An article in The Age.com from Australia quotes my friend and fellow burner and head of Hothouse Interactive, Simon Van-Wyk about the global movement of youth audiences from traditional to online and on-demand forms of media consumption.

The number one segment of podcast audience is males 18-24 but more interestingly the second largest audience is adults 35-54. Just like Internet-connected early adopters, then broadband-connected early adopters, the smartest, older, most sophisticated and wealthy elite can be found right along side the “nothing to lose” latest and greatest tech adopter kids.

Marketers of high-end items should be flocking to podcast advertising right about NOW to carve out their territory in this burgeoning space.

Click on the image to see me on CNBC disagreeing with Jon Fine of Business Week about podcasting and the opportunity to monetize downloadable media.

Someone send Jon Fine some press releases - he’s woefully behind the times on ad tracking and audience measurement in portable media! He said podcasting was not a large business. Uh, Jon, have you looked in iTunes recently? Checked out the iPod and iPhone numbers? How big was Internet advertising 10 years ago? I remember when online advertising was nascient. Podcasting is just the next wave behind blogging in citizen media — not to mention all the new media companies creating revenue in this category from the ad serving Podbridge/Kiptronic/Podtrac/Beat9’s of the world to the Next New Network/Podshow/PodTech/Personal Life Media publishing empires being formed.

Like I said on the show - where the consumer goes, the advertiser follows. And portable media is a greenfield, uncluttered space for marketers to emotively insert their messages.

It won’t be long until this category gets the recognition it deserves. Especially when these organizations band together through the Association for Downloadable Media to scale the opportunity for advertisers.

On this week’s DishyMix I interview David Cowan, a Forbes magazine “Midas Touch” VC from Bessemer Ventures. I met him in line at TED waiting to see Bill Clinton speak. We were all in a crush, lined up outside the doors sweating in an overstuffed space for an hour and that’s when the magic happened.

I started talking to those around me and that’s how I connected with David. Standing their pressed together, sweating, anticipating the oratory skills of Bill Clinton I found one of the top 5 most interesting people at TED and that’s SAYING SOMETHING!

In my conversation with David I learned that he gave a talk earlier at the TED University called “Raising Your Children Without God.” It was standing-room only and I couldn’t get in. Just my luck, I met David randomly, as is often the best way to connect.

David gave me an overview of his beliefs about raising children as critical thinkers from an early age and told me he’d come up with an alternative to the 10 Commandments called “Advisements.” Here’s a link to the 8 Advisements site and an index:

Advisements

• Introduction
• I. Love Your Neighbor
• II. Take the Long View
• III. Think For Yourself
• IV. Challenge and Improve Yourself
• V. Cherish Your Family
• VI. Seize the Day
• VII. Embrace Your Mistakes
• VIII. Forgive

Click the buttons to listen to this episode to remind yourself what it’s like to rap with a rational conversationalist. Go on an auditory ride covering subjects as diverse as “man purses” and Kurt Vonnegut to why people believe weird things.

David gives us his opinion on donuts and Richard Dawkins and tells us what it’s like to be on Forbes’ “Midas List” of Tech’s Best Venture Investors. From the “Sirens of Titan” and how complex systems can have emergent properties to succumbing (or not) to your own biology, David delivers a smorgasbord of food for thought.

Here I am holding Monday’s New York Times where an article about my work in podcasting appeared. As I referenced in my last blog post, I had visualized a significant moment of short-term success based on listening to the podcast Evolutionary Sales.

My image was of me, standing in the September ‘07 sunshine holding a copy of the NY Times with a photo and story about innovating new ad formats in the podcasting space.

I had Tim (darling husband) take this photo of me Monday night to finalize the manifestation of that visualization (that’s how we talk here in California, truly) and then I had champagne and chocolate for dinner.

Living Green: Effortless Ecology For Everyday Peoplewith Meredith Medland, Host on my podcast this week.

This week Meredith is my guest on DishyMix. She’s a former JupiterMedia analyst, ecommerce marketer for The Sharper Image, marketing director at ad:tech and now is a professional podcaster with an iTunes Top 100 weekly show called Living Green. She also faciliates 3Outcomes events for sales organizations and conferences.

