Podcasts and advertising... Please give it a break.

I listen to a bunch of podcasts. Some of them have pre-roll and post-roll ads, and some have quick breaks to cut to an ad and then come back to the show. Those are all tolerable because they are quick ads, and are clearly just that, ads and not the content of the show.

Today I was listening to This Week In Photography (TWIP - 1/4/09 episode). They're sponsored by Drobo, and have the pre-roll ad. But what finally bugged me today was that it seems like every recent episode now contains a segment where they pimp the Drobo as part of their content. I can see mentioning them every now and then, but it has pretty much become a regular component of the show where they try to talk candidly, relay stories and the status of their Drobo's and it has finally reached a point where it bugs me. If I want to listen to a Drobo Podcast I will go searching for one. I want to know about photography.

I think I'm going to change my links to their site to This Week In Drobo.

I probably wouldn't be as bothered by it all, but I listen to This Week In Media too (TWIM), where advertising in podcasts was discussed not too long ago, and they talked about how much better the candid discussion of products is better than the short taped ads. If it was done in moderate amounts it wouldn't bug me, but I think they've finally gone too far with it all.

:/