Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Interview with PodShow CEO Ron Bloom

Update: The presentation referenced below just happened. As promised, I tagged articles, data, best practices and podcasts I reviewed in preparation for the discussion with Ron Bloom. We didn't end up having much time for questions so I will post the questions/answers we didn't get to when Ron responds to those questions. If you have any you'd like asked, please comment below. Ron indicated his team is in the middle of a launch so it may be a few weeks before we see responses.

Every February, iMedia puts on what many people feel is the go-to event for decision makers in the online advertising world. They consistently have top notch speakers in a venue that lends itself to casual interaction between all facets of the online ad industry (brand marketers, publishers, ad agencies, ad networks, technology suppliers, research firms, etc.). I was honored to be asked by Rebecca Weeks to give an update on podcasting and interview Ron Bloom. Ron is one of the most prominent names in the business side of the podcasting phenomena as he co-founded PodShow (he's their CEO) with Adam Curry who has been one of the key players in the podcasting arena. Together they raised $9M lead by the top tier venture -- Kleiner Perkins -- so big things are expected of them.

In the spirit of the blogosphere, I'd like to get your input on what questions you'd like me to ask Ron. After the event, iMedia always posts the presentations as well as a recap of the speech so you'll have a chance to see the recap plus I'll share my perspective. Prior to the event, I'll be tagging (http://del.icio.us/tag/iMediaPodcastPresentation) various articles and interviews that I feel are relevant to the discussion with Ron. These include some past interviews with Ron. My goal is to cover some new ground.

I'd like to reach out not only to key commentators who discuss podcasting such as Charlene Li, Fred Wilson, Joseph Jaffe (podcaster & podcasting commentator), Robert Scoble, Seth Godin and Steve Rubel but also the many folks that I know at ad agencies, brands, the ANA, technology companies, etc. Ron Bloom is certainly one of the key players shaping the business side of podcasting. What questions do you have for him that haven’t been answered? The audience will be marketers so naturally the bent will be towards to implications of podcasting for marketers. Here are a few initial thoughts of what’s on my mind. What’s on yours? Please add your comments or post your thoughts on your own blog with a trackback.

  • Having introduced new ad types into the mix, I know that research/metrics is always important to getting broad scale adoption so I’ll ask him about what’s been done and what the remaining gaps are and how they’ll be filled.
  • Who, in the marketing community, is doing the best job of utilizing the medium and its strengths since too often marketers just want to bring over what worked in some other medium and assume it will work.
  • On a related note, what are some best practices of advertising in and around podcasts? We know that the bane of radio advertisers is radio presets. What would make someone listening to a podcast not just skip through a traditional sounding audio ad?
  • If blogs are any indication, the so-called Long Tail will have as big an effect on podcasting. How far down the tail will PodShow go and why? How much will the “big boys” drive initial adoption of podcasting vs. the podcasts on the Long Tail?
  • PodShow has launched what they are calling the PodSafe Music Network (PSN) to address rights issues preventing more music from entering the podcasting arena. Should marketers care about PSN? Why?
  • If I’m a marketer with $5M to spend on podvertising, can I do it efficiently and measure results in a way that’s integrated with the rest of my ad buys?

I’ll add more over time and eventually filter these down to which topics bubble up to be of greatest interest.

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