If you are a podcaster that has been sitting on the sidelines in thinking about getting in on our advertising deals this is the perfect quarter to consider doing so. Inventory is going to get allocated very quickly so you should not delay in taking action.

You will want to list your podcast at Blubrry.com, fill out the advertising survey in the manage account section and drop me a email to ceo@rawvoice.com immediately tell me your show name in the email and I will pull your data from the advertising survey.

All of our ad deals are run through our podcasting communities. Shows that have been approved for listing at TechPodcasts.com have 100% guarantee of being on the Quarter 2 buy.

Get listed on one of our communities today and start earning revenue for your show.

What’s new is that a wide variety of companies want to talk about what we can put together for them and I have been working proposals as fast as I can crank them out.

Current Advertisers are telling us that our podcast advertising campaign implementations are resulting in significant ROI an in some cases we are near the top or top of the chart in conversion, new customers and sales!

We may not get all the press other companies do that have more resources than we do, but the bottom line is the bottom line and we continue to be a profitable company. Having walked away from an acquisition offer in 2007 it was the best choice we ever made.

Sitting back and projecting what the rest of 2009 will look like is nearly impossible all we can do is keep moving forward.

With that if you have a connection with a company, make an introduction and we will pay you a finders fee for that introduction when a deal is struck. ceo@rawvoice.com @rawvoice @blubrry @techpodcasts

This is a unique service, thus we are targeting unique podcast that will reach the targeted demographic.

We are looking for a few additional shows that are business service oriented. If you have a show that reaches individuals and business people that have online customer service division or even general tech support type shows you would be a good fit for this campaign.

I am not limiting the shows to those types I am also looking for shows that reach technology oriented people that may be called on from time to time to perform tech support for a friend or family member.

The product offering is such that it will appeal to the occasional user or those that do customer support on a daily basis.

While I know the scope of this buy is narrow we have already lined up a number of shows that fit the audience demo we are looking for but I have some inventory still available. Contact ceo@rawvoice.com

All shows on the buy will have to be utilizing our media statistics service no other online measurement service is acceptable.

If you have a show on business and reach individuals and companies looking for new ways to handle trouble tickets for either website or software assistance you would fit perfectly as well.

The launch of this campaign is in the middle of February and we will be looking to add a few more shows to this campaign. You should drop ceo@rawvoice.com a line if you think your show fits.

All shows on the buy will have to be utilizing our media statistics service no other online measurement service is acceptable.

Here’s how it works:

• Typically a podcast advertising campaign starts with a request for proposal (RFP) from a media buyer or advertiser. With the RawVoice PACMS, we enter the requirements of the buy into the new system.
• Using data sets we have internally, including media statistics, survey sampling, demographic information, show content and other info, we are able to determine instantly what shows are best suited for a specific advertiser. This allows RawVoice to submit a concrete, detailed, unique proposal.
• Once the actual insertion order comes in from the media buyer, we post the campaign requirements to the selected podcasters through the campaign account management system; the content creators then review the requirements and sign off on the campaign.
• From that point the podcasters can access all of the campaign deliverables, aka banners, scripts, etc., via their campaign management account.  This allows podcasters to review campaign requirements as needed and allows us to issue updates throughout the campaign.
• In a few weeks, we will make available the ad reporting system, which will be tied directly to each podcaster’s statistics account. This allows instant auditing and, more importantly, allows for quick billing to the vendor and fast payment to podcasters.

The PACMS allows RawVoice to meet the administrative needs of the podcasters while enabling the team to modify and closely monitor campaigns in progress, ultimately allowing detailed reporting upstream.

“In beta testing in September we were able to execute a media buyer’s quarterly ad over the phone. Total time to execute the campaign from when the call came in to campaign launch was less than an hour,” explains RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane. “In the past this would have been a full day of work.”

This automation allows the RawVoice team to accurately produce large advertising campaigns with a few clicks of a mouse; a highly efficient process that enables the team to focus on other aspects of the business. The PACMS provides RawVoice a huge competitive edge that no other company has in the new media space.

“This meets a long term goal — to have processes in place that allow RawVoice to execute highly complex podcast advertising campaigns in a matter of hours,” Cochrane says. “We have invested heavily in technology that gives us the data sets needed to reach the exact demographics media buyers and advertisers are wanting to reach.

“In this time of economic downturn advertisers need to be able to spend their advertising dollars wisely,” Cochrane stresses. “We have a highly optimized system to reach just those consumers they want to reach.”

