Mark Glaser, of PBS’ MediaShift Blog, ponders the mysteries of how the Disney Company gets consistently high placement for its podcasts on Apple’s iTunes store.
While they might not accept payments for these slots, there might be other corporate or commercial considerations for Apple when choosing slots. For instance, one of the 12 top slots yesterday was for Disney DVD News, basically a marketing podcast for Disney promoting its new DVD eleases.
Disney made a high-profile deal with Apple, making its hit shows
available for download on iTunes. Plus, Disney recently bought out
Pixar, a company helmed by Steve Jobs, who also happens to be Apple’s CEO. The result is that any featured podcasts done by Disney (or its ABC or ESPN networks) smells of a sweetheart deal.
Could there be shenanigan’s going on?
[ Tags: disney, itunes, apple, podcast, ipod, mediashift, mark+glaser, steve+jobs, marketing, advertising, promotion, brand, branding ]