• by March 19, 2007

Personal Life Media, a blog ad and podcasting network for socially conscious boomers, launches today with 15 custom-created shows on topics ranging from life coaching to green living to sex.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Susan Bratton, Personal Life Media (www.personallifemedia.com) aims to please so-called "cultural creatives" with edgy content in the form of 30-minute weekly podcasts hosted by hand-picked experts. At launch, the privately funded PLM also offers 10 blogs written by the hosts of the podcasts. The podcasts are free and ad-supported.

PLM seeks national advertisers, and will experiment with cross-promotion on the Web and by using such offline media as radio. "We are also trying to develop some new ad models around podcasting and experiment with integrating ads into podcasts that aren't 10- or 30-second spots," said Bratton, who sits on the boards of several startups and is chair emeritus of the Ad:tech trade show.

At the moment, PLM uses an NPR-style sponsorship model where the advertiser is incorporated at the beginning of the podcast, as in "Living Green was brought to you by." The company is also working on ways to integrate product giveaways into the podcasts.

As the company expands its content management system, it expects to offer as many as 100 different shows.

"I decided I wanted to create a whole network of shows because there is a void in personal content in podcasting," Bratton said.

At launch, online agency MEA Digital, wireless provider Tempest Telecom Solutions, and a sugar-free energy drink are sponsoring the "Living Green" podcast.