In a notice to all Podango users just two days ago, president Douglas G. Smith announced likely closure to take place Wednesday December 31st and that all users should take immediate measures to back-up media files uploaded there. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

Today saw the Blubrry.com podcast network announce a free month of media hosting on their pay-to-host service to all Podango users affected by the closure, and a “tool” to help the transition – which is currently being created (anyone know i that’s actually available right now? – let’s hope it gets there in time). Taking up this Blubrry offer does not obligate ex Podango users to continue with Blubrry after the initial free month.

A free alternative

Another option that seems to have not been mentioned elsewhere – this one entirely free – is mevio.com who already have a simple system to automatically transfer all media available on another RSS feed and suck it into their servers (once you have verified you are the owner of a feed, of course!). Mevio.com hosting is entirely free of charge with no limits to storage or bandwidth.

Another blow for podcasting?

The loss of a hosting service is certainly not positive news, but begs the question as to the need for dedicated services with the cost of web hosting and bandwidth continuing to drop, a question also raised over at Podcasting News.

Where specialist hosting does become a factor is with very successful and high bandwidth shows. If audiences begin to stretch into the tens of thousands of media requests per episode, the small-time producer will be hard pushed to find a compliant shared web hosting service comfortable with the server and bandwidth load.

I cannot comment about Blubrry hosting as I have not had any personal experience, but mevio.com handles the demands of heavyweight video shows such as GeekBriefTV without breaking a sweat.

Let’s hope all Podango users find a new home so that their audiences have uninterrupted transmission.

If you are new around here and in the interests of disclosure, I would like to point out that I work for mevio.com and also chose to use mevio to handle my media storage and distribution.

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YouTube is UCG

The most clearly defined form of user generated content is YouTube (and similar sites). Anyone can, and does, upload anything. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

The advertising industry and UGC

Advertisers are simply terrified of UGC (User Generated Content). With no means of predicting exactly what kind of content their brands will become associated with on the page, it becomes tougher for agencies to have confidence in reaching the audience they must reach on behalf of their clients (remember, in the vast majority of international brand advertising, it is not the brands themselves who buy the advertisement space).

What advertising buyers are hunting for is trusted, “brand-safe” content with which to associate their products. They need the confidence that there will be no unpleasant surprises and that their clients’ brands will have their image both enhanced by the associated content, and that it will reach their defined target audience.

True UGC cannot guarantee either of those important criteria.

Aren’t podcasts UGC?

In that they are generated by “users”, they are, of course. But in the eyes of the advertising industry, podcasts have unfortunately become tarnished with the very same brush as true UGC. Whereas, in fact, the vast majority of niche podcast-distributed programming is very much brand-safe.

Serialised, audio and video programming maintains an audience primarily through loyalty. That audience comes to expect a certain style and structure of content. If the show consistently fails to provide what they expect, they will move on. Producers understand this and strive to provide what their audience wants. Thus the loyalty grows and the show becomes increasingly brand-safe.

Within each individual show’s audience, the programming is entirely brand safe in that it is predictable, consistent, and reaches the same eyes and ears over and over again – and important factor in converting an advertising message into audience action.

So why aren’t advertisers clamoring to write cheques to independent podcast producers?

Apart fro the image problem (as mentioned above), the vast majority of the productions out there have far too small an audience to be attractive to international brands who need to reach millions. Networks such as Mevio get around that issue by aggregating similar audiences together across multiple smaller show properties. And it is working.

But whether any company can become strong enough to truly wipe the memories and associations podcasts have within the advertising industry remains to be seen. I do not believe that will happen – advertisers like to be in control, and no-one has broken them in the past four years (since podcasting first appeared).

This lingering, troublesome association is, as I see it, the reason for PodShow re-branding to Mevio.

The story has not changed

Since the dawn of podcast content, the key players have been preaching that the programming’s strength is its unique and intimate relationship with its audience, and that relation must, therefore, be attractive to advertisers. I have not seen this view change.

Along came the tsunami of UGC (YouTube, etc.) and what should have been a tall, razor-wire topped wall between the independent content productions and true UGC, became a fuzzy blurr of confused notions about the differences between professional, independent, and amateur produced content.

I believe this is one of the primary reasons why so many quality podcast producers did not see the returns they believed were possible from their content..

Disclaimer: I work for Mevio. The opinions in this article are wholly personal and in no way prompted, endorsed, or motivated by Mevio.

