Sounds Profitable

This week's top stories: How to use CTV as a Roadmap for Programmatic AudioWhat downturn? In real terms, ad spending is doing just fine.Washington State passes sweeping health data lawResearch Roundup: Audacy State of AudioCumulus Media 2023 Audioscape iHeart State of Podcasting 2023Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report by PodsightsThe Soundout Index 2023Quick hits: Barometer and Audiohook partner to enable Brand Suitability and Contextual Targeting at scale. The partnership aims to allow advertisers the ability to enforce brand suitability guidelines while also taking advantage of Audiohook’s programmatic platform. New on Data Decoded, Tom shares his love of commercial jingles while examining interesting data in the Soundout Index report. Why is sonic branding seemingly less effective on Gen Z? Find out in Tom’s new six minute video!

In this episode, we discuss baseball! The new pitch clock, our favorites teams…just kidding. We talk about what it means to swing for the fences in the podcast and audio space and the companies who are taking big risks. Sounds Profitable is in a unique position to not only swing for the fences ourselves, but to help others who want to help grow this industry too.Listen to learn about: The big swings we’ve taken and how they’ve paid off Why the podcast industry needs big ideas Some Sounds Profitable partners who are conducting industry-leading research Why kids and family podcasts are helping to grow the pie Why we think the new Julia Louis Dreyfuss Podcast from Lemonada is a great example of a successful swing for the fence Links: Sounds Profitable’s partners Lemonada Wiser Than Me Cleveland Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta, Arielle Nissenblatt, Tom Webster Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm Edited by Gavin Gaddis

A recent research report from Japan highlights how podcasting can grow when it germinates from a very different seed. Tom Webster breaks down the data and how it applies to podcasting everywhere Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Bryan Barletta Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com

This week on The Download: How Brands Can Lift the Tide of Minority-Owned Media More brands choose Boomer/GenX influencers as 'older audiences can be just as impactful' as young ones. What Marketers need to know about Generation Zennial from social media and buying habits And in Quick Hits: Barometer Secures $2.25M To Expand Brand Safety And Contextual Targeting For Podcasts by Anthony Vargas. Veritonic Achieves Security Organization Control 2 Type II Certification. After an audit by Prescient Assurance, Veritonic has been validated as having effective enterprise-level security for customer data. Audioboom publishes 2022 Annual Report & Financial Statements. The company reports double-digit growth in several key metrics. WPP Acquires Sonic Branding Agency Amp to Strengthen Landor & Fitch by Stephen Lepitak. This is the third acquisition by WWP in the past month, along with technology-focused social influencer marketing agencies. For links to all articles covered and a full transcript of the episode, please visit SoundsProfitable.com/podcast

In this special re-upload, Bryan speaks with U of Digital Managing Partner Shiv Gupta about what it means to create a comprehensive educational approach across an industry. Gupta comes to us by way of the digital marketing space, but has spent his career creating programming aimed at educating and serving across different sectors and levels within companies. Adtech Applied cohost Arielle Nissenblatt joins to set up the chat and break it down with takeaways at the latter half of the show.Listen to learn about: Shiv Gupta’s career Why it’s important to create non-biased courses that educate on entire industries How Sounds Profitable plans to approach an education initiative Why we need your feedback on this podcast Here’s our favorite idea from this conversation: creating opportunities for folks to learn, either if they’re new to a job or looking to move on to the next level, benefits everyone.Links: Bryan Barletta Arielle Nissenblatt Shiv Gupta U of Digital The Download Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles SquadCast Podscribe Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta & Arielle Nissenblatt Audio engineering by Evo Terra Executive produced by Evo Terra of Simpler Media Sounds Profitable Theme written by Tim Cameron Revised edit by Gavin Gaddis.

Continuing Sounds Profitable’s mission to provide more for the business of audio, Bryan Barletta announces the Partner Perks Series. Get in touch to learn more about the Business Leaders Summit at The Podcast Show London! Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Tom Webster Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week's stories: ‘They are blatantly blocking news’: Confessions of a programmatic sales lead on brand safety filters’ impact on publishers’ direct-sold ads Pew Research publishes Podcasts as a Source of News and Information Americans Spend $48 per Month on Video Streaming Services — and Half of Those Surveyed Say That’s Too Much FTC Warns Almost 700 Marketing Companies That They Could Face Civil Penalties if They Can’t Back Up Their Product Claims Quick hits: Podscribe is now IAB Tech Lab Certified. Announced this Monday, verification platform Podscribe announced they have officially received their IAB certification after a six month audit process. Podcast hosting platform Ausha has announced the implementation of ChatGPT into their social media management system. Netflix Earnings, Netflix’s Movie Strategy, Accretive Ads by Ben Thompson. This week’s Stratechery issue covers the recent Netflix earnings call, Thompson’s previous coverage of Netflix, and what could lie in Netflix’s future. Veritonic has published a new guide titled 5 Things to Consider When Running a Brand Lift Study for Audio. For full transcript and links to all articles mentioned, please visit SoundsProfitable.com/podcast

Did you know that April is Adopt-a-Podcast Listener Month? Now you do! Bryan Barletta speaks with Lauren Passell and Arielle Nissenblatt about Tink Media, this new initiative to grow the podcast/audio space, barriers they’ve uncovered for potential listeners, and how you can get involved.Listen to learn about: How to idea for this event came about Lauren and Arielle’s woman-on-the-street approach to ask people about their listening habits Best practices they’ve uncovered for recommending podcasts The pre, mid, and post-roll ad campaign you can participate in Links: Lauren Passell Tink Media Adopt-a-Listener Month Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta, Arielle Nissenblatt Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm Edited by Gavin Gaddis

Discussed this week:Ad Spend in the US will grow more than initially expected this year, per S&P. How brands can tailor their audio ads to target “co-listeners”Why news outlets are putting their podcasts on YouTube Quick Hits:The 2023 Quill Podcast Awards nominations are now open. Public nominations will run until April 24th, with finalists announced on May 4th and winners announced on May 17th. Eligibility guidelines and categories can be found on Quill’s website. OxfordRoad has published a new study titled Solving Audio Ad Attribution. The white paper aims to teach marketers how to improve performance at scale and proposes vanity urls “no longer cut it.” A month after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the fallout is just beginning for the ad industry by Seb Joseph and Marty Swant for Digiday. A substantial breakdown of the aftershocks from the SVB collapse and what impacts it’ll have on advertising. For full transcript and links to everything mentioned, please visit SoundsProfitable.com/Podcast

In this episode, Tom, Arielle, and Bryan recap their experiences at Radiodays Europe, which took place last month in Prague. They discuss the expo hall, the presentation they attended, trends they identified, and much more. Listen to learn about: How Tom’s recent research was received by a primarily European audience Radio’s prevalence in Europe What podcasting can learn from radio Why Sounds Profitable feels it’s important to be at non-podcast-specific events The Podcast Summit at Radiodays Links: Radiodays Europe Podcast Show London Data Decoded Adopt-a-Listener Month Sounds Profitable’s research Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta, Arielle Nissenblatt, Tom Webster Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm Edited by Gavin Gaddis

This week, Tom Webster spots a misapplication of podcast research that he felt strongly enough about to hopefully nip in the bud, wherever the bud may be found.Contact for information about Business Leader Summit in London.BumperCredits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Bryan Barletta. Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week on The Download: AMERICA bill aims to regulate big ad tech Publishers find Q1 numbers not as bad as forecasted A deep dive into podcasting in South Korea Quick Hits: Submissions for the Digiday Media and Technology awards are approaching their regular deadline of May 11th. If you’re interested in submitting a podcast to either category, use code soundsprofitable, all one word and lowercase, to take $100 off your submission fee. Rococo Punch launches RP Labs, a vertical dedicated to continuing education audio experiences. Rococo RP Labs announcement Audio Insurgent author Eric Nuzum published the text of his seven minute Radiodays Europe speech on market saturation in audio. The speech makes a bold statement: market saturation doesn’t exist for podcasts created by genuinely motivated production teams. Adthos launches self-service AI-generated audio ads for radio, podcast, and streaming. Starting Tuesday, users of the Adthos platform now have access to the ability to generate an audio ad creative from scratch entirely using AI tools, from the script to backing music. TuneIn adds 120,000 audiobooks to premium service, by Matthew Keys. Audio streamer TuneIn has now added a sizeable library of audiobooks. Some classic titles will be available for free, while premium users will have access to the entire collection. For all links and a full transcript of the episode, visit SoundsProfitable.com/Podcasts