RawVoice remains a true innovator in the podcast and new media space. Along with our other integrated services, the PACMS allows us to have a full picture of our family of 3,200+ shows, setting us apart from any other new media company in the space today.

This weekend will be a working the weekend to push these ad buys to the podcasters that we have lined up to be on the buy. We will be using our new state of the art Podcast Advertising Campaign Management System for the first time which will help the process.

There may be a downturn in the US Economy, but in the digital podcast advertising space we are seeing record amounts being spent. We will be moving some of this inventory into third party companies that we have been working with that have their own networks. So overall our employed inventory is reaching levels that we are very excited about.

There has never been a better time to be looking to earn revenue from one’s podcast than at this very juncture. Shows not on one of our family of sites should reach out to us to find out how you can get on an ad buy with us. ceo@rawvoice.com

We still have inventory available this quarter, so I will be reaching out to all of our media buyers to see what available inventory they may have. Media buyers should contact me now as we will fill all of the available inventory in the next two weeks.

RawVoice represents over 3000 new media creators and we have over 1000 podcasters on advertising buys. Get your message heard to the millions of listeners we reach each month. Contact marketing@rawvoice.com for more information.

If you are not part of one of our podcast communities, now is the time to jump on board. We make available new podcast advertising inventory on a regular basis. Shows that are already on the buys get priority, so this is a chance to get in on ad buy that could turn into a permanent renewal.

All you have to do is sign up for Blubrry at Blubrry.com a Podcast Community and Directory, fill out the advertising survey and drop Todd a line letting him know your new to the community and would like to be considered for Podcast Advertising. If your show qualifies you will be included in the plus up.

You only have a short time to act to get in on this buy as the inventory is moving fast.

Note: Advertisers should be aware that RawVoice represents nearly 3000 media creators and have the longest consecutive running ad deals in the podcasting space. Delivering millions of targeted advertisements through innovative campaigns that deliver.

RawVoice remains a very small company of 5 people and in my opinion have done some very amazing things that a lot of the funded companies probably could only wish for.

I feel personally the reason for that is that we understand advertisers needs, we understand the audience and being we are podcasters we really understand how to deliver the message and package the ad buys.

While these deals are a lot of work. It makes me the most happy when we cut checks to podcasters. One of our companies tenants is to make sure podcasters have the financial ability to sustain their shows.

Podcast audiences have branched out far beyond just geeks. And advertisers are starting to like them, too.

After having placed ads with Web sites and search engines, more advertisers are starting to spread their ad dollars to audio and video podcasts in an attempt to reach certain consumers.

In the last few years, amateur broadcasters known as podcasters have flooded the Internet with self-produced audio and video programs that discuss topics ranging from politics to sports…..

“Millions of people religiously download podcasts daily or weekly, in numbers too great for advertisers to ignore”, quotes one source. “We’re getting contacted every week by companies that say ‘I just found out about this online media stuff and we are thinking about putting some money in it.”

Podcast ad revenue represents a sliver of the multibillion-dollar online ad market. But U.S. ad dollars spent on audio and video podcasts are expected to jump to $435 million by 2012 from $165 million last year, says eMarketer.

“There is a pretty substantial growth curve ahead, and it’s been building slowly,” said eMarketer analyst Paul Verna.

Most podcasts are audio programs, though the number of video podcasts is rising.

Podcasts differ from other Web-based programs. People, for example, can watch a video on YouTube.com, but they can’t download it to play it on another computer or portable device without purchasing a specific software program, Verna says.

“The unique thing about podcasting is that people can take it and go and listen to it in their car during a 45-minute commute,” he said. “And as long as there is a captive audience, there is always going to be an ad market around it.”

Cheers to all of our podcast brethren for helping to establish podcast advertising with us: Podango, Wizzard Media, Podshow, Mevio, Podcast Pickle.

While we have turned on Advertising deals quickly before, their is usually a week or more to get it engaged.

We put the word out on the buy to our 2500 plus podcasters, and because we already have the majority of their shows on our Podcast Statistic Platform along with having detailed show demographic data, we were able to turn on the inventory nearly overnight,

The most important thing is we are putting huge dollars in podcasters pockets each and every month and so long as we are helping those shows do what they do best than all I can say is mission accomplished.

My only hope is that at some point in the near future I can tell potential advertisers sorry we are out of inventory. Until that day happens if you have some dollars to put in the space let us show you how we build amazing ROI for our advertising partners

Todd Cochrane CEO RawVoice

The ADM has setup discussion pages where comments can be made on the guidelines, during a public commenting period. The full announcement can be looked at on the ADM Website.

