Does 53% matter?
In Podcast Warning: Radio Beware, The Hollywood Reporter reports about a new study released by Nielsen Analytics. Depending on how you look at it, the stats may be encouraging or depressing. The one that caught my eye:
About 11% of the U.S. Internet population has downloaded at least one podcast, while 53% have never even heard the term "podcast."
Yikes. 53%? Who were they polling, my mom? See, that's the thing I always come back to - my mom wouldn't think to base her movie-going decisions on a website or web campaign, so the technology can ignore her demo, right? I mean, back in the day when we all considered an HTML alternative to Flash movie sites, I always maintained that the people who go to movie sites in the first place have Flash and the non-Flashers wouldn't look to a website for movie info, they'd look to old media.
Another interesting statistic from study:
"Given that movie promotions in traditional media often must be purchased at premium rates, podcasting offers a unique and low-cost marketing vehicle" -- especially movies that appeal to males because they account for 75% of the nation's podcast downloaders.
Note to self: Don't propose podcast feature for the next chick-flick we bid on.