: "We had hoped that this technology would empower radio and this first-look study confirms that podcasting will impact listening and ratings."
Further research is expected, and more detail is yet to come out of this study – but it appears that the podcasts are helping build a stronger relationship with the audience: increasing the time spent listening live and improving recall of the station. Van Dyke has identified that a listeners need to be listening to two podcasts per week over a month for the relationship to develop.
Bridge Ratings is measuring podcasting through traditional interview techniques, this is because it is difficult to track down new media listeners. They ask about demographics, cumulative time listening, how people listen, do they forward files to friends or share them. Other techniques employed include the embedding of email questionnaires and they’re developing tracer cookies for PCs – which can directly track specific behaviour without having to interview respondents.
David van Dyke also showed a series of slides predicting that critical mass in podcasting will be reached by 2010. Currently there are about 5m people who’ve downloaded and listened to a podcast – optimistic estimates think this will be 75m by 2010 (the low end estimate is 40m). Existing broadcasters will play a large roll in driving this uptake – see the BBC podcast trial which is doing just this.
The other interesting statistic was that more people are listening on PCs than on portable devices – again the iPod is seen as key, but mobile phones and PCs could actually be more important.

The other interesting speaker from my perspective was Diane Williams of Arbitron. They’re currently using a diary system of measuring listening, as used by RAJAR in the UK. They’ve developed the personal people meter (PPM). It clips on and it picks up inaudible signal encoded into signal of whatever it is that you can hear and it knows what you’re listening to and when.
The interesting point is that in their trial which was carried out in Houston, the PPM has resulted in higher listening figures for radio, because it automatically recalls everything that people are listening-to, rather than relying on memory. We’re much more promiscuous listeners than we realise. Full findings of the trial, in PDF, are here.

Matt

National Public Radio – Groove Salad with podcasting

Keynote address 4 – Robert Spier, NPR online

Robert Spier told the Portable Media Expo that NPR has moved quickly to add podcasting to their online offering and it’s providing them with some interesting opportunities to connect with new audiences. NPR adds 56 hours of audio to the podcast library each week.
The next challenge is to streamline the back end of the system – so that they can place even more content online. 
Spier suggested that podcasting allows them to develop a new approach to developing talent and content. Using podcasts to incubate talent, where the barriers are low, and build from there.
The most exciting aspect of NPR podcasting from my perspective is the opportunity to connect with new audiences – especially with alt.npr allowing young people to create their own content, and for programmes that you wouldn’t normally expect to hear. A great example of how a mainstream broadcaster can use the new distribution platform to widen it’s audience. Groove Salad is an example of a new chilled music programme that NPR can put out … groovy …

Matt

Content is king, but portability of content is King Kong

Keynote address 5 – Angel Gambino, VP Commercial Strategy & Digital Media, MTV

The session started by acknowledging the many opportunities and challenges. The technology still provides the challenges, but the possibilities with content are what’s most exciting.
Technology was an interesting point, it’s easy to get hung up on it all – the basic message was that it’s all just a new way of getting great content out there. Some interesting facts came out about the UK market with regards to technology though:
In the UK 90% percent of respondents, do not know what podcasting is. However, 90% of the population in the UK have a mobile phone, and the majority of those phones are rich-media enabled. Therefore, the exciting are is looking at delivering content to these kind of devices rather than MP3 players. Mobile phones are the platform it seems.
Talk should be about portable media – not just podcasting – portable and not just on-demand.
People want content on the move nowadays, and not just young early adopters, everyone does – the demographic and lifestyle boundaries are breaking down – everyone is at it.
The challenges that this brings are – discovery of content, measurability of audiences, commercial viability of services, and searchability of content.
In November MTV in the UK launched on mobile phones with Vodafone and Sky TV. They will shortly launch more services like Paramount Comedy. MTV is the most requested mobile channel in the UK. What’s really interesting is that in some markets MTV gets more income from mobile phone channels than they get from the traditional advertising model on the existing TV channel.
Gambino also returned to content saying that traditional ideas about broadcasting and productions processes need to change – what works on radio and TV won’t necessarily work as a podcast or online and vice versa. The mantra that content is king returned too – adding that content creators have a huge opportunity now to generate content – all the big operators are on the lookout for great new content.

