Wizzard Software Acquires Second Podcasting Company

PITTSBURGH — Wizzard Software (OTCBB:WIZD) acquired a second podcasting company, Blast Podcast, an advertising technology and hosting service provider in the podcasting world.  This acquisition is Wizzard's second acquisition of a podcast hosting company in the past 90 days, the first being the Switchpod.com acquisition.  Wizzard plans to incorporate its speech technology into the business plan Blast Podcast has developed.

Blast Podcast brings together a variety of video and audio podcasts to create the BlastNetwork, a selection of over 500 audio and video BlastChannels.  Blast Podcast provides clients with branding and advertising opportunities, in addition to statistics, and feed and file management without bandwidth fees and hosting costs. 

To augment the BlastNetwork, Wizzard will incorporate its server-based speech recognition technologies into the BlastNetwork, which will create a transcript of each audio and video podcast.  This feature will allow advertisers and listeners to type in keywords and find relevant podcasts based on the full content of every podcast episode.

The BP Ad Engine, Blast Podcast's exclusive technology, matches publisher content against data provided by advertisers for their specific market segments.

Another key component of Blast Podcast's advertising model is the BlastPlayer, which positions Blast Podcast in the Internet television, audio/video online and mobile market, specific to ad-supported content.  Designed for the management of a channel's episodes and for the audience's viewing, audio and video content and ads can be mixed within the same player.  The BlastPlayer can be integrated into nearly any Web site and weblog publishing (blogging) platform. 

BlastClicks is yet another feature of the ad solution offered by Blast Podcast.  BlastClicks is an audio coupon and contest enhancement that expands audio podcast advertising to include CPC (cost per clicks) opportunities in addition to the CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model. Blast Podcast also provides PSA (Public Service Announcements) for the Non-Profit organization, Charity Navigator, and their approved charities to all Podcasters, whether on the BlastNetwork or other networks.