Narrowcasting

Content1. What is narrowcasting?2. Interactive narrowcasting3. Commercial Applications4. Podcasting

1. What is Narrowcasting?Broadcasts are transmitted to the general public,

available for any general receiver with the ca-pability to capture the signals.

Narrowcasting is directed to a particular audi-ence via proprietary equipment and encryption, or by some other discriminatory means.

1. What is Narrowcasting -continued

common examples Cable TV The encrypted signals can only be viewed on a TV by first run-

ning through a descrambler provided by the cable company for a monthly fee.

Satellite radio

Satellite radio is commercial-free radio, requiring a proprietary receiver or tuner. Satellite radio is also a paid subscription service

Mailing lists Mailing lists are podcasts that are generally geared towards a

highly specific segment of the public. With some exceptions, mailing lists, podcasts, and subscription-centric websites are generally free narrowcasting services.

2. Interactive Narrowcasting A new type of narrowcasting is evolving in the form of

interactive narrowcasting Interactive narrowcasting enables shoppers to influ-

ence the content displayed via narrowcasting (i.e. airport flight schedules, shop locations, restaurants or other information using touch screen systems)

These systems enable brands to communicate with their customers via a personal computer

The advantage of the majority of interactive narrow-casting projects is that they are more effective and less costly over time.

3.Commercial ApplicationsNarrowcasting is particularly useful as a commer-

cial advertising tooPre-recorded television programmes are often

broadcast to captive audiences in taxi cabs, buses, elevators and queues (such as at branches of the Post Office).

Forget broadcasting, the future is narrowcasting A multimedia information service for Thomson Reuters

financial service subscribers that launched since 2009.

4. PodcastingNarrowcasting is also sometimes applied to

podcasting, since the audience for a podcast is often specific and sharply defined.

An RSS feed icon, commonly used to indicate the Web feed for a podcast.

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.

Commonly used audio file formats are Ogg Vor-bis and MP3.