Podcasting Goes Mainstream

MARCH 4, 2009

The pods have arrived.

Podcasting was born of the collision between social media and the iPod. Or, as Wired described it in a March 2005 article, “the bastard offspring of the blog and the Apple MP3 player.”

Back then podcasting was the domain of a few tech aficionados who saw it as a cheap and easy outlet to broadcast their views. All they needed was a microphone, some off-the-shelf software, and an installed base of iPod owners and Web surfers.

But things have changed.

“Today, the vast majority of the top-rated podcasts come from recognizable media entities that are using podcasts to expand their existing radio, TV, cable or satellite audiences,” says Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Podcasting: Into the Mainstream.

The podcast audience has grown, too, and eMarketer projects that growth will continue at least through 2013, when there will be 37.6 million people downloading podcasts on a monthly basis, more than double the 2008 figure of 17.4 million.

As a percentage of Internet users, podcast downloaders will grow from 9% in 2008 to 17% in 2013.

US online buyers who purchase mostly online showed an even greater propensity to listen to podcasts. Some 50% of mostly online buyers in a PriceGrabber.com survey said they listened to podcasts—a far greater number than comparable percentages of Internet users or consumers as a whole.

As for who is doing the downloading, a Pew Internet & American Life Project demographic profile of US adult Internet users who downloaded podcasts showed that they skewed male and young. The group ages 18 to 29 had the highest representation of podcast downloaders. Rates of podcast downloading steadily decreased for older age groups.

“The popularity of podcasts has created an environment in which increasing numbers of media companies are repurposing content from their radio or TV broadcasts as podcasts, and audiences have responded favorably,” says Mr. Verna. “This shift has resulted in the evolution of podcasting from a long-tail medium to a Web 2.0 extension of popular, traditional media.”

Heard the Latest About Podcasting?

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

Engagement via headphones.

Ever since podcasting was introduced, the question has been the same: Will anyone listen?

The answer is definitely “Yes.”

eMarketer estimates that the total US podcast audience reached 18.5 million in 2007.

Furthermore, that audience will increase by 251% to 65 million in 2012. And of those listeners, 25 million will be “active” users who tune in at least once a week.

”As the US podcasting industry matures it is unquestionably creating a listening audience,” says Paul Verna, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Podcast Audience: Seeking Riches in Niches, “And along with a larger audience comes increases in advertising spending tied to podcasts.”

Driven by this audience growth, US spending on podcast-related advertising (including sponsorships) will rise to $435 million in 2012, up from $165 million in 2007.

A number of factors are driving the growth of the podcast-user base:

• Greater ease of consumption for podcast content
• Growing awareness of podcasting
• Terrestrial radio’s use and promotion of podcasting
• Increased penetration of portable players
• The evolution of smart phones and proliferation of affordable mobile data plans

”No one will argue that mobile devices and communication are becoming widespread,” says Mr. Verna. “Even so, the majority of podcasts are actually experienced on PCs, not portable devices.”

The situation might change in time, but for now podcasts are mainly a desktop phenomenon as opposed to a mobile or portable one.

MediaTrust Podcast from the Red Carpet :Honoring Javier Bardem

Honoring Javier Bardem

Monday night was short and sweet on the red carpet. Although Woody Harrelson was scheduled to walk the red carpet, a miscalculation of traffic got him into Santa Barbara too late. Julie Ramos did manage to speak with honoree, Javier Bardem about his role in No Country for Old Men.

CLICK HERE FOR A HI-DEFINITION QUICKTIME VERSION

Host: Julie Ramos

Camera: Angelina Peterson

Editing: Scott Parent

Still Photography: Joseph Matheny

Sponsored By: MediaTrust

MediaTrust Podcast : Kate Blanchett interview

2008 Modern Master Award: Cate Blanchett

The Modern Master award is the highest honor from the SBIFF, and Cate Blanchett was on hand Saturday evening to receive it. Our own Melanie Waters spoke with Cate, as well as director, Todd Haynes, who presented the award. And if that wasn’t enough, we spoke with festival juror and “House of Sand & Fog” actress, Shohreh Aghdashloo and TV’s “House” star, Olivia Wilde.

