Podcasts - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

Big Media's checkmate over many of the internet companies that were supposed to put it out of business has been inevitable.

But that inevitability is just now becoming clear to some internet idealogues as they recover from their kool aid-induced stupours.

As such, I thought it'd be worthwhile to look at three recent stories that exemplify how Big Media is slowly but surely starting to demonstrate its strength over many supposed internet threats.

With vast amounts of inventory available, increased competition and dropping response rates, many publishers are seeing their display advertising CPM rates falling.

The challenge is to offer advertisers increased flexibility and new formats in order to protect margins.

The NUJ may think that Web 2.0 is "rubbish ", but B2B journalists are increasingly turning to blogs and other forms of online media for information and ideas, according to a new survey.

It found that 80% would use blogs as primary or secondary sources, while many use podcasts and RSS feeds for inspiration.

CNN is planning to relaunch its main news site in July with a major redesign and a number of Web 2.0 features, extending the site's choice of video and user-generated content.

Technorati has announced a major revamp of its site, shifting its focus from blog searches to video content, photos, podcasts and music.

BT has launched an online service that helps small businesses use social media tools like blogs and podcasts in their company marketing.

BT Tradespace is pitched as taking "a giant leap forward in digital marketing", encouraging users to "join a fast-growing community of buyers and sellers in your specific business area".

Figures from Edison Media Research suggest the audience for podcasting is on the rise, and that general awareness of the medium is growing rapidly.

The stats, which were originally presented at the Corporate Podcasting Summit in London, show that awareness of podcasting grew by 70%, while actual use increased by only 18%.

In-podcast advertising is set to grow to over five times its current value by 2011, according to a new report.

An eMarketer study forecast US advertising spend targeted toward podcasts will reach $240m by 2008 and $400m by 2011. That is despite pessimism over the popularity of podcasts amongst audiences.

Web-based podcasting application Odeo has been put up for sale, just months after founder Evan Williams led a management buy-out of the project from investors.

Williams wrote: "We've put too much into Odeo to want to see it fade away. And it still has tons of potential. But we're not improving it fast enough."