Portable Media and Podcasters Converge in Los Angeles

I didn't know what to expect of a podcast expo or portable media expo. I assumed I'd be meeting people who are excited about creating their own audio podcasts, and some technology providers.

The event at the Ontario Convention Center (near Los Angeles) is the brainchild of Tim Bourquin. You'll find the agenda at portablemediaexpo.com or podcastexpo.com

What I didn't expect was this.

Heavyweights around every corner.

They weren't necessarily wearing badges...but you'd recognize the faces.

The older Internet companies were circulating, friends we know in the media business, and content providers of podcasts like Disney, Whirlpool and others. Yahoo brought a team. Interestingly, I haven't seen anyone from Apple. NPR had a presence on a keynote, and are finding podcasting a very valuable and popular service for their listeners. I saw some familiar faces from the radio world. I met a few investors. There were visitors from the Netherlands, China, Korea and other parts. As expected, consumer electronics companies were in the mix.

On the user or individual creator side....

There seems to be a new breed of excited, passionate individuals creating their own podcasts. Some of them making significant money - unbelievable as it seems through adsense, amazon and other links off their podcasts or blogs or websites. Others - it's a labor of love. They are into advertising models, sponsorships, per inquiry methods, direct sales, contributions and who knows what. An old radio friend - David Lawrence (net music countdown, online tonight, the davidlawrenceshow.com) has launched a real estate podcast network or portal at www.newhomepodcast.com A few companies including PayPal were pushing their micropayment solutions. The commissions were reasonable.

It was a mini-focus group for those of us who are involved in this area but have not had time to talk to this new generation of podcasters. The podcasters are quite similar to the group of individuals that do their own webcasts in their passion and interests. I've met the most diverse group of people from professionals and hobbyists who are driving the new distribution model of RSS, and aggregation services. I'd expected to see a few more rebels of a sort, but only saw one goth looked purple haired woman with a crown, and a few others that you wouldn't see at broadcast conventions. Someone mentioned there was a drag queen about, but I didn't see him.

I was very surprised that the conference sessions were sold out and the attendees were technology companies, a content providers and podcasters, investors, and a little of this and a little of that.

One my session yesterday - Orb Networks (get your media from anywhere using the Net or phone or any other portable device ), limelight (CDN), RedSwoosh (remember Scour.net - Same folks!) p2p Streaming, and Veoh - a contributed video site with plans to package or integrate advertising in the future. Veoh said they accepted all types of video - including, as the founder mentioned, a rather robust of adult media content. They do filter for children and other visitors. Veoh seems to have a model in some ways like current - Al Gore's user contributed web enterprise. The panel had an interesting dynamic, I don't think anyone said streaming or downloading was better or worse. Befitting the show - on-demand was the topic and focus for the most part. What I found very interesting in looking into their backgrounds is who is funding these companies, and who's on their board of directors. I'll post later some of the names.

Today - my session is on metrics for podcasting (and of course this applies to video blogging).
On this panel - Arbitron, Podtrac.com, BridgeRatings and m-metrics.
(Note: There are still about 5 names for the video portion of podcasting, so you may call it by another name today.) It's very interesting to see the evolution of metrics, and how this is happening faster than webcasting metrics. It's not just because these are primarily downloads - it's because the technology has had time to mature. The manufacturers and the application companies are partnering to be able to communicate to devices, whether on the chip level or in a proprietary system like iTunes or Audible.

PS - In talking with P2P "professional" service providers serving content, I believe you'd be amazed at the number of huge media content sites that are using their services.

PPS - You won't see podcasters using the name ipod in their business name. Apple has sent out cease and desist letters to many, if not all of them. Some have till December to rename their businesses, and can refer to their old business names until the middle of 2006. The negotiations with Apple are different for the individual companies who had iPod in their name.

Best,
Peggy