Podcast appearances and mentions of ashley carman

Time now for our daily Tech and Business Report. Today, KCBS Radio anchor Eric Thomas spoke with Bloomberg's Ashley Carman. Amazon plans on using AI to bring more books to its Audible streaming service

In the podcasting world, audio quality used to be king. Today, however, video elements have become increasingly essential. As platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts continue to shift their strategies, the landscape of audio content is changing faster than ever.Join me and Ashley Carman of Bloomberg News as we break down everything about the podcast business, the current state of podcast deals, and paid podcasting and subscription models.08:48 Video's Impact on Podcasting12:44 Spotify's Video Push21:45 Paid Podcasts25:08 Audiobooks34:37 YouTube TV AppThis episode is presented by State Farm, the home for your small business needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.Listen in for our Chartmetric Stat of the Week.If you enjoy Trapital, please rate and review on your favorite podcast platform!

2024 was the year AI broke into the music industry. Record labels that had fought AI-generated songs at every turn started to consider how they might want to use AI tools. But as the technology creeps into more parts of the music production process, not everyone agrees on where to draw ethical and legal lines. On today’s Big Take podcast, Grammy Award-winning producer Timbaland, Universal Music Group executive Michael Nash, Bloomberg audio reporter Ashley Carman and host Sarah Holder examine who stands to benefit from the AI-music boom — and who has the most to lose. Read more: Ashley Carman’s Soundbite newsletterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Political Scene brings you a recent episode of Vanity Fair's “Inside the Hive,” hosted by the special correspondent Brian Stelter. The Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis and the Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman join Stelter to discuss the Trump campaign's strategy of courting so-called podcast bros,  including the comedian Theo Von and the Twitch streamer Adin Ross. Both have provided Trump with some of the most viral moments of the 2024 campaign, and helped him reach a young, male audience whose support he may need in order to win in November. The strategy carries risks, however, as we've seen in the case of Trump's running mate, J. D. Vance, whose past media appearances have come back to haunt him. “They do kind of lure people into this . . . confessional, chatty mode,” Lewis says of the bro podcasts. “And I think that's why maybe they could become quite dangerous. . . . Politicians might not realize how that might look in the cold light of day to other people.”This episode originally aired on September 12th.To discover more from “Inside the Hive” and other Vanity Fair podcasts, visit vanityfair.com/podcasts.

Send us a textAfter reading Ashley Carman's latest article, we're diving into the rising trend of long-form podcast episodes. With podcasters like Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, and Stephen Bartlett regularly releasing 3 to 9-hour conversations, it's clear that listeners are staying tuned for extended content. But why are long episodes becoming so popular? Join us as we explore how listeners engage with long-form content, why podcasts allow flexibility in how we consume media, and the editing secrets behind successful lengthy episodes. Read the article: Podcasters Ditch Short Episodes in Favor of Four-Hour ConversationsSupport the showContact Buzzcast Send us a Text Message Tweet us at @buzzcastpodcast, @albanbrooke, @kfinn, and @JordanPods Send a "boostagram" through Fountain or Castamatic Email us at support@buzzsprout.com Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Podcasts are hardly a new medium in American politics. But that doesn't mean they aren't disrupting the dynamics of the 2024 presidential race. Consider hotshot hosts like Theo Von, Ezra Klein, and Adin Ross; all of them have been able to give listeners an intimate glimpse at politicians from Donald Trump to Tim Walz, says Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis on the latest episode of Inside the Hive. Lewis, who is joined by Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, contends that podcasts can offer the pols an unique opportunity to get up close and personal with their voters. However, as we've seen in the case of JD Vance—whose past audio appearances have come back to haunt him—the medium can cut both ways. “They do kind of lure people into this much more kind of confessional chatty mode,” Lewis says. “And I think that's why maybe they could become quite dangerous…politicians might not realize how that might look in the cold light of day to other people.”Share your thoughts on Inside the Hive. As a token of our appreciation, you will be eligible to enter a prize drawing up to $1,000 after you complete the survey.https://selfserve.decipherinc.com/survey/selfserve/222b/76152?pin=1&uBRANDLINK=5&uCHANNELLINK=2

All the podcast-centric WWDC announcements including Apple Intelligence and being able to record phone calls; should you scheduled 3 podcast episodes to go out at the same time? Questions about Libsyn supporting video and where it goes; breaking down how many downloads per episode you need to start monetizing with Libsyn; how much podcast production costs; geographic and user agent download numbers plus May's average CPM numbers from Libsyn Ads. Audience feedback drives the show. We'd love for you to contact us and keep the conversation going! Email thefeed@libsyn.com, call 412-573-1934 or leave us a message on Speakpipe! We'd love to hear from you! SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE!

All the podcast-centric WWDC announcements including Apple Intelligence and being able to record phone calls; should you scheduled 3 podcast episodes to go out at the same time? Questions about Libsyn supporting video and where it goes; breaking down how many downloads per episode you need to start monetizing with Libsyn; how much podcast production costs; geographic and user agent download numbers plus May's average CPM numbers from Libsyn Ads. Audience feedback drives the show. We'd love for you to contact us and keep the conversation going! Email thefeed@libsyn.com, call 412-573-1934 or leave us a message on Speakpipe! We'd love to hear from you! SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE!

Bloomberg's Ashley Carman joins Taylor Lorenz to discuss the current state of audio and its creator economy. They discuss Spotify's impact and how close we are to achieving the decade-long dream of viral audio. Plus, Ashley takes us into the ridiculous world of fake podcast ads on TikTok and the rise of audiobooks and AI narrators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bloomberg's Ashley Carman joins Taylor Lorenz to discuss the current state of audio and its creator economy. They discuss Spotify's impact and how close we are to achieving the decade-long dream of viral audio. Plus, Ashley takes us into the ridiculous world of fake podcast ads on TikTok and the rise of audiobooks and AI narrators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No more Google Podcasts? George Carlin's estate reaches settlement after AI Podcast, marketing your episodes with Apple Podcasts and the new transcripts feature! Two soapboxes

No more Google Podcasts? George Carlin's estate reaches settlement after AI Podcast, marketing your episodes with Apple Podcasts and the new transcripts feature! Two soapboxes

DescriptionWhy'd you like that celebrity photo on Instagram? Why'd you leave that restaurant review on Yelp? Why'd you text in lowercase, or turn on read receipts, or share your location? The Verge's Ashley Carman and Kaitlyn Tiffany ask the hard, weird, and occasionally dumb questions about how your tiny tech decisions impact your social lifeWebsite: https://www.theverge.com/whyd-you-push-that-button What I Liked About This EpisodeThe intro does a good job of getting us acquainted with each person's voice and explains what the show is about.What I Thought Could Use Some PolishingThe intro has a ton of hiss. I give you a pass cause it was 2020, but all the "Chit chat" at the beginning would've been better at the end. In the end, I'm not the target audience for this. I love Ashley's articles in The Verge.The Goal Of This ShowThis show aims to help you make the best episodes and grow your downloads. If you'd like a deeper dive here are some additional servicesGet Your Podcast ReviewedProfit From Your Podcast BookPut Dave In Your PocketSubscribe and Follow the Show Listen to Podcast Rodeo Show: Reviews and First Impressions of Your Podcast Mentioned in this episode:Join the School of Podcasting!Are you looking to start your podcast but don't know where to begin? Look no further than the School of Podcasting. Our comprehensive online courses and one-on-one coaching will teach you everything you need to know, from equipment and editing to marketing and monetization. With our proven methods and expert instructors, you'll create high-quality, engaging content in no time. Say goodbye to the frustration and uncertainty and hello to a successful podcasting career with the School of PodcastingJoin the School of PodcastingAgain, sign up for the Free Book Launch Webinar using the link below (aff)Book Launch Secrets Book Launch Secrets Free WebinarWant proven methods to make your next book launch more successful? Then you need to know about a webinar I'm co-hosting that will do exactly that. The webinar will teach you proven principles and methods to help your next book launch go off like a rocket.  Then, at the end of the webinar, Thomas Umstattd Jr. and I will answer any of your questions about how to launch a book.   Webinar Details:  Topic: Book Launch Secrets  Cost: Free  Hosted By: Dave and Thomas Umstattd Jr.  When: This Thursday, March 21st at 2:30pm PST, 4:30pm CT, 5:30pm EST  Register by clicking the link below.  Free replay? Yes, but only if you register.  I've known Thomas for a long time and can think of no better person to teach you the keys to having a successful book launch. This is going to be excellent. Don't miss it. Register for the free webinar below..Book Launch Secrets

Pitchfork's parent company is folding the influential music site into GQ. Vulture's Craig Jenkins explains how this is the end of an era. Bloomberg's Ashley Carman says the robots are here to help. This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn and Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Paris Marx is joined by Eric Silver to discuss Spotify's big plan to dominate podcasting, why it's now pulling back from those efforts, and the difference between highly produced and more independent podcasts.Eric Silver is a podcast producer and head of development at Multitude.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast made in partnership with The Nation and is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode:Paris will be in Christchurch on February 4 (full details to come) and Wellington on February 8 (details here). He's hoping to get an Auckland date organized and is open to going to Australia.Spotify pulled back on its podcasting ambitions last year, canceling big shows and laying off staff.After buying Gimlet and Parcast, it merged them into Spotify Originals last year.Ashley Carman posted a slide from a Spotify presentation presenting the RSS feed as “outdated tech” because it's harder for them to harvest data from.Support the show

Brad Jacobs, Executive Chairman of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), joins to discuss his new investment venture, the delivery industry and founding XPO, and his new book “How to Make a Few Billion Dollars.” Ashley Carman, reporter with Bloomberg News covering the audio industry, joins to discuss Spotify cuts. Rania Sedhom, Managing Partner at Sedhom Law Group, joins to discuss legal concerns in how businesses use AI in marketing, and how content creators/actors are aiming to protect their services from artificial intelligence. Chris Ailman, Chief Investment Officer at the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), joins to discuss prepping for a recession and pressures on public funding. Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Jess Menton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Spotify Announces Voice Translation: https://twitter.com/eldsjal/status/1706325294481576006Podcast Executives Say the Industry Has a Fraud Problem by Ashley Carman: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-09-22/podcast-executives-say-the-industry-has-a-fraud-problemMaking the case for investing in audio ads in 2024 by Alexandra Samet: https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/making-case-investing-audio-ads-2024Hollywood isn't letting go of audio any time soon by Amrita Khalid: https://newsletters.feedbinusercontent.com/ae8/ae8dee115349ff41d836ba70ea6e793576c63a5b.htmlAmazon is sticking ads in Prime Video shows and movies unless you pay more by Jess Weatherbed: https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/22/23885242/amazon-prime-tv-movies-streaming-ads-subscription-dateAs for the rest of the news… Audacia Audio's Kym Treasure breaks down why audio should be in your multi-channel marketing strategy, Adweek finds Americans don't like advertisers using AI marketing on them unless it comes with a price discount, Edison Research has published their chart of the top 25 UK podcasts, and takeaways from Digiday's Publishing Summit focusing on attention metrics, engagement, and the importance of proving advertiser's return on investment.

Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Spotify Announces Voice Translation: https://twitter.com/eldsjal/status/1706325294481576006Podcast Executives Say the Industry Has a Fraud Problem by Ashley Carman: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-09-22/podcast-executives-say-the-industry-has-a-fraud-problemMaking the case for investing in audio ads in 2024 by Alexandra Samet: https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/making-case-investing-audio-ads-2024Hollywood isn't letting go of audio any time soon by Amrita Khalid: https://newsletters.feedbinusercontent.com/ae8/ae8dee115349ff41d836ba70ea6e793576c63a5b.htmlAmazon is sticking ads in Prime Video shows and movies unless you pay more by Jess Weatherbed: https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/22/23885242/amazon-prime-tv-movies-streaming-ads-subscription-dateAs for the rest of the news… Audacia Audio's Kym Treasure breaks down why audio should be in your multi-channel marketing strategy, Adweek finds Americans don't like advertisers using AI marketing on them unless it comes with a price discount, Edison Research has published their chart of the top 25 UK podcasts, and takeaways from Digiday's Publishing Summit focusing on attention metrics, engagement, and the importance of proving advertiser's return on investment.