Part of this attitude is because of most of the idiotic YouTube video’s. Those of us working in the podcast / new media space understand what content is fit to run advertising in. That content is a far cry from some of the brain dead content you find on many of the video sites.

While the YouTube comments are not entirely fair as their is a 1/2 a percent of 1 percent of content worth advertising in. I will say that I find it baffling that media buyers are hesitant to jump into advertising on Podcast.

Let me think here

• Target Audience “Check”
• Target Demographic “Check”
• Target Age “Check”
• Target Region “Check”
• Extremely Accurate Reporting “Check Check”

The list goes on and on. So if your one of those Horses that keep getting close to the water, why don’t you dip your head in. Because what you will find is the freshest, coolest water you will ever drink.

Once you have a taste of the ROI this medium returns to your coffers you are gonna want to pull a semi-tractor up and suck up all the inventory.

We have millions of listeners ready to hear your message today. The question is are you ready to really engage them?  Sooner or later the fairy tale, vendors are living in, with working with big media will be over.

ceo@rawvoice.com

Oh almost forgot. The vendors we work with totally get it and have been consistently in the coming on three years. If that is not a testament to the space nothing is.

While I could not come up with a better term. I do know that we have been very successful in maintaining long term relationships with the companies we work with.

While some podcsat companies have a campaign for a couple of months, none can say they have maintained advertising buys with companies for nearly three years.

2008 is shaping up to be a great year for podcasters, as interest continues to climb from companies and media buyers. I am just glad we are here to make the connection and do the heavy lifting. Podcast Advertising Broker

This is a perfect opportunity for advertisers to focus their advertisements at segments of audiences that they really want to reach. Advertisers are going to have to be smart and focus their advertising at people that will keep their business’s rolling.

Podcast are the perfect medium for that highly focused audience. Cost per Sale and Cost per Acquisition within the podcast advertising has already proved to beat all other online mediums in the space. So it is really a no brainer.

If you are a media buyer let us show you how your advertising dollars can be spent in a much smarter way reaching those that you want to reach in a highly effective way. ceo@rawvoice.com

He gets paid 35% of whatever the company providing the service can get by inserted advertising, and 50% of the advertising commission if he brings the advertiser to the vendor.

Considering the vendor is hosting the media for free, I am sure they have to really tight on what they give the person creating the media but 35% sounds really low.

I am very proud that RawVoice gives 70% of the advertising dollars back to the media creators that create the content. Their is definitely advantages in commission earnings if you don’t let someone control, and lock your content in.

Lets do the math on a 1000 dollar ad deal RawVoice media creators earn $700.00 in commissions. On the site that is in the above example they would get $350.00. Considering the price of hosting media is almost nothing these days why would anyone be willing to give up 35% in potential earnings for saving a few dollars in hosting cost?

Perez Hilton says he had 25 million views on YouTube over the past three months and only made $5,000. To think he had 25 million views and only made $5k rocks me to the core. Whoever is managing his ad deals needs to be fired.

RawVoice has podcaster’s on advertising contracts that are earning $10,000 plus each and every month that have a “fraction” of that audience size, and guess what those podcasters are still working their day jobs! Pretty good income for a part time gig.

While Audio has been easier to monetize, I surely would like to see what we could do for Perez. Silicon Alley Insider

With a large number of shows on a variety of current buys if you want to earn money with your podcast we have an advertising opportunity for each and every podcast in the community

If you are looking to Monetize your show please signup for one of our communities and make sure you take the time to complete the advertising survey available via “Your Settings” 

Todd Cochrane CEO RawVoice

If executed by the podcasters correctly, we will enable podcasters that can engage their audiences the opportunity to earn a great deal more than they would on a typical CPM type ad deals we put together.

We feel that even small sized shows have the potential to earn significant revenues. While we are not going to discuss the particulars of the programs publicly I am sure some podcasters will be talking about the new ad campaigns soon.

New media creators should not have be exclusive to any company. The second I hear that a podcaster has signed an exclusive deal with a company I ask myself what in the world were they thinking.

RawVoice never requires a podcaster to be exclusive, and this is one of the things we are very proud of. When a podcaster signs a contract with a podcast company to get all of their advertising for their shows exclusively from one company this is a recipe for disappointment.

