Frank founded CBS Marketwatch.com. You can hear him daily on the radio and is well known for one of the longest running newletters about the Net. We had been trying to connect for a bit, and hadn't seen each other in years.
He was kind enough to sit on an IPTV panel at Government Video and add his wit and wisdom a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed his banter, as did the rest of the panelists and the audience.
As I was surfing today - I noticed that Frank had caught something in a New York Times article this summer that I had missed. Perhaps you did as well.
"What will Apple do?
Sunday New York Times article buries the lead: "... Audible's exclusive agreement with Apple runs through September 2007; under that agreement, Apple cannot charge for spoken-word programming other than Audible's." Full story. Frank's personal blog. http://barnako.typepad.com/barnakocom/
Audible may end up collecting a large quantity of content for resale until 2007.
In the case of Howard Stern (Sirius Satellite Radio Air Personality), he may not need Audible to promote his audio programs. Let's imagine that Stern via Sirius Satellite Radio repackages different programs, comedy bits for resale, or creates his own audio portfolio. Will Audible be an attractive place to promote the Stern content?
With five payment services (Paypal and Bitpass to name a couple) offering micropayments for podcasts, Howard Stern doesn't have to use Audible. He can syndicate and sell his content through RSS, and doesn't need an Audible. He can promote his shoes on Sirius or through his own website or other methods. It would depend on his contract with Sirius.
His situation is unique. Many other content owners need a service that promotes and markets a program, or provides the beginning to end solution. Podcasters and content providers may or may not use Audible. It depends on the revenue share, the ease of use, and...of course marketing.
Audible has existing exclusive contracts with a number of book publishers and others. Audible has an extensive library and consumers can find the information in one place. That's an advantage that will help Audible as the marketplace becomes more competitive.
How Long Did That Person Listen to That Podcast or Video Blog?
Here's another interesting tidbit about Audible. They have the technology to tell you exactly how long a person listened to a podcast or audio program. It's just a matter of a little code and
Audible "throwing" the switch. Perhaps it's already in play.
Here's how I understand that this happened. The first Audible players downloaded part of the"book on tape" that you had requested and sent it to a portable player. The first portable media players didn't have the space to hold an entire book on tape. Once you finished listening to the first section, or whenever you docked your portable media player, the Audible software system "talking to the player" would figure out where you stopped listening and load more audio, say the next section or chapter of the book. That information can provide most of the the data necessary to figure out how long someone has listened to a podcast and may also provide other metrics of interest.
The other company that could quickly provide podcast or video blogging metrics would be?
Apple.
That wasn't too hard to guess since they also have a closed system where they can monitor everything from software to hardware to content.
Best,
Peggy
Interested in metrics on portable devices.
(John Federico, Audible.com, was on my panel at podcastexpo.com/portablemediaexpo.com
on audience metrics.) Here's John's blog. http://johnfederico.brandbrains.net/
He's also blogging officially for audible.com http://blogs.audible.com/podcasting/
John mentions a few of the features built into audible that can tie into
user and advertising metrics:
Audible's ow ".aa"
format.... ... AudibleReady platform: bookmarks, chapter marks, saved playback state and playback capability on 140 devices. ...(The Audible file format has the largest base of playback devices, second only to mp3.)"
(The metrics panel at podcast expo/portable media exp included: Dave Van Dyke - Bridge Ratings, Diane Williams - Arbitron, Mark Donovan - M:Metrics, John Federico, Audible.com, Peggy Miles - Intervox, (that's me.) and Mark McCrery - Podtrac.
As a personal note. It's great to see the company that pioneered downloading of
audio maintaining a strong position. You can see the first audible player in the Smithsonian.
Here's more about Frank...
Frank Barnako has co-founded three Internet ventures, including CBS MarketWatch.com where he's managed the company's Washington unit and launched the company's radio network four years ago. The Network provides newscasts twice an hour, seven days a week to 240 stations, making it the largest business radio network in the U.S. Affiliates include WTOP Washington, WINS New York and WBBM Chicago. He is also the editor of Internet Daily, the
oldest column about the business of the Internet, which he has written since 1996. A daily audio version of the column is also distributed by the CBS Radio network.
Prior to his involvement with the Internet, Barnako had careers in radio and television broadcasting and management.
