The Podcast Network has decided to auction off some adspots on one of it’s better known podcasts.
Today I’m launching the first of an ongoing series of Ebay auctions to sell advertising space on TPN podcasts, starting with G’Day World. There are three advertising spaces available on G’Day World and more to come on other TPN podcasts over the course of this week.
I think this is a great idea. Rocketboom did it first, and now everyone else should follow suit. It’s a great way to see what the value of your spots truly is and at the same time, it gives some small fry advertisers a chance at sneaking in to get a good spot.
Unless, that is, you do like Podcast Network and have a minimum bid. Stupid. I suppose the idea is that they figure that the minimum bid is the lowest they will take for the spots, but I think that it was stupid of them to do it. Hey TPN! I’ve got a 2001 Olds Alero that I’ll let you bid on. Runs nice. Starting bid of $25,000. That’s the least I’ll take for it. That makes it worth it right?
Let me explains something to the folks at TPN. The value of your spot should be set by the auction. Not by a minimum bid. Start it off at $.01 and see what it gets to. If it ends at $50, it ends at $50 and you lose out a little. But maybe you let in a advertiser that wouldn’t otherwise have been able to buy a spot. Maybe the extra exposure gives them the in they needed to make it big. Maybe they remember where it all started and you get yourself a corporate advertiser for years that pays your asking price?
Right now, it just looks like you don’t trust the method of selling the spots enough to make sure that you get what you think the value of the spot is.
You either believe that you’ll get what the spot is worth or you don’t. Setting a starting bid makes me think you don’t.
Technorati Tags: thepodcastnetwork, podcastnetwork, podcast network, auction, ad spots, ebay
About Shane Ede
Thanks for the feedback dude. I set a minimum on the auctions because there’s a lot of work for be done when you are have advertisers on a podcast (recording the ad, placing the ads, configuring our backend to run the ads, providing reports, providing invoices, paying the hosts) and I’m not going to do all that for $0.01. That’s time/energy I could more profitably spend doing something else.
Oh and actualy Rocketboom weren’t first. We were.
We did it with G’Day World back in early 2005,
Cameron,
I hadn’t realized that PCN had done it in 2005… but that goes towards my point even more. Was the first trip up auction alley a dissapointment? Is that the deciding factor for the minimum payments? I realize that there is some backend to it, but I cannot imagine that most of your current structure wouldn’t be already set up to where your overhead for adding a ad would be that high. Of course I do see the point with the hosting factor. But in all honesty, how have you been paying your hosts previous to this?
I’m assuming that either you come up with it out of pocket or you have current advertisers. In which case, if the current advertisers are paying the bills, why not split between the ads and have some that are already paid for and some that are a free-for-all auction.