It’s been nearly a month since a company called VoloMedia was granted a patent titled “Method for Providing Episodic Media,” but the criticism, and the confusion, continues.  If the patent had simply issued – quietly – there would have been little concern.  But the company announced publicly that they had just been awarded the “US patent for podcasting.”  In essence – all of you thousands of companies that use podcasting to deliver content and all of you millions that use podcasting to get content – beware.  This was a broad gauntlet thrown down – notwithstanding subsequent company attempts to downplay the statement and its intentions regarding the patent (Trust us.  We will wisely use our nuclear weapons for the security of humanity.).

What to do with such pronouncements – when Company X announces it has obtained a patent on a broadly-used technology?  The answer depends on 3 things: (a) who the patentee is; (b) who you are and (c) the valid scope of the patent in question.  The first two are easier (and a lot cheaper) to discern.  The last is an expensive and uncertain process more akin to biblical exegesis than scientific analysis.  For purposes of argument, let’s assume VoloMedia has a valid patent that covers basic subscription audio models.

Who and What is VoloMedia?

VoloMedia’s main business is providing tools that can be embedded in podcasts and other downloadable media to help gather information on those who are listening and watching.  The aim is to provide more demographic information for advertisers.  Several large media companies including Fox News, The Washington Post and MSNBC currently use VoloMedia’s technologies.

From discernible records, VoloMedia did not acquire this patent from a third party.  Rather, VoloMedia has obtained this patent apparently through its own technical development history – which has resulted in commercial offerings.  Based on a quick review of public litigation databases, it does not appear that VoloMedia has sued anyone for patent infringement before.  That’s not to suggest they would not assert a patent if infringed.  But it does suggest that VoloMedia is not in the “litigation business” (they’re likely not looking for a fight).  Its monetization models lie in its services and systems offered to companies such as the customers noted above.

But let’s say VoloMedia decided to assert the patent?  What then?  The likely answer depends on who you are.

Who are You?

Customer of VoloMedia

Say you are an existing customer under contract with VoloMedia?  If VoloMedia is selling you services and facilitating your use of podcasting technology, they could (hardly) sue for infringement.  That does not mean they would legally barred from filing a Complaint (anyone can file anything – does not mean it has any merit).  But typically you can’t sue someone for something you are aiding them to do.  Does that make sense?  In addition, if VoloMedia is monetizing its relationship with you, why mess that up by filing suit?  Frankly, not the best way to maintain customer goodwill.

Potential Customer of VoloMedia

Now say you are a company making significant use of podcasting to deliver media content.  You are Fox or MSNBC.  VoloMedia has tried to sell you services before or maybe you are just a theoretical customer.  I would wager again that VoloMedia’s best sales strategy would not be to threaten you with infringement suits.  They want customers – not defendants.   But – assuming the patent is valid and actually is “the patent” on podcasting (I have doubts on both), perhaps that will give VoloMedia a bit more bargaining power when negotiating contracts.  Perhaps a bit more gravitas in discussions.  Certainly the press over the patent issuance will make a few companies take notice.  

Competitor of VoloMedia

What if you a company that hosts podcasting, offers podcasting analytics or other services?  These kinds of companies will want to take a look at the VoloMedia patent just to get some idea of what the Patent Office is letting through in the podcasting space.  And they might want to evaluate the claims of the VoloMedia patent against prior podcasting systems (to measure the validity of the claims) and against their own systems.  In this circumstance, you should neither panic nor disregard.  Rather, see what’s out there, measure risk, work with counsel and make reasoned choices.  This is just good IP policy.  Again, VoloMedia does not appear to be in the litigation business, has indicated it is not looking to sue anyone on this and just wants recognition as a pioneer in the space.  See this statement provided to the ADM and this interview with Ars Technica But take the statement for what it’s worth.  Companies making damaging inroads to VoloMedia customer relationships will be on any future litigation short lists that are developed.

Individual Podcaster

I’m in this category (see www.bpgradio.com) and I do not believe VoloMedia will sue me.  VoloMedia has said it will not be suing individual podcasters – see these responses to the ADM questions by Murgesh Navar of VoloMedia.  Further, this is no monetization model that would justify suing the hundreds of thousands of US podcasters.  And it would engender such a degree of ill will toward VoloMedia that the company would shortly regret the idea (think RIAA suits).

Podcast Listener

Forget about it.  As long as there are computers and the internet, there will be downloadable audio media.  VoloMedia can’t stop that and could develop no business justification to undertake legal action against podcast listeners. Keep listening and enjoying.

