Popular listening platforms, from streaming music to broadcast radio, have stepped into podcasting by pulling podcasting onto their platforms, mostly through acquisitions. Alphabet/Google/YouTube is taking a somewhat different tack, offering six-figure grants to podcasters and podcast networks to create video versions of their shows. This according to Bloomberg, which cites anonymous sources. Continue Reading
Podcast database and social listening platform has released the second edition of Podchaser 25, a February ranker of podcasts which are exhibiting spikes of popularity. Podcasher calls the list “a first-of-its-kind monthly ranking of the hottest, rising podcasts in the U.S.” Continue Reading
Digital media outlet BuzzFeed wants a footprint in podcasting, and is partnering with Acast to get it done. The project will live in the BuzzFeed Studios imprint, and the plan is to lift off with six initial shows. Acast will launch and distribute the shows, and provide production assistance. Acast is even pre-credited for “creative direction,” interestingly. Continue Reading
In Podtrac’s Top Podcast Publishers monthly ranker for February we learn that podcast audience growth has enjoyed a strong upswing, as represented by Podtrac’s top 20 publishers. (Podtrac measures its clients.) Click through for the results, and RAIN’s remix, which re-sorts the top publishers by average listeners and plays per show. Continue Reading
In what might be an indication of podcast creation settling down from the Covid surge, the number of newly created shows in February was only 11% of a year ago. The trend projects that 2022 will produce a small fraction of 2021’s new podcasts. Click for details. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note, smart speaker edition
— True Lyme (Eve Bishop)
— Withdrawal Symptoms (Podshape)
— The Entirety (Conal Byrne)
Audioboom launched its creative division, Audioboom Studios, last October. Recently three shows were added to its production schedule — two in the True Crime category, and one which sounds like a crossover dating/cooking show. Details in the post. Continue Reading
RAIN News dropped in for the Veritonic Audio Intelligence Summit in Manhattan yesterday. In the “Second Story” space of the Kimpton Hotel Eventi, a Covid-vaxxed and tested audience of audio industry professionals gathered to attend a series of presentations which evangelized and explained how audio branding is made and tested, and how it can define brand identity. A key presentation was about sonic diversity. Then there was Tostitos. Continue Reading
Preeminent consumer research company in audio, Edison Research, released a Top Podcast Networks by Audience Reach list. SXM Media takes the #1 spot. This list differs from some other network rankers, because it gets its findings from consumer surveys of active podcast listeners, not from technology measurement of the measuring company’s clients. Continue Reading
Imagine you’re listening to a news podcast, and friend sitting next to you is listening to the same podcast — but you are hearing different segments of content. That scenario coud happen with shows produced on Spooler, a new podcast tech service. Click for more info. Continue Reading
Kathy Doyle, VP of Content Development at Macmillan Publishers, appeared on RAIN’s Podcast Business Lunch to discuss the business details of the only podcast network with a “Big 5” book publishers. This is the transcript. Continue Reading
Business shows fill a big category in podcasting, and it makes sense that the venerable B2B social network LinkedIn would develop a brand of business shows. It has, with a nascent network of 12 shows to date. Verizon is the overall sponsor of the entire group. Continue Reading