Year-over-year listening to streams gained 13% in May, according to Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics report, released today. Webcast listening in May was mostly flat compared to the previous month, looking at Triton Digital’s top 20 streaming clients. Pureplay internet streaming grew at a dramatically higher rate than broadcast streaming, year-over-year. Continue Reading
Pandora stock is benefitting today from two encouraging pieces of Wall Street news. As of this post, P stock is up three percent, to its highest level of July. One investor’s note to clients reveals how Pandora is re-allocating resources to favor the radio service, putting Pandora Premium in maintenance mode. Continue Reading
In 2016 the RAIN Internet Radio Awards celebrate their 7th year as the most prestigious celebration of excellence in the online audio industry. Click through for categories, and the submission link. It’s easy, and it’s free. Continue Reading
A new report has been issued by The Download on Podcasting, the ongoing collaborative study of on-demand audio from DMR Interactive and the Digital Media Research and Development Lab at Texas A&M University. In discussing audience measurement the paper spotlights Nielsen’s technology and compares podcasting to craft beer. Continue Reading
Last week we began receiving notes from webcasting clients of two large hosting companies, Radionomy and StreamLicensing, noting that recent changes and communications had troubled their webcast stations. The two situations are coinciding in time, but are unrelated — except both are about music licensing. Continue Reading
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today released a second version of its Podcast Ad Metrics Guidelines (released in September of last year). Public comments are invited. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in April was mostly flat compared to the previous month, taking Triton Digital’s top 20 streamers as a whole — this according to Triton’s Webcast Metrics monthly Ranker, released this morning. While Pandora has plateaued, Spotify has experienced a consistent charge of upward listening growth that can fairly be called meteoric. Click through for details and historical trendlines. Continue Reading
In a sign of podcasting’s evolution from cottage industry to a maturing advertising category, Nielsen has announced an agreement with Slate-owned Panoply’s Megaphone hosting platform. The venture hopes to meet advertiser demand for audience targeting of podcast commercials and sponsorship messages. Continue Reading
The White Night Festival in Tel Aviv was a “silent disco” attended by 30,000 people. Music was blasted out — rather, was blasted IN via personal headphones, powered by the custom-built Nobex app for Tel Aviv Radio. Continue Reading
The breakthrough research report on smart speakers, The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, is released today after the free webinar presentation yesterday. The research was originally presented at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit on June 21, of which NPR was the presenting sponsor. Continue Reading
Pandora’s new interim CEO, Naveen Chopra, who moved into the temporary role from when ex-CEO and founder Time Westergren stepped down two days ago, is quickly in the spotlight. Chopra spoke at the 4th Annual Bernstein Future of Media Summit, and reconfigured Pandora’s strategic priorities. Continue Reading
ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast series (announced in RAIN News in March) launched yesterday, and the company released a sponsor lineup that includes four national brands. The announcement is significant as the podcast economy is at an inflection point, attempting to evolve beyond its reliance on DRM (direct response marketing) advertisers, and draw money from the big marketing budgets of national branding campaigns. Continue Reading