Irish Podcasting in CIB
PODCASTING MAY "become an important branding and marketing weapon," writes Ciaran Buckley in today's Computers in Business. The four-page spread offers pictures of voices behind the microphones but misses An Timeall, the Irish language podcast with more episodes produced than any other Irish podcast, serving more than 200 individual subscribers. I listen to Conn O Muineachain's daily show and marvel at learning Irish by immersion. That's not the purpose of his show--Conn just offers commentary, music, interviews and an audio back channel for listeners. Conn's Irish language podcast is popular among the diaspora and it hits the mark with third level students in the Mass Communications course at Tipperary Institute.
Some things that readers may not know about Irish podcasting appear in "Podding for Profit" today:
- Centruy Homes has commissioned a series of podcasts for its customers on the EU's new Energy Directive.
- Brian Greene has a convincing Miami Vice look to go with his laid-back mic style.
- Doop Design is producing podcasts for Whipping Boy.
- Alex French and Steve McCormack cite the market size: "hundreds, not thousands, of listeners." You can hear them in the Ireland Digital technology podcast.
- Emigrant Publications serves an average of 500 listeners per podcast episode.
- National broadcasters, including RTE and Today FM, offer shows forf podcast download.
- Industry analysts believe the funding model for podcasts revolves around sponsorship. That's proven in the experience of Podleaders and the Culture Sluts and if that's true, then Jett Loe's "Letter to America" may need some editorial trimming to placate the potential sponsors who are funding these podshows (personal on-demand shows).
There are some questions arising from the Sunday Business Post article. I know market penetration of MP3 players in management circles and in company cars is well below MP3 players used by commuters on public transport. This suggests the target demographic for bespoke podcasts is limited to those who already time-shift their listening experience. Those time-shifters will scrub forward if the listening experience is difficult, so Tom Raftery's suggestion that "anybody can do it" should be suffixed with "but listeners expect a radio format." Buckley's article says the Podsafe Music Network charges for tracks integrated to podcasts--that's not our experience as a podshow producer at podcasting.ie.
Ciaran Buckley -- "Podding for Profit" in Computers in Business, March 2006.
Conn O Muineachain -- "Post Publishes Watershed Article on Business Podcasting in Ireland"