It was an amazing evening. After watching our coverage, we hope you’ll agree.

CLICK HERE FOR A HI-DEFINITION QUICKTIME VERSION

Host: Melanie Waters

Camera & Editing: Scott Parent

Still Photography: Joseph Matheny

Sponsored by: MediaTrust

MediaTrusts opening night podcasting from the red carpet!

Opening Night: “Definitely, Maybe”

It poured buckets of rain down on Santa Barbara on Thursday, but that didn’t stop the thrill of opening night at the 23rd annual SBIFF! People were out in force to watch the world premiere of “Definitely, Maybe,” attend the gala, and maybe get a peek at their favorite celeb. If you couldn’t make it, don’t fret, we captured it all for you!

In our first show we speak with Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Adam Brooks, Derek Luke, and Liane Balaban. As if that wasn’t enough, we roped our very own Roger Durling in for a quick chat as well.

Take a look!

CLICK HERE FOR A HI-DEFINITION QUICKTIME VERSION

Host: Melanie Waters

Camera & Editing: Scott Parent

Still Photography: Joseph Matheny

Sponsored by: MediaTrust

The Problem with Podcasting Isn’t Downloads

The Problem with Podcasting Isn’t Downloads

January 10, 2008 — 11:01 AM PST — by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Share This

That Wizzard Media has hit a billion download requests in 2007 is the news on everyone’s lips these last couple of days. Indeed it is a milestone for Wizzard Media, and is probably worthy of note for those of us in the podcasting world to remember that people do indeed love to download podcasts, and that it is a sharply growing medium.

Unfortunately, the fact that people download podcasts isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, ever in dispute. The problem that we cannot make reliable money from monetizing these downloads is the issue that keeps cropping up and preventing the rest of the world from taking it seriously. I primarily speak of audio podcasting, since thanks to the online video revolution, the video portion of podcasting has been swept up into respectability.

The last year I’ve spent in podcasting has been a cautionary tale on all the pitfalls there are in the business.

Personal Problems with Podcasting
My journey in podcasting, this time around, began with TalkShoe. My buddy and I revived our old politics and technology show, which gained traction quickly, and within a matter of months, we were accounting for around a third of all downloads to the system on TalkShoe.com. They paid respectably for a while, but ended up pulling a bait and switch on us, and wound up reducing our CPM payment to around $6 CPM.

After a couple nasty issues of censorship of my wife’s podcast, Art and I moved on to Podango, and also struck up a partnership with RawVoice. The partnerships couldn’t have come at a better time, as Podango and the TechPodcast network both found us advertisers right as we were breaking major news on the hot story of the moment, the gPhone.

Our already high download numbers shot through the roof, blasting through the 30,000 downloads a day mark for several days.

Unfortunately, though, we found that Podango was unable to find further advertisers for our show after the contract with Overstock ended due to reorganization in their sales department, and RawVoice did not pay on the contract as agreed either. The contract with RawVoice ran twice as long as the contract Podango had arranged with Overstock, and had a slightly higher CPM, yet Todd Cochrane’s company saw fit to send us a payment for $176, whereas the check for a same pay period from Podango would have been over a thousand.

The reason cited for the discrepancy was that the statistics engine favored the advertiser, and not the podcaster.

Search for New Podcast Representation
Art and I since put our politics and tech podcast on hiatus. If we couldn’t make dime one with it, while it was a blast to do, we had better ways to spend a couple hours a day, especially since I had come on at Mashable, which grew to fill all available time in my day. Still, the podcasting bug was still in my system, and I clung to the hope that we could create quality audio podcast under the Mashable brand, find a good audience for it, and have ads sold for it.

I set about creating some concepts for a couple of podcasts for Mashable, which frankly is the easy part. I spoke to Pete about them, and he gave them tentative approval, provided I could find sponsorship for the podcast at the onset. I gave everyone a call in the business I could think of to find a suitable sponsor.