Podcast advertising is in a weird phase. We’re caught between our ideals and our reality; the technical capabilities of the space and the business decisions of the company. That confusion is starting to cost us trust. Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Tom Webster Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week on The Download: Google Announces Ad Library, the maturing podcast ad industry attracts more mainstream brands, and Audiobooks could become new audio advertising frontier. Quick Hits:Gumball Expands Its Host-Read Podcast Advertising Marketplace Model to YouTube Integrations. Podcast Company Audacy Shakes Up Its Leadership, Retains Cadence13 Studio by Ashley Carman. For a full transcript of the episode, links, and other episodes, please visit SoundsProfitable.com/Podcast

Tom Webster recently wrote an article entitled, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Podcasts.” He posits that, while publishers may think they know a lot about their audiences, they don’t really know all that much. He outlines five questions that podcasters can ask of their audience in order to get a better grasp on who they are, what they want, and how the show can potentially appeal to more listeners like them. Arielle Nissenblatt and Tom discuss these five questions and share some more context on how to chat with your audience. Also in this episode, we discuss Sounds Profitable’s “The Medium Moves the Message” research study and Tink Media’s upcoming Adopt a Listener Month initiative.Listen to learn about: 5 questions you can and should ask your audience How to actually get responses from your audience Why it’s not enough to just ask “what do you like about my podcast?” Why you don’t need this to be a study or have thousands of responses for it to be effective What’s coming up at Sounds Profitable Links: Article Arielle Nissenblatt Tom Webster Sounds Profitable’s research Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta, Arielle Nissenblatt, Tom Webster Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm

From an undisclosed location in Prague, Tom Webster reflects on highlights from recent Sounds Profitable research and why it means radio should embrace podcasting. Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Gavin Gaddis Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week on The Download:Ad Fraud Yet to Significantly Impact PodcastsMarketers and creators react to potential TikTok banYouTubeTV increases price due to content costsSounds Profitable releases The Medium Moves the MessageQuick hits: The Biggest Challenge for Podcasters Today is… by Eric Nuzum in his newsletter Audio Insurgent. This issue Nuzum has a conversation with ChatGPT, asking the bot to list the biggest issues podcasters face currently. Interestingly enough, it might have parroted the sentiments of one of Nuzum’s own articles back at him.Amaze Media Labs Acquires Rockable. Podcast advertising company Rockable, and their proprietary audience growth solutions, are now a part of AMAZE Media Labs. For a full transcript of the episode, links, and other episodes, please visit SoundsProfitable.com/Podcast

Google has a potentially huge opportunity to grow the podcast industry — both for publishers and for listeners (and even for advertisers) — by way of YouTube Music. The past few weeks have brought more and more attention to this possibility by way of Kai Chuk’s announcement at Hot Pod Summit at On Air Fest and a recent press release shared on Podnews. In this episode, Bryan Barletta and Arielle Nissenblatt discuss the opportunity at hand, what we would like to see, what we will likely see (realistically), and what the future looks like if the opportunity is seized.Listen to learn about: How YouTube could potentially ingest RSS feeds What hosting providers and YouTube should be negotiating How Sounds Profitable plans to handle video Upcoming research from Sounds Profitable How AI fits into all of this Links: Article Sounds Profitable’s research Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta, Arielle Nissenblatt, Tom Webster Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm Edited by Gavin Gaddis

This week Bryan addresses the myth that podcasting has a unique measurement problem, and how the industry as a whole can move forward to address it. Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Tom Webster Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

The Download is brought to you by Magellan AI. Track the trends in spend, ad load, podcasts on YouTube, and more with Magellan AI's advertising benchmark report for Q4, available now.The stories covered this week are: 6 AI tools podcasters are using for new ideas, editing, and more — and why they're skeptical of ChatGPT Why regulators’ scrutiny of Big Tech is rekindling buyers’ interest in ad tech News publishers lament the role of verification firms in the programmatic market Quick Hits: The JAR Audio Pilot Competition for Emerging Women Podcasters is now accepting applications. The winning idea will be produced as a pilot episode with JAR audio collaborating with the creator. The deadline for submissions is May 1st. Sessions from Veritonic’s Audio Intelligence Summit are now available on Veritonic’s website. For those who missed out, or are interested in reviewing what they saw in person, the seven sessions are now live, including the panel on attribution and brand lift that includes our own Bryan Barletta. What Are the 3 S’s of Programmatic Podcast Advertising? By Mattia Verzella on AdMonsters. Spreaker’s Head of Business Development breaks down the rise of ad trading in podcasting, the challenges faced by both publishers and advertisers, and details how the three S’s can solve for them. For the episode's full transcript, please visit SoundsProfitable.com/Podcast

Does the medium move the message? Spoiler alert - yes. This week Tom Webster previews the next research project from Sounds Profitable. Written by Tom Webster Edited by Bryan Barletta Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron

Gavin: This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I’m Gavin Gaddis, in for Manuela Bedoya. Shreya: And I’m Shreya Sharma.Gavin: The Download is brought to you by Magellan AI. Track the trends in spend, ad load, podcasts on YouTube, and more with Magellan AI's advertising benchmark report for Q4, available now. You can find a link in the description or visit Magellan dot AI.Shreya: This week: Spotify Stream On Announces New Features, RSS.com and Spreaker make transcripts more accessible, Marketers adapt to serve niche communities, and The Infinite Dial turns 25. Let’s get started. Spotify live stream Gavin: Yesterday Spotify hosted their annual Stream On live event from LA. Throughout the 90 minute presentation a series of guest speakers, ranging from Spotify executives to the Jonas Brothers, debuted new features from Spotify and the company’s goals in the near future. Let’s look at the ones relevant to podcasting:Starting yesterday the Anchor brand has been retired. The hosting service and other podcasting features will be brought under the name Spotify for Podcasters. In addition to the new coat of paint for Anchor, several features originally only available to podcasts hosted on Anchor have been made platform-agnostic. Chief among these features is the ability to upload video podcasts to Spotify, a particular pain point for video podcasters outside the Spotify umbrella. In addition to video uploads, users will have access to net-new features like Q&A posts and polls that will be visible on the podcast’s page in Spotify. The Spotify for Podcasters dashboard will also feature more advanced analytics. As one slide of the presentation announced: “Spotify is open for business.” Speaking of business, during the segment focusing on the Spotify Audience Network, Chief Business Officer Alex Norstrom announced the newest publisher to join SPAN is none other than podcasting giant NPR.In the world of monetization, Spotify podcasters are getting a sizeable upgrade in the form of a Patreon partnership. Now podcast listeners will be able to listen to premium content hosted on Patreon from within Spotify itself. With this announcement, Spotify now has a direct answer to Apple’s paid podcast subscription service.This year’s Stream On was a promising one, with a healthy focus on the podcasting industry overall. This renewed focus on upgrading the platform, adding new features, and making older features more accessible to podcasters everywhere is a promising one. Spotify seems to be interested in growing with podcasting instead of growing independently. We love to see it. RSS.com and Spreaker make transcription freeShreya: To continue the trend of features that benefit everyone in podcasting we have two big transcription announcements. First: this Monday https://podnews.net/press-release/rss-com-free-transcripts?utm_source=podnews.net&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=podnews.net:2023-03-06. When generated, these transcripts will be posted automatically to the show’s episode page on RSS.com, as well as pushed the show’s RSS feed. This will allow the transcript to be displayed in podcast listening apps that support Podcasting 2.0 tags. According to this Monday’s issue of Podnews, the list of apps that actively support transcripts through this method includes Podverse, Podbean, and Podcast Addict. At launch the automatic transcripts support thirteen languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish. In the official press release, RSS.com co-founder Ben Richardson said there were several features the company considered essential to the tool for it to be ready, including multiple languages and ease of use for the podcaster. From the press release: “We encourage all types of podcast player apps to facilitate the use of captions and transcripts our podcasters can provide in order to open up even more of podcasting’s potential.” And for the second part of this Monday transcription tale: the folks at Spreaker launched http://freepodcastranscription.com, a free tool available to anyone regardless of affiliation with Spreaker. The website touts a high level of privacy and security due to everything being run locally in the user’s browser. From the site’s copy: “We don't send the mp3 file to a server. All the processing happens on your device.” Since that processing is kept in-browser instead of farmed out to an expensive server network, the burden of effort and cost is shifted to the user, allowing a lightweight, free option for podcast transcription. Users pick from one of sixty language options, select the file needing transcription, and run the process. After some time, dictated by the power of the computer, a .SRT file is generated for download. The easier it is for podcasters to generate transcripts, the more pressure there will be for podcas

