How Podcasts Became a Seductive -- and Sometimes Slippery -- Mode of Storytelling (newyorker.com) 35
An anonymous reader shares a report: Podcasting has offered advertisers a new means of reaching demographically targeted consumers. Many podcasts feature extended endorsements, read by the host, that often include a discount code for a product or service. For listeners accustomed to a separation between advertising and editorial, the blurring of lines can be disconcerting (or embarrassing, such as when podcast hosts like Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss expound on how much they enjoy wearing Me Undies). For advertisers that have spent heavily on podcasts, like the omnipresent Casper and Blue Apron, the effectiveness of such campaigns can be measured in increased sales. A representative for Blue Apron, which has launched its own branded podcast, "Why We Eat What We Eat," in addition to advertising on hundreds of shows, told me, "We view podcasts less as an advertising channel and more as a content channel to win new customers and engage existing customers."
Podcast advertising remains a relatively new science. Producers and advertisers can instantly tabulate how many times a show has been downloaded, but it's harder to ascertain how many people have listened to the whole thing. A commercial marketplace puts pressure on podcasters to create content that can attract millions of listeners, which does not necessarily make for the strongest, or most subtle, content. Linsky, with some frustration, noted that it doesn't matter much to an advertiser if a podcast takes an hour to record or months to report; all that matters is whether it attracts a lot of listeners. New ways of monetizing podcasts are being explored, including a paid-subscription model; apps such as Stitcher Premium offer ad-free listening and bonus episodes.
Podcast advertising remains a relatively new science. Producers and advertisers can instantly tabulate how many times a show has been downloaded, but it's harder to ascertain how many people have listened to the whole thing. A commercial marketplace puts pressure on podcasters to create content that can attract millions of listeners, which does not necessarily make for the strongest, or most subtle, content. Linsky, with some frustration, noted that it doesn't matter much to an advertiser if a podcast takes an hour to record or months to report; all that matters is whether it attracts a lot of listeners. New ways of monetizing podcasts are being explored, including a paid-subscription model; apps such as Stitcher Premium offer ad-free listening and bonus episodes.
Fortunately Slashdot is Still Pure (Score:5, Funny)
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We do live in a Consumer driven culture.
Just at this moment in my field of vision, I see the following Logos, Cisco, HP, Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, DasKeyboard, Logitech, JVC, Phillips, Energizer and Sharpie, Microsoft, Firefox, Google, Chrome and Mr. Coffee.
And that is in my field of vision.
We all use commercial products all the time, many of these we like and have some level of attachment to them. When we talk about our experience and our views, it is difficult to avoid branding, and giving your opinions to
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Ever hear of this amazing technology called Radio? (Score:5, Informative)
The combination of original and advertising has long been the standard in radio, and is just accepted as the cost of keeping the lights on. What's so special about podcasts?
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Seriously!
How is this any different than QVC or infomercials?
Sounds like the writer was given a topic by her Editor and she just ginned up a bunch of garbage to fill the columns.
Re:Ever hear of this amazing technology called Rad (Score:5, Informative)
I've seen YouTube replays of the old Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where during the middle of the show, Ed would do a Budweiser or dog food commercial without a "station break".....you saw this thing quite often in the middle of shows on TV in the earlier days.
This type of thing is only new due to the podcast being a relatively "new" media outlet.
Re:...hear of this amazing technology called Radio (Score:4, Interesting)
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The combination of original and advertising has long been the standard in radio, and is just accepted as the cost of keeping the lights on. What's so special about podcasts?
Plus, it is super easy to skip an ad. My podcast software has a "skip 30 seconds" button (configurable to any length, but 30secs seems to be standard ad length).
"I would like to tell you about a product..." skip " and now back to the show..."
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I bet you also leave the movie theater when Iron Man drinks a Dr. Pepper. How do we know it is a Dr. Pepper? Because, he picks it up is a very weird way so that the label is clearly exposed.
I also doubt you have ever listened to Glen Beck long enough to hear him transition to an advertisement, because I've never noticed it to be seamless. It is generally quite jarring.
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The term in the industry is "native advertising", when you roll the ad directly into the program without demarcations (eg, vertical blanks before commercials). Usually they're host-read, although sometimes a secondary host will perform the duty. The latter has been very common for game shows in the past.
There's an obvious joke at Millennials' expense here, but for the podcasting community the question reaches a bit deeper. Game show hosts, interviewers, and other "company men" can give a native ad, and even
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The combination of original and advertising has long been the standard in radio, and is just accepted as the cost of keeping the lights on. What's so special about podcasts?
Because it's backwards from the radio side of things.
Broadcast radio had clear - and large - upfront costs. One needed a broadcast tower, radio transmission equipment, a microphone, and a place to put it. One also needed frequency on which to broadcast...which meant an FCC license, which also had compliance rules that needed to be observed. Those things needed to be maintained and managed, so engineers were needed. All of that stuff cost a massive amount of money, meaning that one either needed a pile of mo
Me Undies? (Score:2)
I listen to a lot of Joe Rogan podcasts and I've never heard him talking of Me Undies. Are the 'ads' on the MMA shows? I don't usually listen to those.
Nothing new (Score:2)
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A radio announcer promoting products and reading advertising is far from anything new. Unless you were born in the last decade and wasn't aware of radio(A type of podcast broadcasted wirelessly to radios(old school iPodlike devices which didn't hold music internally, but rather "streamed" it wirelessly)).
This was my thought. Especially back in the pre-tv days wasn't just about every program sponsored by a company/product and it would be announced both before and during the broadcast? This is like being shocked that celebrities don't actually use the products they endorse/advertise (for example, ever notice that, in all those Sprite commercials he does, you never see Lebron actually drink?).
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It's no different than radio (Score:3)
To be honest I'm not going to be sad [google.com] to see the old media go. The new media can be just as bad, but it can also be better [youtube.com]
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It's no different than American radio. Over here (.nl) radio broadcasters are required to make a clear distinction between programming and ads. All ads are bunched together in blocks on either side of the hourly news, with jingles at the start and end of each block. Program presenters are not involved in the ads (so you don't get the same voice doing ads and programs).
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I judge radio and podcasts by what they are advertising. If it's wall to wall ads for gold, bitcoins, health supplements, and shady insurance products; I know I'm listening to something aimed at morons.
This is usually how I criticize people listening to conservative garbage. Convince them to note the ads for a program and it
listen: one hour: read transcipt: 1 minute (Score:1)
If paid by the hour, listen, if not, read.
Or do as Trump, neither listen nor read.
Morning radio... (Score:1)
This is the same kind of crap that some morning radio show hosts will do. They will start about how great a product is and how it has just made the world of difference in their life and you should definitely check it out because I'm just so entertaining I must be right!!!
Re:I Guess It Is A Good Thing... (Score:4, Insightful)
That I never listen to podcasts. Never.
Want to tell me a story? Write it down. Then I might read it.
And I have never watched a pre-roll video. Try to force an animated ad of some kind on me, and I close the window and do something else (sometimes reluctantly, if I really wanted to read the actual content).
I listen to podcasts in the car, and only in the car. It's generally frowned upon to read whilst sitting in the drivers seat of a moving vehicle.
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I"m too busy watching TV or streaming a movie over netflix on the dash.
Patreon et al helps (Score:2)
I really wish all my favorite podcast creators would go the route that Sam Harris et al have, where ad-free versions are available to people who support the podcast directly or through Patreon. I know Patreon has its issues but being able to easily and automatically support content creators I trust and enjoy seems to be the antidote to the awful ad-based revenue system we've settled into these days.