Matt

Big media bad, podcasters good?

Session 2 - How citizen media is changing the face of traditional media

The session at the Portable Media Expo was billed as addressing: Blogs and podcasts are becoming increasingly "news-breakers" rather than thoughts on breaking news. Traditional media has been critical of bloggers and podcasters who consider themselves true journalists, yet they have been taking steps to start their own blogs and podcasts in response.
The speakers were: JD Lasica - OurMedia.org, Mike Dunn - Hearst Interactive and nomadic_audio blog, Eric Rice - EricRice.com

The basic thesis of the delegates in this session was that big media is obstructing citizen journalists and becoming intimidated of user generated content. JD Lasica written book Darknet, which details Hollywood’s attempt to block / ignore what’s happening.

Lasica asserted that:
■       We’re all users, rather than passive consumers
■       Consumer Journalism is a bottom-up experience, with user generated content
■       This encourages media as a social experience – it’s all about building community and relationships
■       Distrust and scepticism of the mainstream media is on the rise

Against this background, the number of podcasts and vlogs is growing rapidly.
One interesting concept that was introduced and reoccurred throughout the conference was that of The Long Tail programming – long tail content provides high value programming to a highly targeted niche audience. And all the long tail content can add up to more users and more revenue than the big market stuff – see wikkipedia – which will probably explain it better than me.
We also got into an interesting discussion about credibility of sources. The panel felt that credibility is borne of a community voice, from having a genuine voice. It was asserted that the bloggshpere and the podcasting universe are very self-correcting – mistakes and inaccuracies will be corrected.
However, I did suggest it was a little naive to believe that people who are blogging or podcassting will not have a particular axe to grind, be receiving funding that they’re not being transparent about or be a PR or corporate blog / podcast which may not be obvious.
This was taken on board but, the feeling was that people will build a circle of trust – voices and commentators who are valued and trusted. Just as journalists have valued contacts …

Matt

Podcasting – makes radio better

Session 1 - How podcasting is changing traditional radio

This session at the Portable Media Expo examined radio, and what is happening right now connected to podcasting. The question was “Is podcasting the biggest thing in talk radio or is talk radio the biggest thing in podcasting?”

The panel consisted of: Mark Ramsey Radio Marketing Nexus, Sam Levin Inside Mac Radio, Dan Mansergh KQED, J. Mikel Ellcessor WNYC

The initial warning was that podcasting will not necessarily feed directly into the bottom line. As far as stations are concerned, it should be regarded as a tool to help build relationships and connect with the audience. The NPR guys added that podcasting is providing the tools to meet the audience on their terms - it is about providing the content when they want to use it – wherever they are.
Focusing further on content there are a number of different approaches developing:
Re-versioning: Initial podcast offerings have focused on ‘best of’ programmes and weekly highlights of popular shows. I know in the UK this has been somewhat driven by music rights issues – so that highlights of speech content were the best workaround.
Unique content: There are also plans afoot to put original content out there – if an interview only has 10 minutes on air, but ran to 50 minutes when recorded, then why not podcast or stream the unedited version? The Today programme on BBC Radio 4 has done this to some extent with some extended interviews.
It also occurs to me, that if you’re trying to build a relationship with a presenter then some unique content which gives an insight into their life, a personal weekly column or some such, would be a good idea.
Inside Mac Radio also provided a great example, which continues the relationship with the audience throughout the week, for what is a weekly programme. They’ve introduced daily podcast news updates throughout the week, for people who listen to the programme on a weekly basis. It gives the Mac users a daily fix of what they’re after while the programme is off-air.
Not-for-air: The NPR delegates also talked about plans to generate content specifically for their online operations. This content may never make it onto air, but would help connect with a new audience and broaden the appeal of the NPR stations. This provides them with an opportunity to connect with new audiences. It may even be a pool of new broadcasting talent.
One delegate suggested that podcasting could only make existing radio better, with added competition forcing broadcasters to raise the bar.
This BBC Online article says there are mixed messages for radio.
From the perspective of a programme maker, that sounds a fantastic challenge to rise-to ...

