The Podcast Network Blog

What does that makes us… a toddler? That sounds about right.

Tim King from +grooveARMY has written a brilliant widget for TPN which will run on your desktop to make sure you never miss another TPN podcast!

The Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly known as Konfabulator) is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. With the TPN widget, it will sit unobtrusively on your desktop and display the latest 14 podcasts from across TPN. Pretty cool huh!?

GET THE WIDGET HERE.
DOWNLOAD YAHOO! WIDGET ENGINE HERE.

For his efforts, Tim wins the coveted “TPN Contributor Of The Month Award” which entitles him to buy me lunch at the café or restaurant of my choice. Congratulations Tim!

I was notified today that TPN made EContent Magazine’s list of “the 100 companies that lead the digital content industry today” which is nice recognition. I give all of the credit to our great hosts, the talent that make TPN happen. Well done team!

Beti the Excel Jedi (and the host of the TPN Health and Fitness podcast) has put together a nifty pps containing the results of the TPN Oct 2006 survey so far. I’ll leave it open for another few weeks but I think the results are already showing some interesting trends. Some interesting things that popped out at me:

• most people say that, on average, they listen to "most or all" of podcasts
• about a third pay attention to ads in podcasts, but another third ignore them
• 50% would be willing to pay >$1 a month to listen to TPN podcasts
• the breakdown between people listening on a PC versus a portable player is moving away from the PC, with 75% listening on a portable device
• nobody first heard of TPN via the mainstream media
• the vast majority say they trust the opinions of TPN hosts either "very much" or "somewhat" and 70% trust TPN hosts more than they trust mainstream media (which might shut up all the journos who love to say "you can’t trust blogs"… nah who am I kidding… )
• almost all of you relate to TPN hosts more than you relate to mainstream media hosts, yet again demonstrating the power of citizen media
• two-thirds listen to less traditional radio since discovering podcasting (I should have asked what percentage of the podcasts you listen to are traditional radio shows versus citizen media… next time)
• two-thirds find citizen media more stimulating than mainstream media
• and, overwhelmingly, you are Beatles persons who disagree with the Iraq invasion and are worried about climate change. In other words, you haven’t been fooled by the propaganda campaigns on these issues run by your Governments and the corporations that run them. I am very proud of you.

Check out the early results. And if you haven’t completed the survey yet, you still have a chance by going here.

So far I’ve had about 94 responses to the TPN survey I put up last week. Any suggestions why the responses are so low and what I can do to get more?

Oh and to the person who answered the last question with "See, this is why I have trouble with TPN. I was happy to help you out by filling out a survey, but now you are wasting my time", I’d say "GET A SENSE OF HUMOUR". Jesus. Mind you, this person isn’t subscribed to any TPN podcasts, so I guess he/she isn’t our target market which is obvious anyway from that answer. Bloody hell.

For those of you WITH a sense of perspective about how important you are, you might be interested to know that 79.5% of responses were for The Beatles (which means I have to get rid of the sunnies and get a long wig), 72.7% are worried about climate change, 72.4% think the "War On Terror" is a shame, and only 36.8% of you have offered me a spare bed. Can those people please email me with their location because I might need it soon. Especially if you live in LA or San Fran.

<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=826122623222">Click here to take survey</a>

The nice folks at Apple have set up a "Featured Provider Page" for TPN in iTunes. Check it out. I think it looks sweeeeet.

Here is a list of the Top Ten downloaded podcasts on The Podcast Network in Sept 2006:
1 G’Day World
2 Claybourne
3 Digital Photography
4 Media Centre
5 Rock
6 PSP
7 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
8 Martial Arts
9 Gaming
10 Cranky Middle Manager

Congrats to the hosts of those shows for producing outstanding entertainment!

Oh yeah, you know you LERVE a good survey. And this is the finest surveying that money can buy. We went into the future to bring this baby back for you. This survey is built by autonomous nano-bots, lubricated with genetically-modified omega-3 oils, and powered by Steorn’s free energy modulator (which finally came out in 2009 and completely destroyed the oil cartels… you had to be there).

FILL IN THE TPN SURVEY NOW.

WWT, host of one of TPN’s top rating podcasts, The Cranky Middle Manager Show, has been interviewed in depth by John C Havens on About.com’s podcasting page. It’s a terrific and revealing interview, even though he manages to take an in advertent dig at me for putting out longer shows! He has a lot of tips for podcasters who want to succeed over the long haul, something he can talk with credibility about, as WW has been going for over a year and has seen his audience slowly grow to a serious size. I like this quote from him:

I know why I do it. I’m building the brand, what Tom Peters calls Brand You and it seems to be working. My new e-book (shameless plug) , is the first thing I’ve put out attempting to make money at podcasting to see if the brand has legs. People seem to be responding. I may someday be able to build a real business out of this.

I was saying to Dave Gray (host of our Global Geek podcast) this morning on Skype that most start-up businesses take five years to get to a point where they are sustainable. Why should a podcast be any different? Sure - there are businesses that skyrocket overnight. But they are always the rare few. Most, the vast majority, of businesses grow over time, building a steady, loyal customer base. I’ve always had the same vision for podcasting and The Podcast Network. Too many people are fly-by-nighters. It they aren’t world famous and P. Diddy rich in a month, they suck their thumb and stomp their feet. I don’t tolerate that behaviour from my five years olds and I think it’s pathetic in an adult.

Anyway, enough ranting… good interview WW!