Despite the success of Hulu, a lot of people seem to be struggling with the simple idea that people want free, ad-supported Internet television. A new survey may help change that. The survey (Ipsos) found that three out of four people are willing to watch some ads in exchange for free TV shows and movies. […]

Ian Lamont, at The Industry Standard, has published his take on “why podcasting is failing” reacting to the news that much-hyped podcasting startup PodTech was getting bought by ViewPartner: “Podcasting is failing as a business platform, and has failed to make a mainstream impact. The news that PodTech only managed to limp into an acquisition […]

In an unusual letter to its shareholders, podcasting mega service Wizzard Software explains why it’s bullish on the prospects for podcasting: Wizzard has surprised many people by becoming the largest distributor of digital media via RSS (podcasting). While many other companies took the route of launching online video websites and treating RSS distribution as nothing […]

Last fall, Podtech‘s then VP Robert Scoble said “Reports of PodTech’s demise are bull####!” Now, VentureBeat reports that podcasting startup PodTech has been purchased by ViewPartner, a communications technology company.  PodTech sold for under half a million dollars, a fraction of the $7.5 million invested in the company. PodTech struggled from the beginning to find […]

In this video, Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose of Diggnation do a demo for Microsoft’s Zune digital media player. Yeah – it’s an informercial. What makes it interesting, though, is that Microsoft is turning to video podcasters to help get the Zune some geek cred. This wouldn’t work with all products, and this sort of […]

An article in the New York Times today looks at how Getty Images plans to build a new business, based on licensing imges from social photo-sharing site Flickr: Yahoo and Getty Images said Tuesday that they have entered into a partnership under which Getty editors will comb Flickr in search of interesting images. They will […]

Google is following up on its promise to make generating revenue from YouTube its top priority. They’ve announced additional partners that let AdSense publishers embed their videos and share in the ad revenue. They’ve also introduced new video ad units, for additional flexibility. Their program works by letting you generate revenue for clicks or impressions […]

Podcast network Wizzard Media announced today that they have archived over 118 million words using their proprietary “admatch” technology process. Of those, they have identified more than 10,000 words as keywords with potential significance to prospective advertisers. The database of keywords was populated by processing over 800,000 hours of audio and video programming available on […]

The Kraft Group, which owns, among other things, the New England Patriots, has led a group of investors in providing $4.6m SeriesA financing to Blog Talk Radio. Founded in 2006 by former telecom executive Alan Levy, Blog Talk Radio provides a platform for businesses and individuals to create their own live call-in talk show without […]

A midlife crisis inspired Gary Vaynerchuk to start his video podcast, Wine Library TV, which is primarily about wine, but also about action figures, the New York Jets, thunder, and Vaynerchuk himself and his quirky onscreen persona.

That quirky persona and unpretentious wine expertise has propelled “Gary Vee” to popularity on the Internet and in the mainstream media, leading to television appearances on “Ellen”, “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and other shows. More recently, Gary Vee has authored a book, Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World.

Podcasting News’ Publisher, Elisabeth McLaury Lewin, sat down with Vaynerchuk this weekend for an exclusive interview, which looks at how he got into podcasting, using podcasts to establish a person brand, great wines for flood cleanup and a few secrets, along the way.