B-to-B podcasting

The hype surrounding podcasting has focused primarily on its implications for commercial broadcasting. While do-it-yourself podcasting will likely explode at the consumer level (think of all those home videos and soccer-game reports that can be podcast and videoblogged for a micro-audience of family and friends), there are also some great podcasting opportunities for traditional (and start-up) business-to-business media firms.

Last night, Steve Jobs announced that Apple will soon make it easier for iTunes users to access podcasts (even paid-subscription podcasts). This development could make it even more promising for business-to-business media firms to find audiences for audio (and later, video) programming that can be subscribed to by listeners and automatically sync'd to their computers and MP3 players for later listening.

As with any technology-powered new medium, the tech b-to-b media pros are going to be pioneer podcasters, as their audience are the early adopters on the receiving end. One of many examples to consider is ZDNet.com columnist Steve Gillmor's launch of a new a daily podcast consisting of conversations with technology pundits/bloggers/journalists and newsmakers. Last fall, his long-running streaming audio program, Gillmor Gang, morphed into a podcast and served as a venue for some of the first conceptual discussions about podcasting. According to Gillmor, the earlier show had 10,000 listeners.

Business-to-business podcasting is a trend to watch (and listen to). Here are three of the emerging directories of business-oriented podcasts:

Podcast.net business podcasts
ipodder.org business podcasts
podcastalley.com business podcasts

Update: Two posts related to this topic from Neville Hobson on his weblog, NevOn:

"A business model for podcasting"
"Podcasting is almost mainstream"

(posted by Rex Hammock)

Comments

[Paul Conley]

There are a few interesting things happening here in B2B, but nothing truly great yet (do you agree, Rex?)
In agriculture, I like DTN's podcast. But they are really only sending existing, professional material over a different medium.
http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=1373
I'm still waiting for some talented farmer or commodities trader to enter podcasting and compete with DTN.
There's also a fair number of podcasts that sort of blur the lines of B2B, B2C and politics in the petroleum space.
I don't care for any of them. But this one is probably the biggest:
http://www.thewatt.com/
There are also some folks doing things that should be of interest to B2B. For example, someone with a trucking magazine should be paying attention to this:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/OutHereOnTheRoad
Thanks.

[Rex Hammock]

As a former publisher of a trucking magazine, I agree with you that podcasting is a natural for this audience. As some of the folks in that category already have broadcasting experience, I can't help but think the lightbulb will go off. I think that the iTunes announcement may simplify the concept for some so that the lightbulb will go off sooner.I think you're correct on the agriculture front, as well.Despite not be in technology, I listen to some of the techie-oriented podcasts from time to time and have come to realize they are intensly business-to-business without even intending to be. They try to be just "geeks" talking with one another, but they get heavily into the business ramifications of wireless broadband and things over my head real quickly.PaidContent.org's Rafat Ali has a Griffin iTalk he slaps onto his iPod whenever he's interviewing someone and posts the resulting MP3 on his site. If he added an RSS enclosure, those would be podcasts, however, he'll admit that the sound and production quailty leaves something to be desired.So, I agree with your premise: not much there now. But I think business to business media people could actually wake up on this one and get out front quickly. I'm constantly reminding folks that "podcasting" (the "word" and RSS-enabled asynchronus aspects of it) is only seven months old.