But if we take the “more educated” bit at face value, this seems to reinforce the power of podcasting for enrollment rather than dismiss it. I’m not sure what other institutions want, but where I work we are always looking for ways to reach out to high achievers.

We have a professor at my institution that puts out maybe a podcast a month on a highly specialized subject on which he’s an expert. The listenership is not large by interent standards, but the effect has been tremendous — so much so that we don’t necessarily have space for all the students that want to enter that program. As you can imagine, the students who do come because of the blogging and the podcasting are highly motivated, and their interests are a perfect fit for our strengths…

So I guess what I’m saying is it is not always about the raw “reach” numbers…it’s about how those numbers transfer into qualified applicants — and that ratio is probably very different from other channels.

Does that make sense? Although I admit, I despise all silver bullet talk as much as you. And I hate hearing the term “podcast” as if it was something worthwhile in itself — it’s what’s in the podcast that determines your success.

I think its only time before people start to utiliise the on demand aspect of podcasting, primarily because its FREE and high quality content.

im all for it, and beleive in its progress. podshow.com etc are making it easy as well as itunes.
and despite your studies, i think its only a matter of time.

There is no silver bullet. With increasingly segmented delivery methods and individual tastes, there is no one thing that’s going to get it done. As with any marketing/advertising ventures, diversifying is the best strategy. I think most EM professionals would be skeptical of anyone who pitched to them that ‘it’ is ‘it’ (to borrow from eBay).

So if the data skews older and podcasting is more for older ages (see: influencers), podcast with them in mind. Have to pay attention to those with the checkbook (or second mortgage as it were).

One other point (I know I said two): podcasting can be done virtually free so the I in ROI is time. Something which I’m struggling with right now…..

Thanks for the great topics and the RSS.
Blake

I surmise that the perceived divide between young and old is not only a function of culture but also of geography and location. I would guess that those who have longer commmutes may be more likely to listen to podcasts – if anyone knows of data that support or refute this supposition please let me know! I would further guess that traditional college students are much more likely to have very short commutes than older persons; it’s much more common for traditional college students to live on or near campus than for older persons to live on or near their work site.

I also take issue with the stated conclusion that podcasts are “primarily for an older, richer, more educated demographic.” I read that statement not only as a statement about the current state of events (which is accurate) but also a predictive statement about the future. Again, these data provide little basis for making claims about the future. More research, particularly on the qualitative side, needs to be done to support or refute such claims.

To end on a more positive note, I do agree with the claim that “Podcasting is not the ubiquitous, miracle medium that it has been sold as.” I don’t foresee that ever changing as there too many competing and complicated factors involved. Like almost everything else, it will likely remain a niche activity. The big question is: which niche and who will inhabit it?

Because of venue as much as the content itself. People listen to podcasts on computers, too, after all–but a ‘packaged’ sounding audio bite is going to be as unappetizing in front of a screen 20 inches or 2. With glossy viewbooks one can at least flip through and see some nice pictures. Which brings up the question of vlogs, but that’s… another question.

Glad to see you and WWC were sharp enough to not be suckered into a low-return game! :)

First, who is hawking podcasting as a singular cure for enrollment woes?

Second, in this context, you seem to be referring to programming that’s consumed on an iPod. I tend to define the term podcast more broadly to include virtually any type of media that’s delivered via syndication, i.e. RSS — whether it ends up being consumed on an iPod, a PC, a phone, etc. Quite commonly, the term is used to refer to individual episodes that are part of a podcast series. Furthermore, sometimes the term is used to refer to audio or video clips posted on a web site that aren’t being available via RSS at all. So I would argue that the variation in usage of the term “podcast” makes it difficult to determine exactly who’s using what.

I would approach your topic from the standpoint of asking whether prospective students and their parents watch video or listen to audio via the web. I can’t imagine that anyone would suggest these aren’t valuable tools. On petersons.com, for example, we’ve seen many admissions and financial aid related podcasts downloaded more frequently than static articles on similar topics are accessed on the site. Once you have the media files, it’s a rather short and inexpensive step to create RSS feeds for them. So why not? I’ve created feeds for audio clips in less time than it’s taken to write this comment, and so can everyone. :)

Cheers – and keep up the good work!

Dan