This week we bring you a feed drop from Insider Interviews, in which E.B. Moss interviews Linda Bethea. The original show notes follow: Linda Bethea, Head of Marketing for Danone North America - a top 15 Food and Beverage brand and the country's largest B corp - gives Insider Interviews host, E.B. Moss, the insider's scoop on marketing 20 different beloved CPG brands, and staying true to a corporate mission of sustainability. Hear how she developed her leadership skills during stints with PepsiCo, Frito-Lay and Diageo, and is now "delighting" consumers with everything from International Delight partnerships with the iconic show "Friends" to the hit Super Bowl commercial for Oikos with Deion Sanders and family.Linda and E.B. discuss:• Linda's path from soda to spirits to spirited field work that taught her how to negotiate and earned the nickname of The Velvet Hammer• Her definition of brand purpose and how proper marketing of it impacts consumer choice and company values• The growing demand for plant-based foods today• How Danone is rescuing fruit and repurposing bottles into shoes and what E.B. eats as an "ova-lacto-pesce-vegetarian"! (And a lot more about plant-food trends, like Danone's new campaign for Silk with a "faux" milk moustache on stars!Linda Bethea is smart and inspiring and mission-driven. Don't miss this conversation with a conscientious consumer marketer and leader.

In preparation for Podcast Movement Evolutions and South by Southwest, Bryan Barletta sits down with Tom Webster to discuss research, presentations, and his new weekly video series Data Decoded.Credits: Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Gavin Gaddis Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

Manuela: This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I’m Manuela Bedoya. Shreya: And I’m Shreya Sharma.Manuela: The Download is brought to you by Magellan AI. Track the trends in spend, ad load, podcasts on YouTube, and more with Magellan AI's advertising benchmark report for Q4, available now. You can find a link in the description or visit Magellan dot AI.Shreya: This week: Podcasts are coming to YouTube Music, Digiday breaks down the Google antitrust case, Podnews publishes a deep dive on podcasting in Japan, and how marketers are looking at Q2. Let’s get started.Podcasts are coming to YouTube MusicManuela: Since the release of the YouTube Podcasts webpage last year, there has been little in the way of concrete feature announcements from YouTube, leaving some skeptical of Google’s commitment. After all, podcasting has been burned by companies veering away from podcast support at the 11th hour. Last Thursday, during the Hot Pod Summit at On Air Fest, YouTube Podcast Lead Kai Chuck took to announce YouTube is releasing a beta version of podcasting functionality for YouTube accounts, as well as adding podcasts to YouTube Music in the near future. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/youtube-podcasts-1235332624/: “The message that I would hope folks are taking away is YouTube, at large, independent of YouTube Music, is looking to better support podcasters and [recognizes] that podcasting is generally an audio-first medium.” Once implemented, YouTube Music listeners will likely have a comparable podcast listening experience to current offerings with Spotify and Apple. As reported on the https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-music-premium-80-million-lyor-cohen/ in August, YouTube Music has a subscriber base of around 80 million users split across YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. Not bad, but it pales in comparison to YouTube’s over two billion users. According to Chuck, there are intentions to bridge the gap between the platforms. https://newsletters.feedbinusercontent.com/60b/60b0be3184899cafee144c595c4fee42eb420187.html: “I don’t expect podcasts to only live on YouTube Music, that’s the only way that people consume podcasts on YouTube,” Chuk said. “We expect there to be kind of a back and forth between the two.”Shapiro then says Google product lead for podcasting Steve McLendon gave an explanation of how the feature would ultimately work, describing seamlessly continuing a podcast episode that had been started on a desktop computer watching YouTube to an audio feed while driving home from work. While not directly related to podcasting, another promising audio feature was announced for YouTube last week: https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/youtube-multilanguage-audio-tracks-mrbeast-supercharges-videos-1235533196/. Currently in beta and piloted by popular content creators like Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, the feature will allow creators to upload alternate audio tracks to dub new and existing videos in different languages. If properly supported and implemented, this could have interesting implementations for podcasting in future.In the https://soundsprofitable.com/guide-and-article/how-google-can-earn-our-trust/, Bryan Barletta detailed several ways Google could win back trust from skeptical podcasters and show they’re committed to integrating with the industry. One way mentioned was a commitment to RSS ingestion and integration. While a step in the right direction, Chuck’s announcement didn’t completely deliver this. A quote from Chan’s presentation: “Definitely support for RSS is something we are looking at. I would say, probably initially, we will leverage RSS to make it easier for podcasters to bring shows to YouTube. In terms of future plans, things like that, we’re sort of exploring what should our goal be.” So podcasts are coming to YouTube. Kind of. As Chuck said, the current vision for RSS integration is less integration and more an automatic import to bring the file into YouTube’s ecosystem. Promising steps are being made towards YouTube integrating into podcasting, instead of YouTube turning podcasters into YouTubers who occasionally upload audio elsewhere, but we’re not out of the woods yet. WTF is going on with the Google antitrust case? Shreya: Back in late January the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging the search engine giant had created a monopoly in the ad tech market as well. The 155 page lawsuit argues Google has used a combination of ad tech tools like their ad exchange and publisher ad server to corner the market on programmatic ads. https://digiday.com/marketing/wtf-is-the-justice-departments-ad-tech-antitrust-case-against-google/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=230227 collecting together the first three installments of a series of videos explaining the DoJ’s lawsuit, as well as the basic fu

Writing for Sounds Profitable recently, Bryan Barletta posited the idea that Spotify has a big opportunity to use their streaming ad insertion technology to grow the industry. In this episode, Arielle Nissenblatt speaks with Bryan and Tom Webster about this opportunity, what it means for the larger industry, and how this all fits into the current zeitgeist around the future of audio (i.e. there have been some doom-and-gloom-focused articles popping up). Listen to learn about: The origins of streaming ad insertion How streaming ad insertion differs from dynamic ad insertion How streaming ad insertion and dynamic ad insertion can work together Why publishers benefit from streaming ad insertion How this discussion affects Apple, Amazon, and more companies Sounds Profitable’s presence at Podcast Movement and SXSW Links: Bryan Barletta Arielle Nissenblatt Tom Webster The article we’re discussing Podcast Movement Sounds Profitable at SXSW Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta, Arielle Nissenblatt, Tom Webster Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm Edited by Reece Carman and Ron Tendick

Every podcaster thinks they know what their audience likes. This week Tom Webster shares strategies to actually get that audience talking and directly telling you what they like. Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Bryan Barletta Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by ART19 Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

