Todays Myatt on Mondays question comes from a Chief Marketing Officer of a professional services firm who asks: Is Podcasting a Viable Medium? I have answered questions like this each time a new medium comes to market. Over the years Ive commented on fax machines, infomercials, e-mail, e-mercials, CD-ROMs and DVDs, Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), Instant Messaging (IM), Webinars, Blogging, and now in this post, Podcasting

Ill start by defining podcasting for those not familiar with the term. Podcasting was created by former MTV VJ Adam Curry. The term (meant to rhyme with broadcasting) describes the technology used to push audio content from websites to end-users of the content who prefer to use iPods or other mp3 players to listen to said content. Podcasting is simply a new content delivery method that combines audio content delivery with RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Instead of reading the new content on a computer screen, you listen to the new content on an iPod, iPod-like device or via your computer.

Now that the term Podcasting has been defined lets address the issue of viability. Most of you familiar with my work know that I am a big believer in being an early adopter. I am always a proponent of being a market leader vs. a market lager. Those that move quickly in todays market (see The Need for Speed) increase brand awareness, mind-share and market share while those that move slowly face increased barriers to entry, increased competition and reduced margins. Few consumers like (B2B, B2C or B2B2C) to work with companies that are behind the times. Once there is validation of proof of concept it is time to move aggressively.

So the question remains are podcasts viable? The answer in my opinion is a resounding yes. According to Nielson Analytics about 9 million Internet users have downloaded postcasts in the last month alone. If the previous number doesnt grab your attention you might want to consider the following statistics taken from a white paper produced by KnowledgeStorm, Inc in which almost 4,000 respondents comprised of business and IT professionals across a variety of job titles, vertical industries and company sizes weighed in:

41 percent of survey respondents claim they have listened to podcasts on more than one occasion, while 13 percent stated that they frequently download or listen to them.

32 percent of survey respondents stated their usage of podcasts has Increased or Significantly Increased in the last six months.

72 percent claimed that they have downloaded or listened to podcasts on technology topics on more than one occasion; 23 percent do so frequently.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents said that information on business or technology topics, currently delivered as white papers or analyst reports, would be more interesting as podcasts.

55 percent of respondents would be more likely to consume white papers and analyst reports if they were delivered as podcasts.

57 percent of the frequent podcast users stated their biggest challenge with podcasts is the scarcity of interesting content.

65 percent responded that they listen to podcasts for both personal and business interests.

Bottom linePodcasts are here to stay and Id suggest that if you are not utilizing this channel that you begin to do so immediately. Happy Podcasting!