Wizard Media Notes Increased iPhone Usage on its Network

By comparing the weekend of June 19 with the previous June 12 weekend, Wizzard Media Network saw an increase in audiences using the iPhone to request podcast episodes of 29% in the U.S. and 27% worldwide. The results have been directly influenced by the release of the iPhone 3G S.

“We expected to see a surge in App and podcast interest with the launch of the new iPhone but we did not expect it to be this soon or this substantial,” Chris Spencer, Wizzard Media CEO, said. “I believe this data supports our most recent push to monetize podcasting through the use of iPhone Apps in addition to podcast advertising. In regards to the 12% increase in App revenue, the weekend before the launch of the new iPhone Wizzard was in the middle of a special $.99 sale of all our Apps and average daily unit sales were up 67% during the week-long special. To improve on that growth once we reverted back to standard pricing shows the impact a million new iPhone users can have on sales.” Financial analyst projections for Apple’s iPhone sales average over 20 million units for 2009 (RBC, Piper Jaffrey, Citi).

As a result of the increase in podcast downloads, there was an increase in podcasts downloaded from the network by iPhone users of 66% in the U.S. and 50% worldwide. An average increase of 12% worldwide was shown by revenues for Wizzard’s iPhone App sales for the weekend following the iPhone 3G S debut. Wizard Media released these figures today, emphasizing an increase in iPhone application sales, podcast downloads and podcast audiences from iPhone users for the first weekend after the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 3GS.

“This significant increase in the number of people consuming podcasts from the Wizzard Media Network on their iPhone certainly demonstrates device engagement and can translate to larger advertising buys,” Laurie Sims, president, Wizzard Media, said. “No one leaves home today without their cell phone and podcasts represent an effective means for advertisers to put their message onto a person’s most trusted device in an extremely uncluttered and intimate advertising environment. It also allows us to deliver even more efficient geographically targeted ad campaigns while still reaching a large mass of consumers.”

“Apple reported that they sold 1 million iPhone 3GS's during its launch weekend and the data from Wizzard Media showing a 12% average increase in App sales, a 66% increase in iPhone related U.S. traffic and 29% increase in unique audiences for iPhones during the launch weekend vs. the previous weekend, shows that most of those new iPhone users wasted no time getting on-line and discovering great apps and podcasts,” Rob Walch, VP Podcaster Relations for Wizzard Media and Host of the Today in iPhone podcast, added.

Visit Wizard Media here for more information about the company. iPhone developers are especially encouraged to give the website a glance.