Blogs have swept the Internet in popularity but it took a while for advertisers to take notice. However, podcasting has gained instant attention with the ad world and the reach they have is attracting everyone from small business advertisers to companies around the globe.
Research company eMarketer projects advertisers spent $80-million on podcasting advertising in 2006. By 2010, that number is expected to reach $300 million.
Selling the Space
Selling advertising in your podcast is much like selling advertising space on your Web site. Unlike selling a banner on a per-click basis, though, the most simple podcast ad can be inserted into your podcast and left there.
New companies on the horizon are giving the average podcaster an option to earn money. Fruitcast, Podbridge and Podtrac are ad-insertion companies helping podcasters gain revenue through podcasting ads.
Fruitcast and Podbridge split the revenue with the podcaster 50/50. Podtrac, on the other hand, keeps 25-percent of any revenue generated from podcasting ads.
New technology is being explored that allows performance-based audio ads to be used in podcasts. Most smaller podcasts won't have an immediate use for this technology just yet, though, if they're looking to control the types of ads that are put into their podcasts.
In the meantime, selling your podcasting ad space can be quite appealing since podcasts are generally free. This revenue can help you cover the cost of producing your podcast and create better content so you can gain even more listeners.
Commercial Placement
Keep commercials limited and control their placement carefully. Some podcasters insert a commercial at the beginning of the podcast, some have a commercial in the middle and some have one at the end. Some even use the beginning, middle and end spaces to insert commercials.
Be sure you're not bombarding the listener with commercial after commercial, though. If you're producing a relatively short podcast of a few minutes, for example, a listener isn't going to want to hear three commercials in a small time frame.
However, many podcasting experts warn against putting an ad at the beginning of your podcast. They say a commercial right off the top detracts from the listener's excitement of hearing your podcast. Instead of listening to your podcast right away, they have to hear a commercial first.
Commercial Length
Most podcast listeners say they don't mind a 15-second commercial in their podcast. You definitely don't want to go off into a two-minute commercial break as if you're producing a radio broadcast.
By keeping the commercial length short and limiting the placement, you can continue to serve your listeners first. You don't want to turn your podcast into a smattering of commercials that detracts from the hard work you put into your podcast and doesn't give your listeners anything valuable.
