Google not getting into Podcasting
“Jason Calacanis says that a story in today's WSJ implies that Google is getting into advertising for podcasts.”
Baloney.
I was in with Elliot this morning and he pointed the original press release out to me. My response was “…which will largely be interpreted by the blogosphere that Google is getting into podcasting into a big way”.
Jason’s theory sounds like crap to me. What corporation in their right mind (a category that I include Google in) is going to spend $100 million dollars (potentially $1,000,000,000 <——— ONE BILLION DOLLARS) to get into podcasting advertising? I mean, Google could get into podcasting advertising in a big way for the cost of a couple of salaries, some take-out pizza and a week or two’s worth of work. They aren’t going to spend this kind of money on something as trivial (sorry everyone) as podcasting. I mean, the future of podcasting is bright, but the podcasting advertising market isn’t worth close to $100mm right now – and I mean the whole market!
Google is getting into broadcast advertising – pure and simple. It will be wonderful to see how this plays out. For the past few years, Google has been taking the Web for quite the ride. I can’t wait to see what kind of a mind-fcuk they have in store for BigMedia. Google, like Yahoo! before it, has made the jump from being a web property, to being a media company. Yahoo! mostly stuck to its knitting as a content producer, and Google will probably stick to what it does best – delivering targetted advertising.
As for Google and podcasting, I think they’d be better served to give Evan some more money instead of trying to jam something as large as dMarc into the mix…
See this post as it first appeared on Blogware.
4 comments
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(name not saved), January 18, 2006
What has Odeo done to earn more money? For the past year, they've been setting expectations and then not meeting them. What makes you think this pattern will change?
PodOmatic is where your bets should go. They're way ahead of Odeo in features, consistently delivering on quality and innovation. Their rapid pace of development outstrips any podcast hosting services on the web.
Don't believe it? Keep watching.
(name not saved), January 18, 2006
Podomatic, Odeo, Podshow - all interchangeable in my mind. I justed used Odeo as an evocative example of a pure play that Google would be way better off buying if they were truly interested in a big podcasting play.
(name not saved), January 18, 2006
I get your point. But disagree that Odeo would be a good buy for Google. Also, PodShow has a different business model than PodOmatic & Odeo.
(name not saved), January 18, 2006
Yup - all fair points.
If we want to guess at who would be a great acquisition for Google, I'd have to bet on a player like the soon-to-be renamed iPodderX. They've got a great application that acts as glue for all the different bits - on the consumption side at least. Its a classic bottleneck position and a great place to inject a variety of different ad models...plus it has the benefit of being on the desktop, making it a little harder to displace. On the downside, it would amplify the competition with itunes to a certain degree (both apps perform similar functions).