Manuela: This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I’m Manuela Bedoya. Shreya: And I’m Shreya Sharma.This week: The App Tracking Transparency Recession, Streamers struggle with frequency capping, Bumper calculates listen time, and IPG Equity Upfront Spotlights Lack of Diverse Adspend.Manuela: The Download is brought to you by Magellan AI. Track the trends in spend, ad load, podcasts on YouTube, and more with Magellan AI's advertising benchmark report for Q4, available now. Link in the description or at Magellan dot AIShreya: Let’s get started. The App Tracking Transparency recession Manuela: While not hot off the presses, an early January article from Eric Benjamin Seufert discussing the effects of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency has come across The Download’s desk. As with most things in advertising, there’s nuance in the numbers.Quick refresher for those who haven’t seen the letters ATT dozens of times: App Tracking Transparency was a privacy policy introduced to iOS in 2021 that turns most forms of mobile data tracking into an opt-in service. As a result, a significant portion of iOS users have digitally disappeared for advertisers. An upset to the status quo, for sure, but the overall numbers provided by Seufert show the digital advertising market is not in a cyclical downturn. That said, social media platforms and other industries most likely to be affected by ATT have experienced a significant downturn due to a combination of both ATT-influenced changes and changing consumer preferences.Which is to say, not macroeconomic factors. A market-wide downturn, as well as more stress on those companies most affected by ATT, would primarily come from an actual 2023 recession. Overall, digital advertising has been working as intended. Consumers are consuming. Seufert points to a Bureau of Labor Statistics graph tracking US employment in December of 2022. According to these, unemployment is the lowest it has been since August 1969. From Seufert’s piece:“But one might assume that the economy has utterly imploded from reading the Q3 earnings call transcripts of various social media platforms. Alphabet, Meta, and Snap, in particular, cited macroeconomic weakness, headwinds, uncertainty, challenges, etc. in their Q3 earnings calls.”In the weeks since Seufert’s article, the overall numbers are trending to agree. The Download has recently mentioned podcast ad spend has remained up while others decline, but the same holds true for other areas. Last week a piece by Ethan Cramer-Flood for Insider Intelligence reports mobile app install ad spending increased 24.8% in 2022, on track to a market growth of 12% this year. Meanwhile, still on Insider Intelligence, Daniel Konstantinovic reports that while market concerns aren’t gone, ad-cost inflation has slowed. 84% of ad executives told Insider Intelligence they're not lowering budgets for 2023. From Konstantinovic:“But now, the industry is adjusting to a new normal. With inflation steadily falling and the cost per ad decreasing, some of the advertising spending that was staunched in the second half of last year may return.”The future may be uncertain, but for the wider advertising economy, podcasting included, things tend to be stable or trending upward. And, it bears repeating, podcasting has never benefited from mobile device IDs. From this industry’s perspective, at least, ATT has had little to no impact. It feels fitting to end with this quote from Seufert’s article:“While one might materialize, the belief that an advertising recession is currently and comprehensively depressing advertising spend is difficult to support with analytical rigor.”Streaming advertisers continue to struggle with frequency caps. Shreya: If you’ve used a video streaming service with advertisements, you’re likely intimately aware of the industry’s issue with frequency caps. Last week’s Future of TV Briefing from Digiday’s Tim Peterson zooms in on this particular issue with the section Capping Out. Streaming advertisers are in a bind. Some viewers are getting underexposed to ads, while others are overexposed. Problems that will only exacerbate as digital video streaming continues on its overtake of traditional television. According to a recent eMarketer graph, US adults only averaged five minutes less digital video time than television last year, and are projected to overtake TV’s declining numbers for the first time this year. Of course, addressing the frequency issues isn’t as easy as it sounds. A myriad of reasons exist, from lack of ability to track exposures across multiple streaming platforms, to multiple DSPs buying from the same pool. Even when the solution exists, sometimes it comes at a price. Peterson reports some streamers are charging more in exchange for placing stricter frequency caps. An anonymous ad agency executive told Digiday:“Some will endeavor to charge more for more restri

On this episode of the Sounds Profitable Podcast, Bryan Barletta sits down with Audiohook's Jordan Bentley to discuss pre-bid. What is it, what does it mean in the world of display advertising, and how can it be brought to podcasting? Listen to learn about: Pre-bid/header bid for Display. Pre-bid is coming for audio. What 'headers' will look like for audio. Links: Bryan Barletta Arielle Nissenblatt Jordan Bentley Audiohook

There has been a cooling of Google and YouTube's enthusiasm for podcasting as of late. Bryan Barletta details what they can do to to heat things back up.Frequency Webinar Signup Link.Credits: Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Tom Webster Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

Manuela: This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I’m Manuela Bedoya. Shreya: And I’m Shreya Sharma.This week: The ‘slippery slope’ of podcast endorsements, Netflix’s ad-supported tier has teething troubles, why ad buyers are hesitant to embrace DSPs, and a look at modern contextual advertising. Let’s get started.Navigating the ‘slippery slope’ of personal endorsements in podcast adsManuela: Over the past few years there have been multiple headlines spotlighting instances of social media influencers butting up against the Federal Trade Commission. This period of adjustment as new media incorporates modern advertising rules has matured to the point the FTC has a official page just for coaching influencers on advertisement disclosure. As MarketingBrew’s Alyssa Meyers pointed out this week: the FTC hasn’t similarly cracked down on podcast advertisements just yet, but it has come close. Listeners of The Download might remember a case in November when Google and iHeartRadio settled with the FTC out of court. The case concerned allegations that several iHeart on-air radio personalities were given ad copy with personal endorsements for a Pixel phone the hosts had not used. From Meyers’ article: “Though the FTC’s guidelines for endorsements and testimonials in advertising don’t mention podcasts, the agency proposed a change last May that would, if approved, add an example concerning a podcast host related to disclosing material connections.”Podcasting is no stranger to ad copy that flirts the line between advertisement and personal endorsement. Meyers opens her article asking if the reader has ever questioned if podcasters really made the meal kits they endorse, or if their mattress sponsor actually fixed their back problems. Hyperbolic, perhaps, but endorsements are a big factor in the appeal of host-read ads. David Plotz, CEO of City Cast told MarketingBrew he has experienced advertisers requiring ads to contain personal endorsements or, more worryingly from an FTC perspective, attempt to slip a personal endorsement into the ad copy. Meyers spotlights two approaches that eliminate any FTC concerns: Lauren Lograsso and NPR. Lograsso prefers ad deals with required endorsements and the authenticity of having tried the product herself. Conversely, NPR has a blanket policy of zero personal endorsements, a byproduct of the company carrying over its radio journalism ethos into podcasting. The article then closes out with advice from Veritone One VP of podcasting Hilary Ross Shafer and Adopter Media CEO Glenn Rubenstein: onboarding calls between podcasters and advertisers are useful, if not vital, tools to establish goals and prevent miscommunication. While host-read remains the preferred method of podcast advertising, it’s worth remembering Sounds Profitable’s first study, After These Messages, found the gap between host-read and announcer-read was smaller than conventional wisdom might suggest. 81% of respondents trusted host-read ads, followed by 71% trusting announcer-read.While it’s certainly possible podcasting will get a headline or two on par with, say, Instagram influencers selling teas that claimed to cure cancer, the data shows there’s no need for such extremes. Podcast listeners, especially in comparison to other forms of media, are quite accepting, if not supportive of advertising. Netflix Ad-Supported Tier Experiences Teething TroublesShreya: Time for an update on a continuing story involving Netflix. Back in early November we covered the details of Netflix’s new Basic tier with advertisements, as well as the big brands buying space at a reported CPM between $60 and $80. Now Basic with Ads has been out a few months and experienced its first teething troubles. Danielle Long, writing for The Drum, reports the streamer has had to issue refunds to Australian advertisers after failing to meet projected audience numbers. From the article: “Media reports suggest Netflix’s Basic with Ads subscription tier, which launched in November, has underperformed by as much as 70% in the first three months of operation.”While Australia’s ad refunds are the most eye-opening headline, Basic with Ads is reportedly slower to start than expected on a global scale. From a US perspective, last week an Insider Intelligence piece from Sara Lebow digs into the question of why, in the face of a recession, consumers aren’t downgrading their Netflix memberships to Basic with Ads. In fact, as economic worries mount, CivicScience numbers show there has been a three percent decline in US citizens who only have one subscription video-on-demand service since January of 2022. From Insider Intelligence analyst Daniel Konstantinovic: “Not only have people shown they are willing to pay for entertainment through difficult economic times, but they’re actually adding more.”One bright spot for Basic with Ads is the recent rollout of Netflix’s passwor

