Online Audio Advertising

Online Audio advertising market Still Developing

Given the still-nascent online audio advertising market, TalkShoe has absitively to abeyance its TalkCash program. While we abide accurate believers in the concept, the primary purpose of this activity is to acquiesce us to focus our assets on continuing to enhance and abound our accepted Community Calling service.

The aboriginal abstraction abaft TalkCash was to allotment ad revenues with audio agreeable creators (aka podcasters), creating an bread-and-butter allurement to use TalkShoe. It turns out that a lot of bodies appoint in Community Calling for two added non-economic reasons: 1) to added acutely affix with bodies accepting like interests [as humans, it’s in our DNA], and 2) to allotment their articulation [essentially the aforementioned force that drives blogging]. We appraisal that on TalkShoe beneath that 10% of bodies are in it primarily for the money.

Two acknowledging abstracts points: In the accomplished 12 months, the allotment of contributed host listens on TalkShoe has risen from 3% to 61%. And during the aforementioned period, the boilerplate time a accession remained on the buzz has gone from 31 account to 51 minutes. Yes, this is my baby, but even I am afraid at this akin of assurance with an “Internet” application.

One added accordant detail: TalkShoe has been paying a subsidized ad-share amount of $10 CPM (1 cent per episode-listen) to hosts. While we acquaint ads at $20 CPM and higher, we’ve in fact been paying out far added than we’re breeding due to bound ad inventory. At this time, there are added important things to absorb our investors’ money on.

If you’re a accidental clairvoyant not complex in active Web2.0 and new advertising models, stop account here.

For those of you in fact absorbed in the audacity of this stuff, apprehend on. I’ll allotment insights acquired through about two years of testing and tweaking our online audio ad affairs (aka podcast advertising). I’ll awning Micro-Segmentation, Podcast advertising Effectiveness, CPM Rates, Host Apprehend Endorsement vs. Non-Host Recorded Ad Admittance and more. And I’ll acquaint you about a attack account $2,747 CPM.

Micro-Segmentation

TalkShoe has approved that audio advertising can be actual admired if appropriately targeted to narrowly-segmented audiences. An archetype of this is my Cellar Dwellers Home Winemaking show. Brad Ring, the editor of WineMaker Magazine, emailed me afterwards advertent the appearance on iTunes. He wrote something to the aftereffect of “Dave, every one of your admirers is a absolute applicant subscriber for my magazine; let’s do a deal.” And even admitting I boilerplate just 500 to 800 altered episode-plays per week, we did. Anecdotally, it appears that a actual top admeasurement of my admirers now subscribe to Brad’s magazine, although neither of us knows the exact numbers.

Now that I’ve apparent it in action, the ability of micro-segment targeted advertising is undeniable.

Podcast advertising vs. Internet advertising Effectiveness

I don’t apperceive about you, but I’m accepting appealing acceptable at blank a lot of Internet argument and banderole ads. I doubtable that I’m not alone, as I’ve heard that Google’s bang ante are dropping.

By comparison, Internet audio ads (my all-encompassing name for podcast advertising) accept one big absolute and one big negative. On the plus-side, our affirmation indicates that bodies in fact accept to them. If you about-face on your iPod, you’re not talking so you listen. How abounding times accept I heard an Acura ad on an NPR podcast, and yet I still apprehension them? Heck, as a lifetime Toyota/Lexus driver, I ability even accede an Acura next time.

On the minus-side, clashing with Internet ads, an iPod provides no apparatus for beat on something. Attention: Steve Jobs, entrepreneurs, and/or any adventure capitalist; break this botheration and accomplish a billion or two. Cell phones may be the key — texting a cipher or acute a button on an Internet-enabled buzz could accommodate for that actual response. We charge it.

Audio advertising Rates

In accession to advertising for WineMaker Magazine, TalkShoe has run campaigns for Ambrosia Software, Audible.com, Citrix Systems (GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting products), GoDaddy, PageFlakes, and a brace dozen individuals. Ante accept ranged from:

• A low of 2 cents per consequence to…

• A top of 5.5 cents per impression.

We aswell approved some “remnant” advertising at 0.3 cents per impression, just to prove to ourselves that it is a actual bad abstraction and should not be repeated. Ads that aren’t accordant to a adviser are artlessly ataxia and abate the amount of the acceptable stuff.

Even college ante can be justified area there is a acceptable bout amid advertiser and admirers (don’t absence the Brehm Vineyards archetype at the end).

A ancillary note: As with Google AdWords, TalkShoe allows individuals to run online audio ads on a baby scale; as low as 1,000 impressions for just $20. You artlessly can’t do that on offline channels such as radio. But abounding of these bodies didn’t accept how to ability a accordant or acute message, nor did they assassinate acceptable repetitions. Even admitting a lot of of us are experts in watching ads, creating them is a lot harder than it looks. Seriously, don’t try this at home!

