Sounds Profitable

This week's stories: Podcast listeners well disposed to political ads (Veritonic)Let’s Think about Podcast Consumers, Not Just ListenersCan A Million Ads Simplify Hyperlocal Audio Ads By Creating Even More Of Them?Partner Events: “Demystifying Brand Lift: Measuring How Audio Ad Campaigns Resonate with Listeners.” “How Creative Testing Drives Success in Audio.”“The Podcast Opportunity: Buyer Perceptions of Podcast Advertising”Quick Hits:

What AI Will Never be Able to Do That People Can by Scott Klass. With AI discourse focusing on the hypotheticals of replacing on-air talent, SoundStack CMO Klass addresses the need for a human experience in the customer service side of advertising. 

Is the podcast bubble starting to burst? by Nick Bonyhady. A look at podcasting’s listener growth (and recent lack thereof) in Australia, showing there’s less of a balloon and more of a new normal catching up to the statistical anomaly of the surge in new podcasts spurred by pandemic.

Podsights goes free-to-use and rebrands as Spotify Ad Analytics by Reem Makari. Rebranded to Spotify Ad Analytics, the platform offers free pixel tracking and has expanded to more countries. Brand lift studies are still Spotify app only, but are included for free with campaigns that meet a minimum spend and reach threshold. 

Podscribe Launches Automated Ad Scoring The new tool, powered by ChatGPT, automatically grades the quality of ad reads on a scale of 1 to 10 using criteria like how clearly the product was endorsed, and how personalized the recommendation was.

Narrativ Launches Mobile App Open Beta. Generative AI startup Narrativ generates audio versions of news articles and monetizes via audio ads. The mobile app currently hosts content from several collegiate newspapers and will soon incorporate national news and Associated Press articles.

Programmatic ad placement has been stuck on the waterfall for long enough. It’s time to lay the foundation for Header Bidding in podcasting.

Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

Articles covered: Spotify to Slash Podcast Workforce, Combine Parcast and Gimlet Studios in New Round of Cuts“How Do We Pivot?”: Podcasting Turns to M&A and Cost-CuttingWhy advertisers are reconsidering keyword blocklists as brand safety approaches to hard newsGrowing Up with Podcasts: The Gen Z Podcast Listener ReportThe State of Audio Technology ReportIs YouTube Eating Podcasts? Cumulus Media And Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download – Spring 2023 ReportHot Pod coverage of audiobook surveys.Quick Hits

iOS 17: What’s new for Apple Podcasts. During the 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced upcoming changes in iOS 17 that will impact Apple Podcasts. Search filters, episode art, and a new listening experience are among the new features. Developers currently have access to a beta, while public beta testing is slated for later this month. 

Podcasting’s Biggest Opportunity by Tom Webster. Podcasting is becoming more competitive and less collegial every year. Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or just inevitable? Tom Webster suggests there is still an important job we all need to collaborate on first. 

Triton Audio Marketplace Expands Basis Technologies Partnership to Support Advertising Across Digital and Broadcast Radio Segments. The new arrangement aims to enable marketers to streamline and consolidate content across all audio segments (podcasting, streaming, and terrestrial broadcast radio) via the Triton Audio Marketplace. 

Canadian Branded Podcast Agency Seeks Bad Reviews for its New Show. JAR Audio’s new ‘tell all’ about the branded podcast industry, pitched as part advice column and part sketch comedy, is asking be ruthlessly critical of the show during its upcoming launch window. 

Podcasting is becoming more competitive and less collegial every year. Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or just inevitable? Tom Webster suggests there is still an important job we all need to collaborate on first. Credits:

Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week on the Download: Why podcasters are selling subscriptions through third-party vendorsFuture of TV Briefing: CTV continues to be a black box to programmatic marketersPublishers large and small put their resources into first-party data - Digiday ResearchAustralian digital audio ad spend climbs to $51.9 millionQuick Hits: The Podscape, a collaborative effort between Magellan AI and Sounds Profitable, will be publishing a new edition this summer! In the interest of making this snapshot of the podcasting industry as accurate as possible the Podscape is putting out an open call: Is your company missing from the current edition? Notice something we omitted? Submit Updates HerePeabody-Nominated Content Studio Project Brazen Launches Platform for “Fearless Storytelling” by Alex Ritman. The new content platform features a special focus on journalism “that reveals hidden aspects of the world around us.”

There has been much concern over how podcasting will implement AI. Tom breaks down the current landscape, as well as future symbiotic relationships.
Credits:

Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week on The Download: Advertisers and audiences refute the idea that podcasts are on the wane. NewsGuard: Programmatically-placed ads for major nonprofits and government orgs on dozens of misinformation websitesWhy Black creators say brands are ‘quiet as a mouse’ on Black History Month and Juneteenth this year. Quick Hits:

Podscribe Launches YouTube Conversation Modeling. The new dashboard unifies RSS and YouTube metrics into one location.

ARN and Magellan AI announce Top 15 Podcast Advertisers in Australia for Q1. The list includes familiar faces like Apple, Amazon, and McDonald’s.

‘The Turning’ Podcast Studio Rococo Punch to Merge With Audily by J. Clara Chan. From the article: “When two independents come together, we can do much bigger things.” 

ARN uses geo-location to deliver headlines on Your News Now podcast. The new podcast uses geotargeting to create a sub-three-minute episode covering local news, sports, and weather forecast. 

Like a kid taking a bite of his dessert before his meal is finished, I think it’s time we enter the next phase of podcast adtech even before we finish the last.Credits:

Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

This week: Lessons from the Podcast Upfront, the Spring 2023 MIDAS report is here, and SXM Media leaders see podcast advertising maturing.|

And for our Quick Hits:

New from Recordical: Audio Currents, a twice-weekly audio industry newsletter written by Shreya Sharma. Tuesday issues will focus on audio news, industry expert interviews, and resources for brands, while Friday episodes will feature creator spotlights.

Barometer and ArtsAI have partnered to “bring new solutions to market delivering unprecedented in-flight transparency of brand safety and suitability for podcast advertising.” 

Podcasting gets a new magazine with Good Tape. The new print magazine aims to capture the conversations happening in the audio industry. The first issue is available for pre-order and slated for Fall 2023 release, with an open call for writers to pitch content. 

For a full transcript and links to all articles mentioned, please visit SoundsProftiable.com/Podcast

In this episode, Arielle Nissenblatt and Bryan Barletta interview Tom Webster about his recent reporting: an article he wrote for Sounds Profitable called “How To Murder a Podcast” and a YouTube video called “Research Collection Methods.” We talk about Sounds Profitable’s approach when it comes to education for the industry and how understanding research collection methods fits into our mission. We also discuss our upcoming research projects and where you can go to learn about them.
Listen to learn about: 

Links:

Credits: