• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 15, 2009

Comcast's G4 cable television network and Web site G4tv.com have begun working with VoloMedia to insert ads into the 300 podcast videos distributed monthly through about 23 feeds. The ad network began placing ads for the media giant last month, targeting young gamers.

The U.S. Air Force placed the first ads in G4's podcasts: Attack of the Show, X-Play, and Game Trailers. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based VoloMedia's new vertical business, Video Game Podcast, supported the ad campaign created by GSD&M Idea City, the advertising agency for the Air Force.

G4 has been publishing video podcasts for years. Most are updated either daily or weekly. In the top feeds, G4 creates and distributes podcast for about 50 new videos monthly, while smaller feeds may only get three to four per month.

Pre-, post- and end-roll ads, along with sponsorships, lower-thirds and product placements will eventually support all G4 podcasts, according to Joshua Krane, SVP, interactive and new media at G4, Los Angeles. "We want to keep the ads in the podcasts to 15 seconds, but we're not limited to spots," he said. "The male demographics, ages 18 to 24, tend to be fickle and can smell the sell."

The campaign managed through the VoloMedia Campaign Management Portal (CMP) lets advertisers set up parameters such as geographic, demographic and contextual targeting, as well as frequency and sequential serving.

RSS feeds connect publishers with consumers' media players. A "stitching engine" opens the original file and inserts an ad and closing it up, explains Brian Steel, VoloMedia CEO. "Now, several amended versions of the podcast show exist," he said. "This way some ads in the podcasts target consumers on the West Coast, while others (target those) on the East."

Through VoloMedia's technology, ads are inserted, tracked and measured. Data is continually gathered, so reports are available through the Web portal anywhere in the world. The technology monitors consumption and refreshes ads on portable devices like Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's Zune.

Citing a combination of industry stats and VoloMedia data, Steel said consumers downloaded about 10 billion podcasts during 2008 in the United States. Few content owners have managed to make a profit or even clear distribution costs through pipes supported by Akamai, Limelight Networks, and Level 3. "There are a tremendous amount of airplane seats that have not been filled and we intend to fill all of them," Steel said.

G4's podcasts are available for download from G4tv.com, and distribution services such as iTunes, but a year-long push build out its search engine optimization (SCO) strategy aims to help consumers locate the clips from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo search engines, too.

VoloMedia has also signed a deal to support ads in content from video game publisher GamePro.