A few random thoughts on the patent itself.

Let’s not forget the patent.  The patent has 8 claims, only one of which is independent (a standalone invention) – claim 1.  Here is the text of claim 1:

A method for providing episodic media, the method comprising:

providing a user with access to a channel dedicated to episodic media, wherein the episodic media provided over the channel is pre-defined into one or more episodes by a remote publisher of the episodic media;

receiving a subscription request to the channel dedicated to the episodic media from the user;

automatically downloading updated episodic media associated with the channel dedicated to the episodic media to a computing device associated with the user in accordance with the subscription request upon availability of the updated episodic media, the automatic download occurring without further user interaction;

and providing the user with: an indication of a maximum available channel depth, the channel depth indicating a size of episodic media yet to be downloaded from the channel and size of episodic media already downloaded from the channel, the channel depth being specified in playtime or storage resources, and the ability to modify the channel depth by deleting selected episodic media content, thereby overriding the previously configured channel depth.

I agree with previous commentators that this does, at first glance, appear to be broadly directed to basic podcast channel subscription, with automatic downloading of new episodes and ability to manage the number and size of episodes downloaded.  Whether the claim is entitled to such a breadth of scope requires careful analysis of the exact phrases above in light of the full patent disclosure and the process by which the patent was prosecuted and evaluated in the Patent Office (beyond the scope of this article).

In addition, whether the claim above is valid is a completely different question.  The Patent Office can only grant patents for truly novel inventions and ones that are not obvious variations of what’s already been invented.  As one example, if the full scope of the above claim was in public use or on sale in the United States more than a year prior to November 19, 2003 (the earliest date VoloMedia to which could claim priority), then the claim would not be valid.  But these are academic questions.  Take VoloMedia at its word, and this patent will stay in a box for a long time.

Ultimately, VoloMedia’s patent probably won’t change the average podcaster’s ability to create and share their programs. And if you are a VoloMedia customer or potential customer, don’t lose any sleep.  However, we’ll have to wait and see if VoloMedia takes an equally hands-off approach to toward the major podcast distributors, like Apple, or its competitors.

About the author: Ernest Grumbles is a trial attorney and has handled numerous intellectual property disputes in federal courts around the United States, including patent litigation, for Merchant & Gould. IP/innovation counseling and portfolio development are important parts of Ernest’s practice. He is a strategic IP counselor to several startup and early-stage enterprises, assisting them in recognizing IP assets and developing a pragmatic approach to protect and enforce those assets. Current technology focuses include interactive web applications, location- and mobile-based services, green-tech food/drug coatings and IC/wafer inspection. Ernest is currently working on an initiative to promote innovation in Minnesota.

Murgesh Navar, founder of Volomedia, has been addressing mounting questions stemming from his company’s recent patent award that covers the technical methods surrounding podcast distribution.  We have organized recent responses from Volomedia, and asked a few questions ourselves.

Here are excerpts from Murgesh’s follow up blog post posted yesterday on Volomedia’s website.:

“I want to clarify our plans and implications as it relates to the patent…the episodic media download “technology” ecosystem needs to become more seamless, more standardized, and more interconnected before it can become a mass medium.”

Volomedia intends to apply the patent toward making “the episodic download ecosystem work, so consumers have a real choice in how they consume any media that is available on the Internet – whether in a web browser at an aggregation site like Hulu, or on a downloaded and portable basis using Apple’s iTunes and iPhone or Microsoft’s Zune,” and use “intellectual property to help drive a standard, using its IP to help define and improve the ecosystem for the benefit of all participants.”

Murgesh was interviewed yesterday by PRI Marketplace (segment begins minute 5.07).  He was quoted:

“Clearly I can tell you categorically we are not trying to stop anybody from creating a podcast or distributing a podcast. That is not our intent, our motivation or even in our selfish interest to do that.”

“We acknowledge we have power because of the patent, but we expect to use that power along with products and technologies to grow the marketplace.”

ADM asked seven questions for Murgesh, and his responses follow:

Q: How do you respond to critics of this recent patent news that there was prior art of the use of podcasting before Volomedia filed the patent?

