Blog Relations

The audience for podcasts could hit 10 million people this year, according to a report by the internet researcher eMarketer, and could grow to 50 million by 2010. Many are just tuning in once, however – a reflection of how poor many podcasts are. “The key to increased spending in this new medium is for these one-time listeners to become regular, active podcast listeners. eMarketer forecasts that the active podcast audience in the US can be expected to reach 3 million this year, 7.5 million in 2008 and 15 million in 2010.”

“Podcasting is not set to become a new mass-market venue, at least
for the next half decade,” says eMarketer’s Mike. Chapman. “By way of
comparison, US broadcast radio still reaches close to 200 million Americans.”

Still, it says “online advertisers and marketers are paying serious attention to this new “anywhere, anytime” channel. eMarketer projects that spending on podcast advertising will reach $80 million this year and $300 million by 2010.”

That all makes sense – and it is certainly good to see some numbers attached to all the hype about podcasting. I think their assessment is about right. Podcasting is not going to be a mass-medium, like TV or even the web itself. But is can be a very important niche like radio – and unlike radio can offer advertisers a targetted audience.