While the Infinite Dial is broadly concerned with listening patterns of American adults and teens, podcasting holds special interest for many online audio stakeholders — creators, distributors, hosting companies, advertising networks, and digital audio advertisers and their agency buyers. The… Continue Reading
iHeartMedia might file for bankruptcy as soon as this weekend, according to multiple reports, and Liberty Media disclosed that it has already acquired some of the debt that it wishes to. Liberty’s Q4 earnings call yesterday provided timely information. Continue Reading
After many hints, signals, and seeming delays, Spotify has filed for a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange, for one-billion dollars. Spotify will trade on the NYSE as the ticker symbol SPOT. As expected, this is a “direct listing,” so there is no established share price. Public trading will start at a date to be set. Continue Reading
Liberty Media, majority owner of Sirius XM and minority owner of Pandora, has offered a term sheet that would grant it ownership of a 40% stake in iHeartMedia for $1.159 billion. This move is an eleventh-hour deal in reaction to iHeartMedia’s difficult financial situation. It also isn’t the first time Liberty has broached a last-minute audio investment. Continue Reading
“I’ve now been at Pandora for almost five months,” CEO Roger Lynch stated to open yesterday’s Q4 earnings call. It was the first earning summary for the still-new chief executive with a full quarter of leadership behind him. “Having had a chance to dig in, I’m even more excited about the opportunity.” Key finance metrics, and a focus on the subscription services. Continue Reading
In the December report of Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker, overall stream listening remained steady from the previous month. The three leaders — Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio — each gained a single percentage in Average Active Sessions (Triton’s AAS metric). Spotify continued its chase of Pandora. Continue Reading
Today Pandora sent an announcement that observers have been waiting for: The leading internet radio platform has launched a private programmatic marketplace for its digital audio advertising inventory. “It’s clear the future of advertising is digital audio,” evangelizes John Trimble, Pandora’s Chief Revenue Officer. Continue Reading
Ticket sales are open for the RAIN Podcast Business Summit , March 22, at New World Stages in New York. First Mover registrations benefit from the lowest price — just $299 for the only event examining and defining the business marketplace of on-demand audio, and the opportunity for advertisers. These early buyers will also receive a $15 RAIN-branded Starbucks gift card when they pick up their badges. The First Mover tickets last until February 22. Click through for special speaker reveals.
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Today, Triton Digital®, a leading technology and services provider to the digital audio industry, announced a planned merger with UK-based podcast network and technology provider audioBoom, in which Triton Digital will combine with AudioBoom Group PLC, the corporate structure by which the British podcast platform company is traded on the London Stock Exchange. Exclusive interview with Neal Schore. Continue Reading
RAIN is pleased to announce the second annual Podcast Business Summit, following the success of the 2017 event in New York. The 2018 edition of this breakthrough event will be held at New World Stages, 340 W. 50th Street, on March 22. The Podcast Business Summit is the only event examining and defining the on-demand audio marketplace, its growth, trends, and the podcast opportunity for brands, businesses, and advertisers. Continue Reading
A three-person podcast agency called The Podcast Exchange (TPX) has launched in Canada, with the mission of connecting podcasts with advertisers. The company stands in the middle ground between podcast publishers and marketers, and intends to better fertilize that middle ground by matching content to advertising. Continue Reading
When Pandora announced the Dynamic Audio ad product last February, the idea was to create a targeting technology that could personalize audio marketing to the listener to an unusually individual degree. The launch partner for that development venture was British ad company A Million Ads. Now, the two companies are starting to roll out the result of that work, on a testing basis with two advertisers. Continue Reading