What Podcast Listeners Really Want

On Friday night, I had the chance to moderate an interactive session with close to 40 podcast listeners during the International Podcasting Expo.

Using quotes from Star Trek, we had loads of fun during the one-hour we spent together. Although they gave me alot of information, the portion of our session that I found extremely educational was when we started to talk about advertising.

Here are some interesting things they told me about ads in podcasts:

"No ads please, but we'll trust a recommendation from a host."
"If there's an ad, place it the beginning or the end of the podcast."
"If there has to be an ad, make sure it's no longer than 30-seconds."
"We'll tolerate only 1, maybe 2 ads per podcast."

Overall, if you're producing a podcast, it's better for your host to make a recommendation than to run a 30-second ad. Why?

"It worked with Adam Curry when he recommended a Gilette product," said one attendee.
"It sounds like a recommendation from a friend," said another.
"If I couldn't recommend it to my sister, I wouldn't recommend it to my listeners," said another attendee, who's also a podcast host.

The only warning, according to these podcast listeners, is that it has to be a "true" recommendation. A product the host has used and likes.

Now, how do we monetize this?