Unfortunately, it was a pretty short list. Podango’s sales department was still in flux. Federated Media didn’t work with audio podcasts. TalkShoe’s monetization scheme was no longer suitable for podcasts that didn’t take live calls. RawVoice had shown they wouldn’t pay appropriately for downloads. I’d been signed up with PodTrac for around a year without a single advertising offer.

I gave Adam Curry’s folks over at PodShow a call, and at first they seemed fairly interested in helping us out, after I played phone tag with one of the ‘talent recruitment’ fellows for a week or two. We spoke for about 15 minutes or so, and things sounded interesting, but I’d have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to further talks with the company. The NDA never arrived, so after a week or so, I gave LibSyn a ring to see if they’d help us with finding some sponsors for the show.

I spoke to Jim Else, a Vice President at Wizzard Media, and described the situation to him to see if he could help us out. He at first attempted to give me a primer on the basics of podcasting as if I had no idea how the business operated. I stopped him and re-iterated that I was fairly experienced in the business, and described again that we were looking for sponsorship and advertising representation for some Mashable branded podcasts, and he told me that the business simply didn’t work like that, and I’d have to host the podcast with LibSyn for a substantial amount of time before finding any advertisers for us, and that they would more than likely be affiliate based ads as opposed to CPM ads.

You See My Dilemma
It’s clear that the world likes audio podcasts, despite the fact that the clients are often somewhat obtuse, and it isn’t the rich media technology with the lowest barrier to entry. The growth of the medium is going strong, and will probably continue to do so. The advertising world needs to catch up to this fact, and actually put some work into making money off it. I’m not the only one facing this problem, too. Of those I’m acquainted with in audio podcasting that are in it to make money, they’ve reported similar experiences.

Sure, it is exciting that another download milestone has been passed. Let’s work on getting some milestones in monetization passed, and then you’ll see me getting excited about podcasting again.

Shoutlet is a powerful Web 2.0 marketing tool.

Shoutlet
HOME
DEMO
FEATURES
FAQS TESTIMONIALS -->PRICING
RESELLERS
PRESS BLOG

Shoutlet is a powerful Web 2.0 marketing tool.
Distribute and track your content through Email, Mobile Phone(SMS), RSS Feeds, Podcasts & More!

SHOUTLET BENEFITS
Easily create, distribute and manage RSS feeds, HTML email campaigns, podcasts, and mobile phone text messages (SMS)
Measure campaign effectiveness within minutes of launch. Track reads, click-throughs, and other actions in real time
Create widgets to distribute your content via external websites and mobile devices
Import and manage contacts from such popular databases as Plaxo, LinkedIn, Excel, CSV, Outlook and more
Collaborate online to develop and archive a library of digital content with full version and publishing controls
some sort of content -->
"With Shoutlet, we’ve shaved weeks off the production schedule for our newsletters, and the tracking lets us forecast what the results will be the day after they're sent. Thank you for this easy-to-use tool."
Michele W.Southern Herb Co.

Viacom to Sue Google and YouTube

Viacom says YouTube has failed to prevent breaches of copyright
Entertainment giant Viacom Media has announced that it is going to sue web search engine Google and video sharing website YouTube for $1bn (£517m).

Viacom has accused Google, which bought YouTube at the end of last year, of illegally using its TV programmes.

It said YouTube was guilty of "massive intentional copyright infringement".

Viacom claims that about 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programmes have been loaded onto YouTube's site and viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

The lawsuit seeks more than $1bn in damages and an injunction to prevent copyright infringement.

"YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site," said Viacom in a statement.

"Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws."

Last month, Viacom, which owns cable networks MTV and Nickelodeon, told YouTube to remove 100,000 "unauthorised" clips.

Viacom said its demand came after YouTube and Google failed to install tools to "filter" the unauthorised video clips.

Podvertising

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

'Meet you on the download, dude.'

As a rule, most widely consumed podcasts still have less than 50,000 downloaders, and most have far fewer, but podcast distribution and viewing mechanisms are proliferating and podcast advertising has marketers buzzing.

No wonder.

