“1-800 pay-per-call schemes, single use URLs, and promotional codes will sort of work today, but ideally – and to avoid ping fraud bumping up the number of ad listens – the advertising model has to be moved from cost-per-impression to cost-per-click and then to cost-per-action.”

So let’s say a service like Fruitcast, which currently only tracks downloads, wanted to provide better metrics for advertisers. Would a 1-800 pay-per-call system work? Or is this just as easy to fake as the download bot you spoke of yesterday? By cost per action, you presumably mean tracking when a sale is made – this would no doubt work more smoothly (perhaps with a unique URL or promotional code for tracking) because podcasters aren’t going to buy a product/service just to improve their metrics.