Podcasting People Count. A new measurement company, Podtrac, is designed to provide third-party audience measurement as well as an ad-sales outline for podcasts. Podcasts which are downloadable audio files that can be listened to on PCs and MP3 players have become enormously popular over the past year and are quickly becoming the “hot ticket” item in interactive media planning.
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(1) The pairing of MP3 files with GPS coordinates, thereby transforming an iPod into an audio tour guide.
(2) Treasure hunting with clues provided by podcast

'Tis the season for buying stuff for other people. But selling stuff online knows no season. The online marketplace is always open. In fact, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, some 17 percent of online adults, or about 25 million Americans, have used the Web to sell things.

The Pew study found that on a typical day 2 percent of Internet users sell something online--collectibles, cars, wedding dresses, books, DVDs, everything. Additional findings include:

• 23 percent of Internet users who go online daily sell things online, compared with 9 percent of those who go online several times a week. Naturally, consumers with always-on broadband connections are more likely to sell stuff online: Some 22 percent of home broadband users, 23 percent of work broadband users, and 30 percent of those with broadband at both home and work sell things online, compared with just 13 percent of dial-up users.
  
  
• Over one in five Internet users who have been online six years or longer say they sell things online, compared with 11 percent of those who have been online for four to five years, 5 percent of those online two to three years, and less than 1 percent of neophytes who have been online a year or less.
  
  
• 20 percent of men with Web access sell things online, compared with 14 percent of online women. About 21 percent of those who have Internet access and live in households that have an annual income of $50,000 or above sell things online, compared with 13 percent of the wired individuals who live in households that have an annual income below $30,000.
  
  
• White and English-speaking Hispanic Internet users are more likely than African-American Internet users to sell things online. While 19 percent of online Caucasians and 17 percent of English-speaking Hispanics with Web access say they sell things online, just 6 percent of wired African-American users report the same.

Online classifieds and online auction sites are popular ways to sell things online. According to Pew, more than one in five Internet users have used online auctions or classifieds to either buy, research, or sell items. Pew found that 22 percent of online adults, or about 32 million Americans, have used online classified ads for selling items or for other activities. As a whole, online classified sites had more than 26 million unique visitors in September 2005, an increase of 80 percent from the previous September, according to comScore Media Metrix. Not surprisingly, Craigslist sites were the most popular classified sites, drawing close to 9 million unique visitors that month.

• Online Ain’t The Matrix- Reality and statistical models are far apart. Web data, for all its abundance and complexity is better suited for comparisons and trends. The real question is not whether data is accurate in absolute or census terms. It’s whether it’s consistent. Bottom line: Online is a trend thing—anytime you hear a hard number, be prepared for it to change.

• Apples and Oranges– Commercial online measurement providers are all reputable organizations trying hard to deliver products and services for accurate Web trend reporting. But, as competitors, it is tough to align their data in statistical terms. Data is only as good as its source. Compare and contrast between sources at your own risk.

• Cookies Aren’t Perfect- The advertising industry’s answer to the problems of caching and dynamic addressing has been, among others, cookies. The problems with cookies are first, consumers are becoming wise to the fact that they’re being tracked and are deleting cookies. Second, cookies are capturing data of immeasurable complexity. Cookies have been asked to describe complex Web scenarios day in and day out, and to report that information to Web trackers. As a result, cookie data can fall seriously out of mathematical whack. Cookies have limits. They are great tools, but there is only so much they can be expected to do.

In closing, online media probably works better that any media measurement system. But it’s far from perfect. Measuring the Web is a bit like a trip through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory: It produces a marvelous product, but at the cost of great confusion and drama .