Russell Buckley hates the GoDaddy ads that Jason Calacanis and I are running.
I agree with Russell that we need to come up with better models for podcast ads. Playing the same ads on every show can get annoying. Radio plays the same ads over and over as well but, because they have so many ads, I guess the repetitiveness is less obvious than a podcast that only carries a couple of ads. At this stage we’re hoping that the audience is accepting the premise that we are producing these shows for no money and most of us aren’t gangsta-rapper rich like Jason or Curry or Doug Kaye.
I would love to find better models, so I’m completely open to feedback, criticism and suggestions!
It could be less annoying if they were more smoothly integrated with the podcast. In a similar manner to Global Geek’s Godaddy add where they simply mention the promotion every episode near the end. It seems less… add like.
okay good idea.
I agree that they really are annoying, but I still want you to be able to put food on the table Cameron.
I tend to just skip by the ads that I know. Once I’ve listened to them once or twice, I know what they are and approx how long they are and can just skip by them. (However that is sometimes a little difficult in the middle of Sydney traffic).
you could always go. this show was sponsored by godady.com and nothing else at the start and at the end do the full 15sec-30sec add saying the promotion.
Hm…I had to go back and check, Cameron. The longest one I’ve heard lately (#209, for example) had a 30 second internal TPN ad (the boxoffice show), then a 40-second godaddy ad…then an hour long podcast. Call me crazy, but I say knock yourself out, Cam. That’s a good deal for me from where I sit.
From what I understand, intros are worth more than outros, price-wise, and I can live with even a whole minute and 10 seconds of ads. Even at the front. I don’t even skip through them!
Now, if you started heavily seeding the interior of the podcast, say every 7 minutes of so (sound familiar?) that’d be a pain in the ass. I know you occasionally have an internal one, but it usually sounds like you’re dealing with a sound issue or something, and just take the opportunity to throw a quick thing in. Again, no big deal. I WANT you to end up gangsta-rich, Cam…you provide me tons of value, and I can put up with a couple of minutes of ads an hour for that. I haven’t listened to terrestrial radio in months, and that makes Ken a very happy nerd. TPN is a big part of that.
So yeah, I feel my co-listeners “”pain”…but if we think about the value that we get from TPN, I think it’s a pretty damn good bargain. I’m certainly not going anywhere!
WRT the integration issue…isn’t that partly due to the fact that you have a fairly sophisticated ad insertion system, Cam? Eventually, it would be able to do customized ads for a given d/l, based on IP address (kinda sorta location), etc…right? I’m guessing that’s the reason that you don’t “wire” the ads directly into the show itself. I’m sure the smoothness could be tweaked a bit, but again, IMO, they’re over before I really even notice them. No biggie.
We’re doing some work with a podcasting company to personalise the ads they run based on the listeners behavior etc. They have a system which can dynamically insert the ads into the stream which may be something you have too.
My 2c worth is you should have more ads than you do. Without the revenue how would you survive?
Jodie, Ken – thanks for the support guys, really appreciate it. Want to get the model right asap though.
Ben – who are you working with you bastard? You should bring my anything first. Time you bought be brekky.
You been drinking today Cam? Or swollen fingers?
Molly
worse – trying to re-build my PC. see above post.
Cameron: We’re here for ya, mate. Keep rocking.
Ben: watch what you wish for…a) personalized ads mostly suck (maybe someday they won’t, but not today…and what “listeners behavior” do you want beyond the fact that I like this podcast, anyway), and b) too many more ads, and I’d be bidding Cameron a fond adieu, as much as I love him. The radio-style ad model is relevant, but this ISN’T radio. There’s way, way, way too much choice, much of which has no ads, or ads at Cameron’s present level, to start dumping ads in live mass media does. There’s no scarcity issue in podcasting that keeps me from just flipping away (and the cable TV model is useful, but again not perfect. There’s still a large capital-intensive investment required to build even a cable network. Not so for podcasting. [Cam: I realize you’ve definitely got money on the table, of course…but a) you’re trying to own the entire thing, and b) you’ve got LOTS of content]).
Ads are fine, in moderation. Just don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.
I’d like something less robotic, it’s what I hate about mainstream media and it’s starting to show up more in podcasting. I prefer an ad where the host knows the product and can tell me something about it.
I agree scienta but how much can I tell you about GoDaddy? And how do I make it different each episode? You can buy cheap domain names. How do I make that new and interesting?
Hey Miriam thanks for the kind words regarding how we do our ads. We do a bit more post production work than Cam, adding sound beds etc. Does this make a difference? Cam is a one man band he doesn’t have the advantage of varied pitch and tone as we do. This may make it less audibly interesting and maybe more obtrusive. So I agree placement is important.
Then you are faced with the start or end dilemma. If I put it at the end people might tune out and miss it, at the start it stands out like dogs your know what’s.
It was important to both of us that the listener knew it was an ad so they don’t think that it is a straight out endorsement. To that end we script the ads and use it as a “bumper” to something else.
That said actually doing them is difficult. None of us are voice talents. But we do our best.
Perhaps Cam, instead of doing “live” ads. What about doing some scripts and making an effort to *sound* dynamic it may be better received by your listeners. Record a number of these. If you really want to use some effort put some backing music in. Then cycle through them for each show. OR What about getting the kids in on the act? Maybe they could add some appeal to your ads?