The world of podcasting is another example of the opportunity available to advertisers and publishers who can harness the Long Tail of the Web. Today’s USA Today article entitled, “Get an earful of offbeat podcasts” sums it up by saying:

The surprise about podcasting isn’t that millions are listening — the surprise is that millions are listening to some fairly arcane stuff.

That’s right. And millions are listening to thousands (if not, tens of thousands) of podcasts of varying subject matter.

As everyone knows, one of the great strengths of the web is the ability to efficiently self-publish and thereby give voice to huge numbers of web publishers with interests as diverse as Lee Odden’s Online Marketing blog to the latest french fashion trends (brought to us by Robin Kassner at Style.com) to marine biology news from Rollins College.

Is everyone going to want to read about marine biology? No. Are at least a few going to want to read about marine biology? Yes. That’s Long Tail publishing. The challenge remains how to efficiently reach the Long Tail if you’re an advertiser - a challenge which ContextWeb look forwards to tackling in the near future.

Podcasting is no different than website publishing - just a bit more time-consuming to create.

Niche, time-shifted podcasts allow users to listen to their favorite subjects whenever they want and regardless of whether or not an internet connection is available. After all, a podcast is only an MP3 file available for download through RSS or a web page. From a web publisher and listener perspective, this isn’t difficult to create or listen to. Hey, even George Bush is podcasting.

The most popular podcasts available on the web are not something which today’s mainstream media is overly familiar. Here’s a few of the top podcasting “Long Tail” publishers to check out starting with selections from Chris McIntyre’s Podcast Alley:

• Mugglecast - Everything you ever wanted to know about Harry Potter from 19-year-old Emerson Spartz. (Love those glasses, Harry!)
• Keith and the Girl - Keith Malley and Chemda take their relationship to the digital airwaves.
• Mysterious Universe - UFOs are the news for this podcast. Look out for a saucer in your area if you’re a Florida resident.

And, Adam Curry and Ron Bloom’s Podshow network have a bevy of great podcasts and podcasters including…

• Mad Money Machine - Paul Douglas Boyer takes Jim Cramer’s stock picks from the CNBC program, “Mad Money,” and sees how they’re performing.
• MommyCast - It’s everything Mom’s want to know from mothers Gretchen Vogelzang and Paige Heninger.
• The Rock and Roll Geek Show - This Rock and Roll podcast is ancient by podcasting standards but Michael Butler’s content is always on the cutting edge.

Obviously, if you have a niche interest and use the web regularly, the Long Tail is waiting for you. You just have to find it.

Tags: usa, today, podcasting, podshow, mugglecast, contextweb, long tail, longtail

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