By Walt HickeyWelcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.This week, I spoke to Bloomberg's Ashley Carman, who writes the Soundbite newsletter. Here's a recent thing what I wrote about it: The hottest thing in music touring right now is selling affluent 30-somethings their old eye shadow and tight pants back for a considerable markup, with alt-rock bands making a killing on the road. The forthcoming When We Were Young festival in Vegas has sold 160,000 tickets, Blink-182's North American tour just wrapped with $85.3 million gross on 564,000 tickets, which follows a 2021 outing by Weezer, Green Day and Fall Out Boy that grossed $67.3 million on 659,062 and an $88 million My Chemical Romance tour. Anyway, if any bookers want to take a look at my high school iPod Mini, I have absolutely categorically figured out exactly what the next three years of successful concert tours are going to be.Right now the podcast industry is in utter chaos, the music industry is beseiged by an enigmatic TikTok and the rise of AI, and the main things that appear to be working in the record business are unexpected niches, like country music and Mexican regional music. Ashley's covered it all, so I wanted to have her back on to chat about it, in audio no less!Carman can be found at Bloomberg.This interview has been condensed and edited. Ashley, thank you so much for coming back on, it's a pleasure to have you.Yeah, happy to be here.You cover audio; it's a big beat, it has a lot going on, and it's been a really dynamic couple of months it seems, in your field. What's been going on?Basically my beat, I started out covering the podcast industry over at The Verge for a number of years, then came over to Bloomberg, still with that intention to cover the podcast world, but also add in some of the music industry, really getting both sides. Obviously, audio can also include audiobooks, all the various genres of audio that exist in this world, but primarily focused on the podcast space and music industry. What's been going on? Podcasting has been having a little bit of a market correction reckoning. The music world is pushing for a whole new streaming model and wringing their hands over generative AI. So, busy dynamic moments on both sides of the industry.I recall reading a little while ago that the audio slice of the pie, so to speak, is increasing, but the individual groups within it are rising and falling pretty dynamically. I guess let's talk a little bit about what hasn't really been working super well lately. You've written a lot about the podcast industry and the consolidation that we've seen in that. What's been going on in the past six months; it seems like there's been a serious contraction?Yeah. So, essentially the very sped up version of the podcast world up until now is, starting around 2019, you had Spotify enter the space, spending a ton of money, which basically set off this huge gold rush around podcasts. Amazon entered the world with Wondery, adding it onto Amazon Music, Spotify obviously making its acquisitions, SiriusXM, iHeart, which of course has been in audio, and SiriusXM having been in audio, but really in earnest signing big lucrative podcast deals. And that goes on for a few years. You have the live audio craze of Clubhouse, and then this past year, really what's happened is this moment of, okay, we spent a lot of money on these podcast deals and locking up some of these big names in exclusive partnerships, but are we actually making our money back on those deals?I think that's what we're starting to see now is this correction of, hey, what were these deals really worth?Was this just a super frothy, hyped ecosystem that got us into some financial troubles? So, now, with that in the rearview mirror, some more awareness around the smart deals that could be made, you're seeing some consolidation in the space, even on the smaller network side, who were maybe benefiting from that frothy environment. Now they're like, okay, we need to figure out how we're going to survive in this ecosystem, especially when there's a broader ad pullback in the market. So, they're starting to consolidate, the bigger companies are laying folks off because they just got over their skis, as far as the investment, and yeah, it's just been a rough time, honestly, but I'm hoping that it turns a corner soon.Yeah, it seems like frothy is a good word. What companies, what kind of podcasts and what industrial organization structure has been the most durable? It seems like the big guys who put a ton of money into recruiting maybe a lot of talent from movie and television, those haven't necessarily done as well, because they were very ad sensitive, but that's not everything. There are still a lot of things that are working in podcasts, it seems.Yeah, and I guess the important caveat here is that podcasting is growing. Audio companies' revenue is growing in the podcast world. It's not the type of downturn we're seeing where all of a sudden it's like we lost 7 billion listeners this month. It's not like that. The space itself is actually growing, it's just when it's in relation to the deals themselves and how much was spent for the return, it was maybe just a little too early for that moment. So what's working is people do enjoy listening to podcasts. I personally, I see it in my friends, which granted, I have the bias of being a media reporter, and my friends are also media people, but they buy stuff from podcasts. They enjoy engaging with it.So from that perspective, I actually think podcasts have a lot of might, and there's been a lot of stuff written recently, not from me, but other great reporters, who have covered just how important podcasts are in the political landscape, as well. You can really see the impact and the amount of conversation they can drive and really bring people to make certain decisions. So I think that actually the spotlight is on them; it's just the business has been a little tricky.Yeah, it's weird, I've seen a lot of podcasts that had been very ad supported for a while often start pivoting toward live events and whatnot, which is what music acts do historically as well. You don't always need to make all your money off of the physical sales, it can also just be actual events.The podcast touring definitely still exists. I don't know if it's the biggest slice of the pie, but there's of course Patreon and subscriptions, which have been a success story for the podcasters that can make it work. So, there are alternate avenues for success.What else isn't really doing all that swell when it comes to audio right now? I know that podcasts have had a hiccup, but you've also run a couple of times about how Spotify is looking to raise prices, potentially, and you're looking at some of these larger companies that have tried to really control a lot of the audio pie that might not be doing as well.Yeah. So, I think what you're hinting at maybe is just the streaming environment for music. Really what we're seeing there is, it's really obviously reversed the trend of piracy, back in the day, and we're streaming now, companies are doing great, the music companies are growing, they're public, all of that. But what we're seeing in that world is a little bit of concern over the potential future, which is how do they continue growing? How do they maximize the dollar from the streaming services? You've seen price increases. And then also, even more somewhat forward facing, just how do you deal with generative AI when maybe that would lead to an influx of content out there?How do you actually allow artists who do this for a living and maybe aren't necessarily totally financially motivated by it to actually have their music be heard and make money off of it? And then of course, in the music world, you also have the struggle that TikTok runs so much of this now in the conversation, so what do you do? How do you break artists? How do you make superstars when a lot of this is at the whim of an algorithm?Yeah, I don't have it in front of me, but I feel like you wrote something a little while ago about how some of the major music companies are even starting to invest in some of these streams, whether they're the lo-fi or high-pitched streams, to capitalize on some of that social. Am I remembering that correctly?Yes, and I also need to put myself back in that story. The piece that I wrote was about sped up songs, which is a TikTok trend; it's like chipmunk singing, it's just sped up tracks. And what the major labels have covertly done is run Spotify accounts that have all those tracks on there. So, it kind of gives off this veneer of, oh, this is some low-key TikTok DJ who put this up here, and I stumbled upon this big secret, when actually it's totally blessed by the labels and ensures that when you're listening to that song, they get paid the proper royalties. Because obviously if some random person uploaded a song, I guess we would say illegally, without the proper rights, and they don't properly tag the rights holders, the rights holders don't get paid. So you could see the incentive to be like, here's your cool thing, but we're actually going to make our money off of it.How widespread is that? That's wild.I wrote about, I believe it was a Universal account that I wrote about, and I think I wrote about a Warner account as well. So, in those two cases, there were two different accounts. And then, gosh, I would need to check, but one of them actually put out an official compilation of sped up songs.There are ghost kitchens for music now, that's amazing.Yeah.So let's talk a little bit about what's hitting. A story that you wrote fairly recently, that I really enjoyed because it struck me directly on target, demographically and generationally, was about how one of the biggest hits on the road these days, and one of the biggest tours out there, and one of the biggest odd successes that we've seen in the live events industry, has been the late aughts revival of rock, whether it's Blink-182 or any of these other emo-related bands. I dug that because obviously everybody likes reading about themselves at times, but this seems like it was a little unexpected, that it really is hitting. Why is that?Yeah, so what I wrote about — you did a good job recapping, but just to cover even more so is that — yeah, you have tours like Blink-182, they got back together, their tour is massive. I have the exact number: The North American leg of their tour grossed $85.3 million and sold 564,000 tickets according to Billboard. Yeah. So they've just had this massive success, which has also translated to streaming, and then you also have tours like My Chemical Romance, who reunited, that did also amazingly well. They grossed $80 million on their tour last year. And then, additionally, there's just this When We Were Young festival, which maybe you've heard of, in Vegas, which is a who's who of that era and rock bands. And so, really what we're seeing is these bands command an audience, even though their heyday was 2004, or even the late ‘90s.And I don't know exactly what's causing it. Obviously, it could be that folks like us, we're older, we have jobs, we can afford to go to concerts, we have a disposable income, maybe we're going to see it. Maybe the torch is being passed from our parents' generation of rockers down to them, and they're going to become the big rock stadium X, that everybody goes to see in the summer, or whatever it is. Or, this is kind of the X factor, is maybe it's the Y2K interest from Gen Z, and this resurgence in that aesthetic and culture. It could be that, too; it could be all those things. But yeah, it's cool to see, and it's definitely a trend that people are banking on.Yeah. And again, the numbers here are wild. You mentioned Blink-182, I think they have the fifth- or sixth-highest three-month live grosses. They are genuinely one of the most competitive acts out there per that ranking in that post.And they're touring a ton. I mentioned the North American numbers, but they're going around the world. It's almost a year-long tour, so it's going to be massive.Great. Yeah, it's definitely a cool trend, because one thing that you've written a lot about is that what's hitting now is really inconsistent. We can talk about a couple of things; one thing I want to talk about is Mexican music, one thing I want to talk about is country music. Where do you want to go first with this? Because the things that are doing really, really well are fairly eclectic.Yeah, we can start with any of them. I think the story of country music is pretty interesting.Morgan Wallen has just been a force who, without getting into the full story, he was caught on camera using the N word — not great, a lot of issues around him. Also, there was some COVID stuff, back in the COVID days. So, really, he's just had this moment where his fans are committed, they love him, he's selling out stadiums, doing really, really well.His story of the country music is interesting, because you have these acts who are starting to be, I guess you would call them crossover? They're starting to reach into a pop audience, even. And also you have this sort of cultural shift that some people would like to see in country, which is maybe more voices from women, or Black artists, or LGBTQ artists, and the struggle between that and the reality that Morgan Wallen is the biggest country star in the world right now.So, that's the story of country, and it's an interesting one, because there's definitely some tension there.Wallen is interesting for a lot of reasons, but his album, One Thing at a Time, has been topping the rankings for quite some time. He did some interesting stuff with that. He clued in on a trend, on how to, not manipulate per se, but how to use streaming incentives to their advantage. Because a 36-song record that is almost two hours long, which you rarely see, but if you're thinking of a streaming thing, that could make sense, right?Yeah. If you want to give fans a lot to listen to, you definitely could. Although, I do think a lot of it is probably all going to his singles. I hear them everywhere I go, and that's even in New York.Yeah. Taking another step, Mexican music in particular, you had this really great story, I want to say beginning of June, end of May, that was all about that niche in general, and there's been a lot of regional music that has succeeded. That's riding a couple of different other trends, right?Yeah. Obviously, Mexican music is sung in Spanish most of the time, and so what we're seeing there is just a continuation of growth in the Latin music broader genre, which is Bad Bunny, obviously huge, Rosalía, lots of others. So, with Mexican music, we're seeing artists like Peso Pluma, who is 23 years old from Guadalajara, he's also just been this huge act, and really the sound is truly a regional sound.And there is controversy with that, as well, around this genre called narcocorridos, which are stories around drug cartels, just Wild West stories, almost. And obviously, there's been some pushback on that, but once again, this music is really reaching people regardless of whether they speak Spanish or not.And I think the story with Mexican music is going to be, can it become as big as Reggaeton or Dembow, or something that really translates across the world? Right now we're seeing it in Mexico, obviously, the U.S., but can it really go to Asia? We're starting to see hints of it. But that's the next turn of the screw for that genre.Really? So, it does make sense that it could succeed in America because there's a large Spanish-speaking audience here, but the next marker of success is, is it going to be played in Japan?Anywhere in the world. But yeah, obviously Asia would be amazing. I spoke to some people who were like, yeah, we have listeners in Japan, which is so cool, but yeah, you want to see it succeed in all sorts of different regions that maybe don't necessarily have that direct tie to Mexico or Spanish language.Yeah. I know that they've done phenomenally well in North American tours. Bad Bunny's tour was huge.Yeah. Bad Bunny was huge, and all these Mexican artists have also been touring for years. The U.S. has a huge Mexican population, or descendants of Mexican people, so it definitely does very, very well in North America.That's exciting. It's a really great newsletter, I enjoy it a lot. And I'm interested in the space, and it's just been very cool because this seems like a very transformative time, where finally the music industry has, as you mentioned, put piracy at bay, but at the same time, there are still some issues lurking.I remember you had a story a little while ago about how people are concerned about streaming fraud, and some of the numbers that are out there when it comes to possible streaming fraud are pretty remarkable. What do you make of that?So, streaming fraud is an interesting conversation because that's one that I feel like for years wasn't really widely acknowledged, it was just maybe discussed behind closed doors. But more and more now companies are discussing this. I believe Universal talked about it, or at least nodded to streaming fraud as an issue that they're trying to handle, on their earnings call.It's just a bigger conversation in the space now, and I think part of this does come from that urgency of, okay, again, assuming there will be a future where generative AI puts a lot more music on platforms, how do you know who is there authentically? Who's getting fake streams? How do you qualify that? And quantify that? I think there's just this motivation to really crack down and make sure everyone's getting paid their fair due, and obviously the labels don't want to lose market share to what they would consider either outright fraud or just not human artists, or I don't even know, not real artists, I guess.What do you mean by that? That's interesting.It's kind of talked around, sort of this idea of real artists who are artists, musicians that are like, “This is my career, this is what I want to do,” versus someone who might be financially motivated and goes to an app to generate a song, and is like, “This is a way for me to make money.”Or, UMG has talked a little bit about noise, like white noise, for example. Is that worth as much? Should that be worth the same amount as, I think Warner famously said, "An Ed Sheeran song?" Should those be counted the same and be worth the same amount of money? The labels would obviously say no, and I assume people who make white noise would say yes. So, this is the dynamic right now.And the entity that currently gets to decide that is Spotify.Yeah, the DSPs.That's an interesting one, I feel like I'm going to see more of that in the future. So the newsletter is Soundbite. It's a Bloomberg newsletter, and it's very, very cool. Before we wrap it up, anything else that's been on your mind lately? Any stories from this summer that you feel folks should maybe be paying more attention to, whether they're inside or outside of the music industry?I think the one that everyone's watching is the generative AI story. The thing I'm watching there is it's a lot of theoretical conversation, a lot of talk, and then you have some actors being like, okay, we're going to not allow any AI-generated songs on our platform. I'm curious what the policies look like around that; I'm curious about how they define an AI-generated song. I think that is going to be a big part of the conversation, definitely the legal side and then maybe even the government side. I just think that story is going to keep snowballing into something.Obviously this is not the only industry that is reckoning with the potential for AI. A lot of it comes down to just who gets to use it and when. Can an artist use AI during the creation of a song, versus can a label use an AI to make the song, versus can a DSP use it to flood their network with stuff? It's a weird peculiar question that, you're right, is entirely theoretical in so many ways.Yeah, exactly.Cool. Well, Ashley, thanks so much for coming on. Where can folks find you?I am on X aka Twitter, I guess, @AshleyRCarman. Honestly, I'm a nerd who's like, follow me on LinkedIn, to be honest. And then, please do subscribe to my newsletter. It is free.Yeah, it's great.So that's exciting.You got some really good data in there, I'm very fond of it. Anybody who listens to stuff should definitely check it out. Ashley Carman, thank you so much for coming on.If you have anything you'd like to see in this Sunday special, shoot me an email. Comment below! Thanks for reading, and thanks so much for supporting Numlock.Thank you so much for becoming a paid subscriber! Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news.  Get full access to Numlock News at www.numlock.com/subscribe

After spending more than 1 billion dollars in podcasting, Spotify announced what its call a 'next chapter' as it works to streamline its services. For more, KCBS Radio's Holly Quan spoke with Bloomberg's Ashley Carman.

In this episode, I'm taking you on a deep dive into YouTube's long-awaited new podcasting features that have the potential to increase and enhance the way that we, as creators, connect with our audience. Join me and special guest James Cridland, the founder and editor of Podnews, as we explore these new features and address some critical questions.We'll begin by discussing the specifics of YouTube's new podcasting features and who has access to them. James and I discuss the process of getting your podcast on YouTube using and delve into the possibilities of RSS integration in the future.Together, we'll compare YouTube's analytics to other platforms and examine if their podcast offering integrates with current podcast hosting and distribution platforms. We'll also talk about the various formats that may excel or flounder on the platform.Monetization is inevitably on the minds of indie podcasters, too, so we'll tackle questions regarding how YouTube handles pre-roll and mid-roll ads, the platform's compatibility with your own ads, and the potential for dynamic ads when RSS is finally supported. We'll also chat about Ashley Carman's recent article and the insightful "Up Front with Simon Jordan" data as reported by Podnews last week.As we venture further into YouTube's podcasting offer, James and I will discuss the potential implications of YouTube being another "walled garden" for the medium and what it means for the open podcasting ecosystem. We'll also consider how this development could impact major players like Apple and Spotify, amongst others.Finally, we'll explore whether YouTube's entrance into podcasting will have different effects on small, indie creators compared to larger, more financially successful creators, branded podcasts, and media companies like Wondery.My special guest today:James Cridland https://james.cridland.net/biography/ James's Website Twitter: @jamescridland on Twitter Useful links from the episodeThe platform fight: Amazon pays listeners AUD $5 - Includes a piece about "Up Front with Simon Jordan" that juxtaposes Ashley's article, potentially.YouTube numbers “not doing so well”YouTube release podcast tools to allExclusive: YouTube's plans for podcastingPodnews on YouTubePodnews podcasting newsFan of the show? Find it helpful?You can become a supporter of the show via a one-off tip that I'll use to buy a beer at this link: Support The Podcast Accelerator, Learn How to Grow Your Podcast.Your next stepsI teach podcasting a lot and for free. So, here's what I'd recommend you do next:Watch my free podcasting tutorials on YouTube: YouTube (Captivate) Ask me anything at all about podcasting over on Twitter: Twitter If you need help with anything at all regarding your podcast, get me on Twitter (Twitter ) and I promise to respond.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacyPodcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyPodtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrpChartable -...

Special Guests: Rob Lowenthal - Spotify/MegaphoneSharon Taylor - Triton DigitalDarby Dorras - ListenTom Billington  - The Podcast ShowNews: Acast released Q1/23 financials.  Acast now hosts more than 100K registered podcasts globally and they've also exceeded 100mn monthly unique listeners. They have now paid more than $250 million out to their creators since Acast began.Amazon Music is paying some Australian listeners AUD$5 (USD$3.39) in vouchers just for listening to a podcast on the platform. Amazon quietly acquired Snackable, an AI platform.The Podcast Show 2023. You can still buy tickets for the event - the code PODNEWS will get you a discount.Bumper looks at ways to look at Listen Time as a method to measure your audience's engagement with your podcast. Podcasting on YouTube is a flop so far, reports Ashley Carman in her newsletter.NewsGuard, a “news reliability data service”, has announced its entry into podcasting today. Support the showConnect With Us: Email: weekly@podnews.net Twitter: @jamescridland / @podnews and @samsethi / @samtalkstech Lightning/NOSTR: ⚡james@crid.land and ⚡sam@getalby.com Mastodon: @james@crid.land and @samsethi@podcastindex.social Support us: www.buzzsprout.com/1538779/support Get Podnews: podnews.net NEW: Podnews Live Events: (Tickets on sale now!) Podnews Live (Manchester) - 13/06 Podnews Live (London) - 27/09 Podnews Live (Barcelona) - 25/09 Podnews Live (Mexico City) - Nov

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

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

We taped this episode live at Hot Pod Summit. That's our conference for the podcast industry. We have a whole newsletter for podcasters. It's called Hot Pod, written by our very own Ariel Shapiro. Hot Pod Summit is where we bring that community—of creators, trendsetters and decision makers—together to explore the latest developments in podcasting, audiobooks and more. It was a packed house and a great time. We ended the day by recording our first ever live Decoder with Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia's digital audio group. Conal oversees podcasting at a giant radio company, and his group accounts for a quarter of iHeart's revenue, which was a billion dollars last quarter alone. His team makes some of the biggest podcasts around with huge talent like Will Ferrell, Shonda Rhimes, and Charlamagne Tha God who you'll hear Conal talk about quite a lot. Conal and iHeart digital earned that success by doing some unconventional things. Whereas other big podcasting players like Spotify and Apple have tried to boost revenue through subscriptions or platform exclusivity, Conal shunned those approaches and said he's going for big audience reach, made possible in part by his ability to run ads and even shows on iHeart's huge network of traditional radio stations. But, that maverick approach has included some controversial steps as well. Last year, Verge alumni and Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman reported that iHeart worked with a firm called Jun Group to essentially buy podcast downloads through video games. To many in the industry, that seemed pretty disingenuous. So of course I asked Connell about that and lots more. He was a great guest, super game to answer the questions, especially in front of a live audience. Links: iHeartMedia Buys Stuff Media for $55 Million - WSJ  Podcasters Are Buying Millions of Listeners Through Mobile-Game Ads  Cost Per Thousand (CPM) Definition and Its Role in Marketing Spotify reportedly paid $200 million for Joe Rogan's podcast - The Verge Chris Dixon thinks web3 is the future of the internet — is it? - Decoder, The Verge Decoder with Nilay Patel (@decoderpod) Official | TikTok   Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23381445 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling how podcasts are responding to market pressures. Let's dig in. Leading the charge again is Oxford Road's very own Jennifer Laine on the host microphone, along with fellow Oxford Road luminaries Dan Granger, Neal Lucey, and Bloomberg's expert audio reporter Ashley Carman.

This week: Why sports podcasts are a slam dunk for podcast advertisers, our quarterly earnings roundup, how the buy-side of advertising defines ‘premium' content, how podcast advertisers are embracing Latino podcasting, and Netflix launches their ad-supported tier. Why sports podcasts could be a slam dunk for advertisers who know how to navigate the in-demand space Shreya: There's no denying the synergy of sports and advertisers during regular game seasons, but a new article from MarketingBrew's Alyssa Meyers highlights how podcasts can easily fill that gap the rest of the year.  “The sports podcast genre is among the top five most popular in the US, according to Edison Research, and the percentage share of ad revenue for that category more than doubled from 2020 to 2021, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.”  Several of Meyers' sources stress that sports is one of the most in-demand podcast genres for ad buyers. Steven Abraham, president of the Oxford Road, said the agency's biggest clients are interested in the space due to its reach with an active and engaged audience. “A good sports-podcast media plan includes both, according to Abraham. Major shows that cover entire leagues or sports news in general can provide the benefit of reach, but fan-led shows that focus on specific teams tend to be more targeted and affordable, he said.” Regardless of a show's popularity, the CPM of a sports podcast has the benefit of flexibility even in the off season. Locked On Podcast Network CEO David Locke reports listenership spikes more during off-season times like trade deadlines than during important games during the normal season.  Traditional media has spent decades refining their infrastructure around courting sports fans when players are on the court. Podcasting has the flexibility and staying power to capitalize on sports fandom's dedication for their favorite pastime and make sporting content a perennial avenue for advertisers.  Podcasting Companies Post Q3 Earnings Manuela: It's time for what's becoming a quarterly event here on The Download: quarterly earnings reports are here!  Most of what we're reporting on today has been released in the past week, but in the interest of gathering everyone together, we'll open with Spotify. As we covered back in October, Spotify shares dipped after their earnings call, in which CEO David Ek announced price increases coming in 2023.  In good news for Big Green: they report 456 million monthly active users, up 20% year over year, 195 million of which are paying subscribers, representing a 13% year over year jump.  iHeartMedia is up 7% year over year on revenue, with a Q3 total of $989 million. Their Digital Audio Group revenue hit a 23% year over year increase, with podcast revenue hitting $91 million dollars.  On Wednesday Veritone posted their Q3 financial report. $37.2 million in revenue with 64% year over year growth.  Audacy's financial report shows total revenue down 3.8% year on year. Their Digital revenue, including podcasting, made $62 million in the quarter. As Podnews James Cridland reports, this is up 2% year on year but 10% down quarter on quarter. Cridland also said: “The company is threatened with stock market delisting; stock hit a record low of $0.27 yesterday.”  Acast's Q3 has been positive with revenue up 21%, amounting to $29.8 million USD when converted from Krona. In their significant events recap they list the Podchaser acquisition, the partnership with Wondery to translate and record successful podcasts in Italian, and their agreement with rep The New York Times and sell UK ad space on NYT podcasts.  They also note Amazon functionally purchasing all ad space on Acast podcasts through the deal struck just after the reporting period so Amazon can run Acast shows ad-free for Amazon Music subscribers. How the buy-side of the ad industry is now defining ‘premium' content  Shreya: On Wednesday Ronan Shields, writing for Digiday, published a piece covering how the buyer side of the market is defining premium ad content and the general mood of the industry in regards to the looming threat of recession. The piece quotes panels from multiple relevant conferences in New York City last week.  “Just about everyone in the industry is bracing themselves for a recession with swinging cuts to advertisers' budgets expected, fellow panelists Jesse Fisher from Horizon Media and GroupM's Esra Bacher offered insights into how marketers would make budgeting decisions. They both pointed out how priorities will delineate depending on whether they are an emerging or mature brand.”  Fischer predicts smaller brands will focus more on awareness campaigns instead of focusing on ROI. “But if you look at a more mature brand, you know that's really well positioned… they might shift spend into more measurable channels and types of activations because they really want to make sure that if they're spending a million dollars, they're able to see $1.1 million in ROI.” Programmatic Investment Lead at GroupM Esra Bacher suggests marketers and media agencies have evolved enough to withstand the brunt of an anticipated economic downturn better than the 2008 recession that lead to sweeping cuts. While DSPs and premium publishers are using tools like The Trade Desk's OpenPath to form direct relationships, media agencies are similarly getting together with supply-side platforms. An anonymous source at Brand Safety Week told Digiday:  “It's not possible for us to talk to 10,000 publishers, but it is possible for us to talk to 50 SSPs. So, we might look to see how much we're spending with, say, 10-15 publishers via DSPs, and then look to see which SSPs have unique supply, unique data… and transparency on things like show-level data…” Podcast listening by US Latinos is on the rise. Are ad dollars following suit? Manuela: Back in August the third annual Latino Podcast Listener Report from Edison Research was published, as dedicated listeners might remember from our coverage. The report delivered promising news, including the statistic that 59% of US Latino adults have listened to a podcast at least once.  This past Wednesday Alyssa Meyers, writing for MarketingBrew, covered both the highlights of the report and how the podcasting industry is adjusting to the rise in Latino audiences.  Latina Podcasters Network and Latino Pods CEO Rita Bautista says their stable of 40+ podcasts  broke six figures in ad revenue so far in 2022, working with brands like Ulta Beauty, Pfizer, and Gold Peak. The network does not run prerecorded ads, preferring host-read copy to ensure authenticity.  “There's absolutely a lot of interest in the Hispanic opportunity by many advertisers,” said Jesus Lara, president of Univision Radio, including its Uforia Audio Network. “There's other advertisers that will need a little more education.” Lara stressed that authenticity has to be paramount when building ad creative. Ad Results Media VP of media operations and analytics Lisa Jacobs says she advises brands to only write copy in another language if they have someone fluent around to work on the translation. Jacobs told MarketingBrew this might seem self-explanatory, but there have been situations in the past where someone used Google Translate to try and convert copy to another language.  Bautista says she's seeing brands follow the advice of people like Jacobs, though there is room to grow.  “The needle is moving. It's not moving as quickly as it needs to be, but…I do commend these companies that we've been working with for trying their best, and making sure that they are working on these efforts, and asking for feedback, and looking towards the right types of networks to advertise with in order to get this right.” Brands advertising on Netflix include Louis Vuitton, Subway, and Duracell Shreya: Previously we've covered Netflix's moves into making its cheapest tier an ad-supported one. Last week the platform officially launched the tier, charging $6.99 for ‘Basic with Ads' in the US, as well as eight other countries. MarketingBrew's Kelsey Sutton reports the ad loads are capped at four to five minutes of advertising per hour and the formats are pre-roll and mid-roll.  Sutton and others from MarketingBrew used accounts on the new tier to catch the new advertisement breaks in action.  “Brands we spotted while watching Gilmore Girls and Ozark included everything from luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and Bulgari to tech brands like Beats by Dre and Google. Apartments.com, Best Western, Booking.com, Cadillac, CeraVe, Duracell, Michelob Ultra, and Subway were also spotted in the mix.  Sutton reports the exercise found an average of three ad breaks per episode amounting to around 60 seconds total of midroll plus the preroll that ran before the episode began.  “It remains to be seen how many of Netflix's ~223 million global subscribers will opt to watch with ads. In a poll last month, most Marketing Brew readers said they'd keep their existing ad-free subscriptions, but 14% each said they'd either sign up for Netflix on its ad-supported tier for the first time or switch their existing ad-free subscription to the ad-supported tier.” The new service isn't quite plug-and-play just yet, as Netflix has to renegotiate licensing agreements with studios before it can run advertisements on their properties. They also appear to still be working on implementing the measurement tools produced by their partnership with DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, and Nielsen. While Sutton mentions some advertisers are waiting in the wings to gauge the public's reaction to the new tier, it's clear plenty of big-name advertisers are interested in buying ad space on premium content. Netflix's CPM for their new ad slots has been reported between $60 and $80. It's exciting to see both the interest and the price holding in a buyer's market.  Now to see if Netflix can deliver long-term. For now we can only watch, both literally and figuratively.  Quick Hits Shreya: Finally, it's time for our semi-regular roundup of articles we're calling Quick Hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week: The holiday campaigns have begun- here's what we're seeing so far by Katie Hicks for MarketingBrew. A breezy breakdown of what tact major brands are taking with their holiday season campaigns this year, with trends developing around addressing inflation and families celebrating together.  These Are the Salaries Warner, Amazon and Sony Offer For Audio Jobs by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg. Last week's issue of Carman's newsletter Soundbite features a look at salaries for a variety of companies working in audio now that New York City has passed a new law requiring good faith salary ranges on open positions. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Why sports podcasts are a slam dunk for podcast advertisers, our quarterly earnings roundup, how the buy-side of advertising defines ‘premium' content, how podcast advertisers are embracing Latino podcasting, and Netflix launches their ad-supported tier. Why sports podcasts could be a slam dunk for advertisers who know how to navigate the in-demand space Shreya: There's no denying the synergy of sports and advertisers during regular game seasons, but a new article from MarketingBrew's Alyssa Meyers highlights how podcasts can easily fill that gap the rest of the year.  “The sports podcast genre is among the top five most popular in the US, according to Edison Research, and the percentage share of ad revenue for that category more than doubled from 2020 to 2021, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.”  Several of Meyers' sources stress that sports is one of the most in-demand podcast genres for ad buyers. Steven Abraham, president of the Oxford Road, said the agency's biggest clients are interested in the space due to its reach with an active and engaged audience. “A good sports-podcast media plan includes both, according to Abraham. Major shows that cover entire leagues or sports news in general can provide the benefit of reach, but fan-led shows that focus on specific teams tend to be more targeted and affordable, he said.” Regardless of a show's popularity, the CPM of a sports podcast has the benefit of flexibility even in the off season. Locked On Podcast Network CEO David Locke reports listenership spikes more during off-season times like trade deadlines than during important games during the normal season.  Traditional media has spent decades refining their infrastructure around courting sports fans when players are on the court. Podcasting has the flexibility and staying power to capitalize on sports fandom's dedication for their favorite pastime and make sporting content a perennial avenue for advertisers.  Podcasting Companies Post Q3 Earnings Manuela: It's time for what's becoming a quarterly event here on The Download: quarterly earnings reports are here!  Most of what we're reporting on today has been released in the past week, but in the interest of gathering everyone together, we'll open with Spotify. As we covered back in October, Spotify shares dipped after their earnings call, in which CEO David Ek announced price increases coming in 2023.  In good news for Big Green: they report 456 million monthly active users, up 20% year over year, 195 million of which are paying subscribers, representing a 13% year over year jump.  iHeartMedia is up 7% year over year on revenue, with a Q3 total of $989 million. Their Digital Audio Group revenue hit a 23% year over year increase, with podcast revenue hitting $91 million dollars.  On Wednesday Veritone posted their Q3 financial report. $37.2 million in revenue with 64% year over year growth.  Audacy's financial report shows total revenue down 3.8% year on year. Their Digital revenue, including podcasting, made $62 million in the quarter. As Podnews James Cridland reports, this is up 2% year on year but 10% down quarter on quarter. Cridland also said: “The company is threatened with stock market delisting; stock hit a record low of $0.27 yesterday.”  Acast's Q3 has been positive with revenue up 21%, amounting to $29.8 million USD when converted from Krona. In their significant events recap they list the Podchaser acquisition, the partnership with Wondery to translate and record successful podcasts in Italian, and their agreement with rep The New York Times and sell UK ad space on NYT podcasts.  They also note Amazon functionally purchasing all ad space on Acast podcasts through the deal struck just after the reporting period so Amazon can run Acast shows ad-free for Amazon Music subscribers. How the buy-side of the ad industry is now defining ‘premium' content  Shreya: On Wednesday Ronan Shields, writing for Digiday, published a piece covering how the buyer side of the market is defining premium ad content and the general mood of the industry in regards to the looming threat of recession. The piece quotes panels from multiple relevant conferences in New York City last week.  “Just about everyone in the industry is bracing themselves for a recession with swinging cuts to advertisers' budgets expected, fellow panelists Jesse Fisher from Horizon Media and GroupM's Esra Bacher offered insights into how marketers would make budgeting decisions. They both pointed out how priorities will delineate depending on whether they are an emerging or mature brand.”  Fischer predicts smaller brands will focus more on awareness campaigns instead of focusing on ROI. “But if you look at a more mature brand, you know that's really well positioned… they might shift spend into more measurable channels and types of activations because they really want to make sure that if they're spending a million dollars, they're able to see $1.1 million in ROI.” Programmatic Investment Lead at GroupM Esra Bacher suggests marketers and media agencies have evolved enough to withstand the brunt of an anticipated economic downturn better than the 2008 recession that lead to sweeping cuts. While DSPs and premium publishers are using tools like The Trade Desk's OpenPath to form direct relationships, media agencies are similarly getting together with supply-side platforms. An anonymous source at Brand Safety Week told Digiday:  “It's not possible for us to talk to 10,000 publishers, but it is possible for us to talk to 50 SSPs. So, we might look to see how much we're spending with, say, 10-15 publishers via DSPs, and then look to see which SSPs have unique supply, unique data… and transparency on things like show-level data…” Podcast listening by US Latinos is on the rise. Are ad dollars following suit? Manuela: Back in August the third annual Latino Podcast Listener Report from Edison Research was published, as dedicated listeners might remember from our coverage. The report delivered promising news, including the statistic that 59% of US Latino adults have listened to a podcast at least once.  This past Wednesday Alyssa Meyers, writing for MarketingBrew, covered both the highlights of the report and how the podcasting industry is adjusting to the rise in Latino audiences.  Latina Podcasters Network and Latino Pods CEO Rita Bautista says their stable of 40+ podcasts  broke six figures in ad revenue so far in 2022, working with brands like Ulta Beauty, Pfizer, and Gold Peak. The network does not run prerecorded ads, preferring host-read copy to ensure authenticity.  “There's absolutely a lot of interest in the Hispanic opportunity by many advertisers,” said Jesus Lara, president of Univision Radio, including its Uforia Audio Network. “There's other advertisers that will need a little more education.” Lara stressed that authenticity has to be paramount when building ad creative. Ad Results Media VP of media operations and analytics Lisa Jacobs says she advises brands to only write copy in another language if they have someone fluent around to work on the translation. Jacobs told MarketingBrew this might seem self-explanatory, but there have been situations in the past where someone used Google Translate to try and convert copy to another language.  Bautista says she's seeing brands follow the advice of people like Jacobs, though there is room to grow.  “The needle is moving. It's not moving as quickly as it needs to be, but…I do commend these companies that we've been working with for trying their best, and making sure that they are working on these efforts, and asking for feedback, and looking towards the right types of networks to advertise with in order to get this right.” Brands advertising on Netflix include Louis Vuitton, Subway, and Duracell Shreya: Previously we've covered Netflix's moves into making its cheapest tier an ad-supported one. Last week the platform officially launched the tier, charging $6.99 for ‘Basic with Ads' in the US, as well as eight other countries. MarketingBrew's Kelsey Sutton reports the ad loads are capped at four to five minutes of advertising per hour and the formats are pre-roll and mid-roll.  Sutton and others from MarketingBrew used accounts on the new tier to catch the new advertisement breaks in action.  “Brands we spotted while watching Gilmore Girls and Ozark included everything from luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and Bulgari to tech brands like Beats by Dre and Google. Apartments.com, Best Western, Booking.com, Cadillac, CeraVe, Duracell, Michelob Ultra, and Subway were also spotted in the mix.  Sutton reports the exercise found an average of three ad breaks per episode amounting to around 60 seconds total of midroll plus the preroll that ran before the episode began.  “It remains to be seen how many of Netflix's ~223 million global subscribers will opt to watch with ads. In a poll last month, most Marketing Brew readers said they'd keep their existing ad-free subscriptions, but 14% each said they'd either sign up for Netflix on its ad-supported tier for the first time or switch their existing ad-free subscription to the ad-supported tier.” The new service isn't quite plug-and-play just yet, as Netflix has to renegotiate licensing agreements with studios before it can run advertisements on their properties. They also appear to still be working on implementing the measurement tools produced by their partnership with DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, and Nielsen. While Sutton mentions some advertisers are waiting in the wings to gauge the public's reaction to the new tier, it's clear plenty of big-name advertisers are interested in buying ad space on premium content. Netflix's CPM for their new ad slots has been reported between $60 and $80. It's exciting to see both the interest and the price holding in a buyer's market.  Now to see if Netflix can deliver long-term. For now we can only watch, both literally and figuratively.  Quick Hits Shreya: Finally, it's time for our semi-regular roundup of articles we're calling Quick Hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week: The holiday campaigns have begun- here's what we're seeing so far by Katie Hicks for MarketingBrew. A breezy breakdown of what tact major brands are taking with their holiday season campaigns this year, with trends developing around addressing inflation and families celebrating together.  These Are the Salaries Warner, Amazon and Sony Offer For Audio Jobs by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg. Last week's issue of Carman's newsletter Soundbite features a look at salaries for a variety of companies working in audio now that New York City has passed a new law requiring good faith salary ranges on open positions. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah and Beth reflect on 7 years of podcasting and what they've learned from their time together. Then, they talk with podcasting reporter Ashley Carman about the state of the industry as a whole. TOPICS DISCUSSEDWhat We've Learned from Pantsuit PoliticsThe State of Podcasting with Ashley CarmanYour Beautiful Birthday ReflectionsPlease visit our website for full show notes and episode resources Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amazon is expanding its music offerings for Prime members, increasing the number of songs available to stream.  For more, KCBA Radio news anchor Holly Quan spoke with Bloomberg News reporter Ashley Carman.

This week: ESPN to potentially partner with DraftKings, Podcasting unions make headlines, Netflix confirms two independent measurement companies, advertisers reflect on 2023 spend, and two new podcasting hosts arrive in the US. ESPN Nears Large New Partnership With DraftKingsManuela: Last Thursday Ed Hammond and Crystal Tse of Bloomberg covered an anticipated deal between ESPN and sports-betting firm DraftKings. According to an update to the piece, DraftKings' stock rose as much as 8.8% in response to the news on Friday. “ESPN has already invested heavily in sports gambling, though it has steered clear of taking actual bets. The broadcaster has betting-related shows such as Daily Wager and marketing deals with DraftKings and Caesars Entertainment Inc. where links to the sportsbooks are integrated into ESPN's website. Disney also acquired a stake in DraftKings as part of its acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets in 2019.”Disney has long avoided gambling in pursuit of upholding its wholesome family image. As Bloomberg points out, none of the Disney cruise ship fleet have casinos aboard, nor are Disney characters licensed to slot machine manufacturers. Clearly, their attitudes appear to be changing as they search for a sports betting partner for ESPN.Sean Russo, Research Manager of Magellan AI, offered this when asked about the growth of sports betting and adjacent categories: “As of August, the Fantasy Sports industry is up 22% year to date, although historically spending in the industry has peaked in September. Last year spend more than doubled between August and September, primarily driven by brands like Fanduel and DraftKings”  ESPN is a major podcast network and sports betting, as well as its cousins like fantasy sports, continue to climb in popularity. If this deal comes to fruition, it could be a big deal indeed. Podcasting gains new union, hears from two recently affected by Spotify layoffs. Shreya: In this first segment we have two stories fitting in a theme of organized labor in podcasting. Last Tuesday, Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios announced last Tuesday that roughly 75% of their proposed bargaining unit signed up to officially join WGA East. Ashley Carman reported for Bloomberg: “The employees said they're looking for increased transparency around pay, rights to their intellectual property, protection against favoritism at work and improved health insurance, according to the letter.”Later in the week, the utility of unionizing was highlighted when Spotify pruned their walled garden. Last Thursday Tech Crunch's Lauren Forristal reported on Spotify canceling multiple shows at once from two of the four Spotify in-house content production companies. Three podcasts from Gimlet and eight from Parcast are either canceled effective immediately or set - in the case of Horoscope Today - scheduled to end in the second quarter of 2023. Spotify also announced this would cause “less than 5% of layoffs of Spotify's podcast staff.”  Last Friday both the Gimlet Union and Parcast Union took issue with that number in an official letter posted to Twitter.  “Yesterday, Spotify blindsided both Gimlet Union and Parcast Union with at least 38 layoffs across their studios. Spotify has said in the press that these layoffs constitute less than 5% of people working on original podcasts. That number is misleading. The reality is that each bargaining unit organized with the Writers Guild of America, East has lost about 30% of its members. These are not small cuts, they are massive restructurings.”  The two unions go on to highlight Spotify's internal reasoning for canceling the podcasts was due to low listenership, which the unions argue was in large part due to decisions made by Spotify itself.  “Their decision to make most of Gimlet's and Parcast's shows Spotify Exclusive caused a steep drop in listeners - as high as three quarters of the audience for some shows. Yet the company did little or nothing to staunch the bleeding. Shows languished without marketing support, and teams were not given clear audience goals to meet.”  Netflix strikes measurement deals ahead of new ad-supported tier Manuela: On Monday Garett Sloane, writing for AdAge, reported on some updates to the ongoing story of Netflix prepping for the launch of their ad-supported tier. As covered in the September 8th episode of The Download, details were scarce about the tier beyond its possible price point and the streamer's CPM goals. “... Netflix has been asking for high prices for its ad inventory, at least $60 CPMs—cost per thousand views—while only offering limited targeting possibilities and no third-party measurement, according to people familiar with the situation.” Now Netflix has announced they're working with both Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify to act as that third-party measurement. A measurement executive speaking to Sloane anonymously believes implementation of the two services should be relatively easy for Netflix. Netflix signing two big-name third-party companies to give credence to their measurement stands as another example of why a certain podcasting platform's decisions come off as odd. Spotify, when in a similar position of needing brand safety and ad measurement as Netflix, chose to not only work with one third-party company, they strongly inferred the partnership intended to create a proprietary brand safety tool. Surveyed advertisers discuss where they'll potentially spend differently in an uncertain 2023.  Shreya: Much talk has been had about the uncertainties of how things will look in the future as the economy has a will-they-won't-they relationship with a recession. This Wednesday MarketingBrew's Ryan Barwick brought some numbers to the table that demonstrate just how uncertain the industry is. The following numbers are the result of a survey of 43 advertisers run by the World Federation of Advertisers and their media research company Ebiquity. 41% expect to keep their 2022 budgets, though as Barwick says in the article: “29% said they expect a decrease in their budget. The remaining 29% said they expect to see an increase.”While 43 might seem like a small sample size for a survey, it's worth noting those companies account for $44 billion in ad spend. 28% said they'd increase performance advertising, while 21% aim to increase their share of brand advertising. 40% of respondents would up their share of flexible or biddable buys. ““With uncertain times ahead, it's clear that brand advertisers seek more tactical agility in terms of trading and shifting budgets throughout the year, versus annual upfront commitments,” Ruben Schreurs, chief product officer at Ebiquity, wrote to Marketing Brew.”  New Podcast Hosts Cross the Atlantic Manuela: Two new podcast hosting services have hit the US markets this week. First: podcast recording and editing application Alitu has announced Alitu Hosting, making the service all-in-one. According to Jacob Anderson, head of Growth at Alitu: “We started building Alitu four years ago with one mission in mind: to offer the clearest path to sharing your voice and making an impact on the world, making no compromise over control and creativity. Whether that's making one person laugh, or lifting an entire community, we want to offer the help you need to achieve your purpose.” This Tuesday French hosting service Ausha announced the rolling out of their service in the US on their official blog. Quick Hits: Recommended Weekend Reading Shreya: Finally, it's time for our semi-regular roundup of articles we're calling Quick Hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week: Platforms used for listening to podcasts in Poland in 2022 by Statista. We make a point of discussing podcasting performance around the globe. With that in mind, here's a snapshot of data showcasing what podcast consumption looks like in Poland. Acast Talks Layoffs, It's U.S. Moves, The Ad Market, And Why It's Selling ‘The Heart.' by InsideRadio. Coverage of Acast's recent earnings call, including higher-ups talking through their strategies, layoffs, and revealing Acast only sold 28% of their ad inventory in 2021. In the interest of clarity, it's worth keeping in mind InsideRadio is owned by competitor iHeartMedia.  The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: ESPN to potentially partner with DraftKings, Podcasting unions make headlines, Netflix confirms two independent measurement companies, advertisers reflect on 2023 spend, and two new podcasting hosts arrive in the US. ESPN Nears Large New Partnership With DraftKingsManuela: Last Thursday Ed Hammond and Crystal Tse of Bloomberg covered an anticipated deal between ESPN and sports-betting firm DraftKings. According to an update to the piece, DraftKings' stock rose as much as 8.8% in response to the news on Friday. “ESPN has already invested heavily in sports gambling, though it has steered clear of taking actual bets. The broadcaster has betting-related shows such as Daily Wager and marketing deals with DraftKings and Caesars Entertainment Inc. where links to the sportsbooks are integrated into ESPN's website. Disney also acquired a stake in DraftKings as part of its acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets in 2019.”Disney has long avoided gambling in pursuit of upholding its wholesome family image. As Bloomberg points out, none of the Disney cruise ship fleet have casinos aboard, nor are Disney characters licensed to slot machine manufacturers. Clearly, their attitudes appear to be changing as they search for a sports betting partner for ESPN.Sean Russo, Research Manager of Magellan AI, offered this when asked about the growth of sports betting and adjacent categories: “As of August, the Fantasy Sports industry is up 22% year to date, although historically spending in the industry has peaked in September. Last year spend more than doubled between August and September, primarily driven by brands like Fanduel and DraftKings”  ESPN is a major podcast network and sports betting, as well as its cousins like fantasy sports, continue to climb in popularity. If this deal comes to fruition, it could be a big deal indeed. Podcasting gains new union, hears from two recently affected by Spotify layoffs. Shreya: In this first segment we have two stories fitting in a theme of organized labor in podcasting. Last Tuesday, Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios announced last Tuesday that roughly 75% of their proposed bargaining unit signed up to officially join WGA East. Ashley Carman reported for Bloomberg: “The employees said they're looking for increased transparency around pay, rights to their intellectual property, protection against favoritism at work and improved health insurance, according to the letter.”Later in the week, the utility of unionizing was highlighted when Spotify pruned their walled garden. Last Thursday Tech Crunch's Lauren Forristal reported on Spotify canceling multiple shows at once from two of the four Spotify in-house content production companies. Three podcasts from Gimlet and eight from Parcast are either canceled effective immediately or set - in the case of Horoscope Today - scheduled to end in the second quarter of 2023. Spotify also announced this would cause “less than 5% of layoffs of Spotify's podcast staff.”  Last Friday both the Gimlet Union and Parcast Union took issue with that number in an official letter posted to Twitter.  “Yesterday, Spotify blindsided both Gimlet Union and Parcast Union with at least 38 layoffs across their studios. Spotify has said in the press that these layoffs constitute less than 5% of people working on original podcasts. That number is misleading. The reality is that each bargaining unit organized with the Writers Guild of America, East has lost about 30% of its members. These are not small cuts, they are massive restructurings.”  The two unions go on to highlight Spotify's internal reasoning for canceling the podcasts was due to low listenership, which the unions argue was in large part due to decisions made by Spotify itself.  “Their decision to make most of Gimlet's and Parcast's shows Spotify Exclusive caused a steep drop in listeners - as high as three quarters of the audience for some shows. Yet the company did little or nothing to staunch the bleeding. Shows languished without marketing support, and teams were not given clear audience goals to meet.”  Netflix strikes measurement deals ahead of new ad-supported tier Manuela: On Monday Garett Sloane, writing for AdAge, reported on some updates to the ongoing story of Netflix prepping for the launch of their ad-supported tier. As covered in the September 8th episode of The Download, details were scarce about the tier beyond its possible price point and the streamer's CPM goals. “... Netflix has been asking for high prices for its ad inventory, at least $60 CPMs—cost per thousand views—while only offering limited targeting possibilities and no third-party measurement, according to people familiar with the situation.” Now Netflix has announced they're working with both Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify to act as that third-party measurement. A measurement executive speaking to Sloane anonymously believes implementation of the two services should be relatively easy for Netflix. Netflix signing two big-name third-party companies to give credence to their measurement stands as another example of why a certain podcasting platform's decisions come off as odd. Spotify, when in a similar position of needing brand safety and ad measurement as Netflix, chose to not only work with one third-party company, they strongly inferred the partnership intended to create a proprietary brand safety tool. Surveyed advertisers discuss where they'll potentially spend differently in an uncertain 2023.  Shreya: Much talk has been had about the uncertainties of how things will look in the future as the economy has a will-they-won't-they relationship with a recession. This Wednesday MarketingBrew's Ryan Barwick brought some numbers to the table that demonstrate just how uncertain the industry is. The following numbers are the result of a survey of 43 advertisers run by the World Federation of Advertisers and their media research company Ebiquity. 41% expect to keep their 2022 budgets, though as Barwick says in the article: “29% said they expect a decrease in their budget. The remaining 29% said they expect to see an increase.”While 43 might seem like a small sample size for a survey, it's worth noting those companies account for $44 billion in ad spend. 28% said they'd increase performance advertising, while 21% aim to increase their share of brand advertising. 40% of respondents would up their share of flexible or biddable buys. ““With uncertain times ahead, it's clear that brand advertisers seek more tactical agility in terms of trading and shifting budgets throughout the year, versus annual upfront commitments,” Ruben Schreurs, chief product officer at Ebiquity, wrote to Marketing Brew.”  New Podcast Hosts Cross the Atlantic Manuela: Two new podcast hosting services have hit the US markets this week. First: podcast recording and editing application Alitu has announced Alitu Hosting, making the service all-in-one. According to Jacob Anderson, head of Growth at Alitu: “We started building Alitu four years ago with one mission in mind: to offer the clearest path to sharing your voice and making an impact on the world, making no compromise over control and creativity. Whether that's making one person laugh, or lifting an entire community, we want to offer the help you need to achieve your purpose.” This Tuesday French hosting service Ausha announced the rolling out of their service in the US on their official blog. Quick Hits: Recommended Weekend Reading Shreya: Finally, it's time for our semi-regular roundup of articles we're calling Quick Hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week: Platforms used for listening to podcasts in Poland in 2022 by Statista. We make a point of discussing podcasting performance around the globe. With that in mind, here's a snapshot of data showcasing what podcast consumption looks like in Poland. Acast Talks Layoffs, It's U.S. Moves, The Ad Market, And Why It's Selling ‘The Heart.' by InsideRadio. Coverage of Acast's recent earnings call, including higher-ups talking through their strategies, layoffs, and revealing Acast only sold 28% of their ad inventory in 2021. In the interest of clarity, it's worth keeping in mind InsideRadio is owned by competitor iHeartMedia.  The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feedback for Libsyn Connect, that Bloomberg article from Ashley Carman, more on localization and Spanish support, how to start and how to promote your podcast - yep. We cover so many bits and bob and of course stats, mean and median numbers! Audience feedback drives the show. We'd love for you to contact us and keep the conversation going! Email thefeed@libsyn.com, call 412-573-1934 or leave us a message on Speakpipe! We'd love to hear from you! SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE! Quick Episode Summary :13 Intro 2:17 PROMO 1: The Teardown 2:48 Rob and Elsie conversation 3:51 Follow up on Libsyn Connect! Who wants in? 9:26 All the buying of listeners through mobile game ads 18:23nLoving on the Spanish support for Libsyn 21:10 What kind of content would you love for us to create? 24:19 Rob's session recap on starting and growing your audience 36:06 Rob also got feedback on his session and he reads the feedback on the show! 41:05 PROMO 2: The Springfield Three 41:52 Season questions! Changing the show artwork per season, and how to set the numbers for a season 43:46 CNN and their Audio Podcast division 47:29 PROMO 3: Modem Mischief 48:11 Stats! Mean and Median download numbers 49:48 Where have we been and where are we going? Featured Podcast Promo + Audio PROMO 1: The Teardown PROMO 2: The Springfield Three: A Small Town Disappearance PROMO 3: Modem Mischief Where have we been and where are we going Afros & Audio Podfest NAB NYC Thank you to Nick from MicMe for our awesome intro! Podcasting Articles and Links mentioned by Rob and Elsie Leave us voice feedback! Inside Podcasters' Explosive Audience Growth - Bloomberg Podcasters Are Buying Millions of Listeners With Mobile Ads | Time Rewarded Traffic: The Inorganic User Engine Driving Ad Campaigns on Major Websites and Podcasts - DeepSee.io CNN Cuts Down Podcast Programming and Audio Department Manage your podcast effectively feat. Rob Walch - Should I Start A Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Don't Plateau! Keep Increasing Your Podcast Audience - YouTube Great podcasting tips from Dave Jackson - Podcast Guests The Benefits of an Advertising Marketplace for Podcasters & Advertisers - YouTube HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share The Feed with your Twitter followers. Click here to post a tweet! If you dug this episode, head over to Podchaser and kindly leave us a review and follow the show! Follow The Feed wherever you listen to audio! → Follow via Apple Podcasts → Follow via Google Podcasts → Follow via Spotify → Here's our RSS feed! FEEDBACK AND PROMOTION ON THE SHOW You can ask your questions, make comments and create a segment about podcasting for podcasters! Let your voice be heard. Download The Feed App for iOS and Android Call 412-573-1934 Email thefeed@libsyn.com Use our Speakpipe Page