Meredith is an amazingly talented, unique woman. Her podcast interviewing skills are extraordinary and she reveals experts in sustainable living at a level that surprises even her guests. She learned a specific style of questioning in her somatic practice that delves into the heart and soul of what really matters to her guests. That maps back to some very deep belief systems that provide a roadmap for listeners to consider incorporating sustainable practices into their own lives.

This is how Meredith gives back to the universe.

In this interview, Meredith is full of neat ideas and approaches that integrate her high level of consciousness into her personal and professional life. If you want to work on a higher plane then you are right now - listen to this show. Meredith is walking a green, conscious and profitable path and she’s engaging, charming, sexy and fascinating.

Click these buttons to listen to DishyMix.

Meredith Medland, Founder, 3Outcomes Talks Hapkido, Visualization and Living Green

Let me know what you think of the show by commenting below.

Whether you are a man or woman, thinning hair is a depressing situation. In a recent episode of Beauty Now, Dr. Robert Leonard talks about what women and men can do to slow loss and even regrow hair for both men an women.  98% of hair loss is due to genetics, but it’s treatable! There are lasers, pills and foams in addition to some innovative and very approachable new hair transplant methods that sound very reasonable.

Dr. Leonard event talks about what works for men vs. women and what treatments work for different kinds of hair loss. Do you have receding hairline in the front? On the pate? Different treatments help different issues. Find out more.

Propecia. Rogaine Foam. Low Level Laser Light Therapy. You have options.

I love this show and this episode is very well done. If you are losing your hair, listen in.

“Losing Your Hair?” with Dr. Robert Leonard

If you notice your hair thinning, think again. By the time it is in the sink you have lost more than you know. Listen to this episode of Beauty Now to hear Dr. Robert Leonard give us advice to stop your hair loss at any age for every reason. Teri Hausman gets advice for our listeners on how to stop losing your hair and get treatment to get it back.

I eat my own dog food. One of the shows on Personal Life Media is Evolutionary Sales and I listen every week because it helps me gird up to make sales calls to sell sponsorships on our 16 weekly podcasts.

One of the exercises Jason led in Episode 3 had listeners not only think of,  but actually create a picture in one’s mind of an outcome that would be a significant goal that would support one’s selling process.

I pictured myself in the bright sunshine of September with a copy of the NY Times or WSJ in my hand featuring an article about me as the CEO of Personal Life Media having innovated an ad unit for the podcasting industry.

Well, my visualization “manifested” as they say here in California. On Monday, Bob Tedeschi of NYTimes.com will be doing a story on the “Surround Session” ad unit we co-created with Podbridge.

It’s July, not September (luck came early) and it’s the online not print version - even better - perpetual and imminently forwardable.

A photo of the NYTimes photographer is above. He came this afternoon to take the photo for the story. Of course I’ll be linking to the story on Monday. But I thought you’d like the story behind the story. Thanks, Bob! I can’t wait.  And Jason, thanks for helping me create dreams that come true. I love your show and I love you.

Evolutionary Sales: Integrating 21st Century Psychology with Ethical Sales Techniques

Episode 3: Setting Goals and Understanding Your Unconscious Organization of Time

In this Episode, Jason discusses the well-formed conditions to achieving your goals. That is that they be S.M.A.R.T. goals. If you have goals or want to set goals, be sure to acquire these powerful distinctions for achieving them.

Along the way, Jason demystifies the Secret and the Law of Attraction, and educates you around the reticular activator system to assist you in greater and greater levels of success and possibility.

Finally, Jason teaches you powerful tools to assist you in both resolving fear and anxiety, but also to assist you in achieving your goals with greater ease using your unconscious organization of time that, until this episode, may have been out of your awareness.

Woof!

Check out my new podcast player. It’s on the right side of the page.

You can now read my blog posts and listen to my podcasts at the same time! How’s that for multi-tasking? Double-dipping Susan Bratton.

