“Interactive podcasting” is a term that has yet to be uttered by the podcast masses. However, in its early stages, it represents a direct threat to the DVD specials market and as it grows it will undoubtedly revolutionize the way we watch television forever.

What is “Interactive Podcasting”?

In an article I wrote a few months ago I made this statement:

“In my opinion, podcasting is the genesis of Internet video technology. That is, the fusion of what we know as the” Internet “and current broadcast, cable, or satellite programming. It has long been argued that the Internet and television would one day But not much has been said about how this transition will unfold, towards a new future of “Informational Entertainment” or “Smart Programming.”

Video podcasting has opened the floodgates for Internet television to compete directly with traditional television. In the coming years, companies like Microsoft and others that have already introduced home TV set-top boxes, which will transmit Internet signals directly to your home televisions. This is the birth of home internet television in its purest form.

Everybody has a DVD or two, right? If not, I hope you have at least seen one. Now when you put a DVD in the machine and turn it on, it takes you to a menu screen. This menu screen gives you options to choose from, such as scenes, extras, director’s cut, etc. These extras are great draws for DVD sales, such as Shrek, Star Wars, etc. The reason they are so successful is because they put the power of choice in the hands of the user. Whichever you choose, the DVD will go on and on.

So what if podcasting had the ability to implement “user options”? What if you were watching a video podcast and had the ability to choose different features of that podcast simply by hovering over the screen and choosing your option? What if you had the ability to alter and control videos, with the same user applicability that you can on a web page or search engine?

Podcasting has just ventured into the video phase, where everyone from amateur producers to billion dollar media companies are scrambling to figure out how to make this medium useful and, of course, profitable. So, as the medium evolves, the user will demand more from the industry and a response will be absolutely necessary to make digital media as viable and powerful as DVD and VHS tapes once were.

The answer that society will need is to make digital content as interactive as a physical product and something else would be.

Because what good is the new “Pirates of the Caribbean Movie” sent to your home media device, if you can’t choose to see how they produced the spectacular new sword fighting scene you’ve heard of?

Right now, podcasting is the first step in the direction of Internet television, it has opened the door for subscription-based technology to flourish on the Internet. And that’s the birth of Internet cable TV in its purest form. So, as podcast masses begin to grow to hundreds of thousands and millions of viewers per podcast show, the industry will begin to add user options to their shows, and these options will be interactive in nature.

For example, let’s say you’re watching a popular video podcast like What I Want Fitness (http://www.WhatIWantFitness.com). This program features personal training tips from an instructor, and during the session you’re watching, you see a particular exercise that you really liked and would like to see more variations. So what if you could take your mouse and click on the trainer’s biceps, and as you do so, the screen will open a list of biceps exercises that are available, as well as text on the structure of the biceps muscle. You could then instantly transition to a new bicep exercise, or maybe click on the text to learn a little more about the muscle you are training.

Now this is a very simple example, but very true to the power of interactive podcasting and, finally, interactive iTV. Podcast shows starting to implement these features will attract a high viewer response rate, where a show will be able to modify its schedule in direct relation to the data and feedback it receives from its viewers. This will only improve scheduling in the future. If 75% of viewers choose to watch resistance-related exercises, then the show will be able to get that data from web statistical information and implement the changes to better serve its audience on the next show.

As this power is implemented by the world’s leading media conglomerates, Internet television will take off and the merger of television and the Internet will have occurred.

You see, until the practical applicability of interactive programming is highlighted, Internet television will not see its true potential. But once it becomes all the rage, interactive podcasting will be seen as the birth of this revolution in media distribution.

Now if we could just make the browsers stay up to date and give us the support we need at the xhtml level.