Feedback for Libsyn Connect, that Bloomberg article from Ashley Carman, more on localization and Spanish support, how to start and how to promote your podcast - yep. We cover so many bits and bob and of course stats, mean and median numbers! Audience feedback drives the show. We'd love for you to contact us and keep the conversation going! Email thefeed@libsyn.com, call 412-573-1934 or leave us a message on Speakpipe! We'd love to hear from you! SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE! Quick Episode Summary :13 Intro 2:17 PROMO 1: The Teardown 2:48 Rob and Elsie conversation 3:51 Follow up on Libsyn Connect! Who wants in? 9:26 All the buying of listeners through mobile game ads 18:23nLoving on the Spanish support for Libsyn 21:10 What kind of content would you love for us to create? 24:19 Rob's session recap on starting and growing your audience 36:06 Rob also got feedback on his session and he reads the feedback on the show! 41:05 PROMO 2: The Springfield Three 41:52 Season questions! Changing the show artwork per season, and how to set the numbers for a season 43:46 CNN and their Audio Podcast division 47:29 PROMO 3: Modem Mischief 48:11 Stats! Mean and Median download numbers 49:48 Where have we been and where are we going? Featured Podcast Promo + Audio PROMO 1: The Teardown PROMO 2: The Springfield Three: A Small Town Disappearance PROMO 3: Modem Mischief Where have we been and where are we going Afros & Audio Podfest NAB NYC Thank you to Nick from MicMe for our awesome intro! Podcasting Articles and Links mentioned by Rob and Elsie Leave us voice feedback! Inside Podcasters' Explosive Audience Growth - Bloomberg Podcasters Are Buying Millions of Listeners With Mobile Ads | Time Rewarded Traffic: The Inorganic User Engine Driving Ad Campaigns on Major Websites and Podcasts - DeepSee.io CNN Cuts Down Podcast Programming and Audio Department Manage your podcast effectively feat. Rob Walch - Should I Start A Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Don't Plateau! Keep Increasing Your Podcast Audience - YouTube Great podcasting tips from Dave Jackson - Podcast Guests The Benefits of an Advertising Marketplace for Podcasters & Advertisers - YouTube HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share The Feed with your Twitter followers. Click here to post a tweet! If you dug this episode, head over to Podchaser and kindly leave us a review and follow the show! Follow The Feed wherever you listen to audio! → Follow via Apple Podcasts → Follow via Google Podcasts → Follow via Spotify → Here's our RSS feed! FEEDBACK AND PROMOTION ON THE SHOW You can ask your questions, make comments and create a segment about podcasting for podcasters! Let your voice be heard. Download The Feed App for iOS and Android Call 412-573-1934 Email thefeed@libsyn.com Use our Speakpipe Page

SPECIAL GUESTS:Morten Strunge - PodimoJohn Spurlock  - OP3.devSHOW NOTES & LINKS:Podcast companies are buying short podcast plays within mobile game apps, causing official downloads of shows no one may be playing longer than twenty seconds according to Bloomberg's Ashley Carman. Time has also published the story outside a paywall.Players get game tokens if they listen to a podcast for just twenty seconds. (Carman posts a graphic). But, because more than 60 seconds of audio are downloaded by the player, as demonstrated in this article in Sounds Profitable, these plays count as an IAB-certified download from podcast hosts and in prefix services like Podtrac. That allows podcasts promoted in this way to charge for the ads delivered in the show, and for that traffic to be counted in rankersHow many downloads per episode is “good”? Omny Studio publish their data.Podcast episodes are getting shorter, says Rephonic.September 15, 2022: Podimo, the European subscription podcast service, has raised €58.6m ($58.5m) in funding. It had previously raised more than $116m. The Open Podcast Prefix Project has been quietly launched by John Spurlock. It's a prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy; and places listener data in the open. It could power trending and popularity data; or give independently-verified stats to advertisers.Open podcast analytics prefix service OP3 has added trailing wildcards to its API.Some OP3 visualisation tools are being worked on by Dave Jones, James Potter and others. An open user-agent list, including bots, is freely available here; and here are our filtered logfile downloads from Sep 23 for comparison purposes. 

Is iHeart scamming the podcasting industry?  That's the implication of an article this week that was widely discussed in the podcasting world.The story is from Bloomberg and written by Ashley Carman, one of the most respected reporters in our industry. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/inside-podcasters-explosive-audience-growthAdvertising buys in podcasting are based on audience size - downloads and streams.  According to Carman, publishers are buying ads inside mobile games.  The publisher can claim a dubious download, as WELL as an ad impression for a commercial that may not be heard.Are they gaming the system?  Well, opinions are all over the map on that.  For a deeper dive, you can check out this week's Podcast SuperFriends Roundtable where I discuss it with four of my colleagues.   https://www.soundoff.network/show/the-podcast-super-friends/podcast-married/Tanner Campbell suggests in his Good Morning Podcasters newsletter that iHeart isn't doing anything wrong here.   https://tannerhelps.substack.com/p/iheartradio-isnt-doing-anything-wrong?r=19niz3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=emailHere are my key takeaways. Will the industry correct for this practice?  After this much publicity, I believe it will.  Much the same way as Apple Podcasts and Google Search always find a way to punish folks who try to game the system.  Also, will this affect your show?  No.  Unless you are in the rarified air of a large podcast, with huge download numbers, that sells advertising based off of those numbers, this has no bearing on you, or your show. But there is a concern over that anything that hurts the credibility of the podcasting industry.   In other podcasting news, PodNews reports that the average length of a podcast is shrinking, from 53 to 37 minutes.https://rephonic.com/blog/podcast-episode-lengthNew podcasts are out from Stephen A. Smith and the CIA this week.Don't miss an episode of The JAG Show Podcast - you can subscribe in your favorite podcast app, or have it emailed to you every week.  I promise not to spam you.  Just go to https://jagindetroit.com/subscribeUntil next week, stay healthy and stay safe - especially our friends in Florida.   Lata!