Even though podcast advertising spending was a mere $3.1 million in 2005, it rose to $80 million in 2006, and eMarketer forecasts that it will grow fivefold in the next five years.

"Despite an incessant buzz about the medium, regular podcast users are still rare. As such, podcasting is a niche marketing channel; it may be the right niche for some marketers, but it's still a niche," says James Belcher, eMarketer senior analyst and the author of the new Podcast Advertising report. "The fact that podcasts are supplemental ad channels for most marketers is not for lack of choice, however. Downloadable serialized short content format is increasingly available, and iPod sales are seemingly unstoppable."

In fact, it is the sheer number of podcasts — nearly 90,000, according to podcast search engine PodNova — that makes it difficult even for interested marketers to choose the right programs to showcase their brands.

"Podcast sponsorship uses the medium's strengths: self-selected subscribers, host endorsements and low-waste ad impressions," says Mr. Belcher. "Yet the time and effort required to develop an effective sponsorship will keep podcasting from cannibalizing ad dollars in other channels anytime soon."

As of now, only a minority of US Internet users listen to podcasts, but according to the "Podcast Downloading" report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, roughly 12% of Internet users say they have downloaded a podcast to listen to or view at a later time.

The audience of people who have been exposed to podcasts is growing. That number compares to 7% of Internet users who reported downloading a podcast in Pew's February-April 2006 survey.

Mary Madden of Pew, the author of the report, estimated in a podcast interview that 17 million people had downloaded podcasts for use on their computers or iPods.

"The bad news is that in surveys only 1% of respondents reported downloading a podcast on a typical day," says Mr. Belcher. "In other words, the frequency level remains very low."

The question for podcasters is: Can they deliver the right, well-targeted niche audiences at comparative — or at least competitive — ad rates?

"In spite of efforts by podcast networks and measurement firms to give it mass marketing appeal," says Mr. Belcher, "podcasting will remain a niche medium for the foreseeable future."

Go beyond the buzz, get a realistic assessment of the opportunities, and pitfalls, awaiting marketers who podvertise — download eMarketer's new Podcast Advertising report today.

The Next Big Ad Medium: Podcasts

Advertisers will spend more than $400 million on podcasting by 2011, but they're still not sure who will be listening to them

by Catherine Holahan

Remember podcasting? While marketers have been busy uploading commercials to YouTube, the once-buzzed-about medium has spent the past two years building its audience and enhancing advertising capability. Now, podcasts are finally poised to grab a larger slice of the multibillion-dollar online advertising pie.

Research firm eMarketer expects that advertisers will spend more than $400 million on podcasting by 2011, up from $80 million last year, according to a report scheduled for release later this week. Fueling the anticipated growth is the expected entrance of Google (GOOG) into the podcasting arena, as well as new podcasting services focused on answering advertisers' most pressing questions: How many people are tuning in to the hundreds of thousands of online podcasts, and who are they?

Report author James Belcher expects that the Mountain View (Calif.) company will develop the ability to insert audio ads, based on keywords, into audio podcasts within the next five years. The online advertising goliath has been quiet about any plans to do so. However, Google extended its reach into audio marketing with the acquisition of radio advertising company dMarc last year (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/17/06, "Today Search, Tomorrow Ads?"). "One of the things coming down the pike is Google will develop some version of AdSense for podcasts," says Belcher.

Reaching Listeners

The medium isn't waiting for Google, however. On Feb. 14, podcast company Podtrac unveiled a free online service that enables advertisers to research audience information for audio and video podcasts based on demographics, size, and other characteristics. The company, which helps connect roughly 5,000 of the top podcasters to advertisers, includes data for all podcasts in its new service, including those from major media companies with whom Podtrac is not affiliated. It indexes its data to information in Mediamark Research's Survey of the American Consumer.

The hope, explains Podtrac chief executive and co-founder Mark McCrery, is that the service will give advertisers enough data to become comfortable with the new medium. "We want to grow the market for podcast advertising," says McCrery, adding that advertisers want the same information they get from traditional media when buying ads online.

