Nick targets MP3 players with podcasts Rosemary Ryan
With MP3 players proliferating as a must have item for teens and podcasting taking off, children’s pay TV station Nickleodeon has moved to get in on the trend.
Nickelodeon in Australia has launched its first podcasting service for its young audience around its popular show Sarvo.
The Sony-sponsored digital downloads Sarvo Bus Stop are provided every Friday at 6pm and feature original content by Sarvo hosts Dave Lawson and James Kerley.
The downloads feature the pair’s digital behind the scenes blog, special guest segments, a five part radio show and also includes a unique code word that allows the listeners to get free mobile phone content.
The Australian trial is a first for the Nicklodeon network around the world.
Nickelodeon digital media manager Katie Cordes said that while podcasting was in its early days the popularity of MP3 players by kids and the way they used them pointed to it being popular amongst that generation.
“You just have to watch the way kids use their MP3 players, they share them between friends listening together. You see school boys sharing their music,” Cordes said.
“We got the idea that we could use this to get the Nick message out there at the bustop. The boys [Lawson and Kerley] are hilarious.”
Cordes said that while the page impression received for the first two episodes had been higher than expected it was too early to gauge its success.
“Podcasting is really under a year old but it is escalating so quickly and kids are such early adopters of this kind of technology,” she said.