This week: Apple's funding podcasts, brand safety tech continues to divide advertisers, what more can and should ad agencies do to support journalism, Edison's Latino Podcast Report, and Spotify bundles Chartable and Podsights access for Megaphone users Apple Ramps Up Its In-House Podcasting Efforts with Studio Deal Manuela: Rumors of Apple getting into podcasting bore fruit last week with official confirmation. At least, sort of. Ashley Carman and Lucas Shaw's Bloomberg piece from last Wednesday explains:  “The investments have been led by Apple's TV studio, rather than its podcast division. Despite being one of the biggest distributors of audio in the world, the company's podcasting unit has avoided funding individual shows or buying networks because it wants to be seen as a neutral platform.”  That TV division has entered into a deal with Futuro Studios to fund the creation of podcasts while Apple retains first-look rights on film and TV adaptations. In essence, the deal creates a pilot-factory for Apple to generate new IP and test them in the world of podcasting before graduating to the more expensive filmed version.  “Apple hasn't pumped nearly as much money into original podcasts as Amazon and Spotify Technology SA, which have each spent more than $1 billion acquiring companies and programming. Spotify, Apple's rival in music streaming, has made some of the most popular podcasts in the world exclusive to its service and thus unavailable to the competition.” Podcasting is becoming a relatively affordable testing ground for IP instead of fully committing to a TV pilot, along with the added bonus of any successful IP getting a built-in audience of fans before the first day of shooting. Successful shows like Netflix's Dirty John adaptation are proving the method can work and work well.  ‘A key impediment': Brand safety tech continues to divide advertisers into haves and have-nots Shreya: This Monday Seb Joseph of Digiday posted an article detailing the growing divide in how advertisers handle being posted to news sites when big, predominantly negative stories break. Nobody wants to be the next viral sensation getting roasted worse than Mr. Peanut when Planters' ad campaign temporarily killing their mascot coincided with the death of Kobe Bryant.  In a world full of dangerous news cycles, brand safety tech companies like Integral Ad Science are able to impart more granular control over what content is considered brand-safe in a timely manner.  “Then there are those marketers who don't use the technology. Take British newspaper group Reach plc, for example, which has said the war in Ukraine significantly dampened advertiser demand. This won't surprise anyone. The truth is the downside is too steep and the upside too obscure for many marketers to do anything but avoid the polarizing news. That said, not every marketer sees it this way. And if they could afford to, they would advertise on news sites — just in a more nuanced manner.” An unintended side effect of advertisers deciding what topics are acceptable to block ads on is that some of the biggest news stories are also cutting off some of the potentially best-written journalism of the moment. Joseph quotes Zefr EVP of Strategy and Marketing: “We actually don't accept or use keyword blocklists as a policy in our company, because they end up causing the same damage to over-blocking quality voices over and over again and they just don't work well in UGC environments. We instead apply the GARM [Global Alliance of Responsible Media] models for debated sensitive social issues as a way to keep brands in front of suitable content while avoiding the issues that they're concerned about.”  Ad Agencies Can, and Should, Do More to Support Journalism Shreya: Between hedge fund buyouts dissolving seemingly bulletproof institutions and ad dollars drying up when negative stories drop, things are looking rough for journalists. Ricardo Baca writes an impassioned plea for ad agencies, stressing the importance of not only collaborating with journalists but also supporting them with ad buys and subscriptions. He writes from the perspective of having worked on the other side of the fence as a journalist himself years prior.  “To be clear, agencies are partly to blame here. We're stuck on the same vicious treadmill as everyone else: We see the web traffic going to social media, so that's where we buy our ads, further siphoning away support from journalism, the snake eating itself. And with news outlets struggling mightily on the revenue front no matter their size—from local alt-weeklies to major metropolitan dailies—I am making a plea for agencies to step up.” Baca suggests treating relationships with journalists not as transactional, but symbiotic instead. Value their time and they will value yours. Don't hold grudges when well-researched reporting generates something the client isn't happy with. Then there's the fact that journalism has evolved beyond gumshoe reporters all working for a monolithic outlet. With more forms of professional journalism becoming the norm, so to must go the advertising support.  “Keep in mind that revenue models have shifted. Consider an agency sponsorship for a Substack newsletter, for example. Sponsoring other popular media formats like podcasts, recognizing both a shift in consumers' habits as well as the continuity involved—someone's got to be paid to create the stuff—is another way to directly support the trade.” Gabe's Section Manuela: The third annual Latino Podcast Listener Report was published on Tuesday, following a webinar discussing the results presented by Gabriel Soto, my co-host on La Descarga and Senior Director at Edison Research, and Elsie Escobar, Director of Community and Content at Libsyn and co-founder of She Podcasts. Supported by Adonde Media, LWC Studios, Libsyn, PRX, and SXM Media this year's report revealed many interesting trends as well as new findings. The study finds that 59% of Latino adults have ever listened to a podcast, up from 56% since last year and up from 45% since 2020.  The lack of Spanish podcast promotion was a recurring theme of the report, and an opportunity exists to bridge such content with foreign born Latinos. The report highlighted the listening gap between Latinos born outside of the U.S. and their U.S. born counterparts. 37% of Latinos born in the U.S. listened to a podcast in the last month, while 29% born outside of the U.S. say the same.  A new statistic released this year revealed seventeen percent of Latino Monthly podcast listeners identify as LGBTQ+. For comparison, the report cited the Gallup poll's 2021 estimate of 11% of Latino adult population who identify as LGBTQ+  The benefit of advertising on Latino podcasts was also discussed. According to the report, 64% of monthly listeners of Latino-hosted podcasts, say they ever purchased a product or service as a result of hearing a sponsorship or advertising on a podcast, compared with 25% of those who have never listened to a podcast hosted by Latinos saying the same. .  As Gabriel Soto put it, “Latinos in the U.S. control an impressive $1.9 trillion in purchasing power, and today's data demonstrate how advertisers who support Latino podcast content are benefitting, while those who don't are missing out,”.  The Latino Podcast Listener Report serves as an invaluable resource to many creators in the podcast space. We're happy to see the effort continue. You can download the Latino Podcast Listener Report for free at the link in the show notes. Spotify Launches New Bundle For Megaphone Users, Adding Access To Chartable And Podsights Shreya: In an email sent yesterday, Spotify has announced they are bundling enterprise access to recently-purchased services Chartable and Podsights into Megaphone.  “With this updated offering, you will be able to easily apply attribution measurement to showcase the value of your podcast promotional efforts as well as your direct sales campaigns. All Megaphone clients will now be able to obtain unique insights about their podcast audience while also measuring the audience growth impact of their promotional campaigns through tools like Chartable SmartPromos and SmartLinks.”  Attribution and growth marketing are the major focus in the world of podcast adtech. One of the largest enterprise-focused hosting platforms acquiring two of the top attribution and analytics solutions and offering them for free to existing users is a big deal budget-wise. Though it is worth noting there are strings attached: they're free for the first four million impressions.  Since the big Spotify purchase of Podsights and Chartable there's been a massive hole for third party attribution. Companies like Claritas, Veritonic, and Artsai who've started to take on that challenge have had an uphill battle. Both Podsights and Chartable are great pieces of tech, but first-party is not neutral. Offers like this will make it even harder to extract them from their hold on the space and jeopardizes third party measurements value in podcasting.  A good deal, but one to keep in mind when considering the future of podcasting as an industry.  Quick Hits: Recommended Weekend Reading Manuela: Finally, it's time for our semi-regular roundup of articles we're calling Quick Hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week's three great reads are: How alt.NPR's experimentation shaped the early podcasting landscape starting in 2005 by Shirley Liu. They didn't invent podcasting, but NPR was definitely a pioneer. Podcasting opened up NPR to experimentation and launched the careers of so many podcasters. Ad Disclosure: Podcast Sponsors Aren't Off the Hook from last Thursday's PodMov Daily. A story of meal replacement brand Huel getting in hot water over host-read advertising. Podcasting, given its position at the crossroads between radio and influencer marketing, will start to see quite a few stories like this as it continues to enter more mainstream content channels. Unpaid Internship Rebrands as a $4,000 "Training" by Skye Pillsbury. This issue of Pillsbury's can't-miss newsletter The Squeeze covers a story exactly as bad as the headline sounds. A true must-read. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week: Apple's funding podcasts, brand safety tech continues to divide advertisers, what more can and should ad agencies do to support journalism, Edison's Latino Podcast Report, and Spotify bundles Chartable and Podsights access for Megaphone users Apple Ramps Up Its In-House Podcasting Efforts with Studio Deal Manuela: Rumors of Apple getting into podcasting bore fruit last week with official confirmation. At least, sort of. Ashley Carman and Lucas Shaw's Bloomberg piece from last Wednesday explains:  “The investments have been led by Apple's TV studio, rather than its podcast division. Despite being one of the biggest distributors of audio in the world, the company's podcasting unit has avoided funding individual shows or buying networks because it wants to be seen as a neutral platform.”  That TV division has entered into a deal with Futuro Studios to fund the creation of podcasts while Apple retains first-look rights on film and TV adaptations. In essence, the deal creates a pilot-factory for Apple to generate new IP and test them in the world of podcasting before graduating to the more expensive filmed version.  “Apple hasn't pumped nearly as much money into original podcasts as Amazon and Spotify Technology SA, which have each spent more than $1 billion acquiring companies and programming. Spotify, Apple's rival in music streaming, has made some of the most popular podcasts in the world exclusive to its service and thus unavailable to the competition.” Podcasting is becoming a relatively affordable testing ground for IP instead of fully committing to a TV pilot, along with the added bonus of any successful IP getting a built-in audience of fans before the first day of shooting. Successful shows like Netflix's Dirty John adaptation are proving the method can work and work well.  ‘A key impediment': Brand safety tech continues to divide advertisers into haves and have-nots Shreya: This Monday Seb Joseph of Digiday posted an article detailing the growing divide in how advertisers handle being posted to news sites when big, predominantly negative stories break. Nobody wants to be the next viral sensation getting roasted worse than Mr. Peanut when Planters' ad campaign temporarily killing their mascot coincided with the death of Kobe Bryant.  In a world full of dangerous news cycles, brand safety tech companies like Integral Ad Science are able to impart more granular control over what content is considered brand-safe in a timely manner.  “Then there are those marketers who don't use the technology. Take British newspaper group Reach plc, for example, which has said the war in Ukraine significantly dampened advertiser demand. This won't surprise anyone. The truth is the downside is too steep and the upside too obscure for many marketers to do anything but avoid the polarizing news. That said, not every marketer sees it this way. And if they could afford to, they would advertise on news sites — just in a more nuanced manner.” An unintended side effect of advertisers deciding what topics are acceptable to block ads on is that some of the biggest news stories are also cutting off some of the potentially best-written journalism of the moment. Joseph quotes Zefr EVP of Strategy and Marketing: “We actually don't accept or use keyword blocklists as a policy in our company, because they end up causing the same damage to over-blocking quality voices over and over again and they just don't work well in UGC environments. We instead apply the GARM [Global Alliance of Responsible Media] models for debated sensitive social issues as a way to keep brands in front of suitable content while avoiding the issues that they're concerned about.”  Ad Agencies Can, and Should, Do More to Support Journalism Shreya: Between hedge fund buyouts dissolving seemingly bulletproof institutions and ad dollars drying up when negative stories drop, things are looking rough for journalists. Ricardo Baca writes an impassioned plea for ad agencies, stressing the importance of not only collaborating with journalists but also supporting them with ad buys and subscriptions. He writes from the perspective of having worked on the other side of the fence as a journalist himself years prior.  “To be clear, agencies are partly to blame here. We're stuck on the same vicious treadmill as everyone else: We see the web traffic going to social media, so that's where we buy our ads, further siphoning away support from journalism, the snake eating itself. And with news outlets struggling mightily on the revenue front no matter their size—from local alt-weeklies to major metropolitan dailies—I am making a plea for agencies to step up.” Baca suggests treating relationships with journalists not as transactional, but symbiotic instead. Value their time and they will value yours. Don't hold grudges when well-researched reporting generates something the client isn't happy with. Then there's the fact that journalism has evolved beyond gumshoe reporters all working for a monolithic outlet. With more forms of professional journalism becoming the norm, so to must go the advertising support.  “Keep in mind that revenue models have shifted. Consider an agency sponsorship for a Substack newsletter, for example. Sponsoring other popular media formats like podcasts, recognizing both a shift in consumers' habits as well as the continuity involved—someone's got to be paid to create the stuff—is another way to directly support the trade.” Gabe's Section Manuela: The third annual Latino Podcast Listener Report was published on Tuesday, following a webinar discussing the results presented by Gabriel Soto, my co-host on La Descarga and Senior Director at Edison Research, and Elsie Escobar, Director of Community and Content at Libsyn and co-founder of She Podcasts. Supported by Adonde Media, LWC Studios, Libsyn, PRX, and SXM Media this year's report revealed many interesting trends as well as new findings. The study finds that 59% of Latino adults have ever listened to a podcast, up from 56% since last year and up from 45% since 2020.  The lack of Spanish podcast promotion was a recurring theme of the report, and an opportunity exists to bridge such content with foreign born Latinos. The report highlighted the listening gap between Latinos born outside of the U.S. and their U.S. born counterparts. 37% of Latinos born in the U.S. listened to a podcast in the last month, while 29% born outside of the U.S. say the same.  A new statistic released this year revealed seventeen percent of Latino Monthly podcast listeners identify as LGBTQ+. For comparison, the report cited the Gallup poll's 2021 estimate of 11% of Latino adult population who identify as LGBTQ+  The benefit of advertising on Latino podcasts was also discussed. According to the report, 64% of monthly listeners of Latino-hosted podcasts, say they ever purchased a product or service as a result of hearing a sponsorship or advertising on a podcast, compared with 25% of those who have never listened to a podcast hosted by Latinos saying the same. .  As Gabriel Soto put it, “Latinos in the U.S. control an impressive $1.9 trillion in purchasing power, and today's data demonstrate how advertisers who support Latino podcast content are benefitting, while those who don't are missing out,”.  The Latino Podcast Listener Report serves as an invaluable resource to many creators in the podcast space. We're happy to see the effort continue. You can download the Latino Podcast Listener Report for free at the link in the show notes. Spotify Launches New Bundle For Megaphone Users, Adding Access To Chartable And Podsights Shreya: In an email sent yesterday, Spotify has announced they are bundling enterprise access to recently-purchased services Chartable and Podsights into Megaphone.  “With this updated offering, you will be able to easily apply attribution measurement to showcase the value of your podcast promotional efforts as well as your direct sales campaigns. All Megaphone clients will now be able to obtain unique insights about their podcast audience while also measuring the audience growth impact of their promotional campaigns through tools like Chartable SmartPromos and SmartLinks.”  Attribution and growth marketing are the major focus in the world of podcast adtech. One of the largest enterprise-focused hosting platforms acquiring two of the top attribution and analytics solutions and offering them for free to existing users is a big deal budget-wise. Though it is worth noting there are strings attached: they're free for the first four million impressions.  Since the big Spotify purchase of Podsights and Chartable there's been a massive hole for third party attribution. Companies like Claritas, Veritonic, and Artsai who've started to take on that challenge have had an uphill battle. Both Podsights and Chartable are great pieces of tech, but first-party is not neutral. Offers like this will make it even harder to extract them from their hold on the space and jeopardizes third party measurements value in podcasting.  A good deal, but one to keep in mind when considering the future of podcasting as an industry.  Quick Hits: Recommended Weekend Reading Manuela: Finally, it's time for our semi-regular roundup of articles we're calling Quick Hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week's three great reads are: How alt.NPR's experimentation shaped the early podcasting landscape starting in 2005 by Shirley Liu. They didn't invent podcasting, but NPR was definitely a pioneer. Podcasting opened up NPR to experimentation and launched the careers of so many podcasters. Ad Disclosure: Podcast Sponsors Aren't Off the Hook from last Thursday's PodMov Daily. A story of meal replacement brand Huel getting in hot water over host-read advertising. Podcasting, given its position at the crossroads between radio and influencer marketing, will start to see quite a few stories like this as it continues to enter more mainstream content channels. Unpaid Internship Rebrands as a $4,000 "Training" by Skye Pillsbury. This issue of Pillsbury's can't-miss newsletter The Squeeze covers a story exactly as bad as the headline sounds. A true must-read. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A recent news article revealed the astonishing prices some podcast hosts are charging their guests for a chance to be on their show. Michelle shares her opinion on this practice and her experience with a host of one of these podcasts. Join Michelle as she also reveals why you shouldn't pay to be a guest and the difference between advertising and public relations.    Michelle Talks About The Difference Between Advertising And Public Relations Podcasts That Charge Guests  The Power Of Podcasts Links Mentioned   Podcast Guests Are Paying Up to $50,000 to Appear on Popular Shows by Ashley Carman

This week's podcast extra is about podcasts, but this story has its roots in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Alan Freed was a celebrity DJ on WINS in New York, famous for helping popularize the nascent genre through the 1950s. But, unbeknownst to his listeners, record promoters were secretly bribing Freed and other popular disc jockeys across the country for extra air time for their artists — in a rampant practice known as “payola,” which eventually caught the eye of regulators. In 1960, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlawed payola, requiring broadcasters to disclose any payments received. However, members of the music industry would continue to blow the whistle on similar behavior in the decades that followed. According to Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, a similar culture of pay-to-play is taking hold in the world of podcasting. Her latest piece is titled, “Podcast Guests Are Paying Up to $50,000 to Appear on Popular Shows.” On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week's podcast extra is about podcasts, but this story has its roots in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Alan Freed was a celebrity DJ on WINS in New York, famous for helping popularize the nascent genre through the 1950s. But, unbeknownst to his listeners, record promoters were secretly bribing Freed and other popular disc jockeys across the country for extra air time for their artists — in a rampant practice known as “payola,” which eventually caught the eye of regulators. In 1960, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlawed payola, requiring broadcasters to disclose any payments received. However, members of the music industry would continue to blow the whistle on similar behavior in the decades that followed. According to Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, a similar culture of pay-to-play is taking hold in the world of podcasting. Her latest piece is titled, “Podcast Guests Are Paying Up to $50,000 to Appear on Popular Shows.”

