While the review follows the best practice framework framework, it is heavily weighted to the observable factors relating to the overall user experience.  I think that how well a company executes on these components of downloadable media is an important indication of how seriously they are approaching the business.

Overall Impression
USA Today is not yet treating downloadable media as a business opportunity.  Downloadable content is not presented well and seems to be left to some enterprising reporters who are experimenting with using downloadable media.  The individual efforts seem to range from quite enterprising to poor quality efforts.  The podcasts were so variable that I had to review them individually.  I produced individual reviews for Celeb Watch, Talking Tech and PopCandy.

USA Today has a wealth of content and sub-brands that would make excellent platforms for building downloadable media brands.

I see lots of upside for USA Today if they make the investments required, but right now USA Today’s downloadable media offering is mess that probably doing more damage than good.

If USA Today wants to compete on the new web, they will need to develop a more effective strategy for producing web shows from their content and substantially improve their operating practices.

Presentation of the Downloadable Media Category
At first glance, the site looks good and presents me with an option for videos.  Clicking through to the video page takes the user away from the usatoday.com URL to a usatoday.feedroom.com URL.  This new page has a different layout and presentation from the homepage.  Once there, you find a wealth of video content from Associated Press.

This wasn’t what I wanted to review so I went back a page and searched for podcasts.

I found three results that looked like they might be podcasts.  Upon review, two out the three are indeed links to podcasts.  The first is to a blog called PopCandy that focuses on popular culture and the second to a video show called Talking Tech.

After poking around the site some more, I stumbled upon one more downloadable media show called Celeb Watch.

The only place I can find a complete list of these three together is a page listing all the RSS feeds on the site.  The three podcasts are listed in their own category with links to subscribe in iTunes and links to the RSS pages for the podcasts.  There are no links there that point to the podcast home pages or to any podcast archives.

Each of the three shows has a very different look, feel and quality.

Content available
USA Today is currently offering a very narrow range of downloadable media content with only three podcasts available.  USA Today is not leveraging its wealth of content and sub-brands that would make excellent platforms for building downloadable media brands.

Use of Micro-sites
Each of the podcast shows had micro-sites that were very different and had significant variations in the quality of presentation.   One of the micro-sites was effective at presenting a video podcast. These micro-sites could be improved significantly.

Use of RSS and Metadata
USA Today is not deploying best practices when in comes to RSS and media meta-data.  There are duplicate feed links and feeds that don’t validate properly.

Distribution
USA Today is too reliant upon iTunes as its distribution channel.  Potential listeners who do not have iTunes or prefer alternatives such as Zunes, mp3 players, cell phones, etc are not able to easily download and subscribe to content.

Content and feeds for devices other than the iPod/iPhone are not available.

Monetization
USA Today’s downloadable media is substantially under monetized and relies too much upon pre-roll advertising.  Investments in more advanced flash players that support overlays will be required to monetize the downloadable media collection.

Production Quality
Video production quality is good.  The single audio podcast has improved a lot after 100 episodes.

USA Today Downloadable Media – Top Recommendations

1. Develop a downloadable media strategy to focus investment on building successful shows
2. Develop downloadable media/podcast directory to show case available content
3. Create compelling destination micro sites for each podcast and work to improve audience interaction.
4. Fix and rationalize RSS feeds
5. Provide content formats and feeds for phone(3gp), HD and wmv
6. Clearly label subscribe links as subscribe in iTunes and add options for subscribing via Google, My Yahoo,  Zune and provide link to RSS.
7. Develop and implement more advanced video player with capability for overlay  advertising
8. Set up channels at YouTube and other video sites and syndicate content
9. Decide on a publishing schedule for the podcasts and stick to it
10. Fix id3 tags to add name, use comment field and add album art
11. Change Album Art to 600×600
12. Increase distribution by submitting podcast feed to directories other than iTunes

Links Individual Podcast Reviews

• Celeb Watch
• Talking Tech
• PopCandy

Podcast Homepage
Upon visiting Celeb Watch’s page you are presented with a clean looking video player in the center of the page with an attractive photo of the celebrity being interviewed.