On Air Fest is a yearly event that celebrates sound by way of the podcast and audio industries. It’s in its 7th year, and this year, there’s an added bonus to the three-day-long event: the Podcast Experience. Bryan Barletta speaks with On Air Fest founders Jemma Brown and Scott Newman about the festival, this year’s inaugural “experience,” their hopes for the future of events in the audio space, and more.Listen to learn about: How On Air Fest has evolved How the podcast and audio space can grow by way of in-person and fan-focused events Why Bryan thinks we have to look outside of traditional audio spaces to grow the industry How to get tickets Sounds Profitable’s plans for SXSW Links: Bryan Barletta Arielle Nissenblatt Jemma Brown Scott Newman On Air Fest The Podcast Experience Events Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta and Arielle Nissenblatt Produced by Spooler Media Hosted on Art19 Recorded on SquadCast.fm Edited by Reeece Carman and Ron Tendick

This week, on a very special Law and Order-flavored article, Tom Webster recounts his experience serving on a jury and what the defense’s tactics taught him about podcasting. Don’t look at the chicken.Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Bryan Barletta Assembled with Spooler.fm Hosted by Art19 Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

Manuela: This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I’m Manuela Bedoya. Shreya: And I’m Shreya Sharma.This week: Podcasting a ‘bright spot’ at SXM Media, Amplifi Media CEO counters ‘jarring headlines,’ new Black Podcast Listener Report from SXM and Mindshare, and the state of Google in podcasting.Let’s get started.Podcasting remains ‘a bright spot’ at SXM MediaManuela: ‘Tis the season of quarterly earnings calls. It seems like we get a batch of these every three months! SiriusXM has published their Q4 and full-year results for 2022. Overall the company saw a 4% year over year increase in revenue, hitting 9 billion dollars. The company shouted out its agreements with, as the official copy puts it, “podcast powerhouses” like Crooked Media, Freakonomics, and a 24/7 original comedy channel captained by Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. Podcasting is on the mind at SXM. CEO Jennifer Witz spoke highly of the company’s podcasting arm during the call. To quote fhttps://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_a9fb3e04db36529ff47846b646f7e89e/siriusxm/db/2245/21302/file/SIRI+Q4+2022+Earnings+Release+vF.pdf“In a challenging ad market, podcasts continue to be a growth opportunity for us. This past quarter, we expanded our podcast offerings while doubling down on the shows that have proven most successful with five of the top 20 shows in Edison Research's top 50 podcast rankings, the most of any network.” Witz went on to say podcasting was a bright spot for the industry overall and SXM in particular, driving their 34% increase in off-platform business in 2022. We’ve said it before and will say it again: it’s a good day to hear good news in podcasting. Podcasting is doing fine; thank youShreya: Last week an https://rainnews.com/steve-goldstein-05132022-2/ was published on RainNews, built to assuage fears over recent doom-and-gloom media coverage. A quote from Goldstein’s opening: “If you are reading the headlines about podcasting, you might be a little nervous. There has been a lot of confusing and contradictory chatter about what the drop in new podcasts in 2022 means. Has the podcast bubble burst? Are podcasts on the way out? Not likely.”The piece puts to bed the air of uncertainty as recent reports show a decrease in active podcasts. Goldstein points to the marked increase in podcast production at the beginning of the pandemic, along with air fryer sales, used car sales, and views for cooking videos on YouTube. Now the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ay5GqJwHF8 era of podcasting is over. Companies can no longer invest with the philosophy of “if you build it, they will come.” Which leads to Goldstein’s conclusion. Quote: “Just like all media, the podcast space is dynamic, exciting and rapidly evolving. It’s full of possibility and wonder. We just need a little more rigor and a little less throwing spaghetti against the wall. The next generation of podcasts will likely have greater research, focus and muscle behind them. Companies that produce and promote fewer high-quality podcasts will be better positioned for optimal growth. So, let’s get past the jarring headlines.“SXM Media and Mindshare publish Black Podcast Listener Report 2.0Manuela: SXM Media is back with the second edition of their https://www.sxmmedia.com/insights/what-brands-need-to-know-to-reach-black-podcast-listeners-in-2023. The study is the result of over 2,500 online interviews with Black and/or African American adults in the United States during September of last year. According to SXM’s footnotes, the data was weighted for age, sex, census region of the US, and the Edison’s Infinite Dial 2022 podcasting listening statistics. Among the findings are some promising results for advertisers. From the SXM blog post: “The best way to win over Black podcast listeners is to run ads on shows that represent their voice, culture, and point of view. Black audiences who have listened to a podcast with a Black host in the last month are more likely to take action than those who’ve never listened to a podcast hosted by Black talent.”82% of respondents would consider a brand if they heard their ad on a podcast with a Black host, as well as 78% saying they would purchase said brand. The recap article ends by encouraging brands who set aside ad budget to target Black audiences during February for Black History month to continue that spend throughout the year. From the article: “Like so much of the population, Black audiences are listening to podcasts—and, as you’ve learned, they’re leaned-in and here for ads that support the shows they love.” The State of Google and PodcastingShreya: Continuing the trend of earnings calls, let’s talk Google. It was a mixed bag in this year’s Q4 earnings report. Parent company Alphabet reported a 0.7 billion increase year over year in total revenue for Q4 2022. According to https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/google-misses-mark-q4-setting-up-cha

It’s 2023! Sounds Profitable has a whole new look, some new team members, and we’re looking ahead towards a year packed with value for the audio and podcasting industries.Links: Bryan Barletta Arielle Nissenblatt Manuela Bedoya The Download Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles SquadCast Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta and Arielle Nissenblatt Sounds Profitable Theme written by Tim Cameron Edited by Reece Carman and Ron Tendick Assembled by Spooler Media Hosted on Omny Studios Additional help from Gavin Gaddis

This week Bryan Barletta discusses Spotify's streaming ad insertion, what it means for their future, and how it could better the podcast industry overall. Credits: Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Tom Webster Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with ART19 Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week: Podcast Ad Spend Isn’t Slowing Down, IAB CEO Airs Beef with Apple, Several podcast companies are hiring, Brands Seek Alternatives Amidst Digital Clutter, and an updated edition of The Podscape is live.Open Podcasting PositionsManuela:In light of recent layoffs in the podcasting space, we would like to take a moment at the top of the show to highlight some companies that currently have positions seeking applicants. JAR Audio is hiring a full-time Audience Growth Specialist Wondery is currently hiring seventeen full-time positions, 15 in the US and two in their UK office in London.And Magellan AI is currently hiring for the positions of Account Executive, Measurement Success Manager, and Sales Development Representative.Podcast ad buyers have yet to see a slowdown Shreya: Yesterday, Digiday’s Sara Guaglione published a piece detailing how solidly podcasting has handled the much-debated recession. But to get to the good, we gotta hit the bad. As Guaglione points out, ad spending overall has taken a hit recently. Last week Insider Intelligence writer Arielle Feger reported ad spending in the US fell 12.1% in December, making it the sixth consecutive month ad spend has gone down. Insider Intelligence has cut five billion from their 2023 US digital ad spending forecast, bringing it down to 278.59 billion. Now for the good news; Guaglione is finding that decline hasn’t sunk into podcasting. Four buyers spoke with Digiday and report their client’s budgets aren’t getting cut, and they see an increase in podcast ad spend. Employees of Horizon Media, Ocean Media, and CMI Media Group report increased spending on podcast ads, often from clients who are backing down on ad spend in other forms of media. The piece reconciles increase in ad spend with recent industry layoffs, cancellations, and cost-cutting with a proposal from Elli Dimitroulakos, Acast’s global head of ad innovation: production houses are shifting away from multi-million dollar minimum guarantee signings. As headline-grabbing pandemic deals begin to end, small-to-midsize podcast inventory rises to take its place with inviting prices. “The buyers Digiday spoke with said there is plenty of ad inventory available despite the recent reports that investment in new and existing shows may be decreasing.” It’s a good day to hear good news in podcasting. IAB CEO Airs Beef with Apple, Lands MeetingManuela: Things have gotten interesting with the IAB and Apple. Last week, during the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, CEO David Cohen took to the stage with a prepared speech titled “It Starts Here.” A speech so vitriolic it prompted a joint response from the ANA and 4A’s to criticize its tone and “polarizing political rhetoric.”The first segment dedicates multiple paragraphs to proposing the FTC, members of the Biden administration, and politically-opposed members of Congress are funneling ‘dark money’ into a common goal of destroying the advertising industry under the guise of controlling ‘Big Tech.’ Cohen then transitions to Apple. From the speech: “After years of failing to build a significant market for ads in Apple Music, in Apple TV, and on the iPhone, Apple has decided the next best thing is to stop anyone else from making money in advertising. That’s why they are the Poison Apple.”The crux of Cohen’s issues stem from App Tracking Transparency and the billions of dollars of ad revenue it has destroyed since Apple deployed the feature. Attention is given to both the damage ATT has done to third-party advertisers and the fact first-party iOS apps aren’t given the same treatment. From Cohen’s quote given to AdAge’s Garett Sloane: “So, we want to call it out for the hypocrisy that it is, and we want to invite them back to the table.”In his postmortem interview with Ryan Barwick, Cohen announced that since the Poisoned Apple speech, Apple has reached out to the IAB to schedule a meeting in February. Whether the meeting will be productive or not remains to be seen, as it was spawned by a speech with digs like, and I quote: “Apple will try to smother the advertising industry just like they did to the recorded music industry. We can’t sit back and watch that happen. “ The fact a meeting has been booked is a step in the right direction, regardless of how it was achieved. Whether or not Apple will have any motivation to re-engage with IAB podcasting groups remains to be seen. Brands Seek Alternatives Amidst Digital ClutterShreya: Last Thursday Julian Cannon, writing for Digiday, published a piece covering recent examples of companies recontextualizing print advertisements. “Last month, General Electric took over The New York Times’ print advertising for a day throughout the news, business and arts sections of the paper amounting to 22 full-page color ads as well as five partial pages.”Not only was this an impressive buyout, it was the first of its kind for the Times. It’s also the latest in a series of big plays as marketers embrace out-of-home advertising and the