This week on The Download: Spotify’s earnings call happened, Apple improves podcast statistics, and podcast pros weigh in on how many ads is too many ads. Podcast statistics are about to get better, thanks to a recent update from Apple that’ll help take a bite out of AppleCoreMedia’s presence on podcast statistics. Anyone who just opened the linked source and doesn’t have a background in coding: we promise that page makes sense. User Agents are how we truly understand what specific app is being used to play a podcast. AppleCoreMedia is the default displayed by iOS apps if they haven’t built their own player from scratch. Few do. This leads to a snowball effect of either over or under-counting Apple’s presence in the market. As James Cridland explained in Tuesday’s Podnews: “Buzzsprout’s global stats don’t include AppleCoreMedia, under-estimating downloads from Apple Podcasts. On the other hand, Libsyn’s stats wrongly attribute all traffic to AppleCoreMedia as Apple Podcasts.” This new update from Apple solves for that. For a more detailed breakdown on AppleCoreMedia, we recommend the Podnews article from April “Mythbusting: are downloads from 'AppleCoreMedia' mostly from Apple Podcasts?” Edison Research’s 2022 edition of the Smart Audio Report is slated for June 16th. In 2017, for the original Smart Audio Report, NPR and Edison surveyed smart speaker owners to learn how the technology was being integrated into their lives. “The 2022 installment of the Smart Audio Report will not only offer an update on some of those original families, but also fresh data from a recent national study that measures attitudes around voice tech among those who use it and those who don’t.” For those listening in time to register, one can do so for free at the link provided in our show notes. This Wednesday Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman live-tweeted the Spotify earnings call. The music powerhouse had a fair bit to say about their podcasting efforts, including some numbers that come as a bit of a surprise after such heavy investment over the past few years. As reported by Carman: “A number! Spotify had 200 million euros in podcast revenue in 2021. They expect it to be a $20 billion opportunity.” If that number feels low, that’s because it is. In a reply on Carman’s thread Podnews editor James Cridland pointed out that $220 million USD of profit amounts to only fifteen percent of the total podcast ad revenue for just the United States in 2021. In addition to the revenue number, Spotify teased some details of their upcoming audiobook offerings that’ll put them in a market mostly dominated by Amazon’s Audible wing. In a bit of mixed messaging, much hay was made about Spotify branching out into three new businesses but they also claim they’re a music-first company. CEO Daniel Ek said: “That’s the thing you just have to get about Spotify. We’ll put out these big, audacious targets.” The irony of this being the official position of a company with a history of announcing big, audacious projects only to blow past the intended release window by months, if not cancel them, is not lost on The Download. The earnings call also featured a section criticizing the limitations of RSS distribution, including calling it outdated tech. This is a curious change in tack given a substantial amount of ad service on Spotify is handled through RSS by Megaphone. It remains unclear as to why Megaphone is being left out in the cold while doing a not-insignificant portion of the business that got them to their percentage of 2021 global ad revenue. Every podcast with ad breaks has struggled with an eternal, unanswerable question: how many ads is too many? On Monday MarketingBrew’s Alyssa Meyers published “What’s the perfect number of ads in a podcast episode?” Spoiler alert: Meyers’ quest involving interviews with 14 marketers doesn’t turn up a magic formula that’ll change the industry. Some questions can never be concretely answered, but there is wisdom to be found in a big-picture view of the current podcast advertising landscape. In general, Meyers found short-form podcasts with episodes shorter than thirty minutes featured four ad slots populated with three to six ads. Long-form podcasts had the same potential slots for ad breaks but increased the maximum threshold up to eight potential ads per episode. “As of the first quarter of 2022, about 5.5% of a podcast episode was made up of ads, according to podcast media planning platform Magellan AI’s quarterly benchmark report.” Big takeaways from those interviewed include acknowledging the power of host-read over pre-recorded, fewer quality ads beat out quantity, and inevitably the best ad is the one the host knows will work with the audience they’ve cultivated. Finally, a quick-hits rundown of two articles we think are well worth your time that came out this week: Crooked Media adds speech-to-text podcast captions with Adobe partnership, by Brad Hill. And, in our continuing mission to bring news of global podcasting: Podcasts more popular than ever as ‘a reliable source of information,’ study shows by The Brussels Times. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable. Evo Terra edited today's episode. Special thanks to our media host, Omny Studio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Download: Podcast profits on the rise in the UK, white noise podcasts prove profitable, and the first Sounds Profitable Business Leader's Summit is headed to Podcast Movement. As is true of many episodes of The Download, we start with an article published on Tuesday. Bron Maher of the Press Gazette published “The Economist considers audio paywall as podcasts reach 3 million people a month.” The lede is somewhat buried, as the interesting information lies not in the framework of The Economist’s future plans to paywall podcasts, but in just how much traffic those free podcasts bring in. Prior to the launch of the publication’s flagship podcast The Intelligence, The Economist had seven full-time employees dedicated to podcasting. As of 2022 that number has ballooned to thirty of the paper’s nearly 320 staff. Quoting the article: “The Intelligence gets approximately 350,000 downloads an episode. In a month, Prideaux said the podcast can now reach as many as two million listeners. During peak coverage of the invasion of Ukraine, the figure hit two and a half million. Across its entire podcast stable, The Economist is now being listened to by more than three million people a month. That compares against 1.2 million print subscribers – while its digital circulation in the second half of 2021 was 995,228, according to its ABC report.” John Prideaux, director of podcasts for The Economist, notes that the podcasting wing’s success brings an unexpected level of familiarity with one’s audience. The Economist’s longstanding policy on not publishing bylines does not extend to their shows, allowing parasocial relationships to blossom where they wouldn’t in articles of identical information without an author attached. Maher quotes Prideaux: “I mean, it’s a bit of a surprise – some of our people, who are on the podcast, they suddenly get not exactly recognised, but internet famous in a way that is new for a place with no bylines. And some of them find that a bit alarming.” Regardless of whether the publication paywalls previously free content, nearly two decades of embracing podcasting has lead The Economist to a point where a fraction of its staff bring in more impressions via podcast audience than the actual published paper. Jacob Kastrenakes, writing for Hot Pod Insider, covered several iHeartMedia higher-ups appearing at Tuesday’s J.P. Morgan Global Tech, Media, and Communications Conference. The main takeaway of the talk? iHeart believes there’s a finite window in which one can determine if a podcast can be made successful purely through promotion. “First off, a show has to be good, according to Bob Pittman, iHeart’s CEO and chairman. ‘We can’t make something that’s not a hit a hit,’ he said. From there, it comes down to marketing. ‘What we can generally find is probably in two or three weeks, we can see if we've got a hit or not with heavy promotion.’” Though, unlike radio, a lack of success during launch window doesn’t spell death for the product. Kastrenakes quotes Pittman as saying podcasts have “unlimited shelf space.” Without a limited amount of bandwidth on which to program, iHeart is able to take risks on relatively cheaper production costs and - even if it doesn’t take off in the 2 to 3 week launch period - allow the product to exist on its own in hopes outside forces lead to a free resurgence in popularity. Once again we circle back to the global story of podcasting doing well everywhere, not just in the North American markets. Quite well, in fact, according to Aisha Majid’s article on the latest Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index for the Press Gazette. “Among the sample of 12 publishers included in the report, which was produced by the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) and Deloitte, audio revenue hit £4.2m in the first quarter of this year. This was six times what they made in the first quarter of 2021.” Deloitte’s Dan Ison claims daily podcast listening has caught up to online radio in the UK, growing to the point one in ten adults under 25 pay for at least one form of premium podcast subscription. AOP managing director Richard Reeves, as quoted by Majid, said: “We’ve seen revenue for digital audio grow steadily over the last few quarters, driven in part by what’s being deemed the ‘golden age of podcasts’. The 500% revenue growth reported for this channel in Q1 2022 demonstrates that publishers are now successfully monetising this type of content.” This next bit of news is home-grown as it comes direct from Sounds Profitable founder—and former host of The Download—Bryan Barletta. In partnership with Podcast Movement, the first Sounds Profitable Business Leaders Summit will take place August 23rd in Dallas, Texas. “On its own, a one-day business-focused event would be a hard sell to just about anyone, even in NYC or LA. But as an industry, we absolutely need one. A day dedicated to the real tough conversations that the industry needs to have in order for us to drive the progress that leads to a $4bn US podcast advertising industry and then some. So, for an event like this to thrive, it would need to be attached to the undisputed leading podcast industry event in America.” The summit is slated to kick off with the Sounds Profitable quarterly research report. “Measurement, video, and programmatic are words we hear in conversation every single day. Sometimes positively, occasionally from a negative perspective, and most often from a place of curiosity. So we’ve gathered the best and brightest to make sure we’re all on the same page, as each of these three topics continue to grow in popularity and importance.” While the quarterly report will be available publicly, the rest of the Summit - keeping in line with a key goal of fostering candid conversations on where to take the future of podcasting - will only be accessible to members of companies that sponsor Sounds Profitable. For our last full story of the week we turn to Ashley Carman’s Bloomberg piece from Wednesday: Spotify Podcasters Are Making $18,000 a Month With Nothing But White Noise. Carman’s brief journey into the world of white noise podcasting reveals a surprisingly healthy field of competing products all fundamentally designed to serve up calming soundscapes to put audiences to sleep, all while running occasional ads to their slumbering subscribers. Quoting Carman: “Those who did respond to interview requests say they are making good money, winning over fans and marveling at the power of podcast distribution. Collectively, the shows represent a burgeoning and lucrative podcast genre.” Take, for instance, the story of Brandon Reed: a man whose podcasting career started by using Anchor more as a file hosting platform for white noise to soothe his own son rather than intending on distributing the files globally. Three years later things are extremely different. Quoting Carman again: “His inadvertent hit has also made the charts on Apple Inc.’s Podcasts app and has reached over 26.6 million total listens, he said. Reed now offers a $2.99 monthly subscription, which gives paying customers access to additional sounds and the ability to request new ones. When a chiropractor needed railroad clacking for an anxious patient, Reed went out and captured it. So far, he’s made over $10,000 through subscriptions.” At the risk of reigniting years-old social media arguments as to what it means for a piece of media to qualify as a podcast, these snippets from the world of calming noise serve as a reminder that restrictive views of podcasts both in format and content can leave niches unserved. And finally, befitting of a short episode we only have one article for our semi-recurring segment spotlighting articles worth reading that didn’t quite make it into the episode. This week The Download recommends The Podcast in Quebec in 2021 by Bruno Guglielminetti. Fair warning, the post is in French, but it contains statistics relevant to The Download’s ongoing coverage of podcasting’s growth in global markets. Time to dust off that vocab textbook from college. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable. Evo Terra edited today's episode. Special thanks to our media host, Omny Studio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Download: Premium Podcasting on Apple just got easier, Media Monitors slips up on methodology, and Podfest Africa’s annual study is here. Publishing content to a premium subscription feed on Apple Podcasts is about to become far less painful. This Tuesday Techcrunch’s Sarah Perez summarized the new Apple Podcasts Delegated Delivery system in a rundown of Apple’s new announcements. Quoting the article: “Starting this fall, a select number of hosting providers will support the Delegated Delivery system, including Acast, ART19, Blubrry, Buzzsprout, Libsyn, Omny Studio and RSS.com. Apple says these providers represent around 80% of listening for premium content on Apple Podcasts, and more services will be added over time.” Additionally: “The feature will be available at no additional cost to all creators through Apple Podcasts Connect and creators won’t need a membership to the Apple Podcasts Program to publish their free shows — only to publish premium content.” Prior to the introduction of the delegated delivery offerings, uploading a premium file to Apple for one’s monthly subscribers was an arduous and time-consuming process. Now the process will be smoother, at least for those on hosting platforms included in Apple’s rollout. On Twitter, Ashley Carman noted the divide possibly forming between providers when comparing who supports the new Apple feature and who is partnered with Spotify’s similar premium service. The tweet read: “Spotify works with third parties to support its subscription offering, too. The only overlap is Acast, at least according to the initial partner list. [I’m] curious if this means there's now additional stratification in [the] podcast world: team Spotify or team Apple.” In what is pleasantly becoming a weekly segment on The Download, we bring news of podcasting flourishing on a global scale. Last month Podfest Africa published the 79 page report titled “Discovery Tour, Data Edition: Mapping out the present & future of African audio storytelling.” The study is built off research collected in part with in-depth interviews with podcast producers and industry stakeholders, reviewing existing literature on relevant topics, and a survey of 370 podcast listeners across the study’s target areas of Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Unsurprisingly, podcasting seems to be doing well. “These results build on existing evidence of the rapid growth of podcast usage in allt hree countries and the evidence that South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are the most developed podcasting markets on the African continent.” A quick rundown of some interesting statistics provided: on average over 50% of respondents were women. With all results aggregated the idea podcast episode length across the three represented countries is 30 to 40 minutes. Spotify has a significant advantage over its competitors for distribution in the three countries studied for apps most used to listen to podcasts, clocking in at 35.1%. Apple comes in at a close second with 18.1% of the market share. Google Podcasts, YouTube, Anchor, and Afripods make up the rest of the top contenders. In its key takeaway section, the study makes a point of stressing that their findings suggest - unsurprisingly - audiences want content influenced by local creators and local companies. “A key growth opportunity identified is educating media companies to not rely on Western expertise for guidance on podcast production but instead to generate key insights through research from the African continent.” Continuing the trend of podcast news favoring Tuesdays, for some reason, Alyssa Meyers of Marketing Brew published “Here’s What You Missed at the 2022 IAB Podcast Upfront.” Quoting the article: “If you couldn’t make it last week (or if you were already burnt out from NewFronts), we tuned in and rounded up some of the most important announcements and themes of this year’s event, which positioned pods as ‘mainstream, prominent, and influential.’” Meyer’s reporting condenses a substantial amount of IAB content down to three main points plus a bonus regarding Disney - ever a fan of conglomerating - consolidating podcasting brands under one banner. The three common topics focused on diverse hosts and audiences, statistical dumps in the form of podcast trend reports, and quite a few mentions of brand safety. That last point might perk up the ears of long-time Download listeners, as brand safety is a recurring topic in more places than the IAB UpFront. Even last week’s episode included coverage of a story involving ethics in adtech and its impact on brand safety. This Monday Media Monitors published the results of a listeners survey conducted over two weeks in March, all bundled with the enticing headline “NPR Slips as Smaller Publisher Capitalize.” The findings begin with a ranking of the top ten publishers from the top 200 podcasts for the first quarter of 2022. The iHeartPodcast network comes in first place, followed by Spotify in second with Amazon Music and SiriusXM tied for third. NPR doesn’t place in the top ten publishers. Editor James Cridland adds vital context in Monday’s issue of Podnews: “To suggest that NPR isn’t in the top ten of US podcast publishers is obviously untrue; but helpful narrative for its competitor iHeartMedia. Coincidentally, iHeartMedia owns Media Monitors, a fact not disclosed.” Accountability is key when presenting data like this.Media Monitors analyzed the top 200 podcasts mentioned by respondents in their survey, that conveniently shuffled the deck so their parent company place first while a legacy competitor was shuffled off the list entirely. It was then followed on Tuesday by Edison Research’s Q1 breakdown of US Top Podcast Networks By Reach. Edison’s findings show a fair difference in ranking, with SXM Media coming in first, Spotify in second, and iHeartRadio placing third. NPR rejoins the group and places fourth. In the interest of full disclosure, the following quote from the press release is from Director of Research at Edison Research Gabriel Soto, who is also be co-host of The Download’s Spanish sibling show La Descarga. “Edison Podcast Metrics is the only dataset that covers the entire U.S. podcast space. By surveying listeners and measuring their actual consumption, the data doesn’t depend on opt-ins from networks and isn’t subject to the various issues with counting downloads. These top networks offer a diverse range of shows that appeal broadly to listeners.” Methodology matters. Who owns the ranking company matters. Opt-in will always be incomplete and the techniques used to fill those gaps matter. Another Tuesday article joins the episode with James Hercher’s AdExchanger piece on changing attribution tech and brand reactions. New models of attribution are coming for all of advertising, challenging the incumbent Multi Touch Attribution. Companies like Measured, Triple Whale, and Northbeam are all taking new approaches as old ones fail to deliver. The following quote contains a nested quote from Parachute’s VP of Growth Ian Yung. “One social media platform stuck out as an early win for Measured, according to Yung. Parachute was spending in the low six figures per month on the platform. “And they were obviously giving us reporting that it was very profitable.” Upon closer inspection, Measured found Parachute’s spending on the unnamed platform could be cut to zero and show no impact on sales. An all-too familiar adtech story. Quoting the article again: “Podcast advertising is another category that Parachute rethought once it had a measurement testing regime in place. Podcast attribution often banks on listeners redeeming a particular code, which under-credits the channel. “Podcasting is one [rarer] example where we have to take the reporting and increase what it has on our end to capture the true value,” Yung said.” Companies outside of podcasting are coming into the adtech space, and fast. It just so happens the podcasting industry has been operating steadily without widespread MTA adoption in the first place. The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable. Evo Terra edited today's episode. Special thanks to our media host, Omny Studio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First Jason and Molly open by digging into some details for the All-In Summit (02:12). Then they discuss Airbnb's search options (08:13), Airbnb's new aircover insurance feature (21:34) and Coinbase's disclosure that account funds aren't safe in a Coinbase bankruptcy (35:04). Then, Molly is joined by Ashley Carman to talk about Facebook dropping podcasts (54:46).

First Jason and Molly open by digging into some details for the All-In Summit (02:12). Then they discuss Airbnb's search options (08:13), Airbnb's new aircover insurance feature (21:34) and Coinbase's disclosure that account funds aren't safe in a Coinbase bankruptcy (35:04). Then, Molly is joined by Ashley Carman to talk about Facebook dropping podcasts (54:46). 00:00 Molly tees up today's show 02:12 Jason and Molly are ready for All In Summit, “Details matter” 08:13 Airbnb's search options 12:33 Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist 13:49 More on the new Airbnb search options, where could Airbnb take it? 20:29 Odoo - Get your first app free and a $1000 credit at https://odoo.com/twist 21:34 Airbnb's insurance feature: aircover 33:55 Coda - The All-in-one doc for teams, get a $1,000 credit at https://coda.io/twist 35:04 Coinbase released a filing this morning that sent some into a panic, stock down another 22% today 53:00 Jason heads out to Miami for All In Summit 54:46 Ashley Carman joins to talk about Facebook dropping podcasts FOLLOW Ashley: https://twitter.com/ashleyrcarman FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

This week on The Download: potential new IAB standards are revealed, advertisers reflect on a year of iOS-enforced privacy, and Facebook is losing the confidence of its customers. Last Thursday Ryan Barwick, writing for MarketingBrew, published a look at some promising new standards the IAB Tech Lab is toying with in anticipation of a, as Barwick puts it, “cookieless future.” With the evolution of online privacy advertising must change with it, and the IAB is experimenting with replacing existing data-collection structures with seller-defined audiences, or SDAs. Instead of adtech using tracking methods to use collected data to serve certain ads to certain users, publishers would use first-party data to decide how to categorize their own audience and take ads targeting those categories. Quoting the article: “Using this data, SDAs would, theoretically, let publishers place their audiences into groups—whether by behavior or interest—which would then be shared with advertisers to help them run targeted programmatic ads. So far, there are roughly 1,600 available labels for publishers to choose from.” Barwick and others at MarketingBrew have taken a liking to the hyper-specific example label of “potatoes/onions” as an example of how granular the SDA system would be if fully implemented. Michael Nuzzo, Vice President and head of Hearst data solutions at Hearst Magazines is quoted from the IAB Tech Lab event in February: “It’s a very positive indication that publishers are gaining more control in the open web. We were only seen as supply. Now, we’re seen as supply, identity partners, as well as data providers, and that’s an exciting shift.” This signals a significant boon for podcasting. The IAB has created a world where podcast producers determine their audiences and present them to advertisers. An open world with power in the hands of producers is a good thing. Last Thursday Digiday’s Kimeko McCoy published an article covering the thoughts of advertisers on the anniversary of Apple publishing the industry-changing iOS 14. “In this last year, Apple’s crackdown on in-app tracking upended the digital advertising industry and crippled advertisers’ ability to know whether their mobile ads were working. It forced them to look elsewhere to spend their dollars.” iOS 14, along with other similar privacy-boosting offerings from web browsers and Android devices, changed the game. Platforms reliant on the old buffet of collectable data have had issues adjusting, as we’ll cover in a Facebook-heavy story shortly. “But those 12 months of acclimating to these shifts have made it clear to media buyers that Apple’s ATT is an attribution problem, not an advertising one. In other words, the effectiveness of advertising hasn’t gone away as a result of it being harder to track people. But it has become more difficult to know how effective those ads are.” McCoy’s reporting paints a promising future. Every step the industry takes in this direction is a glowing endorsement for podcasting. While the rank-and-file are just now dealing with tricky attribution, this industry has been successfully serving ads with tricky end-game attribution for the better part of a decade. On Monday AdExchanger’s James Hercher published “Facebook Advertisers are Itching for Change as Bugs Infest Its Attribution Tech.” The piece begins with an anecdotal story of a marketer beset with costly glitches in the aging platform’s adtech. Things don’t get much better for Meta from there. Quoting the article: “Facebook is heads-down trying to fix the ad platform as gears and springs fly out of it like a cartoon pocket watch.” Facebook faces huge troubles as its advertising empire built on a tracking pixel now has to operate in a world where said pixel can’t immediately report back data on a user browsing outside websites. Instead of instantaneous granular updates, Facebook adtech operates in batch updates once every few days. “Facebook’s consistent response has been to be patient and, well, to slow down. In February, Facebook acknowledged that it was still underreporting attribution, but said it had cut the error margin from 15% to 8%. Says who?” Walled gardens, especially Facebook, are starting to show cracks in their foundations and are losing the faith of buyers as they struggle to course-correct for industry-wide changes. Facebook may have tapped out of the podcasting game entirely, but we still have Spotify. What has happened to the likes of Google and Meta could happen to Spotify in the future. Especially now that they’ve purchased some of the biggest names in podcast data attribution, setting themselves up as potential gatekeepers of proprietary data not wholly dissimilar to Facebook. Speaking of attribution tech: This Thursday BusinessWire revealed Veritonic’s new audio-first Attribution solution. Exact details are thin on the ground in the press release but Veritonic is confident its new attribution solution - simply called Attribution - will be an advertiser’s best friend. A quote from Veritonic CEO Scott Simonelli: “As advertising dollars increasingly flow into audio, brands need the assurance that only Veritonic’s end-to-end measurement and analytics can provide. Attribution is the perfect addition to our platform of audio research and measurement solutions, providing data-driven advertisers, brands, and agencies with the tools and insights they need to optimize their campaigns for greater ROI.” The press release promises Attribution will do the basic ad-tech things one would expect, tracking potential customers when they land on a campaign’s bespoke URL until they leave or purchase the relevant item. It’s nothing too flashy or industry-shattering from a technology standpoint, but the important context to consider is that Veritonic became the first company to get to market since Spotify’s acquisition of Chartable and Podsights. Spotify created a power vacuum in reliable third-party attribution. Now companies are stepping up to fill that gap. With that, it’s time for our semi-regular roundup of articles that didn’t make it into today’s episode, but are still worth working into your weekend reading. First: Facebook Pulls the Plug on Podcast Business After a Year by Ashley Carman. And, second: Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano to leave Spotify by Ariel Shapiro. As always, the links to every article mentioned on an episode of The Download can be found in the episode details. Finally, a quick roundup of the finance-related news this week that’s worth discussing, but not big enough to necessitate individual stories.. First up: James Hercer - in a rare three-time appearance in one episode of The Download - covers the Amazon earnings call last Friday. Amazon posted a 3.8 billion net loss in Q1 of this year, though reported a 25% year-over-year increase in advertising revenue. Following that we have Ted Gioia’s Sunday issue of The Honest Broker titled Spotify Shares Now Selling at Less Than the IPO Price 4 Years Ago. While an aggressive headline, Gioia’s coverage takes care to point out the lower share price is likely due to Spotify’s growth not being as world-dominating as expected, posting a 25% gross profit margin. --- The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable. Special thanks to Ian Powell for his audio prowess, and to our media host, Omny Studio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley Carman's article on Spotify's earnings call: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-27/spotify-dodges-joe-rogan-controversy-forecasts-miss-estimates?sref=W6GJF3MSSupport I Hear Things! http://buymeacoffee.com/tomwebsterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ICYMI: Warner Music launches a podcast network, Spotify weathers the storm, and personnel changes at Edison Research. Warner Music Group is dipping its toes into podcasting with its first network: Interval Presents. The new network’s slate promises a variety of content lead by popular musicians and celebrities who work with WMG. “The initiative marks the first major music label to follow in Sony Music’s lead; Sony entered the podcast arena five years ago in May, 2017.” WMG Senior VP of Digital Strategy & Business Development Allan Coye has stepped into the role of General Manager of Interval Presents content. CDO and EVP of Business Development Oana Ruxandra set the tone for what Interval Presents intends to accomplish. She says, “There’s a hunger for more inclusive and authentic podcast content and, with Allan leading the charge, we’re thrilled to launch an audio platform that will connect with this growing audience and spotlight a breadth of voices and perspectives.” While this might initially look like simply another company jumping into the field of celebrity podcasts, that itself is enough to help grow the industry. With more celebrity-hosted podcasts comes a higher chance of graduating those who only listen to music into full-fledged podcast listeners who seek out content beyond their initial introduction, be it with a Jason Derulo-hosted fiction podcast or a Lupita Nyong’o series on African diaspora. --- This week Spotify’s Q1 numbers became the subject of much discussion as they became public. On Wednesday Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman published “Spotify Tumbles as Investors Question Podcast Investments.” “Spotify Technology SA has spent more than a billion dollars in an effort to become the No. 1 name in podcasting, but investors’ patience is wearing thin on how much that will cost.” Carman’s article paints a cloudy sky for the big green dot with investors getting antsy at the amount of money invested in podcasting intended for long-term growth over short-term returns, including a gross margin of 25.2% that falls short of the 30 to 40% target. That said, both paid subscriptions and unpaid ad-supported users are up despite locking out Russian users and much-publicized Joe Rogan backlash. Sarah Perez writes for a TechCrunch article on the same subject this Wednesday: “Despite losing 1.5 million users in Russia, Spotify’s premium subscribers grew 15% year-over-year in the first quarter to reach 182 million, largely in line with analyst estimates. Ad-supported users, meanwhile, grew 21% to reach 252 million.” The #deletespotify movement, sparked by a transphobic conversation in his latest Jordan Peterson interview, a history of COVID-19 disinformation, and a compilation of him saying a racial slur lead to musicians and podcasters alike pulling their content from Spotify or threatening to cancel contracts. As Sarah Perez reports: “But app store data at the time indicated rival streaming apps were not getting a boost from this latest PR headache, as Spotify’s app had continued to see millions of weekly downloads — a significantly larger figure than its nearest rivals — even amid the #deletespotify campaign on social media.” That lack of attention to rival apps likely stings especially hard for Neil Young, a figurehead of the Rogan backlash who pulled all of his music from Spotify in protest of Rogan’s COVID disinformation. Young, a vocal critic of low-quality MP3 streaming on services like Spotify, also happened to be releasing high-quality versions of his discography on Amazon Music shortly after the much-publicized stunt. As with all things, Spotify’s growth remains a complicated beast. Subscribers are up, stock value is down, all while successfully weathering a weeks-long PR storm. --- Last Thursday Spotify dropped an article on their official blog announcing Spotify’s big entrance into video podcasting. Quoting the article, “Last fall, Spotify began activating Video Podcasts for creators on a limited basis. Since then, we’ve found that podcasters love having the option to accompany their audio with visual components, and fans love having the opportunity to more deeply connect with the content.” As of Thursday creators in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK gained access to the feature, as well as a handful of new features to help the transition for video podcasters with backlogs. The new system requires a podcast be hosted on Spotify’s service Anchor, meaning any existing video podcasts interested in trying out the service will either need to make a Spotify spinoff feed or wholesale transfer from their existing service to take advantage of this new feature. Once integrated into Spotify the video podcasting appears to function identical to simply watching a video podcast on YouTube, with those who prefer pure audio able to leave the app or lock their phone to background the video. Video in podcasting challenges an open ecosystem to consider themselves creators, agnostic of any one medium, while also pushing them into siloed solutions. Podcast-first creators exploring video as a channel is powerful, even if the current options dead-end into proprietary solutions. Spotify’s requirement that a show must be hosted on their own service. Anyone currently producing videos with their podcasts have to weigh the pros and cons of porting everything over into Spotify’s silo purely to have one more place to upload the same video content already going up on YouTube and social media. There’s promise in the concept of podcasts-with-video, but current offerings are lacking as they all appear to exist to push an open podcasting world into producing siloed content. --- And finally, while we don't often cover personnel changes here on The Download, this one is important enough that we mention. Tom Webster has just today announced that he is leaving his position with Edison Research. But Tom and Edison will both still be with us in the podcasting industry. As Tom says in his newsletter, I Hear Things: "My work with Edison is far from over, and we have established an agreement to partner on many things in the future." So what will Tom be doing with his time? That's not been announced just yet, but again quoting from today's newsletter: "I want to continue to work to establish a podcast industry: a place where established networks and independent podcasters alike have fair access to information, revenue, and opportunity. I think there are some structural issues in podcasting, and a some information arbitrage, as well. I want to work on both of these issues, and help to create the sandbox I wish to continue to play in for years to come. I'm excited about what is next, and I'll have more to say on that in the next edition of I Hear Things, which isn't going away, by the way. Just as I am doubling down on podcasting, I am also going to be evolving I Hear Things into something very exciting, broad-reaching, and ultimately useful for podcasters of every stripe." The podcast industry might be grateful for everything Tom has done at Edison Research to grow the platform, but I’m personally grateful for everything Tom has done for me. See what you may not know is that I have worked closely with Tom for five years at Edison Research. Now he’s said before that he wishes he could have been a better mentor, but to him I say: you did an incredible job. Clearly, your wisdom is invaluable and I’ve absorbed a lot, but it is your confidence in my abilities that has allowed me to face challenges I didn’t think I was capable of facing. Suggesting I take the lead on presenting research for the first time or asking for my advice as if I were the expert served as ammo to fight off my imposter syndrome. As you did for much of the podcast industry, you opened doors for me to bring my own passion projects to life, my own research on Latino and Black podcast audiences. You helped me evolve from a project coordinator to a Director of Research, and listen to me now, a host of a podcast. I don’t think there’s a better way to say that I’m forever grateful than on audio that will forever live in the world you’ve helped build. Thank you for everything. ---- The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Gabriel Soto and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis. Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable. Special thanks to Ian Powell for his audio prowess, and to our media host, Omny Studio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley Carman joins Jason & Molly to discuss Spotify's acquisition of podcast ad-tech companies Chartable and Podsights (1:55). Ashley is a senior reporter at The Verge and the lead writer at HotPod. We dig into why she thinks Spotify's main competition is YouTube and how the Big Tech and Big Media podcasting efforts are playing out. After that, 10 companies pitch Jason and the team in rapid-fire (46:16). These startups went through Founder University, a 12-week course run by the team at Launch. 0:00 Jason and Molly tee up today's topics: Spotify's podcasting ambitions with Ashley Carman PLUS 10 founder pitches from Founder University 1:55 Ashley Carman joins to break down the news: Spotify acquires Chartable and Podsights, she also covers what happened to Clubhouse 13:25 Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week at https://ourcrowd.com/twist 14:29 What podcasting loses by going with dynamically inserted ads, building for creators vs. building for established brands, Spotify going after YouTube as the main platform for creators 26:45 Linode - Apply to their Rise program for founder-led, early-stage startups and get 3 years of discounts at https://linode.com/twist. 27:52 Podcast tracking users habits, why Spotify is rejecting open standards, sleeping giants in the podcasting space 37:01 Mercury - Banking built for startups. See more at https://mercury.com/twist 38:26 Reflecting on Lumiary's big bet to be the HBO of podcasting 46:16 First 5 pitches: Giphting, Chojuu, TaCo, Term Payments, Fix6 PLUS judge feedback 1:02:05 5 Next 5 pitches: Remotespace. SavvyTeam, Gaan, Timewell, Innocuous AI PLUS judge feedback FOLLOW Ashley: https://twitter.com/ashleyrcarman Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university Companies Pitching: Giphting, Chojuu, TaCo, Term Payments, Fix6, Remotespace, SavvyTeam, Gaan, Timewell, Innocuous AI FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood