Great article from our friends north of the border on the expansion of podcasting. It begins:

University professors do it, but worry their students will stop coming to class, and politicians hope for a popularity boost because of it. Tourists rely on it to give them directions and prevent them from looking like, well, tourists. Last Christmas was Queen Elizabeth’s first time, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just started doing it to alert the public to drug safety advisories. As of this month, CBC Radio will be doing a lot more of it.

As podcasting becomes more mainstream, will we see early adopters become frustrated, or become excited about the increasing audience? Probably a little of both… even though broadcasters are squeezing a lot of the early indie podcasts off the top 10 charts at iTunes, I think competition is always a good thing. The real question for NPR might be, will people stop listening to their radios and get their programming in a place where the annual pledge drive can’t reach them, or is very easy to skip past?

Remember that Edison Study on podcasting from a few weeks ago? The one that said this:

While awareness of podcasting is up significantly, usage of audio podcasting is only up slightly. Awareness of podcasting has jumped from 22 percent in 2006 to 37 percent in 2007. In that time, those having ever listened to an audio podcast have risen from 11 percent to 13 percent.

Slow growth, according to the study… but something jumped out at me as I read an article detailing the report from the radio industry publication Radio Ink. Note that the report only looked at audio podcasting, totally ignoring the huge growth in video podcasting. Now, it’s kind of an apples and oranges thing because the radio industry is far more concerned about audio podcasts, but I think it shows that the Edison Study’s numbers are fairly incomplete since it leaves out the entire video platform. Would inclusion of those numbers make a difference? Perhaps, perhaps not… but let’s make sure we don’t latch onto numbers that provide an incomplete picture of the growth of the overall podcast industry.

Oh, and just in case you don’t think the radio industry is getting a bit defensive… this from Bill Rose, senior vice president of marketing at Arbitron (the co-sponsor of the study):

[T]he widely held perception that people who use new digital platforms listen less to over-the-air radio is false. In fact, users of digital radio platforms spend just as much time listening to over-the-air radio as the average consumer.

Translation… this podcasting thing is SO in radio’s rearview mirror. Yeah… but it’s gaining, sir.

Interesting article in today’s Chicago Sun-Times regarding podcasting… this jumped right off the screen:

LaRue Highsmith, veteran producer of educational programming for health professionals, recently began spicing up his online media mix by offering physicians, clinical lab professionals and others the option of downloading his Webcast programs as podcasts…
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He estimates that podcasting increases the audience for his conferences by about 15 percent, which in turn boosts the fees he can charge his clients, such as Abbott Laboratories. Professionals who attend the courses can earn professional education credits.

Hmmm… how would you like to boost your business by 15 percent?