December 2008 Archives
A Year in Review
December 30, 2008 2:00 PMEnd of year is always a natural time for reflection and VoloMedia's accomplishments in 2008 are certainly worthy of some reflection. In spite of a turbulent environment, economically and otherwise, our team has kept its collective head down and delivered a wide array of impressive results:
Product Innovation. VoloMedia released its iTunes plug-in, which enhances audience reach, consumption measurement, and monetization of video podcasts consumed on PCs, iPods, and iPhones. VoloMedia's plug-in is the first to offer user interactivity within the iTunes Media Player environment and is compatible with the recently released iPhone 2.2 operating system. A lot has been written about online media metrics, and the portable media (or podcast) space has certainly not been immune to the various debates. Our ability to measure and report against the entire download workflow, from requested and partial downloads to completed and played downloads, is truly something unique.
Network Growth. VoloMedia signed a number of major publishers and media brands to its ad network for portable media, including The Washington Post with the Slate and Newsweek brands, Gamepro, Public Radio International, G4TV and Ringtales, the publisher of the popular "Dilbert" and "New Yorker" animated podcasts. As a result, we have enjoyed 190% growth in completed, monetizable downloads. Check out our recent blog post on our content partners honored in iTunes' Best of 2008 podcast list.
Advertising Efficacy. VoloMedia's campaign for the Timex Ironman iControl watch was named a 2008 Stevie Award finalist for "Best Online Ad Campaign." The campaign targeted the popular Podrunner podcast series with relevant spots designed to reach 18 to 35 year-old men and women during workouts. VoloMedia also ran ad campaigns for Toyota, Timex, Acura, Air Force, Boeing, Mercedes Benz, and the History Channel.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to our growth and success this year. We look forward to a healthy and rewarding 2009.
Brian Steel
President & CEO
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
VoloMedia Expands Distribution of iTunes Plug-in with "Dilbert" Cartoon Podcasts
December 18, 2008 3:21 PM
We are very excited to announce Ringtales as the latest content partner to adopt the VoloMedia iTunes plug-in for their Dilbert
animated cartoon podcast, recently selected by iTunes as one of the
best video podcasts for 2008. By integrating VoloMedia's iTunes
plug-in, Ringtales enhances the audience reach, tracking, measurement,
monetization, and reporting of their podcasts whether consumed on PCs
or iPods and iPhones.
The full version of the press release is posted here.
The United States Air Force is already on board with an advertising campaign that targets Dilbert and other podcasts into which VoloMedia dynamically inserts and tracks ads.
Check out the VoloMedia iTunes Plug-in by clicking 'Get Podcast' and get your daily helping of Dilbert humor and philosophy.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
VoloMedia Welcomes Sonibyte
December 12, 2008 2:31 PMWe'd like to extend a warm welcome to out newest content partner, Sonibyte.
You may already be listening to Sonibyte- they are responsible for the podcasts from top-tier publishers including TIME, InStyle, and Discover magazines, as well as the Daily Bible Verse, Daily Koran, and the popular Poem of the Day.
Sonibyte employs an army of voice-over artists that quickly turns any text--from magazine articles to poems--into an audio podcast complete with their original intonation and subtleties. They call it "audio literature."
Check out how Sonibyte turned this Time article into a podcast:
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
VoloMedia Partners Honored in iTunes' Best of 2008 List
December 5, 2008 2:19 PM 
Apple has released their fourth annual list of the most popular downloads in the iTunes Store and we would like to congratulate our partners for dominating the podcast section!
2008: Video
#1 MSNBC- The Rachel Maddow Show
#3 Ringtales- Dilbert Animated Cartoons
#16 MSNBC- Countdown
2008: Audio
#6 Public Radio International- The World
#7 Scientific American- 60-Second Science
#19 Public Radio International- The World in Words
Classics: Video
#14 MSNBC- Meet the Press
Classics: Audio
#14 DJ Steve Boyett- PODRUNNER
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Podcasting: the Future of Mobile Media
December 3, 2008 10:00 AM Yet another iPhone-like smartphone will be released next week: the Samsung Omnia is a 2.3-inch 3G phone with a touchscreen, WiFi, GPS, accelerometer, and 16 GB of storage, which will be sold by Verizon. This phone also supports podcast downloads of video and audio files.
Speaking of increasing adoption of podcasting in devices, with Apple's newly released iPhone OS version 2.2, podcast downloads are now natively supported on the iPod Touch and still fast-growing iPhone. With 6.9 million iPhones sold in the July-September quarter of 2008, over 20 million iPhones and iPod Touches have been sold to date. Google's Android will offer multiple applications to download and consume podcasts, with podcast support on Nokia, Blackberry, and Motorola smartphones around the corner. Recent research from Gartner reports that smartphone sales are surging, fueled by the new touchscreen devices. The North American market remained among the fastest-growing markets in the second quarter of 2008 with an increase of 78.7% year-over-year.
Embedding podcast applications natively on mobile phones enables consumers to easily discover new video or audio shows on the go. While these developments are likely to bring more mobile users into podcasting and propel the explosive growth of the medium, iTunes on PCs (most of which are now portable notebooks) will remain the foundation of podcast discovery and downloads due to network restrictions such as AT&T's prohibition of podcast downloads in excess of 10 MB. Previous estimates showed 70% of podcast downloads being consumed on the PC/laptop. This ratio is likely to change as more people discover the availability of free downloads on their mobile phones, but the "automatic" subscription downloads facilitated by iTunes will remain central to how people subscribe and consume their shows of choice.
These are very exciting developments for content owners, who can now bypass the carriers and deliver their video and audio content directly to consumers. This also means the Verizon VCAST walled garden is heading into oblivion along the same route taken by the other famous walled garden: AOL. Content owners are now free to extend their reach to the vast and growing mobile audiences, without the complex gatekeeper dynamics imposed by the carriers.
-Murgesh
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