Belcher credits such technology with helping solve one of the major problems podcasters have faced with advertisers: an inability to prove they have the size or type of audience they claim. It's a problem that Jonathan Cobb knows well. As the CEO and founder of Kiptronic, a startup that places ads within audio and video podcasts, Cobb says marketers have been skittish about advertising on a digital medium that, though it reports downloads, can't always charge based on the number of people who interact with the ad. "There is no way for somebody who is jogging and listening to a podcast at the gym to click on an ad," Cobb notes.

He points out that television and radio do not provide click-through rates either. But advertisers have grown to trust—or at least accept—data from third-party auditors. Cobb believes they are just beginning to trust podcast companies' internal data, taken from surveys. Kiptronic, for example, can tell advertisers generally where computers that downloaded audio or video files are located.

Finding That Niche

The entry of major media companies into podcasting has encouraged advertisers to embrace the medium, says Bob Fogarty, vice-president of sales and business development at PodZinger, an audio- and video-search engine that also sells advertising on podcasts. "When you see major players like Clear Channel (CCU) and CBS Radio (CBS) and personality types like Rush Limbaugh have adopted podcasting, you realize it has sort of crossed over into the mainstream," says Fogarty.

The increase of video podcasts, which lend themselves to the kind of video ads that marketers are accustomed to developing for television, has also increased advertiser interest. Also expected to entice advertisers is the highly targeted audience of many podcasts, says Belcher. For example, there are podcasts for people interested in consumer electronics, skateboarding, and comic books. "You can really serve a niche much better than traditional television," says David Prager, chief operating officer and VP of programming at Revision3, an online television network that shows video podcasts. Its most popular, Diggnation, is viewed 250,000 times per week, Prager says.

The more targeted the audience, the more likely advertisers can reach a consumer willing to buy their product. And in theory, that increased targeting will at some point lead to higher-priced advertising.

Podcasting advertising revenues are expected to nearly quintuple in the five years, according to a report to be issued this week by eMarketer, Mediawe

Podcasting advertising revenues are expected to nearly quintuple in the five years, according to a report to be issued this week by eMarketer, Mediaweek reported. That would mean marketers will spend $400 million dollars on podcasts in 2011, which would be only 2% of spending expected this year in the interactive ad market.
James Belcher, the eMarketer analyst, credits most of the ad growth to Google (GOOG :
GOOG458.29, -3.60, -0.8%) . He expects the company to develop an audio version of AdSense which would allow any podcast producer to include ads in their shows. Podtrac's Mark McCrery, who has been building an advertising sales network for podcasts, was quoted by Mediaweek saying companies are buying spots in podcasts., "They are investing...getting some good learning and coming back for more," he said.
Meanwhile Oneupweb said its podcast audience measuring technology has been scaled up for use within a corporate environment and has begun to attract attention of major media publishers. CEO Lisa Wehr said its technology for smaller publishers has been in use about six months by about 25 clients. She detailed some observations about podcast use:
Evergreen content attracts an audience long after it's initially uploaded. Credit visibility in search engines for additional downloads.
Corporate podcasts, those done by companies, are downloaded primarily during lunch hours. Podcasts of an educational or entertainment nature are most popular at 4 p.m., presumably when people are getting read for the commute home.
Mondays and Tuesday are the most popular days for podcast downloading, probably due to their promotion via banner ads and press releases early in the week.
Having statistics on podcast consumption helps persuade decision makers to support podcast production.

MediaTrust brings ABA All-Star Weekend to iPods and mobile devices

Our Sports Central
January 30, 2007
http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3420977

Halifax, Nova Scotia. MediaTrust, Inc., an online marketing services company announced an agreement to create and deliver free audio and vido podcasts of the ABA All-Star Weekend in Partnership with Jazz Media, a company that specializes in big screens and big events. The ABA is the first professional sports league to podcast its All-Star game and to make it available for fee download to any mobile device.
The ABA All-Star Weekend took place Jan 27-28 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. MediaTrust and Jazz Media produced the ABA All-Star Weekend. MediaTrust's media artists have provided the podcasting resources, infrastructure and post production capabilities. In addition to podcasting the game, MediaTrust created audio and video podcasts that provide viewers with a behind the scenes look at the sponsorship dinner, Slam Dunk contest, 3-point Shootout, Hedley concert and meetings between ABA All Star players and local students.

