WHAT DO YALL THINK ABOUT PODTRAC!!

[bobbyshakes]

IS IT ON THE UP AND UP OR IS IT SOME BULLSHIT!!

[Metaphore]

AHHHHHHHHH!!!

Stop yelling!

Its on the up and up.

[bobbyshakes]

THANKS MATE!! lol

[Slone]

Honestly speaking...

I agree they have a good start, however I will take this opportunity to share my feedback.

I think they could do more on the backend for podcasters. For a company focused on marketing and promotion they lack support of their own product.

I give the fact they are new, however I still don't know much about their direction for the long term. Interested in their product, giving it a try, but I don't know much more about Podtrac.

I think a community should be developed through forums. They have a lot to gain by listening their consumers on both sides of the table... and it would strengthen their brand and product.

One of the most important in my opinion...
Offer stats more real-time. I don't like to wait 3 months to learn more about my audience. Just seeing how many have filled out my survey is no enough for me.. but that is just me perhaps.

Just general feedback, but I think Podtrac could be more.
-Scott

[kinkysex]

I'll throw in that I'm waiting to see what others do with it before signing up.

I have yet to hear a podcaster rave about this service. I think this lack of enthusiasm is costing them a lot of potential clients.

I've heard, "it's a good idea" or "it's legit". And that's ok, for a start.

But, no one seem to know what to do with the service. It's just this great grey beast hovering in the background waiting on a master (Lovecraft RULES).

Anyone want to jump in and really sing the praises of podtrac?

[SFEley]

I have yet to hear a podcaster rave about this service. I think this lack of enthusiasm is costing them a lot of potential clients.


I've been working with them. I can't rave about them yet because I haven't had an ad offer from them; I consider my relationship with them still "in progress." I can say that I've talked to Mark McCrery and I believe he's got the right attitude as far as respect for content is concerned. The ad formats they're trying to sell are very unintrusive, and their terms and conditions are brief (2 pages) and very clear. There's no long-term commitment, no exclusivity, and you're free to turn down any ad for any reason. I can say with absolute confidence that they are not evil.

Are they good? Well, that remains to be seen. They're taking a very slow, very methodical approach in order to set the early rates high. If they can actually make deals at those rates, you'll start to hear a lot of raving. I won't rave about them based on potential; I'll rave when the facts justify it.

I also think Slone is right that they should have made the results from their tools more accessible by now. I've told them the same thing. They say it's because they've been focused on their advertiser area this past month, and that the reports should be up soon. In my opinion they would have been smarter to put up "at a glance" pages for download tracking and survey responses at the time of launch, even if it wasn't the final report format. They've pitched their tools as free services for the community, but it's hard to get excited about them when you can't view the results. I don't think this was conniving or wrong of them; I just think it was a tactical error in development priorities. Hopefully it's one that will be fixed soon.

[Slone]

SFEley - Good post...

Mark McCrery is a great guy and had an enjoyable phone call with him. I was impressed that he called me after providing feedback on Podtrac... They are listening.

I told him, (while he said he was running on empty) A community forum would reduce a lot of time spent calling people back. He was receptive to that idea - will he do it? I don't know. This is a good opportunity to listen to their users and interact with Podcasters.

As for the survey - Once a Podcaster moves in the direction of offering ad space, they are looking to zero in on their audience. I have a pretty good idea about my listeners from feedback and show participation. Allowing a Podcaster to have access to stats sooner allows us to use the three months to conduct our own research.

Unique situation I spoke about with Podtrac
I'm providing race coverage via podcast of a local event that spans 15 days on average. I setup a new site and feed just for the event. My challenge is just this... I don't have the traffic history, surveys, etc.. To support advertising.

I spoke with Mark about offering advertising specifically for one time or annual events.

The race I'm covering has participants from all over the world, as well watched all over the world. This Podcast is going to fill in the media gaps for those only receiving brief updates or short news clips. So what about one time sponsorship this year?

I'll save my traffic stats for next year - I'm sure that will help. Podcasting is still so new. I'm also scared about bandwidth, which is another story all together...

[kickasspodcast]

I've heard nothing but good, good things about Podtrac.

I met their people out in Cali, they were open to questions and willing to work with casters.

Its very, very important to remember that all these companies (Podtrac, Kiptronic, Podshow etc...) do different things. They all have different models and objectives.


my $.02


Jack

[bobbyshakes]

thanks. i'll give them a whril and hit yall back.