Podtrac says Podcasts 3x as effective

We came across this little diddy on the wires about the effectiveness of podcasts. Very interesting. We think its just further proof that every company should podcast their jobs (among other things).

Podcasts and Online Video Show Ads are Three Times More Effective Than Traditional Online Ads

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Podtrac, the leading network of podcasts and online shows, today announced the results of four independent advertising effectiveness studies with TNS, a global market research company, which reveal podcasts as having a three-fold ad effectiveness increase over traditional online video and a seven-fold effectiveness increase over television. Unaided ad awareness across two years of studies was 68% compared to industry benchmarks of 21% for streaming video and 10% for television. The studies spanned two years, from February 2006 to March 2008, and multiple product categories including: television programming, automobile, financial services, and digital imaging. 52 online shows and podcasts participated in the four campaigns studied and 6,869 audience members participated in the research.

Ad formats consisted of: embedded :15 and :30 host-read audio and video ads, embedded :10 and :15 produced video ads, ad banners on publisher websites, and social networking in the form of publisher blog entries about advertised brands and related topics. Podtrac developed the advertising effectiveness methodology in conjunction with TNS.

The study showed embedded advertising in online shows and podcasts to be highly effective for increasing brand awareness, usage intent and positively impacting brand perceptions across four diverse product categories: television programming, automobiles, financial service, and digital imaging. Results included:

• Average unaided ad recall of 68%

• Average aided ad recall of 89%

• 73% average increase in likelihood to use/buy vs control group

• 69% having a more favorable view of advertiser due to ad exposure

“The unaided awareness level of 68% is considerably higher in podcasts and online shows than in other offline and online media,” said Mark McCrery, Podtrac’s CEO and Co-Founder. “Narrowly targeted audiences, appropriate ad formats, content relevance, and show host involvement are some of the factors which come together to produce highly effective ads in online shows and podcasts.”

“The data also suggest audiences are paying close attention to show content and the embedded ads within them which greatly increased ad effectiveness in the studies,” said Doug Keith, former Vice President of the Media & Entertainment Group at TNS and currently President of Future Research Consulting. “The high unaided ad recall figures are no doubt the results of a less cluttered environment.”