"The ABA gets it: Podcasts are the future. Companies are opening a whole new set of revenue streams by offering events and advertising opportunities through new media, such as podcasts," said Peter Bordes, CEO, MediaTrust. "In partnership with Jazz Media, we are able to disseminate popular sports games to mobile devices worldwide."

"If you can't make the game in-person, we'll bring it to your mobiledevice," said Susan Douglas, VP Operations for Jazz Media. "The ABA All-Star Weekend is just a starting point. We look forward to bringing additional sporting events to fans around the world, in the very near future."

Podcasts are available now. Mobile users can browse to www.MediaTrust.com/aba/2007all-stargame, www.abalive.com , www.ODEO.com and www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts. Click the banner on the ABA website, www.abalive.com - and see all the exciting action from Halifax.

SBIFF Successfully Introduced Podcast To Hollywood Celebrities

Podcast Fresh
February 2, 2007
http://www.podcastfresh.com/2007/02/sbiff-successfully-introduced-podcast-to-hollywood-celebrities/

SBIFF or Santa Barbara International Film Festival who officially incorporated the use of podcasting with their annual film festival celebration has been very fruitful in introducing podcast or podcasting to many Hollywood celebrities.

Today, Hollywood stars like Will Smith, Helen Mirren and Willam H. Macy welcome podcast appearances or interviews with excitement. One member of SBIFF podcast team, Scott Parent told that this year, SBIFF podcasters are enjoying their unfettered access and the powers-that-be really seem to get the importance of viral grassroots style promotion.

MediaTrust Brings ABA All-Star Weekend to iPods and Mobile Devices Worldwide

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, January 26, 2007 – MediaTrust, Inc., an online marketing services company, today announced an agreement to create and deliver free audio and video podcasts of the American Basketball Association (ABA) All-Star Weekend, in partnership with Jazz Media, a company that specializes in big screens and big events. The ABA is the first professional sports league to podcast its All-Star game, and to make it available for free download to any mobile device.

The ABA All-Star Weekend takes place January 27-28 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. MediaTrust and Jazz Media will produce the ABA All-Star Weekend. MediaTrust’s media artists will provide the podcasting resources, infrastructure and post production capabilities. In addition to podcasting the game, MediaTrust will create audio and video podcasts that provide viewers with a behind the scenes look at the sponsorship dinner, Slam Dunk contest, 3-Point Shootout, Hedley concert and meetings between ABA players and local students.

“The ABA gets it: Podcasts are the future. Companies are opening a whole new set of revenue streams by offering events and advertising opportunities through new media, such as podcasts,” said Peter Bordes, CEO, MediaTrust. “In partnership with Jazz Media, we are able to disseminate popular sports games to mobile devices worldwide.”

“If you can't make the game in-person, we'll bring it to your mobile device,” said Susan Douglas, vice president, Operations, Jazz Media. “The ABA All-Star Weekend is just a starting point. We look forward to bringing additional sporting events to fans around the world, in the very near future.”

Podcasts will be available within 24-hours of the live event. Mobile users can browse to www.MediaTrust.com/aba/2007all-stargame, www.ABAlive.com, www.ODEO.com and www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts.

About MediaTrust
MediaTrust (www.MediaTrust.com) is an online marketing services company comprised of AdValiant, an affiliate performance network, and AdVario, a proprietary ad-serving technology. MediaTrust offers a ‘one-stop-shop’ for technology and services across all online marketing channels including: affiliate and search marketing, contextual and display advertising, lead generation, e-mail marketing, proprietary ad-serving technology, mobile marketing, data management, Web publishing, list management, and RSS and podcast marketing. MediaTrust’s experienced marketing services organization ensures that each media campaign is uniquely customized for each advertiser and publisher.

