The highly successful and impactful podcast ‘The Diary of a CEO’ which was created by Social Chain founder Steven Bartlett was continuing to make an impact this week, but not for the usual reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barlett has found his podcast in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority for avoidable practices regarding the promotion of a product, and Head of Sport Social – Jim Salveson – has shared his thoughts on the matter and how you can avoid your podcast having similar difficulties in future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walking the tight-rope of Podcast Advertising<\/strong> – The Diary of a CEO case<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Podcasting is often described as the Wild West of audio; a new frontier where laws can be made up on the hoof and enforcement (such as copywrite infringement) is sporadic at best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this can be still the case as the relative infancy of podcasting as an industry does mean that rules and regulations can often be more reactive than proactive \u2013 things are slowly starting to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent victim of these “new” rules is Steven Bartlett who’s hit podcast “Diary of a CEO<\/a>” has recently had a complaint upheld against it for failing to make clear that a promotional section of the podcast wasn’t clearly defined as an advert to the listener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint related to an advertisement for a food supplement called Huel and, despite Huel\/Bartlett\u2019s defense that no money exchanged hands for the promotion, it was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such, and that they must make clear their commercial intent if that was not obvious from the context.” <\/em><\/p>Advertising Standards Authority ruling<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You can read the full ruling and defence here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this instance, I believe Bartlett has been unlucky. As a regular listener to the podcast, I’ve never been left in any doubt as to which parts of the show are host read advertisements and which are “content”. Not only is there clear separation of each element with a sound effect (a page turn) but the style and delivery is markedly different for each element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this ruling does indicate that this is an area in which podcasters will need to tread carefully in future.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expertly integrated commercial content within a podcast is one of the podcasting superpowers. When done well, it can be a hugely effective way to deliver advertising campaigns, but it\u2019s now more important than ever to ensure this is clearly defined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n