RAIN Notes: Friday, December 3
Jottings of Note
— And the Winner Will Be… (Webby Awards)
— Fixing It (EFF)
— Fake Rogan (Tim Heidecker)
Author: Brad Hill
Spotify reports double-, triple- quadruple-digit podcast listening growth
A day after Spotify’s end-of-year Wrapped product, the company releases Wrapped for Publishers. It offers podcast listening metrics in 2021. It is stuffed with growth in double-, triple-, and even quadruple-digit percentage increases. Click through for details and a link to Spotify’s PDF. Continue Reading
IAB announces Podcast Upfront for May 2022 — virtual again
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its event schedule for the first half of 2022. The slate includes the IAB Podcast Upfront and the IAB NewFronts. The organization has also added a new showcase. Click for details. Continue Reading
“WQXR Day” proclaimed by NYC mayor on 85th anniversary
Classical music radio/audio brand WQXR is honored today as “WQXR Day” in New York City, the recognition bestowed by mayor Bill De Blasio. This interesting and laudatory recognition honors the station’s 85th anniversary. WQXR operates a robust digital offering via its mobile app. Click for details and history. Continue Reading
UK beats US in online audio listening; loves Spotify and podcasts
United Kingdom residents beat the U.S. when it comes to consuming online audio, and especially enjoys Spotify. Those are two of the many comparative analytics revealed today by Edison Research in the company’s presentation of the first instance of its Infinite Dial consumer survey brand focused on the British Isles, Infinite Dial UK 2021. Click through for bunches of metrics, graphics, and a link to the entire study. Continue Reading
Spotify 2021 Wrapped: Launch, crash, technical elitism, and no solution for disappointed users
After weeks of anticipatory promotion, Spotify unleashed its annual “Wrapped” feature yesterday. Unfortunately, the package is available only in the mobile app, and the video presentation requires memory and operating system resources that are unavailable on some phones. The result is a wave of social media complaints that the Wrapped experience crashes quickly, and closes the Spotify app. We present Spotify’s tech requirements, without providing a universally accessible format. We also review the Wrapped personalized playlists, which are quite enjoyable and don’t have special requirements. Continue Reading
Spotify Premium gains 309% listening share over 5 years: Westwood One blog via Edison Research
In a new blog entry posted yesterday, Pierre Bouvard (Chief Insights Officer, Cumulus Media) presents a truckload of trends related to Spotify, Pandora, AM/FM radio, and podcasting. A rich bundle of charts, interpretations, questions from RAIN, and answers from the author. Click through for it all. Continue Reading
Apple honors 2021 “bests” in podcasting
Apple released its review of “best and most popular podcasts” today. Although many of the 22 honorees arepretty high in the charts, we think this is a good discovery list, worth exploring. Click for details. Continue Reading
New Car Buyers Survey (Edison) details mixed numbers for American radio
Edison Research has released a new study: 2021 Car Buyers Survey. ONe key learning is that 90% of car buyers expect broadcast radio to be standard in-car equipment. As we thumb through the slides, we note some comparative metrics that position American consumers as more detached from in-car listening to AM/FM than in other countries. Click through for details and graphics. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends: An Infinite Dial for the UK, at last
by James Cridland
James Cridland returns with the latest installment of his weekly column. In this edition, James anticipates The Infinite Dial UK study from Edison Research, set to be presented this week in London. Also, fun history about CBS Mystery Theater, and a great documentary. Continue Reading
Drive Time Metrics awarded new patent for in-car audio connection data analysis
Data analytics company Drive Time Metrics (DTM) has been awarded a new patent for collecting and analyzing connected vehicle media data. The company collects anonymized data from in-car audio playback of all sorts, and delivers actionable metrics to its clients which can range from music streaming services to satellite radio to AM/FM. Continue Reading
Podcast listening app and publisher Podimo receives $78M funding
Copenhagen-based Podimo has received a Series B funding round of $78-million dollars. Since 2019, the company has raised $115-million. Podimo operates a few different lines of business — click for info. Continue Reading