MediaTrust delivers real-time, relevant, and intelligent performance-based online marketing campaigns that create awareness, generate leads, drive sales, and retain customers.

About Jazz Media Group
Jazz Media’s outdoor event video branding (OEVB) service employs sophisticated interactive screens to carry both live feeds and a schedule of events. This gives viewers a compelling reason to watch.

Jazz Media’s events include jazz festivals, pride events, national exhibitions and state fairs. Marketing sponsorships and event production is also a big part of their overall mandate.

###

Media Contacts:
Christine Cefalo for MediaTrust
Cefalo Communications
619-237-1051
Christine@cefalocommunications.com

Sheryl Guanzon
Jazz Media Group
416-682-3441
sheryl@jazzmediagroup.com

MediaTrust to Podcast 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival

NEW YORK CITY, January 22, 2007 – MediaTrust, Inc., an online marketing services company, today announced it has been selected to create and distribute video podcasts of the 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from January 25 to February 4, 2007.

“In 2006, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was the first domestic film festival to deliver video podcasts. For the second year in a row, the SBIFF will leverage MediaTrust’s leading-edge technology to bring the art of filmmaking to the broadest possible audience,” said Roger Durling, director, SBIFF. “The podcasts deliver a level of exposure to our participants that can’t be attained at other festivals - and at the same time - provides our local audience with podcasts with the industry’s most interesting talent for a period of time that far exceeds the dates of our Santa Barbara event.”

“Video podcasts provide visitors with a look ‘behind the scenes’ in a series of interviews with directors, producers, actors and others,” said Joseph Matheney, chief technology officer, MediaTrust. “We are pleased to partner with the most technology-savvy film festival in the country to allow participants a peak behind the curtains, long after the show has ended.”

MediaTrust’s Matheney and several local celebrities including Dian Van Patten from Fox’s hit television series 24, and Scott Parent from Adam Curry’s PodShow and Sirius Radio, will team-up at the SBIFF to conduct exclusive in-person interviews with Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Sacha Baron Cohen and others.

The 2007 SBIFF will highlight an all-star cast of the film industry’s top talent. The Festival will recognize the following award recipients:
• Will Smith: 2007 Modern Master Award
• Forest Whitaker: 2007 American Riviera Award
• Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim: 2007 Attenborough Award for Excellence in Nature Filmmaking
• Helen Mirren: 2007 Outstanding Performance Award
• Bill Condon: 2007 Montecito Award

Dedicated to the art of filmmaking, the SBIFF offers a broad array of international and independent films, with a commitment to diversity. It attracts more than 43,000 visitors each year. The SBIFF endeavors to enrich the community both culturally and economically by presenting eleven days of films, seminars, symposiums and parties. Films from American Independents to major studio releases, to award-winning foreign films and international documentaries, cinephiles have the opportunity to discover mainstream and alternative films, as well as meet the filmmakers and talk with them after screenings. SBIFF is in its 22nd year.

A donation of goods and services from MediaTrust will allow the proceedings of a number of the Festival’s highly attended and entertaining events to be available as both audio and video podcasts to the general public. SBIFF podcasts are available for download at pod.sbiff.org. Also making the SBIFF podcasts available will be Apple iTunes, at www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts.

About MediaTrust
MediaTrust (www.mediatrust.com) is an online marketing services company comprised of AdValiant, an affiliate performance network, and AdVario, a proprietary ad-serving technology. MediaTrust offers a ‘one-stop-shop’ for technology and services across all online marketing channels including: affiliate and search marketing, contextual and display advertising, lead generation, e-mail marketing, proprietary ad-serving technology, mobile marketing, data management, Web publishing, list management, and RSS and podcast marketing. MediaTrust’s experienced marketing services organization ensures that each media campaign is uniquely customized for each advertiser and publisher.

MediaTrust delivers real-time, relevant, and intelligent performance-based online marketing campaigns that create awareness, generate leads, drive sales, and retain customers.
###

Media Contact:
Christine Cefalo for MediaTrust
Cefalo Communications
619-237-1051
Christine@cefalocommunications.com