The page has links to download the media, download a widget and sharing via email.  The download link is actually a link to iTunes, not the video file.  I’m not sure what would happen if you tried the link without iTunes installed.

The page also has a nice short brief on what the next show will be about and links to the show’s archive.

The video is complemented by a good article providing background on the celebrity and a summary of the interview.

RSS Links
There is a link to an RSS feed but it’s not the feed for the Celeb Watch.  You have to find the link in a separate page dedicated to RSS feeds for all of USAToday.com.  There are no RSS feeds for alternative file types for devices other than iPod/IPhone.

Audience Interaction
The page has lots of links to social media sites for sharing.  Comments have been enable on the page, but seem to lack participation.

Publishing Schedule
Celeb Watch is billed as being a weekly show, but the schedule seems quite variable.

Playability
The online flash player started immediately.  The iTunes version of the show also played well in iTunes.  The file was formatted using H.264 with dimensions of 640×480 which works well with iPods.  Unfortunately, the video will not play on most cell phones which need dimensions of 320×240.

ID3 tags
ID3 tags were present and used.  However, the show description was put in the show name field, the comment field went unused and no album art was included with the tags.

Feed quality
The feed would not validate for me at Feedvalidator.org.  The feed was missing a channel description tag.  The item tags were also missing image links and media RSS tags.  The enclosure length tag was also missing.

File Naming
File naming protocols were mostly consistent using a format of date-cw-celebrity-name.m4v.  Replacing cw with celeb_watch would improve search engines ability to index the file.

Google Search Engine Optimization
Search for Celeb Watch lists show in first result.

iTunes Search Optimization
Search for Celeb Watch lists show in second result.

Availability in other Podcast Directories
I checked five leading podcast directories and could not find the show listed.

Monetization
The show I saw had a 4 second pre-roll commercial for TV Guide Broadband.  The web page has inline ads and some popup advertising.

Media Player
Plain video player – not use of borders for advertising or advertising bugs on the video.

Sharable Player
The show offers a player that can be embedded in blogs or social networking sites.  No advertising on the player itself.

Production Quality
Celeb Watch’s video was good quality video.

Album Art
The RSS has links to a 300×300 image for the show.  The 300×300 size image was originally recommended by Apple.  Apple is now recommending square .jpg images that are at least 600 x 600 pixels. No album art was included with the downloaded file tags.

Celeb Watch – Top Recommendations

1. Open up the micro-site to viewer comments and improve audience interaction
2. Fix and rationalize RSS feeds
3. Provide content formats and feeds for phone(3gp), HD and wmv
4. Clearly label subscribe link as subscribe in iTunes and add options for subscribing via Google, My Yahoo,  Zune and provide link to RSS.
5. Develop and implement more advanced video player with capability for overlay  advertising
6. Set up channels at YouTube and other video sites and syndicate content
7. Decide on a publishing schedule for the podcasts and stick to it
8. Fix id3 tags to add name, use comment field and add album art
9. Change Album Art to 600×600
10. Increase distribution by submitting podcast feed to directories other than iTunes

Podcast Homepage
The presentation of Talking Tech is disappointing when compared to Celeb Watch. The page has a picture of the show’s hosts, a short blurb about the show and short bios for the hosts.

There is a picture of two laptops and a play button.  The description of the episode is in a faint font and easy to overlook.  Lower in the page are links to the last ten episodes presented in streaming video.

RSS Links
There is a link to an RSS feed but it’s not the feed for the Talking Tech.  You have to find the link in a separate page dedicated to RSS feeds for all of USAToday.com.  There are no RSS feeds for alternative file types for devices other than iPod/IPhone.

Audience Interaction
The page has lots of links to social media sites for sharing.  Comments are enabled for the show, but seem to lack participation.

Publishing Schedule
The Talking Tech podcast schedule seems quite variable.

Playability
The iTunes version of the show also played well in iTunes.  The file was formatted using H.264 with dimensions of 640×480 which works well with iPods.  Unfortunately, the video will not play on most cell phones, first generation Zunes.  PSP players and Tivo?

