RAIN Notes: Thursday, December 14
Author: Brad Hill
Video podcast consumers are cross-platform: Sounds Profitable/Signal Hill study
Sound You Can See; Podcasting’s Video Dilemma, a new study produced by Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill Insights, explores the duality of podcasting as an audio and video format. Fielded in November the survey reveals a large volume of granular information about usage habits among video consumers of podcasts. Click for some key details, graphs, and a link to the complete 81-page PDF. Continue Reading
NPR sunsets the NPR One app, unifying mobile features in the NPR app
In a dramatic simplification of its mobile experiences, NPR is discontinuing the NPR One app. In this consolidation the company has moved NPR One features into the existing (and now revamped) NPR app. Click for details and history. Continue Reading
Spoken word share is up, especially podcasts (Westwood One and Edison Research)
Pierre Bouvard of the Westwood One Blog has revealed portions of the Share Of Ear research study performed by Edison Research. Among many results, we learn that spoken word audio is generally up — due initially to the pandemic and accelerating since then — and ad-supported streaming music via Spotify and Pandora is down. Oh, and podcasting share has risen dramatically over seven years. Continue Reading
Warner Bros. Discovery chooses Spotify for podcast distro and sales
In a joint announcement this morning, Spotify and media giant Warner Bros. announced a distribution and sales agreement which will see podcasts in the Warner Bros Discovery unit hosted and monetized in Spotify’s technology and sales systems. The agreement includes shows in over two dozen media brands owned by Discovery, including CNN and HBO. Continue Reading
Brief application period for new Low Power FM (LPFM) Stations
The FCC has announced an open application period, starting on November 1, for new Low Power FM (LPFM) Radio Stations. The opening follows a brief blackout period for new applications. Click for a help center with filing instructions. Continue Reading
Acast crosses $30M in ad revenue to Australian podcasters
Global podcast company Acast is publicizing its accomplishments in Australia. As a broad and significant metric, the company has disclosed that it has delivered $31-million in local ad revenue to its indie podcast creators. The time span for this accomplishment is about six years — Acast entered the Aussi market in 2017.
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RAIN Notes: Friday, December 8
Paul Vogel to exit Spotify; search for new CFO begins
Spotify’s well known Chief Financial Officer, Paul Vogel, will leave the company in April. A search for his replacement is underway as of now. All this in a straightforward announcement. It will be a fairly short tenure for Vogel, who… Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Wednesday, December 6
— Heartwarming (Edison Research)
— Question Answered (Sounds Profitable)
— Happy Self-Serveday (Acast)
Podcast consumers plan to listen more: Nielsen 2023 Consumer Survey Report
Nielsen has released its 2023 Consumer Survey Report. This is a consumer sentiment study which stretches across disparate aspects of life — inflation, social media, audio listening, and more. Podcasting is highlighted early in the 28-page report, identified by consumers as the media consumption category likely to grow the most in their personal listening during the next 6-12 months. Click for detail and graphs. Continue Reading
Weekly podcast listeners overwhelmingly prefer YouTube, and other new stats (Cumulus Media / Signal Hill Insights)
For the eleventh edition of the Podcast Download series, Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights retained MARU/Matchbox to conduct an in-depth study of 608 weekly podcast consumers from October 13-19, 2023. This work, combined with Triton Digital’s Podcast Metrics study, comprise this annual fall report. YouTube is the star. Click for metrics, graphs, and a download link. Continue Reading