Futuro promissor para o podcasting

«Podcasting has a long ways to go before it becomes a mainstream medium, but is poised to grow exponentially through the end of the current decade and will increasingly become an attractive outlet for advertisers, says a new report from eMarketer.

By 2008, podcast advertising should reach $150 million, approaching $300 million by 2010, according to the report.

Currently, despite all the hype surrounding the nascent medium, eMarketer estimates that just 3 million Americans are active podcast listeners, and a total of 10 million people have ever downloaded a podcast to date.

And advertising on podcasts, "is in its infancy to put it mildly," says Mike Chapman, eMarketer editorial director, who authored the report. "Podcasting is not set to become a new mass-market venue, at least for the next half decade. By way of comparison, US broadcast radio still reaches close to 200 million Americans," he said.

However, the number of podcast listeners is expected to skyrocket over the next four years, reaching 50 million total listeners by 2010, with 15 million or so listeners being described as active - i.e. downloading podcasts on a weekly basis.

Part of the rationale behind these growth estimates is rapid adoption seen for the medium just in the past couple of years - as total listening levels rise by 400 percent since 2004.

"The total audience for podcasts has shown meteoric growth, particularly in the US," said Chapman. "The active listening audience is much smaller, but it is still set to grow rapidly".

(fonte: Study: Podcasting to Grow Ads, Mike Shields, FEBRUARY 28, 2006)