Matt

Forget making money, make good podcasts

Keynote address 2: Leo Laporte, author, G4TechTV host and the presenter of the Tech Guy

The first keynote address flowed logically into the second at the Portable Media Expo. Leo Laporte forwarded the argument that talent would win-out. His initial advice is to forget about the business model – good programmes and podcasts will find a model that works for them.
He introduced the model of Maslow's hierarchy of needs – a psychological theory in which he argues that as humans meet basic needs (at the base of the pyramid), they seek to satisfy successively higher needs further up the hierarchy – see wikipedia.
Self actualisation is the state of nirvana at the top of the pyramid – and Laporte argues that an analysis of the 14 traits shared by people who reach this point are shared by good programming. These are: truth, goodness, beauty, unity, aliveness, uniqueness, simplicity, richness, effortlessness, playfulness, meaningfulness. And most of all - passion.
He argues that if you’re passionate about what you do then you will win out.

Matt

Podcasting business opportunities & the role of talent

Keynote address 1: Jason Calacanis, CEO Weblogs Inc.

The first keynote addresses of the Portable Media Expo had contrasting approaches to the future of podcasting. Jason Calacanis, CEO of Weblogs Inc., gave a speech examining possible business models for new start-ups. He seems pretty well qualified to do this, having reportedly just sold his company to AOL for $12m. (Jason disputes this figure - see his comment. Also look at this Business Week article.)
Providing a search engine for podcasts and directories of content will not get you anywhere according to Jason. Yahoo!, Google etc have quickly jumped on the bandwagon, and are providing good search engines and tools for finding podcasts.
He thinks that podcasting software and hosting provided better business opportunities. He argues that good businesses take the pain out of a process for the consumer. Creating a podcast and hosting it is currently a technical process, using a number of different pieces of software etc. Anyone who manages to streamline this could be onto a winner.
His other big opportunity is podcast advertising. At the moment Google makes money out of adsense ads. If someone can beat Google to building a version for podcasts then there may be a big business there. An interesting challenge that he mentions is placing fresh advertising in old podcasts – if your content has a long tail, you need to place fresh ads in whenever anyone listens.
Jason ultimately sees the best model as the podcasters. Be the next Howard Stern and you do not have to worry about the business model.
To summarise:

■ Look at where the pain is for the consumer – that’s an opportunity
■ Introduce ads for podcasts
■ Make podcast advertising work
■ Talent will win out – they create content and content will be king

For more coverage of Jason's opening address read the iPodObserver article.

Matt

Citizen broadcasters - podcasting to power? Portable Media Expo

Big media has been encouraging contributions from citizen contributors for a while – and the new UK agency for consumer generated pictures and videos, previously mentioned here, gets a mention in Wired magazine this month.
I was reading the magazine on the way to the Portable Media Expo & Podcasting Conference 2005 in Ontario, CA. The conference kicks off today, and the podcasting side of things really seem to be creating a buzz – I’ll be using the event to kick-start my blog again after work and the start of the new university year gave me an excuse to neglect it for too long.
The traditional media has been having an uneasy relationship with bloggers and podcasters who consider themselves true journalists. And yet when there is a good story have been keen to use the best content available from citizen journalists – photos or video clips etc. It was ever thus – eye-witness accounts have always had immediacy and impact. And the big media is also getting into blogging and podcasting itself.
One question already asked of a forum I’m planning to attend is:

“Are there any examples of citizen led podcasting making political or social changes, yet? Or are we still in the gathering phase?”

