I listen to several of the TWiT netcasts and it sounds like audible.com has signed up as an advertiser for most of the shows I listen to, such as TWiT (This Week in Tech) and Windows Weekly. While I’m happy that Leo Laporte was able to land what seems like a long term supporter I’m even more impressed with the delivery and conversation that occurs while a show is in ‘ad mode’.
Most other ad supported podcasts seem to have the canned ad that plays at some point during the show. While there is nothing wrong with this, it does eventually get the same reaction as a TV ad and the listener just zones out for 30 seconds or so.
What Leo manages to do is announce that it’s ad time and then he, and whomever else is on the show, start to toss around the books they would recommend. This typically results in a pretty decent conversation and the subject matter does not stick to the tech realm which is nice as well. For example, I learned today that Paul Thurott is a fan of the horror genre and Leo even noted that Stephen King is this eras Dickens. Who knew these guys liked this stuff? Not me. But wait, I’m listening to an ad and clearly should not be enjoying it this much!
Well done Leo and gang. Hopefully audible.com will stick around.
Oh, by the way,I like the other non advertising related stuff they do as well. I just thought this was pretty unique and deserved some attention.
