Never really understood the buzz around podcasts. The very name is tied to one bit of hardware and - historically - that tends not to pan out. Internet radio on mobile devices seems much more attractive to me.
The Corporate Podcasting Summit in London this week may have gotten off to a downbeat start after a research presentation by Tom Webster of Edison Media Research. Quoting from the yet-to-be-released "Arbitron/Edison Internet and Multimedia Study 2007," he said podcast listening isn't growing much.
Only 13% of the national random sample of people surveyed for the 2007 report said they had "ever" listened to a podcast. Last year's research put the number at 11%. And despite the media's enthusiasm for video podcasts, Edison found only 11% have ever watched one. In 2006, the number was 10%. (These statistics were reported by Jason Van Orden, a podcasting consultant, who was on the conference program.)
Paul Colligan, chairman of the event, put a positive spin on the numbers. He blogged that awareness of podcasting, or the percentage who had "heard" of it, increased to 37% in the latest report, compared to 22% a year ago.
Fortunately podcasting is not tied to the iPod or we WOULD have a problem. It is a common misconception that the "pod" in "podcasting" refers to the iPod.
While Apple has done many things to spur the growth of podcasting, I'd venture to say that more people listen to podcasts on their own computer or other devices than they do on an iPod.
The more important concept here is that podcasting is digital, portable content made available through RSS subcription.
This could even include the type of mobile device radio that you refer to. One thing is for sure, the definition of radio is changing.
Fortunately podcasting is not tied to the iPod or we WOULD have a problem. It is a common misconception that the "pod" in "podcasting" refers to the iPod.
ReplyDeleteWhile Apple has done many things to spur the growth of podcasting, I'd venture to say that more people listen to podcasts on their own computer or other devices than they do on an iPod.
The more important concept here is that podcasting is digital, portable content made available through RSS subcription.
This could even include the type of mobile device radio that you refer to. One thing is for sure, the definition of radio is changing.