My initial thoughts are to question whether podcasts are the right forum for political or social change?
Currently blogs seem to achieved the critical mass: they are searchable, easy to access and the ideas are easily assimilated. These qualities mean that a blog which says something with impact can be all over the blogshpere easily.
It is much more difficult for a message from a podcast to promulgate ... although a podcast itself could become influential ... think of Letter from America, or a weekly presidential address. But that requires the author to already be respected or earn respect in their own field.
Anyway, here’s to many more thoughts and entries in the blog over the next couple of days. Greetings from California, where my body clock is all over the place!

Matt

Citizen blackmail or legitimate consumer campaign? Land Rover response contrasts Dell Hell

In contrast to the Dell Hell and Dell Hell 2 postings, it appears Land Rover in Britain is attempting to engage with consumers who’ve bought their new Discovery model and are dissatisfied with it.
Adrian Melrose has been cataloguing his troubles with two successive Discover models at his site www.haveyoursay.com. Apparently the site gets 700 visitors a day, and built up quite a head of steam amongst consumers via the blog. He eventually had his faulty motor replaced.
Neville Hobson has followed the saga and reported that Land Rover were planning to use the www.haveyoursay.com site as a forum for consumers – to engage them in a dialogue about issues. Land Rover’s Customer service chief, Mike Mulholland, said that the company had not been across online issues, but now customer feedback can be found here.
It’s a big move for a company to tackle criticism head-on – and is a brave move. It’s also a great opportunity – they have an audience of bloggers out there, and if the company listens to them they will have converted them from being detractors into brand advocates. The company can start a corporate blog and also start a genuine two-way dialogue.
But these new instances of consumer campaigning raise new issues around the role blogs can play in forcing a poor customer service issue into the public eye. Is it ground breaking citizen journalism, or a case of one consumer with a gripe being able to hold a company to ransom?
However, now that Land Rover have the ear of thousands of interested and connected customers, they have un unrepeatable opportunity to change the climate of opinion about them, as they have started doing with Mike Mulholland’s response.

Matt

Dell Hell - it continues

Following up to my previous post on Jeff Jarvis’ battle with dell – here’s proof that what goes on in the bloggsphere is picked up by mainstream media.
The whole sorry tale of Dell’s refusal to acknowledge problems with customer service is played out in the Media Guardian – the media supplement of one of a UK national paper. Jeff Jarvis explains his motivation for using his blog to attack Dell in the first place:

“I decided to turn this into a test: Was Dell reading blogs? Would Dell respond to me in our public forum? Would it recognise the PR crisisette that was brewing? Simple answer: No. Dell was silent. Dell failed the test. I emailed its marketing department: Anybody home? Anybody blogging? Nothing. I finally sent (and blogged) an email to the chief marketing officer and US VP (and the chief ethics officer, for good measure), begging for relief.”

… and the buzz that grew up around it – damaging Dell’s reputation:

“My blog saga garnered not only comments and links but also press coverage from tech blogs, newspapers, and magazines (see www. buzzmachine.com/?tag=dell). But the most telling moment came in a blog post by Toronto venture capitalist Rick Segal, who overheard a bank teller in his office food court saying, "I was going to buy a new Dell but did you hear about Jeff Jarvis and the absolute hell he is going through with them?" Says Segal: "Lots of people are making the assumption that 'average people' or 'the masses' don't really see/read blogs, so they can take a little heat and move on. Big mistake."

It just goes to show that good environmental scanning – by looking at what’s being said online – and using sites like Technorati.com or Icerocket.com to see what’s being said in the blogshpere – can help to highlight upcoming issues before they become much bigger, and more possibly costly, corporate issues.
Jarvis offers two other pieces of advice for corporations:
1) Talk with your consumers. A Dell PR executive told blogger and Houston Chronicle columnist Dwight Silverman that the company's blog policy was, in Silverman's words, "look, don't touch". How insulting: You ignore you customers. How much better it would be to ask their advice. Beats any consultant.
2) Blog. If execs at Microsoft, Sun, and even GM can, you can. Show that you are open and unafraid to engage your public. Beats PR.

None of it rocket science, though it does require a proactive corporate communications department with the clout to instigate some action when they see and issue arising.
Matt