One of the long standing problems with podcasting for dollars is the business model – and particularly trying to find advertisers willing to sponsor a podcast (in fact finding advertisers can be a problem for bloggers also). Fruitcast is a new service for podcasters that attempts to help them find income streams by matching podcasters and advertisers through a bidding system. On their home page they pitch their service to podcasters by writing:
‘Want to earn income from your labor of love? Putting ads on your podcast is now as easy as signing up for an account and changing the URL of your podcast’s RSS feed. Tasty!’
To advertisers they write:
‘You’ve wanted to advertise on podcasts, but there has never been an easy way to do it—until now! Put your audio spots on multiple podcasts within mere minutes. Yum!’
Fruitcast is a service of Forty Media. I’d be interested to hear how any of your with Podcasts find it if you give it a go.
Thanks to Brian for the heads up on Fruitcast. He’s written more extensively than I on it here.
Hi Darren,
Thanks for pointing out this service. Sounds interesting although I am not sure the fact that its at the RSS level and isn’t for inserting into the MP3’s themselves is the best thing. It might work if I can use the actual RSS feed and then push the Fruitcast feed through Feddburner.
I am going to give it ago but not sure either of my podcasts have enough traffic to even get a sponsor. Will see how it goes and will report back.
Molly
http://podcast.mollyzine.com
I don’t see how this will work at the RSS level. I try to make my blog casts last about 30 minutes and usually takes me three hours or so to create using Sony Acid Studio. It has been my experience that the producer of the podcast/blogcast must be in charge of the “sound” and “feel” of any advertisting, skits, etc. or they run the risk of destroying the credibility of their show.
I’m going to do some more research on this but I’m not optimistic about this business model.
Phillip: I think that is what actually is happening.
“We’ll automatically add them (at either the beginning or end, or both) into the MP3 file that your listeners download.”
And if you are redirecting your podcast feed to FeedBurner you can change the source URL to FruitCast.
You may want to see what’s offered in Podcast Pickle:
http://marketingloop.com/podcasting/2005/10/24/podcast-pickle-helps-podcasters-find-sponsors/
Hendry,
The Podcast Pickle thing has been around for a long time but is more of an open for people to buy per show advertising (from memory). To me (and I don’t think I have seen anyone say this but they probably have) this is more like adsense for podcasts. You are paid by the download and thats the reason for the RSS change.
I have moved my two over (here are the feeds if you are interested in hearing what the ads are like (hope this is okay with you Darren, sorry if it isn’t) http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheMaloneShowPodcast and http://feeds.feedburner.com/Malones-MMM). Would be interested in your feels to the ads.
To me, and I maybe bias as I am using the service, its not much to have and I would think people will just ignore it or fast forward over it. I couldn’t see people not listen to cast because it has ads (it would be more about the content).
HTH
Molly
http://www.mollyzine.com
[…] Fruitcast -gracias Darren- es una web donde los podcasters pueden comenzar a incluir en su podcast un anuncio con el cual empezar a ganar algo de dinero. Sólo tiene que cambiar el enlace RSS del podcast por uno que le facilita la página y con el cual sin tener que modificar nuestro podcast, todos lo oyentes podrán escuchar ese anuncio y nosotros empezar a recaudar caja. Want to earn income from your labor of love? Putting ads on your podcast is now as easy as signing up for an account and changing the URL of your podcast’s RSS feed. […]
Well as far as the revenue model/business model, it has potential if they can hit the sweet spot of payouts to publishers and what they charge advertisers.
[…] * TechCrunch: Inserts Ads into Podcasts with Fruitcast * Solution Watch: Podcasters, Meet Fruitcast * Geek News Central: Fruitcast has set a high bar! * Marketing Loop: Fruitcast: Podcast Advertising Match-Up * Small Business Branding: New Monetization Program for Podcasters * Corante (Podcasting): Fruitcast and the Future of Feed Media * Lifehacker: Podcast Advertising with Fruitcast * Podcast Free America: Fruitcast Offers Advertising for Podcasts * Podcasting News: New Site Connects Podcasters with Advertisers * Publish.com: Yes, There Is a Market for Podcast Advertising * Problogger: Podcast Advertising – Fruitcast […]
So, will the question soon become: What kinds of content will garner the best in advertiser bucks (a la AdSense)? Sports podcasts? Daily news? Music? Specific niches? Hopefully we won’t start seeing scores of “mesothelioma” podcasts soon.
Hey Darren:
I’ve written a brief update on my results with Fruitcast over at http://podsnapper.com. So far, so good now that the bugs are getting worked out. Seems like it can only get better.
Best – Michael
I just wanted to comment on a new site that’s called Podcast Haven. If you would like subscribers to your podcasts, You can post ads for podcasts on this website. The URL is http://podcasthaven.michaelbellonline.com. It’s kind of like the Million Dollar Homepage but it’s cheaper.
Joshua,
A new service that just lauched addresses the issue with the “sound” and “feel” that you mentioned. It takes more of a radio sponsor approach to the whole issue. Advertisers submit content to podcasters, then the podcasters read the text of ads during their recording. It’s not automatic, but keeps the podcaster in control of when, where, and how long ads will be.
I left out the name of the other podcast ad network I found, it’s http://www.podcasterads.com. Not much there yet, but keep an eye on it.
http://www.podvertiser.com , a San Diego based stealth mode digital media technology provider, is also developing dynamic ad insertion technology for wide range of portable/downloadable media formats including video as well. The service is expected to lauch in 2006. Podvertiser also licensing the ad-insertion technology to media companies.
[…] […]
Whatever happened to FruitCast? For the past six months they’ve had a screen up that says “Podcast advertising was just the beginning. Stay tuned…”