A: All innovation necessary to make episodic media download really work did not end with the first RSS-wrapped podcast download… and the need for further innovation is not diminished today.  Plenty of room remains for novel and useful ideas to be developed, and, like our announcement yesterday, many of these yet undiscovered ideas will sound obvious in  five or six years when new patents are issued for them.  As a case in point, Apple filed a podcasting patent in June 2005 titled “Techniques and Systems for Supporting Podcasting.” There are some novel podcasting ideas in this application, although podcasting was well underway by the time Apple filed this particular patent. Again, I want to iterate very clearly, the patent claims focus more towards the consumption end of the podcasting value chain, rather than the individual publishers of content using RSS feeds.

Q: Are you planning on litigating to enforce your patent against individuals or networks of podcasters?

A: No, we do not plan on any litigation, which is unpleasant, unproductive, expensive, and time-consuming for all concerned. We only wish to provide products to push podcasters forward in their quest of creating and delivering great content to their audiences. We stand behind them, not in front of them.

Q: You stated that parts of the episodic media download technology ecosystem are perceived by Volomedia to be broken?  Specifically which parts are broken?

A: We live in a digital media world that demands measurability and much of the downloadable media world – due to its asynchronous and/or offline characteristics – is not, which is why VoloMedia developed its iTunes plug-in.  If you can’t measure it, you can’t monetize it…and if you can’t monetize it, you’ll eventually have to stop publishing it. In addition to the analytics problem, consumer discovery and portability of content is still hard, technologies from the different vendors do not inter-operate, the more mature web advertising platforms like DoubleClick are unable to run ad campaigns within downloaded media.

Q: What specific standards is Volomedia interested in advancing?

A: We have participated in the measurement and advertising standards created by ADM. While some of the standards exist, we see a big opportunity for technologies to effectively and consistently measure and track downloaded media.  Our interest ranges across the entire gamut of portable media. Wherever we see an opportunity to make a difference, we will jump in.

Q: Will Volomedia attempt to negotiate with podcast networks to impose technology within systems not currently controlled by Volomedia?

A: We win by the superior performance of our products. Why would we impose our technologies on anyone? Again, the patent claims focus more towards the consumption end of the podcasting value chain, rather than the individual publishers of content using RSS feeds. So podcast networks can use any technology they wish.

Q: Under your company’s strategy, will creators of content receive a gratis license to podcast, and if so, under what circumstances?

A: Podcasters do not need our license to podcast. They are as free as ever to create and distribute podcasts.  See my comment above.

Q: What is Volomedia’s vision of a net benefit for podcasters if your strategy produces results?

A: Currently we mainly serve relatively large publishers with our analytics and advertising products. One day, we hope to extend the reach of our products so that it is meaningful to publishers of all sizes.

We welcome all substantive discussions from members regarding issues that impact our membership and community.  However there is a shared responsibility to balance editorial views, company announcements, and points of view with discussion of how these things impact ADM members and the community at large.

On Juy 28,  using its account access, Volomedia published a blog post that details its intellectual property position regarding episodic media and podcasting, an issue which no doubt impacts our entire member base and the larger creative and business communities.  As Chairman, my opinion is that the initial blog post is informative, substantive, but it lacks sufficient discussion on how this news impacts our membership.  I have requested Volomedia’s prompt response to address this shortfall, and look forward to the reply.

I wish to acknowledge the particularly provocative nature of this recent post.  ADM has always been a collection of people and organizations with shared interests but varied perspectives.  This post does not reflect an endorsement by ADM to individual member positions.  The recent announcement is very important to our community, and ADM will play a continued role in facilitating substantive discussion on this developing news.

Chris MacDonald, Chairman

[Volomedia Elaborates on Podasting Patent, and responds to ADM questions]

Our company, VoloMedia, was awarded U.S. Patent 7,568,213  titled “Method for Providing Episodic Media” yesterday. The relative breadth of the issued claims under this patent has given rise to many questions. I’d like to take this opportunity to provide some context to our announcement:  ”VoloMedia Awarded U.S. Patent for Podcasting”.

Over the years, I have heard arguments, pro and con, to the utility and necessity of an intellectual property (IP) system.  One one hand, there are arguments that say exclusive rights to ideas awarded on a patent excludes others from doing what they want to do and, therefore, IP systems close down access to knowledge. On the other hand, patents and intellectual property rights do drive innovation, as well as investments in new ideas. I do not wish to debate the merits of the U.S. patent system, but just acknowledge there are two sides to the issue of patent awards. VoloMedia has filed a dozen U.S. patent applications since 2003. Patent no. 7,568,213 is the first in the pipeline to issue. We expect the others to follow suit.

