Podcasting for Niche Marketers

Most podcasts have small audiences that are highly-focused on niche interests. This makes podcasting a very attractive tool for niche marketers.

What podcasts accomplish:

• Bring people with common interests together;
• Provide specific, current and reliable information;
• Condense and clarify important information.

eMarketer predicts that US podcast ad spending will grow from $165 million in 2007 to $435 million by 2012. Power to the People: Social Media Tracker study in April 2008 (Universal McCann) estimated over 14 percent of US Internet users downloaded podcasts in 2007.

Podtrac studied podcast advertising from February 2006 to March 2008 across multiple product categories and ad types. Unaided awareness for podcast ads was 68 percent, compared with 21 percent for streaming video and 10 percent for television.

According to Velvet Beard, vice president at Podtrac.

The studies showed a 73% increase in likelihood to use or buy an advertised product. The studies showed that 69% of audience members have a more favorable view of in-show advertisers.

Podtrac will match up your content with advertising targeted to your audience. They also provide free tools to measure the reach and effectiveness of your podcast.

Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer has this to say about podcasting:

Podcasting is, by its nature, a niche medium, and this is not likely to change. But podcasting delivers a level of end-user engagement that is rare in today’s multi-format world.

While this is an older article (2006), the five tips for successful podcast advertising are still valid. Read: iMedia Connection: The Keys to Podcast Advertising.

So, if you are niche marketer, you may want to add podcasting to your repertoire.

Tags: podcasting, niche marketing, podtrac, imedia, monetize podcasts

Tags: podcasting, niche marketing, podtrac, imedia, monetize podcasts