As the undisputed champion of the podcast format, Britain’s Ricky Gervais-whose podcast, “The Ricky Gervais Show, has garnered more than eight million downloads-has taken to calling himself “The Podfather.”
While the CBC isn’t counting on listeners leaving Gervais’ popular show, the Mother Corp. is pushing hard on the podcast front.
The public broadcaster embarked on a major expansion of its offerings in May, introducing podcasts of many of CBC Radio’s most popular shows, including Quirks & Quarks, Definitely Not the Opera, and As it Happens, along with 10 regional podcasts.
The Corp. says its 22 podcasts were downloaded more than five million times between May and October (they are currently averaging about 140,000 downloads a week), while three of the podcasts-The Best of Ideas, The CBC Radio 3 Podcast, and Quirks & Quarks- were among the top 10 downloads on the iTunes podcast chart on Nov. 28.
Now, the CBC is courting marketers. Speaking at the “Now Playing” event in Toronto last month, Judy McAlpine, CBC radio’s director of international business development, told a gathering of media buyers and advertisers that sponsorship opportunities are available for all but the Radio 3 podcast. The sponsorship package includes a 10-second sponsor message produced by the CBC, and a banner ad on the CBC’s podcasting page at cbc.ca/podcasting.
McAlpine says a survey of more than 10,000 cbc.ca users reveals that 77% of visitors who download and listen to podcasts are male, 66% are between the ages of 18 and 39 and 63% hold a university degree. “The people who say they always listen to podcasts are primarily male, young, educated and work full-time,” says McAlpine. “I also think that as the platform evolves, so will the reach and the demo.”
The question is, just how ready are consumers for the “ad-pod?”
According to the Canadian Podcast Listeners Survey conducted by Sequentia Communications and podcast marketing agency Caprica Interactive Marketing, 60% of Canadians have encountered podcasts with advertising. While 66% are comfortable with hearing one to two ads in their favourite podcast, 25% would rather hear no ads.
Mitch Joel, president of Quebec agency Twist Image, and an avid podcaster, says the biggest challenge for major media companies like the CBC will be monetizing these new media streams as a stand-alone product, rather than merely as an add-on to a traditional broadcast buy.
Podcasts do, however, provide an opportunity for content (and advertising) to live on beyond its original airdate, says Joel. “Let’s say you’re doing a search on podcasting in Canada and the CBC ran a podcast on that, you could access this radio show that only aired once in real-time…at any point from (the time it aired) into the future. The content now exists, is permanent, and can be aired at any point on demand. That’s very powerful for a brand like the CBC, which is trying to really find its place in the new media world.”
But one media buyer in attendance at the “Now Playing” event said he is unable to rationalize podcasts as money well spent for clients because: a) some, such as the Radio 3 podcast, have such a large international audience they can’t guarantee Canadian listeners and b) not all downloaded podcasts are being listened to. The buyer said he only listens to about 30% of the podcasts that he downloads.
