“Voice tech is everywhere” and other findings from Edison/NPR Smart Audio Report

Edison Research and NPR have released the 2022 Smart Audio Report, an annual survey study measuring the growth, impact, and user behaviors of conversational AI audio. This field is generally summarized as “smart speakers,” but the Edison/NPR work includes digital assistants built into phones, TVs, tablets, cars, and appliances. Continue Reading

Global podcast listening recovers from Covid pause: Reuters Digital News Report

In its wide-ranging and detailed survey of news consumption around the world, Reuters discovered that podcast usage is growing again in 2022 after what it describes as a “COVID-19 pause.” In its conclusion to the general metrics section, Reuters makes a sober assessment about global news consumption across all media categories. Click for details and graphics. Continue Reading

Podcast downloads show gains (Podtrac) and RAIN Remix of May Top Publishers ranker

In Podtrac’s Top Podcast Publishers monthly ranker for May we learn that the metrics for download growth were on a slight upswing (1%) month-over-month, and a sharper growth of 32% year-over-year. (Podtrac measures its clients.) Click through for the results and the RAIN remix, which re-sorts the top publishers by average listeners and downloads per show. Continue Reading

Six podcast advertisers in Top 15 for 12 straight months; zero newcomers (Magellan AI)

Magellan AI released its always-interesting Top Spenders list, listing the highest 15 spenders for April. BetterHelp lands in the #1 spot, as it has for the last 12 months in today’s RAIN analysis of this ranker. There are zero newcomers. Click through for downloadable 12-month chart. Continue Reading

YouTube leads other platforms for podcasts that “simulcast” on YouTube

In an interesting piece of research from Podtrac, YouTube had a larger share of podcast plays for shows that distribute full video episodes on YouTube. The results add dimension to the growing idea that putting a podcast on YouTube is a good idea for discoverability. Podtrac’s work points to YouTube as a potential leader in audience reach.  Continue Reading