Calling it “an immersive sponsorship experience,” global podcast company Acast has introduced the Sponsored Stories ad format, which can be up to four minutes long. Acast Creative helps with production. Click for an audio example. Continue Reading
Spotify released a trio of announcements this morning. One predominates: Paid podcast subscriptions within Spotify. Continue Reading
Lina Kim, formerly Managing Director at Havas Media Group, takes the CEO role at Toronto-based TPX (The Podcast Exchange) today, as former CEO Jean-Marie Heimrath retires. Heimrath remains on the board. Continue Reading
The C13Originals division of Audacy-owned Cadence13, and author/historian Jon Meacham, are teaming to create Shining City Audio, a podcast studio for creating history shows. New productions are in the works; the first launches this week. Click for details. Continue Reading
Emulating Spotify and The New York Times, and furthering an ongoing era of podcast consolidation, SiriusXM has acquired 99% Invisible Inc., the owner of the venerable 99% Invisible podcast and its spinoffs. The podcast was launched by host Roman Mars in 2010, which could be considered the Middle Ages of podcasting — an era between the rosy founding days of a new media category and the modern resurgence which started with NPR’s Serial in 2014. Click for details. Continue Reading
Spotify is potentially extending its global reach in podcast distribution in a collaboration with Facebook, which has about eight times as many users. We tested sharing Spotify podcasts on the Facebook news feed. It sort of worked. Continue Reading
Paul Chantler, Director of UK’s Podcast Radio, tells us that the TED Radio Collective has joined the all-podcast digital radio station in a content partnership arrangement. Twelve shows from the Collective will be featured in coming weeks. Continue Reading
Tel Aviv-based Riverside.FM, a browser-based recording studio that offers fluent interplay of audio and video, raised $9.5-million in a round led by Alexis Ohanion’s Seven Seven Six. New product features have just been released, and the company plans to double staff from 20 to 40. Click through for details and link to job openings. Continue Reading
Podcast media planning platform Magellan AI is out with its monthly top 15 podcast advertisers, and the “Movers & Shakers” list of top increased spends. This edition is for the month of March. Top spend overall? $3.8M by BetterHelp, a familiar online therapy brand to avid podcast listeners. Click for details and link. Continue Reading
Cumulus Media-owned Westwood One Podcast Network will rebrand as Cumulus Podcast Network, the change taking place on May 6. Suzanne Grimes, Executive Vice President Corporate Marketing and President, Westwood One, will retain responsibility for the Company’s podcast sales network. The public-facing renaming makes eminent sense. Continue Reading
Jottings of note:
— Threading the Apple (Nathan Gathright)
— Selling the Score (Variety)
— Tracking (Edison Research / WNYC)
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A whopping 31 presentations will be featured at the upcoming IAB Podcast Upfront (titled “Listen Up!”) scheduled for May 11-13. SuChin Pak will anchor the show with a rotating cast of co-hosts. Details and final schedule. Continue Reading