One Hundred Million Is A Lot Of iPods And Good News For Podcasting

I was speaking this morning for a large cable TV channel on the topic of Six Pixels of Separation – How Marketing Connects In A World Where We-re All Connected. Beyond it being a core passion of mine, I like collecting information: stats, quotes, viral videos and mashing them all together to show corporations this new marketing landscape.
I have two slides. One has this quote on it: -The last number I-ve seen published by Apple on iPod sales is 42 million sold since 2004. And a recent Forrester report says that 29% of the 42 millions buyers have downloaded a podcast. Another 27% said they were interested in podcasting, and 11% were going to try it in the next three months.- (source: Paul Dunay – Buzz Marketing for Technology – May 2006) and then I switch to this quote: -iPod sales accounted for $3.43 billion of the company’s revenue, or nearly half the quarterly total. Apple’s total number of iPod sales now stands at about 90 million units since the device first went on sale in October 2001-The iPod sales were shocking, said Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray.- (source: MarketWatch – January 18th, 2007). Both slides are a component of my Podcasting segment and used to illustrate how fast the Podcasting channel is growing and where the opportunities lie.
The presentation went quite well, they were engaged and know that they need to focus on all three screens. After my talk, a person came up to me with a print-out of the top stories from the Apple website. He said that he was not a part of the TV channel, but worked for the venue and had read something that I might find interesting. It was highlighted:
–100 Million iPods Sold
Apple today announced that the 100 millionth iPod has been sold, making the iPod the fastest selling music player in history. The first iPod was sold five and a half years ago, in November 2001, and since then Apple has introduced more than 10 new iPod models.-
One hundred million iPods, thousands of Podcasts (both audio and video) and millions of people listening – not just on their own with ear buds, but through computers, docking the iPod into car and home theatres- connecting, listening and creating content.
Marketers are paying attention – we tend to do that when things hit critical mass. The difference between now (one hundred million iPods) and then (the Walkman) is a gap that makes the Grand Canyon look like a crack in the sidewalk when you consider what you can do with an iPod and the channel of content distribution in comparison to an audio tape player.
Podcasting may still be stuck in the echo chamber, but people – thousands of them each day – are discovering more than just Podcasting. They-re discovering content that that they can control – from content choice, to where and when they will listen (or watch).
With one hundred million iPods out in the marketplace and no sign of slowdown (plus, this doesn-t include the millions of other digital audio players or even how Apple TV could change the video Podcast game), the need for content will continue to grow- and that must be the New Marketers- sweet spot.