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
Reported yesterday and confirmed this morning, founder and CEO Tim Westergren has left Pandora. He steps down from the chief executive position, and exits the board of directors. President Mike Herring likewise leaving. The CFO is now interim CEO. A new board member takes a seat, as directors start searching for the next CEO. Continue Reading
With today’s report that Pandora founder Tim Westergren could be ready to step away from his role as CEO, it’s worth looking back over the last six months — the most eventful half year of Pandora’s history. Continue Reading
In an initiative to streamline the market for digital audio advertising, Triton Digital is introducing a new platform for audio publishers, called Yield-Op, which the company says is built from the ground up for audio. Optimization, cutomization, and reach are three values Triton is evangelizing with the new software. Continue Reading
The RAIN Podcast Business Summit, a breakthrough event that uniquely presented the business side of podcasting and its opportunity to advertisers, was a standout success to hundreds of attendees representing New York ad agencies, podcasting networks, advertiser brands, technology companies, and many others. Continue Reading
The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, which had its world release at yesterday’s RAIN Podcast Business Summit, revealed that the voice-activated devices (e.g. Amazon Echo/Dot and Google Home) encourage audio listening, music service subscription, and have become extremely valued additions to their owners’ lifestyles in sometimes surprising ways. Continue Reading
On the heels of Apple’s announcement that it will launch podcast listening analytics this year, RAIN is producing the inaugural Podcast Business Summit next week, June 21 at the AXA Auditorium in midtown Manhattan. Over 300 registrants from over 140 companies have claimed seats at the groundbreaking event. Tickets are available. Continue Reading
At last week’s WorldWide Developer Conference, James O. Boggs, Business Manager of Apple’s podcast division, announced that Apple will introduce podcast consumption analytics later this year. The announcement was tucked quietly onto the end of a long session of WWDC speeches, masking its importance as a much-needed, long-awaited decision by Apple that some industry insiders believed might never come. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in March inched upward by three percent compared to the previous month, according to Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics monthly Top 20 Ranker, released today. Year-over-year listening to streams gained 13%. Click through for long-term trends. Continue Reading
Nobex Technologies, an Israel-based technology company which provides mobile apps for 4,500 radio stations in over 100 countries, has launched a new initiative — mobile apps for podcast creators. Nobex is stepping into podcasting in league with podcast hosting and technology company ART19. Continue Reading