Those confused about podcasting in Canada and how it can be harnessed for marketing purposes need look no further than podpoint.ca. The site launched yesterday to educate agencies and advertisers about podcasting, to facilitate ad buys, and also to create branded podcast content.

On the site, visitors can access Podpoint, the podcast about Canadian podcasts. Each show is between 20 to 30 minutes long and features promos, interviews and reviews of other Canadian podcasts. They can also gain access to a network of the top five or 10 Canadian podcasts for ad placement. Much like a media buy for TV or OOH, Podpoint will take care of the insertions, transactions, and specialized content for the advertiser or agency if needed. For those looking for branded content, Podpoint can create and host the podcast and send it to iTunes and all of the other popular search sites for podcasts.

Podpoint is the brainchild of Kyle Shay, IT manager at a Toronto-based ad agency. Shay started podcasting in January of this year as a way to pass the time during his long 150 km commute to work each day. He began with thegreatwhitenorth.ca, a half-hour string-of-consciousness recording of his thoughts during the drive, which now has between 14,000 to 15,000 subscribers listening to it each week. He later added bustanub.com, a comedy podcast of the Bob and Doug MacKenzie genre that has about 10,000 subscribers, and hockeycastincanada.com, a professional-looking video podcast of his 10 year-old-son’s minor hockey games with voiceover commentary.

As a member of the advertising community, Shay could see the potential in podcasting for marketers and the need for more information about podcasting within the industry. That’s when he got the idea for Podpoint.ca. Advertisers can go to the site if they’re looking to venture into the Canadian podcasting market and find out about the different kinds of podcast shows available in Canada or simply use it as a place to start listening or watching podcasts.

Shay says, ‘Right now everyone is independent. There’s no go-to guy when it comes to (podcast) advertising – so I thought there should be. There’s so much advertisers can do with this stuff as long as they don’t make it like a corporate podcast – it’s got to be more of an underground marketing thing.’

Shay is already working on expanding the capabilities of podpoint.ca and will be launching the second phase of the site in the near future.