Let me know what you think!

Yesterday we announced the formation of an industry association for podcasters, vidcasters, vloggers and publishing companies distributing downloadable content. There were some great moments and some not so great moments. A recap.

First, the press was very good to us. From major trade media to bloggers we got a lot of good coverage. So thank you to the editors and journalists who helped spread the word about an organization with very positive plans to help scale this burgeoning industry. Kudos to you for your effort.

Thanks also to industry greats like Rob Walch from Podcast 411 and Todd Cochrane of RawVoice/Geek News Central and Tim Bourquin of Podcast and New Media Expo and Garry Leland of Podcast Pickle who all, upon being briefed about the ADM positively expressed their support and involvement.

So what was the bad part? Mostly comments to blog posts full of distrust. What are these companies trying to do? Are they creating an unfair advantage? For what will the dues be used? Why should we bother?

I understand the need to be critical and skeptical - that’s a natural reaction. I want to publicly state that this group has had the best intentions through out the planning stage of the launch of the organization. Many are competitors, but they came together and collectively focused on being inclusive, giving everyone an opportunity to have a seat at the table and to create a platform for equality in decision-making.

The 14 companies that organized this were mutual acquaintances who worked quickly together to create a charter, select a name, get a url, build the first version of our website, create the announcement, brief the press, and figure out a fair and accurate nomination and voting process so any individual podcaster/vidcaster or corporation involved with downloadable media could easily join and further their opinions and positions on what, as an industry, we can collectively do to create the most fertile opportunity for advertisers and sponsors so that they achieve their marketing objectives and sales goals while the content producers and distributors fairly monetize their content.

I encourage anyone who is in the downloadable media space to put effort into joining, being at the meetings, running for an executive or board seat or committee chair position or to join a committee. If you are blogging negatively and you haven’t even participated, then shame on you. Give it a try first. Only your participation can make it the best it can be.

If you haven’t yet - go to the site at http://www.downloadablemedia.org and send an email to let us know that you’d like to join and participate. signmeup@downloadablemedia.org.

OK, I’m ready for your comments below.

With the formation of the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM), the world of podcasting just took its first step in organizing around monetization of the medium. Today, the ADM announced it is creating a framework for the industry to work toward standardization that will allow podcasters and providers of downloadable content to engage with advertisers and agencies to accelerate podosphere growth and monetization.
Apple has sold over 100 million iPods and more than 300 million copies of iTunes have been downloaded. eMarketer estimates that podcasting advertisers are spending just over $80 million and over the next five years that number is expected to quintuple reaching a staggering $400 million by 2011.
Personal Life Media (PLM) is one company that is seizing the innovation and monetization opportunity. PLM, a publisher of lifestyle content in the form of 16 weekly audio programs, podcasts and blogs for people on the leading edge of culture, knows how to attract advertisers and believes that downloadable content providers must have the ability to create innovative and professional advertising packages.

We recently developed an integrated package, working with Podbridge, Inc., featuring online and audio podcast advertising that includes ‘Surround Session’ audio ads in pre-, mid- and post-roll as well as audio advertorials and custom brand integration into our 16 weekly shows. These ad formats weave together a story better than a single ad insertion. The online component consists of banners, skyscrapers and text links on the podcast site as well as the companion blogs for the shows. Charter Advertising Programs include online and audio campaign reporting. Some of the latest ad campaigns featuring ‘Surround Sessions’ can be heard on PLM’s newly launched DishyMix: Juicy Interviews with Famous Internet and Media People.’  I host this weekly audio show and “dish” with the influencers of the Internet and media world.

As part of the relaunch on Personal Life Media, DishyMix has received sponsorship from Isobar US, http://isobar.net the world’s largest digital marketing network servicing clients in 40 countries worldwide and Blue Lithium http://www.bluelithium.com, a leading data driven direct marketing company. Both companies chose to advertise on PLM’s DishyMix show because of its targeted audience of digital marketing agency and brand executives, online publishers and Web 2.0 and Internet pros.

For full versions of the three announcements, click here.