With specific reference to our newly issued 7,568,213 patent, it was filed in November 2003, almost a year before the start of podcasting.  This helps underscore the point, that for nearly six years, VoloMedia has been focused on helping publishers monetize portable media…. and has continued these efforts with the addition of a wide array of smartphone-based applications.  The patent that issued yesterday helps to tie together and reinforce the value of the various technologies and services that VoloMedia has developed to help accomplish this objective.  VoloMedia’s intent is to continue to work collaboratively with key participants in the industry, leveraging its unique range of products to further grow and accelerate the market.  Today, podcasting is 100% RSS-based.  However, the patent is not RSS-dependent.  Rather, it covers all episodic media downloads.  It just so happens that, today, the majority of episodic media downloads are RSS-based podcasts, which is why we titled our announcement the way we did.

The episodic media download industry is still in its infancy. There will come a day when all the content on Hulu is available as an episodic download. Consumers will then have legitimate choices in how they consume their media:  on a downloaded and portable basis, or by visiting a content aggregation website. As the medium matures, one would expect to see new entrants into the episodic download arena.  The impact of a strong growing IP portfolio is such that we would expect new entrants into the podcasting arena to have a collaborative relationship with VoloMedia, just as do many of the current players. For reference, below are the claims issued under U.S. patent 7,568,213:

—-

1. A method for providing episodic media, the method comprising: providing a user with access to a channel dedicated to episodic media, wherein the episodic media provided over the channel is pre-defined into one or more episodes by a remote publisher of the episodic media; receiving a subscription request to the channel dedicated to the episodic media from the user; automatically downloading updated episodic media associated with the channel dedicated to the episodic media to a computing device associated with the user in accordance with the subscription request upon availability of the updated episodic media, the automatic download occurring without further user interaction; and providing the user with: an indication of a maximum available channel depth, the channel depth indicating a size of episodic media yet to be downloaded from the channel and size of episodic media already downloaded from the channel, the channel depth being specified in playtime or storage resources, and the ability to modify the channel depth by deleting selected episodic media content, thereby overriding the previously configured channel depth.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically providing the user with an indication of the availability of updated episodic media via the channel dedicated to the episodic media in accordance with the subscription request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing the updated episodic media automatically downloaded to the computing device associated with the user with a portable computing device communicatively coupled to the computing device associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein synchronization of the updated episodic media automatically occurs in response to a predetermined user setting.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein synchronization of the updated episodic media occurs in response to a request received from the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated episodic media is made available to users not associated with the computing device over a local area network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatic download is further based on a priority assigned to the channel.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the channel dedicated to the episodic media is reduced in size during synchronization in order to fit available cache storage within the portable device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel dedicated to the episodic media is modified in size by removing one or more episodes of episodic media.

I was reminded of this crucial distinction when I perused the results of RAJAR’s latest MIDAS research. RAJAR, the UK’s radio measurement entity, publishes a semiannual look at British consumption of Internet-delivered audio that examines trends in digital radio, streaming and podcasting akin to our own Internet and Multimedia Research Series here in the States, and I am always interested to see how the behavior of UK digital consumers agrees and differs from our own here in the US.

I’ll have more to say about the podcasting statistics in a later post (they show continued growth in uptake, from 7.2 million podcast consumers in October 2008 to 7.8 million today,) but for now I wanted to focus on this telling statistic: while 4.2 million say they listen to podcasts at least once a week, only 28% find time to listen to all the podcasts they download (the typical user reported subscribing to 5.2 podcasts per week.)

I freely admit that I rarely listen to everything in my queue, and often weeks will go by before I will listen to an episode. Some subscriptions I have never caught up with, and others remain weekly staples. The vast stew of unlistened-to podcast episodes in my iTunes folder is very reminiscent of my TiVo “Now Playing” page, which also contains dozens of shows (and one entire series) that I’ve never watched. I suspect, if you own a DVR, that you have had a similar experience.

It’s easy to subscribe to episodic content–less so to find time to fit it all in. If you are a podcaster with a program centered on information or news content in a given niche, you know that listeners have multiple ways to get the content you offer (after all, you also got it somewhere.) What keeps listeners coming back, week after week, is you–character development, roles, trust, and your story. Even the most compelling podcasts, however, can pile up in someone’s feed reader amidst the plethora of audio and video available on the Internet.

That’s where scarcity can be your friend. If you are a terrestrial broadcaster thinking about podcasting your morning show, think hard about how often you want to seed content to your feed–sure, a quick, daily 2-minute joke or benchmark is an easy thing to snack on, but think long and hard before you attempt something long-form on a daily basis. More frequent podcasts may work if you are Dawn and Drew, because they aren’t repurposing broadcast content. But the more unlistened-to or unwatched shows I have piled up for a given program, the more daunting it is to tackle them–and the more likely I am to just choose a nuclear option.

All of which brings me to online video maven Tim Street, and how he handles the production of his wildly popular French Maid TV series. Tim’s very clever idea was to film a “how-to” series for men, with the subject of each video demonstrated by women dressed as French Maids. Some of the topics he has covered include how to change your oil, how to register a domain and (of course!) how to podcast. What makes Tim a very smart guy is that these topics are ripe for sponsorship–and he doesn’t shoot an episode until a sponsor pays for it. This means that he is able to monetize his show–and design it around a sponsor–from day one, and it also has the beneficial side effect of making new episodes scarce–i.e., valuable. Viewers know that a new French Maid TV episode is an event, so they make the time to watch it. Sponsors know this as well, which means that they have a little control over when the campaign is viewed (I’ve discussed podcasting’s problem with variable campaign length and asynchronous consumption before) and they also know that because Tim isn’t littering YouTube with hundreds of French Maid TV episodes a year, that they are sponsoring an actual, special event.

Now, this isn’t the prescription for everyone. But it may be that the best thing you could do with your podcast content is to make less of it, not more.

(Reposted from The Infinite Dial)

These projects directly reflect the focus of two main initiative of the ADM in the last six months: Provide value to our membership and build awareness.

Clearly, any member organization must provide value to those who, through their membership, show belief in the mission and provide funding to advance that mission. It’s our goal to provide real tools and resources to help those who produce and distribute downloadable content to monetize that content.

To that end, I’m happy to say that we’re just weeks away from launching an ADM Member Directory. This directory is designed to be a point of direct access for advertisers and media buyers to the offerings of our membership. ADM members will be able to post information about their shows, the audience they reach, and the various types and amount of inventory they offer, as well as the all important contact information that will allow buyers and advertisers to reach these providers.

As far as I know, no directory currently exists that allows those with marketing and advertising money to spend  such easy access to a wide range of outlets and the audience they provide in such a fast growing medium. ADM Committee members Dave Hamilton and Matt Snodgrass are currently tweaking the current beta version of the Directory, so look for information on the member release soon.

Another exciting project that’s in the works is a comprehensive research study that will, as project manager Jeff Karnes describes it, “explore consumers’ attitudes towards advertising within podcasting to provide media buyers and marketers with information about those attitudes, as well as insights into the best advertising opportunities.” Simply put, we’ll be providing data that will not only show who uses downloadable media, but how they use it, what they want from it, what they expect from it, and the best way advertisers can use it to their advantage. Make no mistake, we aren’t out to prove to the world that podcasting reaches millions of people and is growing…we already know that. We’re going to show advertisers how best to reach their audience and that modifying their ad budget to include more downloadable media will help them become more successful.

The ADM, in conjunction with Tom Webster and Edison Research, is currently crafting and vetting all aspects of the project and working toward a presentation date of sometime in September. Look for more info as we field this unprecedented study.

As I noted earlier it’s vital to let the industries we serve and represent know about the mission and purpose of the Association for Downloadable Media as well as tactics and tools we use to accomplish them. So we will continue to improve our ongoing communication to the industry and it’s constituency. In fact, the upgrade of this site, increasing our Twitter presence, and other social media initiatives are all steps toward raising our profile. We’ll continue to reach out and inform not only the content providers but, through our Advertising Council and other outlets,  those ad buyers and agencies that offer us that monetization we seek to build for downloadable media.

So, as you can see, for a member funded, volunteer based,  non-profit group, we’re quite busy…and I would be remiss if I didn’t take this chance to say thanks for the support of our current members. And members…please  make sure your membership is current so you don’t miss out on reaping the rewards of this hard work.

I’d also like to invite you, if you aren’t a member to join us! I’m confident that we’ll provide you with the tools and support to get your downloadable business noticed and, on the way, I hope more profitable.

I helped ADM standardize the measurement specs around downloads, and the process was contentious around the metrics question, “download requests” or “completed downloads”?  The most final of all metrics , “plays”, was not considered because it simply was not feasible. During the current economic downturn, the need for the best metrics has become even more important for publishers and advertisers.

