Advertising in music services, and ad technologies that power it.
Podcasting attribution company Podsights has announced a $4-million fundraise from existing and new investors. Staff expansion is in the works, and the announcement includes several job listings. Also a growth chart. Continue Reading
Magellan has released its always interesting Top 15 monthly report, this one for February. As always, it includes two rankers: Top 15 spenders, and Top 15 movers & shakers. Click for details and the Top Spenders list. Continue Reading
Gina Garrubbo, President/CEO of National Public Media, and RAIN Summit speaker, has been elected as Board Chair at the IAB. She has served as the IAB Board’s Vice Chair since August 2020 and as the Co-Chair of the IAB Audio Committee since 2017. Garrubbo’s placement atop the Board puts an eminent audio executive in the top seat of the trade group which represents digital advertising across all media categories. Continue Reading
Two questions about digital audio programmatic advertising were addressed in Triton Digital’s presentation at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit yesterday: 1. Is programmatic advertising a “race to the bottom” in ad revenue? 2. What are actual CPM rates in podcasting? Triton SVP Stephanie Donovan answered both with a view of average CPM rates for podcast programmatic advertising. Continue Reading
Marketing it as a “first-of-its-kind audio advertising marketplace,” Spotify announced the Spotify Audience Network as part of its wide-ranging “Stream On” presentation. The promotional emphasis is on podcast advertising, but the marketplace itself includes music streamed to an audience of about 155-million listeners in Spotify Free. At the foundation of this initiative is the company’s Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) tech. Continue Reading
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), the large commercial radio group in Australia, is making a splashy launch of LiSTNR, a new listening app that brings together the network’s radio content, news, music streaming channels (non-interactive), and podcasts. Click through for details. Continue Reading
In a consumer research study conducted by Edison Research in October and released today, Pandora reveals key learnings about how the work-from-home (WFH) population listens to streaming audio, and whether it affects their concentration and productivity. Click through for details. Continue Reading
“2020 was the year none of us could have imagined,” New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said, and noted “an unending hunger for relief from it all.” Some business relief came from the NYT’s podcast performance — that unit delivered $36M in revenue, up from $7M in 2019. “”We expect podcast revenue growth to be strong into 2021,” she predicted. Click through for much more. Continue Reading
Acast is sending around a brag-worthy announcement that its programmatic ad sales for podcasting grew 215% last year. This disclosure might be viewed as validation of programmatic in an industry where ad revenue has historically been based on bespoke performances of commercials by hosts while recording the show. The company projects 10% of 2021 revenue will derive from programmatic.
Continue Reading
Triton Digital is announcing today that Canada’s largest private, western-based broadcast group, The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, has become a Triton client for management, measurement, and monetization of its AM/FM online streams. The Pattison Group operates 45 FM stations and three AMs, along with three conventional TV stations and 17 online new portals in 28 markets. In all that there is a growing portfolio of podcasts. Continue Reading
Audio ad-tech company AdsWizz has won a Digiday Award as the “Most Innovative Technology Platform.” That specific program being awarded is Dynamic Creative Optimization, which enables marketers to dynamically generate 10-million unique audio creative ad variations. Continue Reading
Last August we covered a new and original smart-speaker audio campaign for Lucky Charms, created by short-form audio producer SpokenLayer. Today we learn that the “Lucky Charms Magical Mission” creative has won the Digiday Award for Best Audio Campaign in 2020. The win is a watermark for the company’s extension from short-form audio production to creative studio work. Continue Reading