Re: Newbie to podcasting

Well, I don't know any definitive sources for the type of information you're looking for so I'll try and answer some of your questions from my own experiences.

Since you're looking at producing a video podcast and not an audio one, your needs will be a bit different from most podcasters. Basically, you need to be concerned with bandwidth and codec compatibility.

Podcasting can be pretty easy but there are some pitfalls to avoid. Firstly, if you are producing a podcast for friends and family and not a general, global audience then you might be able to get away with hosting the media on a regular webserver like you'd find with GoDaddy (I use a company called Aplus.net). With my hosting plan, I get a couple of TB of bandwidth per month and I host my wife's audio podcast files on that plan wich is fine.

However, with video it's a different story. I produce a weekly 20-30 minute video podcast and it's luckily become pretty popular. I just released episode 50 today and now that I'm encoding for AppleTV compatibility (read: higher resolution and larger files) I'm now serving a couple of TB per episode per month. That would cost a fortune on a bandwidth-capped server...or simply shut me down.

Instead, I host my website and RSS feed XML with Aplus, and host my video files with another service at LibSyn.com. LibSyn offers unlimited bandwidth per month for a flat rate. You just have to choose how much storage you need and pay accordingly.

Let's face it: I wanted my show to become popular and went with LibSyn right from the first episode. I'm glad I did. I guess my content is rather unique so there isn't much "competition". I was pretty sure that would be the case so I'm very glad to have gone with an unlimited bandwidth service. My show wouldn't be possible without it.

As for getting a sponsor...

Well, you're guess is as good as mine. My best advice to you is to produce the show because you simply love to do it and the rest will fall into place. I don't have a sponsor/advertiser, but I do accept donations and that has made the show self sufficient in terms of the hosting, etc.

What you can do is sign up with podtrac.com and they will help you collect info about your audience and help you find potential sponsors. Don't forget, though, that you can always try and find sponsors and advertisers yourself.

Finally, to make a show sucessful and generate some revenue you HAVE to produce it regularly. It's a real commitment. Honestly, with all of the hours I spend on my show per week it could be my full-time job. But then again, I have a full-time (and then some) job already! I produce my shows because I love to do it. It's thrilling to put something out there that affects people in a positive way. The donations are very cool, but in the end, it's the nice emails that I get every day that keeps me inspired to do this. The audience is what makes all of the effort worthwhile.

One final thought. At this point in the game the average podcast listener/viewer has become fairly sophiticated. They recognize and appreciate production quality. Don't skimp because it's a web-delivered podcast. The more effort you put into it, the more you'll get out of it in the long run.

Good luck,
Jon



TreeLine Productions
Fort Collins, CO USA

Currently producing these popular podcasts: