Lizhi, a leading audio content app in China, has launched on the U.S. stock market. It is trading on Nasdaq, and is one of the first non-music platforms from the country to go public. Lizhi is offering 4.1 million shares at $11 per share. Continue Reading
The Canadian Podcast Listener published a blog post with an exploration of the value in niche audiences, both for shows and for advertisers. The post included a graphic with a breakdown of the audience demographics for the top 10 podcasts on investing. Only 3.3% of monthly podcast listeners said they listen to shows about investing, meaning that mass-market brands likely won’t turn to those programs to reach a large market. Continue Reading
Podtrac released its December 2019 podcast ranker. The analytics platform made some format changes to its publisher chart last month, and its approach to the top shows has also gotten a slight tweak. Continue Reading
TuneIn announced that it has adopted a new sonic logo. This short audio snippet is designed to present company branding to listeners who are accessing TuneIn’s service on connected devices or screenless platforms. Continue Reading
NPR launched a new podcast centered on creating audio in the classroom. The Student Podcast Challenge show is made by the team that runs the NPR contest of the same name. Continue Reading
Spotify caught eyes and ears last spring with its plans for a piece of voice-activated hardware dubbed Car Thing. Now, it seems to have a new setting as its next goal, according to the latest update from a noted reverse-engineer. Continue Reading
MIDiA Research posted a graphic from its fourth-quarter podcast tracker survey ahead of the launch of its Podcast Platforms report. The data, from a consumer survey of 576 podcast users, show Spotify with a lead in the overall weighted average of four national cohorts. Spotify is also the leading podcast app for Canada, Australia, and the UK, according to MIDiA’s research — but Google leads in the U.S. Continue Reading
Gaana, the streaming service catering to Indian audiences, has released its annual report on the country’s consumption trends. “2019 was a landmark year for music lovers, artists and the industry in more ways than one,” CEO Prashan Agarwal said. “The meteoric rise in regional music consumption across the nation marks one of the biggest cultural shifts in perception of music in the past decade.” Continue Reading
The Mechanical Licensing Collective has appointed its CEO. The group was formed through the Music Modernization Act, which became law in October 2018, and is tasked with overseeing the new blanket license for digital platforms to use musical works. Continue Reading
Spotify is letting the fur fly. The company has launched a fun new tool that will let pet owners create playlists dedicated to their pets. It will combine those traits with the owner’s listening habits to create a collection that both can equally enjoy. The company also compiled an infographic with the results from surveying 5,000 pet owners in the U.S., UK, Australia, Spain, and Italy. Continue Reading
Google has several options for audio playback on its Home collection of smart speakers, but one appears to have been axed. The absense is Guest Mode, which lets visitors use Chromecast to play their own content to smart devices without logging onto WiFi. Continue Reading
UK-based media company Global announced that its DAX digital audio division will be made available to digital outdoor advertisers. DAX will be rebranded from the Digital Audio Exchange to the Digital Ad Exchange with this change in its scope. Continue Reading