ID3 tags
ID3 tags were present and used.  However, the show description was put in the show name field, the comment field went unused and no album art was included with the tags.

Feed quality
The feed would not validate for me at Feedvalidator.org.  The feed was missing a channel description tag.  The item tags were also missing image links and media RSS tags.  The enclosure length tag was also missing.

File Naming
File naming protocols were mostly consistent using a format of date-tt.m4v.  Replacing tt with talking_tech would improve search engines ability to index the file.

Google Search Engine Optimization
Search for Talking Tech lists show in second result.

iTunes Search Optimization
Search for Talking Tech lists show in first result.

Availability in other Podcast Directories
We checked five leading podcast directories and could not find the show listed in four of the directories.  Podcast.com had the show in its directory.

Monetization
The show I saw had a 15 second pre-roll commercial for Microsoft.  The web page has inline ads.

Media Player
The online flash player took 5-10 seconds to start playing.  In Firefox browser, the player then got stuck downloading from something called metrics.feedroom.com.   The video player was plain, with no use of borders for advertising or advertising bugs on the video.

Sharable Player
There were a number of links for sharing in sites like Digg or Mixx.  There was also a link for sharing in Facebook.  No links to a sharable widget for blogs.

Production Quality
Talking Tech’s video was good quality video.

Album Art
The RSS has links to a 300×300 image for the show.  The 300×300 size image was originally recommended by Apple.  Apple is now recommending square .jpg images that are at least 600 x 600 pixels. No album art was included with the downloaded file tags.

Talking Tech – Top Recommendations

1. Create destination micro site for the podcast and improve audience interaction
2. Fix and rationalize RSS feeds
3. Provide content formats and feeds for phone(3gp), HD and wmv
4. Clearly label subscribe link as subscribe in iTunes and add options for subscribing via Google, My Yahoo,  Zune and provide link to RSS.
5. Develop and implement more advanced video player with capability for overlay  advertising
6. Set up channels at YouTube and other video sites and syndicate content
7. Decide on a publishing schedule for the podcasts and stick to it
8. Fix id3 tags to add name, use comment field and add album art
9. Change Album Art to 600×600
10. Increase distribution by submitting podcast feed to directories other than iTunes

Podcast Homepage
Each episode is presented as a blog post describing the contents of the episode and links to “Download the free podcast via iTunes” and “Stream the podcast as a .wma file”.

There is no inline audio player for the wma file.

RSS Links
There is a link to an RSS feed but it’s not the same RSS feed that’s listed under the RSS directory.  The RSS on the blog home page validates, but does not contain any iTunes tags.

To find the podcast RSS, you have to find the link in a separate page dedicated to RSS feeds for all of USAToday.com.

Audience Interaction
The permalink page has links to Yahoo Buzz for sharing.  Comments are enabled for the show.

Publishing Schedule
The Pop Candy podcast schedule seems quite variable.

Playability
The file is in an mp3 format and should be playable on all mp3 enabled devices including iPods, Zunes, Mobile phones, and PSPs.

ID3 tags
ID3 tags were present and used.  However, the show description was put in the show name field, the comment field went unused and no album art was included with the tags.

Feed quality
The feed from the blog page validates at Feedvalidator.org, but does not include iTunes tags.  The podcast feed from the RSS directory page would not validate for me at Feedvalidator.org.  The feed was missing a channel description tag.  The item tags were also missing image links and media RSS tags.  The enclosure length tag was also missing.

File Naming
File naming protocols were mostly consistent using a format of date-popcandy.mp3.

Google Search Engine Optimization
Search for Pop Candy lists show in first result.

iTunes Search Optimization
Search for Pop Candy lists show in first result when the podcast filter is used on the search.

Availability in other Podcast Directories
I checked five leading podcast directories.  Pop Candy was not listed in any of them.

Monetization
The show I heard did not have embedded ads.  The web page has inline ads.

Media Player
No online media player.  The podcast is available for streaming via Windows Media player using a wma file.

Sharable Player
There is an embeddable widget available that lists blog posts and has a podcast player built into it.  I could not get the player to play any podcasts.  The player also has a link to the show on iTunes.  No evidence that the player is being used to carry advertisements.

Production Quality
Pop Candy’s audio quality could be improved significantly.  The podcast needs to be normalized and leveled.

Album Art
The RSS has links to a 300×300 image for the show.  The 300×300 size image was originally recommended by Apple.  Apple is now recommending square .jpg images that are at least 600 x 600 pixels. No album art was included with the downloaded file tags.

PopCandy – Top  Recommendations

1. Add a flash based player to the blog page
2. Fix and rationalize RSS feeds
3. Decide on a publishing schedule for the podcasts and stick to it
4. Fix id3 tags to add name, use comment field and add album art
5. Change Album Art to 600×600
6. Increase distribution by submitting podcast feed to directories other than iTunes

Revision3 states that their “expects professionally produced programming but wants it to be unexpected, edgy, smart and real.” They also understand the importance of a multi-device content strategy, stating that their audience “wants to watch shows whenever they want, wherever they are, and on whatever device they choose, including everything from a 70″ HDTV to an iPod or Cell phone.”

We used our best practice framework to evaluate Revision3’s user experience, content production, marketing distribution and monetization efforts. Our evaluation was limited to what we could evaluate from their website, their downloadable content and their RSS feeds.

Our overall impression is that Revision3 demonstrates many of the best practices Digital Podcast has identified and sets a standard of performance that other publishers should use as they benchmark their own practices.

Here’s the video podcast with our best practice review of Revision3

User Experience
Presentation of the Downloadable Media Category
Revision 3 does an excellent job of presenting its content portfolio. The home page is a rich directory view of the content and provides multiple ways for people to find the content they want. Show lists are provided as part of the navigation bar and as a directory panel on the top right of the home page.

Highlighted shows and recent episodes are well marketed on the page.

Show Homepage
Every show uses a standard format for presenting the show. The page is colorfully branded for the show, presents the most recent episode on the left panel and provides a show description panel on the right. Below the most recent episode are a listing of previous episodes with pictures and descriptions. The previous episodes are presented as one of three panels available to the user. The other two panels available through some nice use of ajax are subscription options and community.

Episode Detail Page
Every episode has a detail page that presents an attractive player that supports advertising overlays, show notes, subscription options, download options, embeddable code for sharing, links to other content you might like and links to the discussion about the episode.

RSS Links
Revision 3 presents a good range of subscription options. There are clear links for subscribing in iTunes, Zune and Miro (a free, open source internet video player). There are also feeds available for flash, Quicktime, mp3, WMV and Xvid. For most of these formats a variety of sizes are available. There is no 3gp format available for supporting cell phone video player standards.

Audience Interaction
There is strong support for audience interaction with the show via the community panel on each show page and the recent forum posts on the episode detail pages. This integration could be made tighter allowing interaction/commenting to happen right on the episode page. The page currently sends the user to the forums to add comments.

The site presents a good range of options for users to share the show with others including email and embeddable code so the player can be added to blogs or other social pages. There are also links directly to a number of social sites to help with sharing.

Media Player
The flash player offers options of low and high quality, volume controls and play controls for starting, pausing and moving within the video. The player also supports video overlays.

Playability
The online flash player started immediately. The site makes the content available in wide range of formats thereby supporting a wide range of devices. Downloads are available for Quicktime, mp3, WMV and Xvid. For most of these formats a variety of sizes are available. There is no 3gp format available for supporting cell phone video player standards, although the small m4v feed should play in most cell phone video players.

Creative/Production
Range of Content
Revision 3 offers a good range of content. It provides 16 different shows with a heavy emphasis on the technology and popular culture. Each show is presented in a uniform manner using Revision 3’s platform for presenting the shows.

Publishing Schedule
Shows are produced on a regular schedule with a standard release day for weekly shows. Revision 3 also publishes a release schedule showing releases by day of week and time. This helps the audience know when to check in for new content.

Production Quality
Video was good quality video.

