I went to Houston this weekend, and to kill some time on the very short flight, I bought a not-so-recent Business 2.0 issue. Much to my surprise, in a section entitled "9 Fads to Ignore", the first one was podcasting. According to the article:
"Yes, it�s nice to get MP3s downloaded to your iPod. But where are the revenues? Podcasting will continue, but as a business, it�s the latest iteration of CB radio."
Ouch. My opinion of Business 2.0 just dropped a couple notches. If revenue is the crux of their argument against podcasting, then they might as well throw terrestrial radio stations on here.
Has Business 2.0 been paying attention to the money being spent in podcasting? Granted, it's not much right now because podcasting is in its infancy. But already, major advertisers such as Volvo and Best Buy are already sponsoring podcasts. But even more positive indication in my mind it that these big brands adopted podcast advertising earlier than they did blog advertising.
So why the bleak outlook?
The fact that iTunes has dedicated itself to the format and is currently offering thousands of free downloads is an indication of where podcasting is going.
I'm kind of amazed that podcasts have stolen the thunder from internet radio, even though streaming content has just as much promise in my estimation.
Posted by: David Burn | October 17, 2005 at 02:17 PM