Photo credit: Bulent Fahri Ince

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Readers read books (I know, it’s obvious, but bear with me) and I believe the acceptance of audiobooks stumbles over the need to switch modes between dealing with a physical product to dealing with discs or abstract digital files. It is the same stumbling block podcasting has had: the technology gets in the way of the user experience. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

One company has come up with a possible solution, one that I have been thinking for some time is a viable form of the audiobook product.

PlayawayDigital have taken the audiobook and packaged it in a no-fuss, independent physical product – just like a miniature book. Earbuds plug in to the side and there are the basic controls you would expect from an audio device on the back. No searching a device for the right chapters, no having that device messing up the order of those chapters, no synchronising, no disc swapping – no messing around whatsoever. Plus, the product retains the product’s branding (i.e. book cover).

The most significant aspect of this, I feel, will be a higher level of consumer acceptance. It is just like a book. It can sit on shelves, pop into a handbag, be loaned to others – and will ultimately appear on the shelves of charity shops.

I not only hope the publishing industry will take up this form of audiobook distribution, but also that there might be a way for independent audiobook creators to distribute their content in this way. That’s a little optimistic, I’ll admit, but providing none of the big publishing players nail PlayawayDigital down to tight agreements, or do not buy the company outright, we can still hope.

The publishing industry needs this form of audiobook product to truly break the market. I, for one, welcome it.

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2008 is doing a grand job of eliminating noise and embracing substance – I am sensing an optimism on one particular area that I have not seen for the past two years. This year, podcasting (for want of an alternate name) is finally forging onwards and upwards.

Is podcasting truly mainstream? Big media content is perhaps getting there. Independent content – in which I am far more interested – certainly not yet. Are independent podcast producers earning those big bucks so many (even secretly) craved? A few are earning a living for sure, but money has not skyrocketed through the roof. Are the podcast stars’ names being heard in coffee shops and bars around the globe. Nope.

So what is driving my optimism?

Despite news such as the last UK podcaster discussion forum closing down this month due to lack of real interest by the majority of the members, things are most certainly looking up. New show submissions to BritCaster.com (long overdue a face lift, but on the cards), are up around 200% – that means several every week now. Not only are the numbers picking up but the quality is, too. Rarely now – unlike the past couple of years – do I manually verify a feed’s content to discover some pointless show filled with un-witty ranting (the bane of podcasting) – there are great ideas surfacing, new concepts, show structures, producers new and old are once again thinking about the show they want to produce, then getting off their sofa’s and actually producing them.

Collaboration

I have always tried to wave the flag of collaboration being the strength of independent media vs the big media companies. But podcast producers – perhaps because most of the early adopters had little or no media or production background and did not know how, let alone appreciate the importance and value, of finding others with whom to collaborate (something that was the primary goal of the discussion forums at BritCaster.com).

It is happening at last. I am hearing of a great many collaborations. Everything from groups of people gathering together to achieve a goal, to simple subcontracting of tasks to other producers (money is changing hands, too).

Where is it all happening?

It is not in the forums, that is for sure. Some say it is within the various social networks, but I am hesitant to suggest that is the primary means of connecting people. I believe it is nothing more high-tech than good old-fashioned organic networking – perhaps lubricated by an online network or two – social or otherwise – here and there.

I would love there to be a more open, public space where the convergence of ideas can be seen to take place, because the the more visible this kind of activity is, the more is seeds offspring and inspiration in others to give it a go. One of the gripes of those approaching podcasting with intent to create is the lack of accessible information on where to start. Underground activity serves no wider purpose and has hindered growth of the medium in the UK.

Thankfully, 2008 is a time of resurfacing and we will see a great deal of very positive and creative work coming out of podcasting, and if you are part of the current resurgence of energy or looking to become a part of it, congratulations!

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So far, this device has changed my life.

Still waking with relative ease at 6-6.30 am each morning – including weekends. I’m coherent and productive within an hour of waking, much less sleepy during the day, and noticeably less drowsy in the early afternoon – I used to really struggle around 3pm each day. I get more stuff done.

I had to double check myself, however, as midweek this week I realised I was slipping into a self-imposed wakeup routine: I would be partly awake just before the audio part of the alarm kicked in and when it did, I would immediately press snooze. Twelve minutes of almost returning to sleep before the birds started singing once again, and it was tougher to drag myself out of bed. Bad boy. Always amazes me the way in which our brains encourage us to stumble into routine. So the lesson is, the dawn simulation most certainly works, but you still have to take responsibility and get up. I suppose it’s similar to those Kellogg’s Special-K ads which help you lose wait but only as part of a balanced, calorie controlled diet. Or not. It’s still down to you to make the most of it.

If you struggle to get out of bed in the morning, I wholeheartedly recommend a dawn simulator alarm.

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