Over a year ago our engineers decided to resolve this issue in the most practical way we could – connecting iTunes to Google Analytics. We are announcing this product today. Before I go into the specifics, I would like to emphasize one important point – this free service does not require any relationship, contractual or otherwise, with VoloMedia.

VoloMedia’s Bridge-to-Google Analytics is a plug-in to the iTunes Media player, now installed with over 100 thousand iTunes consumers in the US – precisely 94,296 iTunes plug-ins were active over the last 5 days. Publishers are free to use this free service if it meets their needs, i.e. collect annonymous usage statistics regarding usage of their content on iTunes and to analyze them using Google Analyics: a free and robust industry-standard platform. If you have ever used Google Analytics, then you are familiar with “GA_ID – Google Analytics ID”. With a simple modification of the RSS feed to incorporate the GA-ID the publisher can start flowing aggregated play and download data to their Google Analytics account.  More information is on our website: http://www.volomedia.com

I hope this initiative is seen as one that is beneficial to the entire podcasting community, one more step forward to making podcasting a dynamic and vibrant medium for consumers, publishers and advertisers.

In his email to the membership, Board Chair Chris MacDonald took time to do just that and outline some of the ADM’s many accomplishments since it’s inception.

They include among others:

• We created the first set of industry standards for measuring delivery and consumption of downloadable media.
• We created the first set of industry standards for ad creative and insertion.
• We developed a core presence within emerging advertisement markets seeking new ways to reach target audiences.

He also pointed out the major undertakings of the organization for this year.

• We are designing a public, web-based member directory that will help members connect with advertisers and ad planners.
• We are conducting an industry-wide research program focused on consumer’s attitudes and opinions about, and the engagement with, advertising and sponsorships in on-demand/portable media.

So if you are currently a member please don’t forget to renew now. If your not a member, please join us. Be part of this exciting new medium and help us make it more financially rewarding to all those that participate!

Those that attended got a firsthand look at who uses podcasts and how they use them. Some key points, as highlighted on Twitter at #poddata inlcuded:

• 1 in 5 Americans (22%) have listened to a podcast.
• 59% men 41% women, 18-44 demo = 60% of podcast users.
• Most downloadable media is consumed via desktop, mobile growing.
• Podcast users are very active on social networks – mainly Myspace and Facebook
• 24% of podcast consumers feel “emotional connection” with their favorite podcasts.
• Podcast consumers are more receptive to advertisers heard in podcast vs heard via internet radi.
• Producers need to do a better job of selling the portable aspects.

…and so many more.

If you missed the webcast never fear. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

The Podcast Consumer Revealed 2009

Download the slides.

Thanks very much to all who made this possible, especially Tom Webster of Edison Research. Thanks also to Arbitron and Chris MacDonlad of the ADM.

However, once you look past the “glass half empty” headline you’ll see real opportunity. Opportunity to do so much better. Opportunity that was really the reason a group of forward thinking people decided to form the Association for Downloadable Media.  How about, “Podcasting Not Too Profitable…Yet!”

First, let’s look at some of the facts about podcasting consumption. After all, you can’t make money on a product or service unless there are people using it, right? Well podcasting is being used…alot. This fact will be reinforced by data to be presented during our May 21st webcast with Edison Research’s Tom Webster and that same fact was noted in data the aforementioned eMarketer have themselves touted as recently as March 9th of this year. “As a percentage of Internet users, podcast downloaders will grow from 9% in 2008 to 17% in 2013.”

To be clear, when eMarketer states that “The appetite for podcasts is fairly light” they are referencing the appetite of media buyers, not podcast users. So, it’s not a matter of finding audience, it’s a matter of increasing the appetite of advertisers for, or even making them aware of the existence of, that audience.

We must seize the opportunity. Or as Tom Webster says in his Infinite Dial post, “Projections generally describe a possible future–perhaps even a probable future–but not the only future. The key is, what are podcasters going to do to change it?” Downloadable media producers (in this case podcasters, must work harder, whether it’s  an organized manner through the ADM, or by individually approaching advertisers to sing the praises of reaching consumers through this new and highly personal medium.

While eMarketer* “projects” ad spending will increase to $43 million in 2013, we will continue to champion a medium that is growing in appeal and audience to those that seek to reach that audience. Enough so that the current projection looks like chump change when we look back at it.

(*Update: As noted below the “projection” was that of Zenith Optimedia rather than eMarketer’s.)