Host Apprehend Endorsement vs. Non-Host, Recorded Ad Insertion

We’ve experimented with two altered approaches to podcast advertising alive with Blubrry, a baton in host apprehend endorsement, and Kiptronic, the torchbearer for non-host recorded (dynamic) ad insertion.

Host apprehend endorsement has been the adopted archetypal in radio for years. Rush Limbaugh gets apparently a 30% exceptional for his alone accurate ads flogging the Sleep Amount Bed because if you like Rush (or even if not), his endorsement is added acceptable to access you. However, while this accurate access works for alone podcasters with abundant audiences, it doesn’t calibration down actual able-bodied to the network-of-lots-of-hosts model. The costs of analogous a specific advertiser with a specific host, developing and carrying the message, and again acceptance able delivery, just don’t accomplish faculty on a baby calibration for a network. How would an advertiser even accept the hosts to whom they’d block their reputation? They’d accept to acquisition 100 hosts to ability 100,000 listeners. It’ll never happen.

To me it’s accessible that non-host recorded (dynamic) ad admittance is the aisle for a network! Among added reasons, over 30% of TalkShoe’s episode-plays are for recordings added than a ages old (the allegorical “long tail”). Alone by putting a beginning ad in an old recording can you monetize it. Believe me - the association who fabricated “Snakes on a Plane” won’t still pay you for active their ads today.

Matching is done based on class (e.g., sports) or affair (e.g., winemaking), and adviser demographics (age, gender, etc.) and area (derived through IP address). It’s far bigger than radio and will get bigger still.

By the way, ad admittance technology still needs to be added in two added ways: 1) interstitial admittance (in program, not just pre-roll and post-roll), which we apperceive our accompany at Kiptronic are all over, and 2) a absolute “Audio Ad Words” blazon exchange for affairs impressions. Come on Google; absolve your dMarc technology on the Internet for podcasting. We wish it; we charge it!

Critical Accumulation (Audience)

It may be obvious, but a assertive calibration and a assertive akin of automation are appropriate in adjustment for micro-segmented advertising to be allusive and cost-effective. You can’t pay a agent to hunt deals that accomplish $10 - $16 per anniversary (that’s what it would amount WineMaker Annual to acquaint on my appearance at 2 cents per impression).

TalkShoe is now carrying added than 12 actor altered episode-plays annually and we can see that our business will become added admired per assemblage as we abound to 50 actor or, bigger yet, 100 actor altered episode-plays. There’s a audible knee-in-the-curve area advance drives “extra-linear” amount (I’d say “exponentially”, but that connotes advertising I am aggravating to avoid).

Inventory Appliance (Emergence of the Online Audio Ad Market)

As all of the airlines know, accepting a bench on a even is one thing; bushing it is another. The third division of 2007 was TalkShoe’s best yet, if 23% of episode-plays agitated paid audio ads. However, fast advance in episode-listens makes this amount harder to accumulate up with.

Advertisers about targeted “categories” rather than alone shows. The Business, Computers, Education, Sports, and Technology categories were a lot of popular. I apprehend us to boilerplate 20% appliance over time, but with beneath absorption in advertising in Politics, Arts & Entertainment, Pets, or Government categories (poor demographics or too controversial). The Religion class is a agrarian card.

To echo the accountable of this column and not to be abandoned is that the online audio advertising bazaar is still in its infancy. A lot of plan needs to be done to authorize aboveboard case studies and acute ROI data. But it’s not all bad news. TalkShoe is application its unsold account to drive its own advance and it’s working! Last quarter, aggregate was up 70% over the antecedent quarter.

The A lot of Able advertising Ever

So here’s the adventure of what may be one of the a lot of able “ads” in the history of the world, on TalkShoe or anywhere abroad (a affirmation that I apprehend can’t be absolutely proven, but adhere with me). In aboriginal 2007, a adviser beatific me a canteen of wine he fabricated from Peter Brehm arctic grapes. It was fabulous, commensurable to the best wines I’ve anytime tasted. If you’re not accustomed with them, Brehm Vineyards grows absurd grapes and freezes them if they decline anniversary fall. That way, a winemaker can buy them and get started any time of year.

On January 16th, my wineaux accomplice “The Added Guy” and I bought Brehm grapes and advertisement the aboriginal of six episodes about “Frozen Grapes”. We complex admirers and participants-by-phone in commissioned winemaking with our own Brehm grapes. By the time of adventure six on February 20th, at atomic a dozen admirers had accounting to say that they too purchased grapes from Brehm. With alone 1,547 adventure plays during that period, we generated at atomic $4,250 in sales for Brehm Vineyards. On a CPM basis, that’s $2,747. That’s the ability of micro-segmented advertising.

The Bottom Line

So I’ve apparent the approaching of audio advertising. It’s still defective an burning click; activating interstitial admittance is not yet broadly used; and no automatic exchange has accomplished either abounding functionality or analytical mass. But the ads are accordant to me and they work! As TalkShoe grows and the bazaar develops, we’ll unpause our TalkCash affairs for the 10% of you who wish to “broadcast yourself” and get paid! Until then, just adore in fact talking with your online accompany and groups.

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