RawVoice does not need to put out a press release stating we have signed a podcast because today RawVoice represents the 1500 plus podcasters in our communities equally. Every podcast that is part of our three companies have given us permission to negotiate on their behalf with no lock in plus they have the option to opt out if we do not deliver a deal that they don’t like.

We don’t make a dime until they do. RawVoice continues to be the best deal in town and 100’s of podcasters are getting paid monthly as part of that effort.

If you have a relationship with a vendor that is or currently is thinking about getting into the space and your show may not have enough traffic to entice them to advertise we have a great incentive for you.

If you introduce use to a vendor we will work with you and the vendor to come up with a media buy that once signed will earn you 10% of the gross on the buy for the first year of the relationship.

What would you rather have 100% of the revenue from a single show or 10% of the revenue from a 1000 shows. I know which one I would pick. So introduce your vendors to the RawVoice team and we will work with you on the media buy. Drop us an email ceo@rawvoice.com

Todd Cochrane
CEO RawVoice

I read the groups press release, and was quite surprised that this was the first we were hearing of the new organization considering they have had two meetings already, and considering how we have been a leader in verifiable podcast media measurement space my initial reaction was pretty predictable.

After making some calls, and finding out a little bit more about what their goals are I am quite confident that RawVoice will become a corporate member of the organization.

I want to state that RawVoice wants the podcasters and media buyers that we support to know, that we will continue to take active role in the development and expansion of podcast media measurements as we have since 2005!

RawVoice remains committed to providing verifiable validation of podcast impressional deliveries, as they are tied to advertising campaigns that we manage. We will have some new announcements in the near future on our own internal developments in this space.

Our hope is that any contributions we make to the Association of Downloadable Media “ADM” benefit media creators and their audiences first and foremost. www.downloadablemedia.org

Todd Cochrane
CEO RawVoice

The first eye opening tidbit from the conference is the fact that the word podcast was barely uttered. Chas Edwards of Federated Media did invoke Ask A Ninja as an interactive advertising success story. Unfortunately the discussion of the power of podcasts was very hard to find after Chas’ presentation.

By contrast blogs were all over the place. PayPerPost and BlogAds were sponsors of the event. Leaders from both companies took the stage to speak on behalf of their company. It is my perception that advertisers understand what they are getting with blog advertising. Buying space on websites either randomly (via services like AdSense or AdBrite) or buying via a sponsorship model (through companies like BlogAds or Federated Media) has become an accepted tactic in the advertising world.

I made it a point to engage some media planners in conversations in between the sessions. The things I heard in those conversations tracked with comments I heard to presentations by reps from Yahoo and Google. Advertisers want more accountability than ever on metrics related to online advertising. They not only care about impressions. Advertisers want to be able to track actions based on their campaigns. Like it or not the Cost Per Action (CPA) model is starting to get very popular. In fact, Google is getting set to roll out CPA advertising as a part of AdSense.

I also heard about the impression that podcasting as a medium has slowed down. You just don’t hear as much about it in the news like you did two years ago when Apple launched a version of iTunes with a podcast directory. Indeed, the trend line for searches on the word podcasting peaks at that time. It seems that advertisers searching for growth markets are more concerned with the online video efforts of the major networks and the exploding social networks of the moment. Is podcast advertising doomed to play fifth fiddle online behind search ads, social networks, blog ads and streaming TV shows?

Here’s a point by point panacea for the situation:

• Advertisers are looking for audiences. The best thing that podcasters can do is to spend less time looking to make money now and more time working on techniques that build a community around their content. We’re in a period of investment for content producers. There’s no secret sauce here. Those who build a strong audience will make the most money from advertising and sponsorships.
• Advertisers need metrics. If we live by the download then we die by the download. Downloads and unique IP addresses don’t tell the whole story. If podcasts build a community around their content then web traffic will be come more important. Advertisers barely trust click and impression numbers anymore, but the combination of the two can provide a more accurate representation of the audience for content. So lets invest some time in gathering common sense metrics for media and website based activity.
• Advertisers want action. The standard for podcasts is going to be higher than all other mediums. Podcasting is the new kid on the block and is not going to get the free ride that more established forms of media enjoy. This means we need to craft campaigns that produce action so advertisers can more accurately determine their ROI for each campaign. Do canned pre-rolls result in high rates of action? You know the answer to that question. There will still be flat rate and CPM deals. But CPA will present trememdous opportunities for those with influence over their audiences.
• Advertisers are attracted by brands. Podcasts that look and sound like amateur exploits won’t garner the same attention as those with a strong web presence, unique branding and a consistent production schedule. Hence, all shows are not created equal. There’s nothing wrong with a very laid back approach to podcasting. If you want to get the most advertising dollars though, its best to do a front to back evaluation of a show. Potential sponsors will be sure to do one before writing a check.

There are more points to cover, but the object of this post isn’t to write the book on podcast advertising. We know that the medium of podcasting is growing in a variety of ways. Trends on searches for audio blog and video blog are much stronger measures of people’s interest in on-demand content served via the internet. We also know that the power of podcasting is more than about the media. Communities are developing around rich content. That’s where advertisers want to be.

The opportunities are tremendous. Now is a time for teaching and listening rather than pitching and talking. Everyone in the game could benefit from this approach. We plan to find out what advertisers need from independent content producers. And we plan on educating folks about the true reach and impact of podcasting at the same time.

If you have a relationship with an advertising vendor and you introduce us to that vendor, and we sign an advertising deal with that vendor we will give you 10% off the top of the deal as a finders fee for one year.

The team here at RawVoice wants to encourage our community members to think about the possibilities. Would you like to get 10% of a 200 podcaster advertising deal on top of a current ad campaign you may be in with that vendor.

Over the past two years individuals have earned finders fees from RawVoice that have proven to be very rewarding for the individual.

Our Director of Marketing Rob Safuto will be attending the Future of Online Advertising conference next week in New York City. If you are going to be there definitely stop him and say, ‘Hi!” We love to talk about podcasts and advertising.

The industry is moving quickly and we are doing our best to stay on top of it. We hope to find out the latest from the advertising and media communities then put it to work here at RawVoice.

• Podcast Reporting Statistics are going to be held to a higher standard
• Verification – Verification – Verification
• Media Buyers do not understand the levels of Audience Engagement
• All were worried about Ads run on shows with Explicit Content
• Some buyers finally understood the power of host read endorsements

I am not going to discuss my presentation as it is a company proprietary secret, but I was told a significant number of times that our approach was applaudable and unlike anything they had ever seen.

I would like to think it is because I don’t pull any punches, or I don’t over hype the space. What it boils down to is that my team understand the new media space and we have 24 months of podcast advertising data to backup our assertions on how we have delivered ROI to those companies we represent.

I will leave you with this. You can have the best technology in the world but if it is not effective in generating ROI they don’t care if the technology slices and dices, or is hyped by a talking head or even exaggerated in a press release, if you can’t deliver measurable ROI then you might as well go home. 

I wanted to start this thread to make some common sense statements on podcast advertising and provide a place for discussion on the topic.

• In spite of what some mainstream outlets are saying, the market for podcast advertising continues to grow. We’ve seen a number of reports out there that point to the stagnation of the flow of money into podcasting. Here on Blubrry we’ve launched our biggest deals over the last few months. So we’re seeing much more interest along with actual revenue growth in 2007.

• The dollars for most podcasters are small, but they’re much more than any blogger was making two years into the medium. Dave Winer started blogging in 1997. How much money were bloggers making in 1999? Podcasters are earning a lot more now than bloggers were then.

• Large companies are approaching podcast advertising tentatively. Of course they are. Companies with large ad budgets have a lot to lose. It’s very easy for an ad exec to go to TV, radio or mainstream web outlets with a campaign. Those are established channels that are considered low risk. Podcasting on the other hand is a higher risk investment. Even still, dollars are flowing into the space. The early days (and it is still the early days of podcasting) of all media movements see tentative investment by the major players.

• Podcasters have the power to influence sponsors at all levels. Every time a sponsor has a good experience (and by ‘good experience’ I mean one that produces results) they will be more confident about increasing their investment and they will probably tell others. So podcasters who have sponsors go a long way to improving the bottom line of the whole industry by working hard to get positive results for their sponsors.

• Those who take the time to build a loyal audience and work on selling will be the most successful podcasters financially. How much influence do you have over your audience? Your sponsors will know when you run a campaign. Campaigns that result in low return for the advertiser are usually a factor of a combination of low audience influence and low sales effort. If you have influence over your audience and work on selling for your sponsors then you’ll probably have good results.

• Building a substantial, highly influenced audience base takes time and effort. We’re in a very ‘now’ society. Word spreads fast and people can gain a modicum of fame relatively quickly if all the right forces are in play. This leads us to thinking that this is what success is all about. The fact is that the podcasters earning the most money via podcast sponsorships are the ones who have continually produced shows on a regular basis for two years or more.

  Shows like Rocketboom, Keith and the Girl and Geek News Central have been incredibly consistent over the last couple of years. They have hundreds of episodes and many thousands of loyal audience members. They’ve worked very hard to get there. You’ve worked hard too, but it may take more time and effort to pay off the way you want it to.

Our goals here are to help build a community of passionate podcasters while providing real opportunities to earn some money from your podcasts. We don’t promise the world but we do hold ourselves to a high standard. You can help us to land bigger deals by creating great value for the current sponsors who’ve been intrepid enough to make an early investment in this new medium. What do you think?

We are proud to have the Grammar Girl Podcast and several shows from the QDNow Network participating in this new campaign along with Podcasts from both the Blubrry.com and PodcasterNews.com communities.

RawVoice has been able to guarantee multiple of millions listener impressions each month for GotoMyPC through these Podcast which we negotiated the advertising deals for. We are excited to add GotoMyPc to our list of long term subscribers.

You can get a free trial of GotoMyPc at gotomypc.com/podcast

Some have asked what is the catch. Well there isn’t any. We negotiate the deals then a podcaster can opt in or opt out. Yes, it is that easy and the best part is we don’t get involved in any ridiculous contract language. One thing I would like to point out, is unlike others who claim to have vast downloads running through their sites, RawVoice actually has the right to negotiate on behalf of those listed in our communities. We represent their shows to potential advertisers.

A site can have millions of downloads but if the company’s ad inventory is only being heard in a tiny portion of those downloads then the download claims are irrelevant as it adds nothing to the company’s bottom line. Our approach is that we would rather have the opportunity to represent multiple millions of monthly downloads than to claim we have multiple of millions of downloads that we cannot represent.

We don’t care if a podcaster has 100 people downloading their show or 50,000. We treat each content producer the same, and at the same time those content producers are not committed to anything until we present it for their approval. Folks, that is the best deal in podcasting.

We understand both sides of the issue. After all, we represent both podcast advertisers and podcast producers.

In a perfect world advertisers would understand the great value of being able to reach an audience of millions via podcasting at a fraction of the cost of traditional media ads. Microsoft certainly could have benefited from bringing their Vista message directly to users via podcasts. Metrics be damned. There isn’t a medium in existence that can give exact numbers on who you’re reaching except maybe door to door surveys. Yet advertisers gladly allocate budget to outlets with metrics that have a pretty wide margin for error.

So the reason that more advertisers aren’t in podcasting has nothing to do with horrible metrics. We provide stats to all of our advertisers where the deal calls for it. Its just that the medium is relatively new and seen as risky by those responsible for making decisions. Companies old and new want to protect their brands and the more traditional mediums are a safer way to go. We’d like to invite those people to talk with us about the possibilities.

Podcast producers have expectations about what their content is worth and the kind of brands they would like to advertise. Sometimes these expectations are realistic and sometimes they aren’t. Podcast producers are also very cognizant of metrics as well. So in a way the producers and the advertisers have the same fears when it comes to advertising and podcasting. The big difference between the two groups is that many podcasters we talk to are very sure that advertising in podcasts is worthwhile and effective.

At RawVoice we can bridge the gap for advertisers by introducing them to quality shows that reach the kind of people that will take interest in their brands. We also don’t require podcasters within our communities to buy into every ad deal that comes across. This pragmatic approach might result in lower ad sales overall but it ensures that everyone is happier in the long run.

We’re appreciative of the pioneers like GoDaddy and GoToMeeting who are taking the plunge and helping to support podcasters. And we’re also glad to work with the content providers who take a chance on allowing RawVoice to be the one’s to represent their podcasts to the world of advertisers.

We can tell you that inquiries about advertising within podcasts are increasing. And smaller companies are starting to realize that this is a much more efficient and accessible medium for them than any other that exists today. We’ll do all we can to bring those types of businesses into the space so that everyone has more opportunities.

We have a large number of vendors that we are in talks with at the same time so even though we have a 1200 plus podcasters that can sign up for ad deals we will likely have excess inventory. This is always a good position to be in. So if your show needs a sponsor you need to sign up today at Blubrry.com

What surprises me the most though is the ongoing pre-occupation with auto-insertions of ads as the next hot thing along with concerns on listener measurements. First of all Auto-Insertion is DOA at this point and valid listener measurement has long been dealt with. I wonder if these people are actually talking to people in the space connecting advertisers to podcasters?

Let me tackle auto-insertion first. A few companies feel they can become successful with auto-interested ads. At RawVoice, our experience with podcasters and audiences leads us to believe that this success will be short-lived. We think that the podcast audience responds better to host-spoken ads because there is a “host – audience” relationship that is unlike any other media delivery mechanism.

The second you drop in some pre-produced, auto inserted advertisement, this immediately disconnects the podcaster from the audience, and the advertiser message will not have the impact that it should have.

We all hate ‘in your face‘ advertising, but podcast audiences have been very supportive of podcasters that really get behind a product. Here are a few things in my opinion that make up a good Podcast Advertising Campaign.

• Host Delivered Ad Spot via Talking Points!
• Non Hard Scripted Ad Spot!
• Clear Call to Action
• Promo Codes
• Discounts
• Samples
• Extended Trial Offers
• Tangible Products or Services

Looking at Audience Measurement, software tools have been in place for well over 18 months that measure:

• Unique Listeners Per Episode
• Repeat Unique Listeners
• Total Downloads
• Total Bandwidth Delivered

The question of how many impressions advertisements actually get comes up from time to time. A combination of the hard raw data tied to survey results and the results from techniques outlined above will yield a strong Podcast Advertising Campaign. Tracking of responses to promotion codes, number of direct links back to advertiser through standard click through tracking, number of trial offers initiated, and in many cases total number of hard sales all “add” to an impressive response rate.

We have a very good data that proves ad penetration is around 90% of the total listening audience. We don’t get that many conversions but 90% of the ads are getting to the intended audience.

Try to get those types of impressions in Radio and TV! This goes back to tenets of why podcasting is different, with the active listening of the audience tied to the “host – audience” relationship and highly targeted audiences your see impressive results. No longer do advertisers have to just throw their ads out there. They reach the exact demographic they want to every time the ad spot runs.

Why do you think companies like GoDaddy, GotoMeeting are in the podcast advertising space? They have learned that being in the space long term is highly lucrative. The medium has resulted in significant numbers of new customers that those companies can measure.

While I have no doubt that if their plan is executed effectively Google could make a strong impact on podcast advertising, I think they would be better served acting as brokers for companies that have real inventory available today.

Business Week

Todd Cochrane
CEO RawVoice

If your looking to monetize your show I encourage you to join the Blubrry.com community and when you are signed up fill out the advertising survey in your podcast show profile, we can get you started earning money on existing promotions today and also be presented with the new ad offers for the new long term campaigns starting April 1st.

This is a limited opportunity as we have to finalize the promotion in the next 2 weeks and after the promotion is finalized you would have to wait till or next advertising deals are presented.

You can find more info about the latest happenings at Blubrry, at blog.blubrry.com

Todd Cochrane
CEO RawVoice

The operations at RawVoice is one of a startup being bootstrapped by a very dedicated team, and we are looking to expand our team as our flagship product the RawVoice Generator a turnkey Instant Media Network is attracting customers globally. If you have the skills to join our team drop us a line
at ceo@rawvoice.com and tell us a little about yourself and what you bring to the table.

Job 1: Unix/Linux System Administrator

Job duties: Setup and administer software and systems for RawVoice managed services and internal systems. The ideal candidate will have experience setting up and maintaining Internet servers in a production environment.

Must have a excellent working knowledge of Unix/Linux and be comfortable working in a shell. Must also have a good grasp of hardware and software concepts and be able to troubleshoot problems effectively.

Scripting ability in Bash, Perl and/or PHP and knowledge of SQL is desirable. You will spend most of your time working on Fedora Core Systems. Must have experiences running clusters and understand load balancing. Must have a excellent understanding of general system security issues, firewalls, and basic networking.

Must be willing to work from home, desire candidate that is willing to work with a startup. If you currently have a day job that is not a disqualifier

Job 2 PHP Job Description:

We are looking to add another developer to work alongside our successful team at RawVoice. The successful candidate will have experience in PHP, MySQL, CSS,  and HTML. Javascript skills would be a bonus.

You must already understand the new media space and have dabbled with e-commerce. It would be ideal if you had a good understanding of Dreamweaver, Flash, knowledge of Linux administration would give you an advantage.

Must be willing to work from home, desire candidate that is willing to work with a startup. If you currently have a day job that is not a disqualifier

We at Blubrry pride ourselves on not locking people into contracts or interfereing in a podcaster’s right to list his/her show any where he/she may see fit. Podshow’s recent adoption of placement limitations on their podcasters is clearly an attempt to control their podcaster’s exposure and earnings capability.

This response, however, is not surprising given the Podshow’s prior stance on advertising with outside networks. Past promotional opportunities made to Podshow podcasters listed on blubrry have been met with silence. This confused us, until we were told by several other vendors that podshow podcasters are not allowed to respond. They are instructed to forward any outside ad deals straight to the Podshow sales department. This all very sad. It seems that even when a podcaster is capable of earning revenue on their program, Podshow is limiting their ability to do so.

Now Podshow has gone one step further by not only limiting the revenue potential of a podcast, but also its ability to gain exposure. We hope that given such apparently severe restrictions these podcasters are actually making some money with Podshow and not just getting screwed out of the rights to manage their show.

We are currently in negotiations with other companies and hope to seal deals so that an additional 300 podcasters at Blubrry will be able to start earning revenue just by being a part of our social podcasting site. We have worked very hard to live by the motto that Podcasters do the Work, Podcasters get Paid.

We don’t promise people they will get rich but some will be able to make car payments and more. If you are a podcaster that is looking to part of a community that does not lock you in then you need to get your site added to the Blubrry Community at BluBrry.com

A month or so ago Tim Bourquin of TNC Media asked our CEO if he would be willing to be on a panel during Podcast Expo. Todd accepted and he is going to be on the Panel titled “Monetize with Ads and Sponsorship: Use An Advertising Service or Sell Your Own?” this was a good fit as that is one of the many things we specialize in doing here at RawVoice. The panel is made up of some other firms that represent podcasters and should be a lively discussion as all of our models are a little different.

If you are a media company, and have properties looking to get in the podcast advertising space we will ask that you negotiate your campaign today. The RawVoice team has spent 6 months of planning and invested 100’s of thousands of dollars to deploy this new site and when it is launched in late June it will be unlike no other.

Contact us Today at marketing@rawvoice.com for advertising spots on all of our properties.

Podcasters there is little time left to get signed up for the pre-launch orientation!

“Across all 3,800 libsyn users, our network delivers well over 1 million media files per day. The most popular shows do over 100,000 impressions any given day, and have an active audience in the 6-figure range.”

Some good info their, and congrats to the Libsyn team for keeping us all in business. [Libsyn]

Advertisers are you looking to get in on this space we can help marketing@rawvoice.com

The goal of this campaign is to get people excited about the “Show Us Your Character” website and the 2006 contest that is being hosted by the USA Network, CEO Todd Cochrane of RawVoice says

“The Podcasting community and our broad listener audience all have unique talents, and definitely unique characters, so this is the perfect opportunity for our network of shows to promote the positive things the USA Network is doing, with this contest, and the ShowUsYourCharacter community they are building, we are well suited to get this message out in the hottest creative medium sweeping the Internet today”

The tenants of the USA Network ShowUsYourCharacter promotion states:

“There’s a character in all of us. And now you can share your unique character with the world at ShowUsYourCharacter.com. Join now and begin uploading your own videos, photos and profile — you can share a hidden talent, show off your celebrity impersonation, or give the ShowUsYourCharacter community a glimpse into your life. Chat and interact with thousands of other members, and get to know some of the characters of the U.S.A.”

RawVoice and the Podcaster News Network is proud to be participating in this campaign, and we hope that all of you will show of your character at ShowUsYourCharacter.com, and who knows maybe a podcaster, vcaster or listener will end up winning ShowUsYourCharacter contest an gain national recognition.

The advertising campaign is promoting a fictional series about Polygamy, and although we have not seen the show titled “Big Love” we are sure it will be an interesting new series. I am sure many of you have seen the Soprano’s with that series having the mafia as a backdrop to it’s story line, and like the Soprano’s this new series about relationships should be just as interesting. Viewers will find out on its debut March 12th. If you’re interested, you can watch the “Big Love” trailer at http://www.hbo.com/biglove/

RawVoice looks forward to working with Podtrac in future advertising ventures; we also welcome HBO to the podcast advertising space and look forward to their future participation.

The Podcaster News Network has an ongoing limited amount of prime advertising space available, our audience numbers are growing daily and we look forward to working with other agencies that will get your message in front of our dedicated audience.

The Podcaster News Network is managed and owned by RawVoice producing fresh organic media each day.

For more info and a list of participating shows visit the [Podcaster News Network]

CEO Todd Cochrane
RawVoice Inc.