Marketing
ID3 tags
ID3 tags were present and used. However, the comment field went unused and no album art was included with the tags. There is room for improvement in utilizing the full capabilities of the ID3 tags.

Feed quality
Feeds for the show validate at Feedvalidator.org. RSS tags are used as designed and iTunes tags are well used. The item tags included image links and media RSS tags.

File Naming
File names are well used with a format of showname-episode number-date-size.format. For example, diggnation–0149–2008-05-08sigh–small.m4v

Google Search Engine Optimization
Search for Diggnation lists show in first result.

iTunes Search Optimization
Search for Dignation lists show in first result.

Syndication
We checked five leading podcast directories and the show was listed in all directories.

Sharable Player
The show offers a player that can be embedded in blogs or social networking sites. No advertising on the player itself.

Album Art
The RSS has links to a 300×300 image for the show. The 300×300 size image was originally recommended by Apple. Apple is now recommending square .jpg images that are at least 600 x 600 pixels. No album art was included with the downloaded file tags.

Monetization
Advertising
The shows use a combination of pre-roll sponsor splash pages and video overlays for advertising. The web page has inline display ads.

Premium Content
No visible use of premium content monetization.

Sponsorship
Shows have sponsors. Splash pages are used at the beginning of the show to highlight the sponsor. The sponsors are also listed in the show notes with a paragraph of text about the sponsor.

Commerce/Merchandise
Revision3 does have a clothing store. DVD and ecommerce integration are opportunities for expanding monetization options.

Paid Syndication
No visible use of paid syndication.

Distribution

Revision3 appears to be using BitGravityas a content delivery network and to provide the onsite media player. Video started playing very quickly and smoothly even at high quality levels. Download speeds from Revision3’s site seem to be quite good and ran between 150 and 200 KB/second for me.

Revision 3 – Top Recommendations

1. Improve ID3 tags to add show descriptions, notes and album art
2. Increase the level of integration between comments and content so that people can comment on the show or episode pages without having to go to the forum section on the website.

Technorati Tags: podcasting, best practices, Revision3

Developing content, building audience and getting advertisers to buy in will take serious effort. Publishers who understand the huge opportunity for subscribable media and its capacity to shape the media industry’s winners and losers will step up and make the investment required.

Putting these elements into a framework allows for systematic evaluation of operating practices across publishers and for the identification of best practices for new media publishing.

The framework links the three key elements of Audience, Content and Advertisers with the critical activities of creative/production, marketing, distribution, monetization and user experience.

In each of these functional areas, there are best practices that need to be deployed to make the most of a new media business. Some of these factors are observable from the outside looking in and others require examining how things work from the inside out.

Creative and production encompass the all important aspects of conceiving the concept, translating it into a show and producing high quality content on a regular schedule.

Marketing involves many factors including the key factors like search engine optimization, iTunes/media directory optimization, syndication via RSS feeds and sharable players. Evidence of best practice marketing can be found in how well things like ID3 tags are populated, the quality of feeds, file naming practices and quality album art. These are all factors that impact how findable the media is.

Monetization can take many forms and best practice players will find the right mix that works for them. While we can’t determine how much a show makes from the outside, we can examine the presence of monetization mechanisms like advertising, premium content, sponsorships, commerce/merchandise and paid syndication.

Distribution is an important component. In this area we are specifically looking for cost effective high quality content delivery. New media files are quite large and how well the distribution infrastructure works can have a significant impact on the user experience. In many cases we can determine whether a content delivery network is being utilized and we can also observe the use of advanced file sharing technologies like BitTorrent.

Perhaps the most important and observable element of the best practice framework is the user experience. How well are the shows presented? Is the content available in a format compatible with the devices consumers want to use? Is it easy for the audience to interact with the show? What’s the online viewing experience like? The answers to these questions and the inputs of the other four elements of the framework all go into determining how effective the user experience is.

By examining these factors in detail, we can begin to identify specific changes that will improve business performance and help publishers get serious about building new media businesses.

In the weeks ahead, we will dive into each of these areas to examine best practices and to review how well different publishers are employing best practices.

Technorati Tags: podcasting, best practices, new media