This week Bryan brings you a feed drop from Marketecture.tv, featuring his interview with Ari Paparo. This episode marks the beginning of a partnership between Marketecture and Sounds Profitable! Look forward to interviews conducted by Bryan himself in future on official Marketecture channels, as well as Sounds Profitable DeepDives on the Sounds Profitable YouTube channel. From the original description: In this conversation with Ari Paparo, Bryan Barletta provides an overview of the audio advertising industry and its enabling technologies. After providing a level set on the size and maturity of the podcast ad vertical, he describes the mechanics of audio ad buying, serving, and measurement. Bryan also discusses the market dynamics in the podcast space, led by enterprise players like Spotify, IHeartMedia, and Triton Digital which operate their own ad tech platforms.

This week Tom Webster demonstrates how even seemingly small pieces of data can have big implications if given the right context and a story. Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Bryan Barletta Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Spotify layoffs, TikTok Podcasts feature spotted in the wild, exclusivity deals seem to be losing luster, and Buzzsprout launches premium subscriptions. Spotify lays off six percent of workforce. Manuela: We start today on a dour note, but it’s the largest story to happen this week and bears covering. This Monday Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced the company is downsizing six percent of its workforce. Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff is also leaving the company. https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/spotify-layoffs-dawn-ostroff-exiting-1235499118/ does the math on what six percent actually means.“The layoffs will eliminate nearly 600 jobs; Spotify most recently reported having 9,800 full-time employees worldwide as of Sept. 30. The company estimated that it will incur approximately €35 million-€45 million in severance-related charges.” In the https://podnews.net/update/spotify-job-losses, editor James Cridland notes that in addition to the layoff announcement, Spotify’s job website has removed all open full job positions. As of this writing the site only has 23 open positions, all of which are internships. From Spangler’s article: “Employees who are getting laid off will on average receive about five months’ salary in severance payments, per Ek’s memo. In addition, all unused vacation time will be paid out to any departing employee, and all terminated employees will be eligible for outplacement services for two months.” Ostroff was a big name behind a lot of Spotify’s big-ticket podcasting acquisitions. Between her departure and the overall downsizing, this news seems to signal Spotify is down-shifting into treating podcasts like it has treated music. It’s not necessarily the end of Spotify expanding into podcasting, but they likely will be focusing on expansion without owning content. New TikTok Podcast feature appears Arielle: Last Wednesday https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-testing-podcast-tool-feature-for-background-listening-2023-1 published new details in the months-long windup to TikTok officially getting into podcasting. As covered as far back as the October 10th episode of The Download, there has been a breadcrumb trail of evidence the social media platform has intentions of launching some form of podcast listening application. In December of 2021 TikTok users were prompted to complete a survey gauging user interest in both listening to podcasts and creating podcasts. In May a trademark was filed for an application called TikTok Music, which listed podcasts as a form of audio that could be played in-app. Then, this last October, Podnews got word bots associated with TikTok’s parent company were spotted scraping publicly-available RSS feeds. Clearly TikTok was up to something. Now, Business Insider has discovered an unannounced feature has been added to some TikTok accounts allowing users to play video hosted on TikTok as a podcast, a distinction which allows users to browse other apps or lock their phone while the audio continues to play. This is a similar functionality to one YouTube has had for Premium subscribers for years and last year was testing enabling it for all users to promote podcasting listening in certain markets. As Bradley and Whateley’s reporting suggests, once podcasts are implemented, TikTok could be primed to become a serious Spotify competitor. Exclusivity deals lose appeal Manuela: Last Friday Tyler Aquilina , writing for Variety, published a piece that became somewhat prescient in hindsight: Circling back to the topic of podcast companies expanding by acquiring podcasts: https://variety.com/vip/podcast-exclusivity-is-quickly-becoming-an-outdated-strategy-1235495652/. From the intro of the article: “If it’s still too early to declare platform-exclusive podcast deals dead as we move into 2023, it’s becoming ever clearer that this business model is likely not long for this world.” Aquilina’s piece presents several data points suggesting the exclusive podcast strategy, most typified by Spotify acquisitions in recent years, is falling out of favor. The article cites reported frustrations from producers who signed big-name deals and went exclusive, including the Obamas choosing not to renew their exclusivity deal with Spotify last year. One interesting data point is that of the Rogan Twitter Bump, the short-term engagement boost relatively smaller guests on The Joe Rogan Experience get in the week after appearing on the podcast. According to data collected from Social Blade by The Verge, JRE guests with fewer than 500,000 Twitter followers started to experience far smaller influxes of new followers starting December 2020, the month JRE went Spotify-exclusive. Conversely, podcasts that leave exclusivity to wide release are reporting more success in open podcasting. Aquilina reports he was given data from Acast that shows Spanish-language podcast Se Regalan Dudas has seen its listens increase 56% over their first year after leaving Spotify exc

Tom took a look back on all of the great research that was done at Sounds Profitable in 2022 and came up with a handful of the most impactful data points. Here are his three favorite data points from 2022! Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Tom Webster Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Opportunity in Kids podcasting as recession looms, Podcasting’s ‘recession era’, some audio publisher’s teams still growing in 2023, and Paul Riismandel joins Signal Hill Insights. Podcasting’s Recession Era and how podcasters are approaching it. Manuela: This week our first segment is going to cover a variety of articles centering around an overall theme: podcasting’s reaction to the recession in early 2023. To kick things off, we continue a throughline of covering how the Kids & Family category has quickly evolved into a juggernaut. Over the first half of 2022 the genre made itself known as a force to be reckoned with over several big deals and signings. Now as the recession looms, along with doom-and-gloom articles about said recession, big-name deals are becoming more scarce. Tumble Media CEO Lindsay Patterson has worked in kids podcasting for years and likens the 2022 surge to being invited to a party late. Kids & Family has arrived just in time to find the host is taking down the decorations. From her January 11th Medium post: “With a general pullback on spending on podcasts, it’s likely that companies will be hesitant to invest in strategy and content for kids, who require a new approach to audience development and monetization. It’s a different model than “grownup” podcasts. But the good news is kids’ podcasts may be a welcome guest at other parties — and in many other industries. There are choices. Nay, there are opportunities.” Patterson proposes Kids & Family’s relative newcomer status to the wider industry leaves it plenty of unpursued avenues that are already well-tread ground for others. Her article touches on concepts like adapting existing kid-friendly IP to podcasts and pursuing new platforms. Interestingly, she points to nonprofits, grants, and research studies as potentially viable funding paths. Patterson speaks from experience, having partnered Tumble Media with a non-profit organization to win a grant. The partnership has been funded to spend three years studying how both listening to and making podcasts can engage blind and sighted students in the classroom. “In a way, the warnings and scrutiny of the podcast industry makes me more optimistic than ever before about the kids’ space. We can take a clear eyed look from the outside, and see how kids’ podcasts can and should be better.” Patterson’s suggestions of creativity and adaptability come at a good time for smaller creators, as even larger presences in podcasting are beginning to feel the effects of hiring and investment freezes. This Wednesday the Hollywood Reporter published a piece by J. Clara Chan titled “Podcasting’s Recession Era: Dealmaking Gets More Selective in Slower Ad Market.” Chan begins the piece with a big-picture view of investments made by major players in the industry before setting the article’s goal answering the question: “What will podcasting’s next era look like during a recession?” Her article begins with a focus on the deal-making side of the industry, sourcing two anonymous dealmakers and their observations of industry performance in recent months. Big companies seem to have covered their bases on wide demographics. Chan gives the example of Spotify’s coverage of Gen Z and millennial women with acquisitions of Call Her Daddy and Emma Chamberlain’s Anything Goes. \ BIPOC Podcast Creators co-founder Tangia Al-awaji Estrada gives a perspective from a smaller, independent side of the industry: “It feels a little bit premature at this stage because we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but it does feel like there’s some panic in the air. We’re seeing companies who’d normally be investing in up-and-coming talents, indie creators — smaller companies are pulling back and saying, ‘Well, we’re not doing that right now. We’re not doing that at all.’ So, there’s definitely a feeling like folks are holding their breaths to see what’s going to happen.” Last Friday Sara Guaglione, writing for Digiday, published a piece covering the phenomenon of smaller production houses growing as larger entities condense their audio teams. A tally of jobs on sites like Indeed with the word ‘podcast’ in the description shows there has been a downward trend of open positions since the peak in May of 2022. Still, companies are hiring. “A number of media companies posted new podcast job openings this month. Vox Media, for example, posted a job opening this week for a $200,000+ ​​executive producer position for its daily show “Today Explained.”” Guaglione also points to Tenderfoot TV, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal as places that are actively growing their audio teams. Returning to the Hollywood Reporter piece, we reach the advertising side of podcasting. The conclusion reached by J. Clara Chan’s reporting will be a familiar one to loyal followers of The Download. In general, advertisers are pacing themselves from brand awareness campaigns and doubling down on direct response and prioritizing s

We’re off to the races in 2023, and we’re taking you with us. Credits: Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Bryan Barletta Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Megaphone’s weekend of outages, AdvertiseCast Publishes average CPM of 2022, Apple debuts Delegated Delivery, a software engineer teases adblock for iTunes, and The Podscape 2023 is live. Megaphone has Weekend of Outages Manuela: We start from a story from the holiday break. On Monday, December 19th, https://podnews.net/update/flemish-podcast-platform on a weekend of outages for Megaphone. According to Megaphone documentation, the outage started sometime before 11am Eastern on Saturday the 17th for producers.https://status.megaphone.fm/history: “We are currently investigating an issue that is impacting content delivery. During this time end listeners most likely will not be able to download podcast episodes. We are working to fix this currently.” Within two hours the case was updated to reflect the playback issue. At 10am the following day a second outage started, this time as a “podcast playback” issue that ran for over 12 hours, leaving megaphone podcasts effectively offline until 11:56pm Eastern. One of the larger major hosting platform outages of the year. This incident marked the sixth time in 2022 Megaphone was temporarily unavailable to podcast listeners. AdvertiseCast Publishes Final Podcast Advertising Rates of 2022 Shreya: AdvertiseCast rang in the new year with a January 1st update to their monthly AdvertiseCast Marketplace Podcast Advertising Rates. A quote from AdvertiseCast CRO Dave Hanley https://podnews.net/press-release/advertisecast-dec-22 “2022 was a breakout year in podcasting. Podcasts have become mainstream with explosive growth among younger and more diverse audiences who are embracing niche genres and new ways of listening.” December’s overall average CPM was $23.57, a 4% drop month-on-month. With this new information, AdvertiseCast now has the data to generate an overall average for the year. The average CPM for podcasts in AdvertiseCast’s observed population was $23.87 for a sixty-second ad spot, a 2% increase from 2021. The three highest-CPM categories in December were, in ascending order, Business, Education, and Technology, with Technology podcasts pulling an average CPM of $27. Software dev wants to make podcast ad blocker, charge money for it. Manuela: Last week a Portland, Oregon-based software engineer Micah Engle-Eshleman announced his intentions to build something that, if fully developed, would change the industry: https://www.adblockpodcast.com/. From adblockpodcast.com: “Finally, a podcast app that skips ads! Adblock Podcast detects and skips ads on all iTunes podcasts.” While light on concrete information, the project appears to be a web-based application that would detect and remove any advertisements embedded in podcasts served through Apple Podcasts, erroneously referred to by the branding Apple retired six years ago. The project will be a paid service with a vaguely-defined intent to use an undefined portion of money collected to directly pay podcasters via revenue share. On paper, Engle-Eshlerman is proposing his web app would create a new, more profitable way for podcasters to be compensated for producing their shows. He’s quoted in last week’s Podnews as saying he hasn’t figured that part out yet. Which feels apt for the entire project. How would it skip ads? How would a web app produced by one person handle the complexity of paying out millions of individual podcasts? Why are podcasters supposed to be excited that they have to let a stranger’s product rip out their ads and give them a percentage of what it collected that month? If a podcast that’s on a network has its ads skipped, does that podcast get the check or does the network?At best, Podcast Adblock is a cautionary tale for bloggers and reporters covering podcast beats. Just because an email contains something that looks sensational doesn’t mean it’s worth giving air. Podcast Adblock has many telltale signs of being vaporware. A paid service based Adblock, a service that has been available for free in one form or another since 2002. From someone with no podcasting bona fides who still calls it ‘iTunes.’ Apple Podcasts launched Delegated Delivery Shreya: This Tuesday Apple announced the implementation of the https://podcasters.apple.com/4770-news-delegated-delivery-2023, which will allow podcasters to publish content to their Apple Podcast Subscription from the dashboard of select hosting services. From the blog:“With an active membership to the Apple Podcasters Program, creators can now generate API Keys from the Account tab of Apple Podcasts Connect, which they can share with their hosting provider to allow them to publish content on their behalf. Once enabled, creators can submit new free and subscriber shows, publish new subscriber episodes, and continue to publish free episodes to Apple Podcasts from their hosting provider dashboard.” Currently the beta enables podcasters on Blubrry, Libsyn, Triton Digital’s Omny Studio, and RSS to try out pushing episodes directly to their Apple subscribe

