The U.S. podcasting audience reached 18.5 million in 2007, according to eMarketer and was projected to top 65 million by 2012 with 25 million listeners downloading one or more podcasts a week.
Ad spending on podcasts in the U.S. is also expected to creep up, from $165 million in 2007 to $435 million in 2012.
Major podcasting networks like Revision3 are growing with the medium’s success by revamping their websites and adding new programming.
If you’re not already a podcast consumer, then check out the podcast section in iTunes. There’s a lot of great stuff from tech shows to yoga workouts. And they are all free. I usually watch 5-10 podcasts a day on either my iPod Touch or Apple TV. Makes the bus ride to work much more enjoyable.
Here are a few favorites:
- Diggnation - weekly rundown of the front page stories on Digg.com
- Tiki Bar TV - drinking games
- Unboxing Live - take a new gadget, and open it up while the camera is rolling
- Midwest Teen Sex Show - explores topics concerning teen sexuality from gym class to syphilis
- The Totally Rad Show - movie, comic books and game reviews
- Make Podcast - how to tweak, hack, and bend technology any way you want
- Play Value - the history of video games.
- NBC Nightly News - the full TV broadcast sans commercials
