Google AdSense for Audio Coming

Google plans to release Google AdSense for Audio to monetize podcasts sometime this quarter, according to sources.

I’ve been sitting on this news for months out of deference to a colleague’s wishes, but today Seeking Alpha has some information on it too, so I thought I might as well post.

Earlier this year, Google contracted with several podcast engineers to help them develop Google AdSense for Audio. According to one source the product was originally slated for a 3Q release, but apparently it slipped behind a month or so.

Scuttlebutt is AdSense for Audio will involve, in part, contextual advertising around podcasts (and I would imagine in the podcasts too, but I don’t have any more information on that).

Another source, an executive at a partner company, said Google was going to launch a music podcast product in the weeks after 3Q earnings. I assume this is the same product. The company is very well-known for enabling media streaming.

I can think of several obvious ways in which Google might deploy podcast tech:

• simple automated podcast advertising based on keywords
• podcast downloads to mobile phones, wrapped in mobile contextual ads
• podcast search and download (maybe bolstering this page in part)
• podcast delivery via Gmail, Google Talk, Google Desktop, or another product (I say this because Talk offers voice chat, and it’s no a big leap to use the audio player for podcasts. Gmail also allows you to stream MP3s right in the Gmail interface.).
• Podcast streaming through Google Video (the MP3 player is Google Video technology).

That’s all I’ve got right now. Sorry the details aren’t more firm. I’ll be at the Googleplex this morning in NYC and I’ll ask around, but you know they aren’t going to say anything.