Anyone Heard from Podtrac?

[AmericanCliche]

I am curious if anyone here has had any contact with Podtrac in the last month. I have sent them 3 emails and haven't received a single reply. They owe lots of podcasters money from the HBO deal and their lack of response is troubling. I really didn't want to air this out in a forum, but because they won't respond to email I have little choice.

Has anyone else heard from Podtrac?

-Scott

[IanCube]

I've never heard from them either after they sent my initial survey results back.

[DJ Copperhead]

I've done two ad campaigns with them...

I did a Two-Week campaign with USA Networks and just started a 10 week campaign with Honda Fit.

They are working hard on building up relationships and convincing companies to start devoting a portion of their ad budget to Podcasting.

However, because it is a new thing, most companies are testing it out with just a few show, and it tends to lean towards the larger ones right now...

Also, the demographics of the show are important to the companies, Podtrac can't force a show on someone... they have to feel it is a good fit for them.

Podtrac is on the right track, and even though they have gotten us some stuff, we aren't relying solely on them. We are also investigating setting up our own relationships.

[ElNacho]

i think they owe him money, which is what's happening, right?

[AmericanCliche]

That's great to hear that they have gotten you some ad campaigns. I had no idea there were anymore ad campaigns. They don't announce anything. They don't have any sort of a blog, and I can't get them to return any of my correspondence.

A few months back, I had really been looking forward to building a business relationship with them. Unfortunately, if they aren't willing to be more transparent and communicate with their customers, then that won't happen.

Like I mentioned, I worked on the HBO deal with them and then never heard a peep. At this point I'm just hoping a I get paid. I would think that with Podshow's offerings just around the corner that Podtrac would try and step up before they loose the majority of podcasters to that. Oh well, what do I know?

Thanks for posting though....it's good to know they're working with someone :)

[F1weekly]

Our F1weekly podcast finished a campaign for Castrol Syntac Motor Oil with Podtrac in April. We have yet to receive any payment. I do like the stats they provide, but the lack of communication is troubling. We are currently trying to pursue our own sponsors, but will stay with Podtrac just in case they can get us something new.

David
www.f1weekly.com
The Premiere Formula One Podcast

[onestep]

I took down my survey link since i never get a response to them. I did notice their Stats are update more than once a week now, and I actually like the way they are laid out.

[RobRFF]

Did you ever get your money from HBO? I recieved it about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and just wondering if you ever got yours???

Rob

[AmericanCliche]

I did get my money. Thanks for asking.

[WyethDigital]

Just out of curiosity, does Podtrac tell people they pay on a certain schedule (like quarterly)? Is it in the fine print? That could be why the money isn't handed out right away.

Another reason could be the credit/payment terms offered to the advertisers. It's common in business to have a 30 day lag in billing and payments.

Eric

[mpeacock]

Another reason could be the credit/payment terms offered to the advertisers. It's common in business to have a 30 day lag in billing and payments.

Being a small start-up (and probably not as flush with VC cash as some other podcasting start-ups we know :lol: ), they could be waiting until they receive the cash from the advertisers before they pay it out to the podcasters. Keeps down the receiveables risk and the interest costs for working capital. However, it would be in their best interest to communicate this strategy a bit better...

[WyethDigital]

Another reason could be the credit/payment terms offered to the advertisers. It's common in business to have a 30 day lag in billing and payments.

Being a small start-up (and probably not as flush with VC cash as some other podcasting start-ups we know :lol: ), they could be waiting until they receive the cash from the advertisers before they pay it out to the podcasters. Keeps down the receiveables risk and the interest costs for working capital. However, it would be in their best interest to communicate this strategy a bit better...
Precisely! When you're working business to business, payments are not always immediate!

Eric

[mpeacock]

From the earlier comments, sounds like the payment delay has been more than the standard 30 days. This would suggest that the Podtrac boys are passing the money through -- cash comes into the right hand from HBO and goes out the left hand to podcasters with 20% going into the jeans pocket as commission -- rather than taking the receivables risk or providing a cash float. Nothing wrong with that -- makes good business sense. From the earlier comments, it sounds like they could've done a better job of setting expectations around payment terms...

[WyethDigital]

From the earlier comments, sounds like the payment delay has been more than the standard 30 days. This would suggest that the Podtrac boys are passing the money through -- cash comes into the right hand from HBO and goes out the left hand to podcasters with 20% going into the jeans pocket as commission -- rather than taking the receivables risk or providing a cash float. Nothing wrong with that -- makes good business sense. From the earlier comments, it sounds like they could've done a better job of setting expectations around payment terms...

Right, 30 days was just a time frame I threw out there. Most often that's used on inventory. If you look at things like the Amazon affiliate program, the money is paid out on a quarterly basis (last I looked), or whenever a certain amount of money was earned.

Eric

[F1weekly]

I just got a reply from Podtrac. They basically told me they haven't been paid by Castrol so, when they get paid we get paid. That sucks, but I guess since all of this is new I can understand some delay. Come on Castrol get it together and kick down.

David
www.f1weekly.com
The Premiere Formula One Podcast
http://www.myspace.com/f1weekly

[liquidcourage]

I heard from them once (via email) and was told to update my profile. I told them that I had updated it the day before and did not receive a reply.