Basecamp has taken a clear stance against tracking on the web, so when we learned (via a tweet to DHH) that our podcast hosting provider had introduced listener-targeted advertising, we decided to decamp to a different company. On the latest episode of the Rework podcast, Wailin talks to Lex Friedman, chief revenue officer of Rework’s old podcast host, about what they’re doing with targeted ads. Then she talks to Justin Jackson, co-founder of our new podcast host, about how he’s approached building his startup.
A Hosty Retreat
What’s wrong with listener targeted ads again? It could be argued that the target ads ENHANCE the podcast experience.
Eg if I’m a 19 year old male listener, hearing a generic ad about a feminine product DITRACTSs from my listening experience. But if an ad was target about my interests – it’s enhance.
Also, is Basecamp as a company planing to drop any service
provider who does tracking?
Basecamp uses:
– Gmail (google)
– AWS (Amazon)
– HelpScout
All of which as companies perform tracking of users.
Is Basecamp going to stop using Gmail/AWS/HelpScout?
If tracking companies are so confident that people want targeting than I’m sure they’d have no objection to having targeting be opt-in.
“Do you want us to use your personal data to target the ads in this podcast to you? Or would you like to listen to this podcast without targeted ads?”
I wonder what the “most people” that lex referenced would choose.
Lex makes the argument that ad targeting is a better version of listener surveys. But surveys are opt in and *Consensual*.
Lex also makes the argument that without targeting the ecosystem won’t support a range of creators. This also doesn’t ring true to me in the couple different podcast creator scenarios I could think of:
– The Joe Rogan’s of the world are successful, have a staff, and arrange and read their own ads.
– the hobbyist podcasts are created for fun, not profit. And may not have enough numbers to justify ads of any kind anyways. They may grow though.
– possibly into a middle group. They have a podcast with a lot of listens, they want to make money from it but aren’t able to do their own ads. But isn’t that what publishers and podcast networks are for? (Relay, loudspeakers, etc)
Thanks for the information
दुनिया की ताजा खबरें, देश विदेश खेल और मनोंरजन की बेक्रिंग न्यूज को जल्दी पढ़ने के लिए POSTBULL की बेवसाइट पर
किल्क करें
For Art19, the problem is that few would ever explicitly choose for their behavioral data to be gratuitously passed around to vague data aggregators for the sake of ad marketing.
His entire perspective is from an ad marketer’s perspective. That means in order for Art19 to cultivate growth in revenue, their model has to become increasingly more invasive toward the listener and more lucrative for the advertiser. This is how the digital ad business has always worked. I don’t see that changing.
Great episode, as always. And, fantastic perspective, Justin, on growing the company *you* want to grow, in a way (and at a pace) that ensures the company continues to be the kind of company you want to build & grow, doing work you believe in, all while serving customers you like. Thanks for sharing!
Ironically, I find Transistor a way worse experience.
With Art19, the podcasts via this blog always started instantly. With Transistor, the podcast either doesn’t play at all or has a substantial delay.
I’m not affiliated with either company. Just a long time 37svn.com reader.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! We told the folks at Transistor and they’re looking into it (the issue appears to vary by browser).