Podcasting is Ron Popeil for the Radio

Mark Ramsey at Radio Marketing Nexus nails the value of podcasting to business:

Podcasting is to Radio spots as infomercials are to TV spots.

I’ve used the informercial comparison before, I’m glad others see it also. The traditional model of commerical spots interrupting a regularly scheduled program falls apart in podcasting. Podcasts can shrink and expand to whatever length makes sense and economics of it mean businesses can publish them in-house faster and easier than waiting to get on a networks schedule.

A good podcast is about one idea, like a good sentence. Traditional interruption-based advertising duct-tapes on a second idea. Earlier, this would be the only way to distribute the commercial message – outside of an infomercial. With podcasting businesses go direct to customers – plus now the commerical message won’t be interupted by the regularly scheduled program.

Beside, when you get far enough down the long tail, everything is both information and advertisement.

Elsewhere 22 April 2007

“Commercial information will be opt-in, long-form, information-rich and entertaining, or people won’t watch it.” – Dave Winer