Podtrac Launches First Advertising Infrastructure and Sales Service for the Podcasting Market

Podtrac Provides Free Podcast Audience Profiles, Third Party Measurement, Industry Proven Demographics and Targeted Advertising Capabilities to Best Buy and Sell Podcast Sponsorships and Advertisements

PORTABLE MEDIA EXPO AND PODCASTING CONFERENCE, ONTARIO, CA -- November 11, 2005

Podtrac today announced the first podcast advertising service and free podcast infrastructure to enable podcasters to monetize their audio and video podcasts, and to enable advertisers to confidently and easily research and buy sponsorships and advertisements in the emerging podcast media market. Podtrac provides the first complete podcasting advertising infrastructure including: expert third-party measurement, demographic and behavioral profiles, podcast media kits, and content ratings - - all free-of-charge to any podcast - - as well as podcast advertising and sponsorships. The combined suite of podcast services offer the podcast industry a complete advertising business model.

Podcasting is the most exciting media for free speech and artistic expression," said Mark McCrery, Podtrac's Co-Founder and CEO. "In order for any market to rapidly grow, it needs a strong infrastructure and business model that encourages growth. Our goal is to help expand the podcast market by providing podcasters with an advertising revenue stream based on targeted and relevant advertising in formats which protect the podcast listening and viewing experience."

"In order to establish confidence in buying and selling advertising, it is critical for podcasters and advertisers to have reliable third-party measurement data backed by a sound methodology," said Robert Freeland, Podtrac's Co-Founder and CTO. "Podtrac meets the demands of podcasters and advertisers by answering the critical 'who' and 'how many' questions about listeners and viewers for any podcast."

Podtrac's Free Podcast Measurement and Profiling Infrastructure

Podtrac provides a free infrastructure for podcasters and advertisers including podcast demographic profiles, third party podcast measurement services, a customized podcast media kit and a content self-rating system for podcasts.

Podtrac Audience Survey. Podtrac provides every podcast with a web-survey designed to collect the demographic and behavioral profiles of individual podcast listeners or viewers. The Podtrac Audience Survey was developed with Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and Mediamark Inc. (MRI). TNS is the largest custom research organization in the world. MRI is the country's leading provider of magazine audience and multimedia research data for publishers, agencies and advertisers. Podcasters receive a unique link to track and analyze the specific responses to their podcasts. Analysis of satisfaction drivers and special "gap scores" help podcasters to improve their podcasts. Individual audiences' product category credibility ratings help podcasters and advertisers know which products and service categories are most appropriate for advertisements.

Podtrac Demographics. In conjunction with MRI, Podtrac brings the same demographic research advertisers have in traditional media to podcast media. From the demographic and behavioral profile data collected by the Podtrac Audience Survey, Podtrac calculates indices to MRI's Survey of the American Consumer and provides the results to both podcasters and advertisers. The Survey of the American Consumer is a national probability study of U.S. adult's demographics, media and product usage, attitudes and lifestyle.

Podtrac Measurement Service. Podtrac provides third-party measurement of podcasts, as a free service to any podcast. The Podtrac Measurement Service was developed to provide counts of podcast listenership and viewership, including: downloads by episode, downloads by month, unique downloads by month, unique downloads by episode and downloads by country. The Podtrac Measurement Service works for every podcast, hosting provider, podcast network, and with any download or playback software. Podcasters receive a Podtrac Measurement Seal so that advertisers can easily identify Podtrac Measured Podcasts.

Podtrac Media Kit. The kit includes: a podcast profile with the podcast graphic; best episodes, podcast frequency, and host information; Podtrac Audience Survey results with audience demographics such as listener/viewer lifestyle, technology usage and leisure activities; Podtrac Measurement Reports revealing audience size and behavior; and ad rates and revenue potential.

Podtrac Content Rating System. The system enables podcasters to self-rate their content based on five categories: All, Parental Control, Explicit, Graphic Violence or Pornographic. Podtrac provides podcast listening and viewing audiences with tools to monitor content ratings through audience feedback.

Podtrac's Benefits to Podcasters

  • Gives podcasters an outsourced advertising sales and marketing partner
  • Provides revenue for podcasts
    • Maximizes growth (not a subscription model which could limit growth)
    • Provides highly targeted advertising relevant to listeners and viewers
    • Protects the podcast listening and viewing experience
  • Helps podcasters improve their podcasts by providing
    • Measurement data about unique downloads per episode and trend reporting
    • Audience likes and dislikes
    • Content rating system and feedback mechanism

Podtrac's Benefits to Advertisers

  • Offers a new advertising medium to reach both consumer and business targets
  • Provides consistent methodology for evaluating and comparing multiple podcasts - measurement, demographics, data from MRI, content ratings
  • Delivers highly targeted advertising
  • Enables a way for to confidently buy and place podcast ads and sponsorships

"We want to include every podcast on Podtrac by offering free, objective and accurate profiling, audience measurement and podcast demographics," said McCrery. "Podtrac takes away the barriers of entry to the entire podcasting market by enabling podcasters to grow their audiences through targeted advertising and a business model that is attractive to both podcasters and advertisers."

Podtrac's Advertising Model

Podtrac's advertising formats are designed to protect the podcast listening and viewing audience, by targeting relevant advertising and sponsorships to specific podcast listeners and viewers, as well as providing the right format for specific podcasts. Podtrac advertising consists of announcer read and produced spot formats. With the announcer read format, the podcast host reads a sponsor-like message, within the first minute and 30 seconds of the podcast. A 30 second produced spot is inserted at the end of the podcast. The content is provided by the advertiser. The produced spot format provides ad formats that are more analogous to traditional audio or video media but in shorter formats. Podcasters decide which advertising or sponsor format is best for their podcast. Podcasters share a percentage of the revenue collected with Podtrac.

About Podtrac

Podtrac's new services for podcasters and and advertisers provide the first complete system for podcast advertising insertion and podcast measurement. Podtrac is privately held with headquarters in Washington D.C. and an office in New York. For more information contact Podtrac at: www.podtrac.com.