Join Bryan in kicking off this year with a review of the notable acquisitions and fundraising that happened in 2022. Credits: Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Bryan Barletta Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ChatGPT and other new forms of chatbot are already able to credibly write like humans, and it’s getting harder to tell who - or what - writes any given blog post. This week, Tom explains why this is a good thing for podcast creatives, and not the apocalypse. Credits: Written by Tom Webster Edited by Tom Webster Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Amazon advertises podcasts offline, Twitter dissolves its Trust and Safety Council, Automakers phasing out AM radio, and a roundup of new research published this week. Amazon pushing podcasts offline. Manuela: This Monday Podnews covered Amazon Music’s new physical-space advertising campaign for their Best of 2022 podcast selections. The best-of collection has prominent placement on the front page of Amazon Music, and now the streamer is promoting it in England and France. From Editor James Cridland’s coverage: “In London, ads will be appearing for the next two weeks promoting ten of the top podcasters. The company also carried audio ads within the Wondery network for the chosen podcasts, and produced social media assets.” The ads in London primarily take the form of projected billboards on blank brick walls, along with a more traditional advertisement for the podcast +44 on a digital billboard in Waterloo station. In Paris, poster-sized digital placements for Amazon podcasts were spotted at Gare du Nord, the busiest train station in Europe. Twitter Trust and Safety Council Dissolved Arielle: Continuing the trend of a lot happening in a short amount of time at Twitter, the social media giant has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council. Originally booked to meet this Monday, members of the council told the Financial Times the meeting was canceled via email with only an hour’s notice. From Dave Lee’s reporting: “The council was created in 2016 to solicit advice from dozens of experts and external organisations on how Twitter should tackle harassment, mental health issues and child exploitation, as well as suicide prevention. But in a note sent to members on Monday, the social media company said the council was no longer the “best structure” to gain outside insights on its policies.” The dissolution of the council comes four days after three prominent members resigned, citing concerns over the leadership of new Twitter owner Elon Musk. From the trio’s group statement: “We are announcing our resignation from Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council because it is clear from research evidence that, contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.” One of the largest social media platforms has quickly become a problematic place for advertisers. Meanwhile, as data from the new Sounds Profitable study Safe and Sound attests, podcasting is uniquely positioned to welcome them to a brand-safe and suitable environment. As the study’s data attests, podcasting’s opt-in nature creates an environment where programs that feature offensive or uncomfortable content largely have an audience of listeners who are fine with such content. And, more importantly, they tend to have audiences who are supportive of brands who sponsor that podcast. Listeners also tend to be forgiving for outlier examples of offensive content if they prefer podcasts that don’t discuss such things. From the study: “Regular listeners to otherwise non-offensive shows will highly likely return to the podcast after a single episode featuring uncharacteristically offensive content.” As advertisers begin to shy away from brand-unsafe places like Twitter, podcasting finds itself uniquely-suited to be a leader in brand safety and suitability. Automakers sundown AM Radio in New Vehicles Manuela: On December 1st, Senator Edward J Markey of New York sent a letter to the CEOs of several major automotive brands in the US, including Toyota, Volkswagen, and BMW. The letter strongly urges them to reconsider the growing trend of not offering AM radios in new electric vehicles. Why is this a trend? Here’s James Gilboy’s explanation from a July article for The Drive: “So are highly complex EVs incompatible with one of the oldest, simplest electronics? BMW and Volvo told me it was due to audio quality problems rooted in electromagnetic interference, of which EVs' drivetrains produce a significant amount. Cars' engines and other complex electronics have always made EM interference, but low-wattage static is relatively easy to shield against. It's not as simple with EVs that may pull hundreds of watts from their batteries, generating far more interference, reducing audio quality to a level both BMW and Volvo told me they consider insufficient.” Gilboy goes on to say he finds it difficult to take that explanation without a grain of salt, as US automakers circumvent the EM signal problem without issue. A common thread Gilboy notes is the manufacturers who have phased AM out of EVs tend to have strong roots in European markets. “The frequency has largely been superseded by the DAB format, which is a more advanced form of radio broadcasting with better audio quality and choice of stations. AM radio stations and their listeners are all but gone in Europe, so European carmakers may not need to include technology that many of its customers can't use.” Understandably, the radio industry isn’t happy with this trend. Gilboy points to th

Brand Safety and Suitability are among the hottest topics in podcasting. But how do the listeners feel? That’s Tom’s topic in this week’s Sounds Profitable. Credits: Written by Bryan Barletta Edited by Bryan Barletta Produced with Spooler.fm Hosted with Omny Studio Sounds Profitable theme written by Tim Cameron Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Building an app for podcast listeners is a tough sell in this world where Spotify and Apple are so dominant. But Realm has been in the game for a while and have a dedicated fan base – both of the app they launched years ago and the content that’s contained therein. In this episode, Bryan Barletta speaks with Rachel Prisock, head of data and engineering at Realm, about building, maintaining, and utilizing the app as an audience engagement and measurement tool. Listen to learn about: How Realm got its start in podcasting Why the app model works for Realm (but isn’t as successful for other publishers) How Realm might evolve Realm’s strategy for partner content The role of the Super Fan in their strategy Links: Bryan Barletta Arielle Nissenblatt Rachel Prisock Realm The Download Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles SquadCast Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta and Arielle Nissenblatt Sounds Profitable Theme written by Tim Cameron Edited by Reece Carman and Ron Tendick Assembled by Spooler Media Hosted on Omny Studios Additional help from Gavin Gaddis See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Sounds Profitable publishes brand safety and suitability study, Edison publishes top podcast networks by reach, Libsyn unveils November 2022 podcast advertising rates, Spotify unveils its top five podcasts in Wrapped, and GroupM and Magna predict a ‘durable’ ad market next year. Sounds Profitable publishes brand safety and suitability study Safe and Sound Manuela: We begin today’s show with something close to home. Yesterday Sounds Profitable debuted its latest research project, Safe and Sound. The first-ever study of brand safety and suitability from the listener’s perspective. “Safe and Sound surveyed a representative sample of 1093 podcast listeners to find out what they consider ‘offensive,’ what they are tolerant of, and how they view the brands that support podcast content when it pushes their boundaries.” The study delivers a wide range of findings, ranging from bombshells like the idea political ads are unpopular with audiences - regardless of political party - to taking the temperature of what audiences consider most offensive. Spoiler alert: people dislike racist language. That said, it looks like offensive content might not be as toxic to a podcast’s overall image as initially assumed. When asked how they felt about brands that advertise or sponsor a podcast where a guest or host said something offensive or uncomfortable, an average of 30% of respondents said their feelings about the brands had not been changed. When presented with the situation of a podcast someone regularly enjoys having an uncomfortable or offensive episode, 49% of respondents said they would stop listening to that particular episode but continue listening in general, while 31% said they’d continue listening to the outlier episode regardless. The data suggests podcast-listening audiences take a more holistic approach to offensive content on podcasts they already have a relationship with. In general, listeners appear to not hold a single out-of-character episode against a podcast they’re familiar with. Edison Top Podcast Networks Shreya: This Tuesday Edison Research published the Q3 edition of U.S. Top Podcast Networks, by Reach. Listeners of The Download might remember Spotify took the lead back in Q2, just edging out SiriusXM Media. This last quarter SiriusXM has overtaken Spotify and returned to the top, leaving the top five at SiriusXM Media, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audioboom, and NPR, with Wondery eyeing the top five from sixth place. From the Edison blog post: “Within the top ten, the biggest jump in rank goes to Wondery/Audible/Amazon Music, up two rank positions, propelled in part by their acquisitions of major shows like Morbid and My Favorite Murder. Bubbling below the top ten, WarnerMedia gained three levels in rank, now up to 14th.“ Once more SiriusXM takes the top spot, but not without Spotify having broken their streak of having been at the top since Edison first started publishing top network by reach reports. Libsyn Unveils November 2022 Podcast Advertising Rates Manuela: Continuing our unplanned theme of discussing data, let’s take a moment to talk about CPM. Last Thursday Libsyn published the November edition of their monthly CPM rate roundup from AdvertiseCast. “The Company releases the figures to empower the podcaster and advertiser communities to readily monitor market pricing and provide greater insight into podcasting advertising as a monetization vehicle. The data is derived from actual sales data across AdvertiseCast’s network of over 3,000 shows, including more than 225 exclusive podcasts.” Rates are continuing to increase, little by little. Last month the average CPM rate was $24.75 for a sixty-second ad spot, up 78 cents from the October average and a 6% year-over-year increase from November 2021. The report notes that the lower end of the spectrum contains fiction, television, and news content, averaging in the low twenties. On the high side, however, a familiar face for listeners of The Download. We’ve covered the meteoric rise of Kids & Family podcast content multiple times and its popularity continues into this November. The top four highest-earning categories in November are: Technology and Health & Fitness, tied for third place at $26. Science at $27. And at the top of the leaderboard, Kids & Family at $28, over three dollars higher than industry average. Spotify Wrapped is here, including its top podcasts Shreya: Some of you might have noticed a deluge of vibrant colors and boasting about listening habits last Wednesday, as the annual Spotify Wrapped dropped. Kimeko McCoy, writing for Digiday last Thursday, explains how big this yearly infodump has become: “It’s an awareness campaign that utilizes user data to serve up users’ favorite songs, albums and podcasts to be shared across social media platforms via the app, engaging more than 120 million users last year, according to Spotify. This year, Spotify has launched its Wrapped presence in Roblox, with the goal of tapping