Podtrac released its July edition of the Top 20 Podcasts, ranking Podtrac measurement clients. (See below.) The Daily retained its #1 slot in July, and in fact the top five shows all remained stable. Venerable podcast Serial leaped back into the ranker, soon after its acquisition by The New York Times. Click through for details. Continue Reading
In last week’s iHeartMedia (IHRT) earnings call, CEO Bob Pittman discussed podcast strategy, podcast strategy, and podcast strategy. And a bit of radio. The financials included the entire business, and the COVID effect. But the go-forward mission leans heavily into on-demand audio, both as a stand-alone advertising business, and a synergistic opportunity with the largest array of commercial radio stations in the U.S. Click through for quotes. Continue Reading
Veritone One is the latest podcast entity to subscribe to Nielsen’s Podcast Buying Power Service, Nielsen is announcing today. Nielsen’s subscription program ties listeners and their buying habits to podcast categories, to help advertisers (especially brand advertisers) plan more effective and targeted campaigns. The Podcast Buying Power Service launched in July of last year, with five major podcast publishers as charter subscribers. As a new subscriber Veritone One is an audio advertising agency. Continue Reading
The headline number is derived from the Q2 earnings report for E.W.Scripps, Stitcher’s parent company. Scripps has sold Stitcher to SiriusXM, in a deal planned for Q3 closing. Click through for details, quotes from the conference call, and our arithmetic. Continue Reading
ART19 sent us a note that the company has tightened its grip on South Korea podcasting, now providing hosting, distribution, and exclusive ad-repping to all major broadcasters. This follows a December announcement in which ART19 established a dominant footprint in S. Korea, and opened a business unit called ART19 Korea. Continue Reading
Townsquare Media’s COVID quarter tells a varied story in the company’s Q2 earnings release. Net income for the quarter was down year-over-year (a nearly universal Q2 earnings story), while digital revenue gained in share of total revenue. CEO and RAIN Summit keynoter Bill Wilson noted that sequential revenue (month-over-month within the quarter) rose, and that Townsquare Interactive, the company’s subscription service for digital marketing, earned nearly half of total net revenue. Continue Reading
Spotify’s newly launched playlist feature, track IDs, is based on this question: “Do you ever dance to your favorite DJ and wonder what track they’re mixing?” The answer is supplied by an array of 23 playlists curated by DJs and the Spotify editorial team. The volume of music is impressive. Continue Reading
Google Play Music will reportedly be shuttered. The timetable? September for Australia and New Zealand, October for everyone else. Users will have until end-of-year to retrieve their cloud-stored music. The existing YouTube Music will take over as Google’s on-demand streaming service. This shift is helpful to what has been Google’s audio-related miasma of branding. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio, one of the world’s largest podcast publishers, and Tongal, a content creation and talent crowdsourcing platform, are teaming up on The Next Great Podcast, an open call for submissions to win resources for developing a new iHeartRadio podcast. Tongal, which has been a resource for film production, will likely gain more recognition in podcasting with this venture. Semi-finalists get $1,000 each, and the winner gets an on-ramp to making an iHeartRadio podcast. Continue Reading
In its recent Q2 earnings call, Sirius XM discussed streaming, its multiple acquisitions, and podcasting in some detail. Remarks about podcasting are quite interesting, somewhat shading the industry as young and largely immature, while evangelizing the production and marketing power of SiriusXM. Click through for many quotes. Continue Reading
In a consumer-friendly infographic, Spotify highlighted some key (non-finance) results related to its Q2 earnings report last week. Juuust under 300-million users now, and 138-million subscribers. And the service is available in 92 countries. Click through to see the whole thing. Continue Reading
Pandora is releasing a raft of survey results gleaned from a study conducted by the streaming company in league with Publicis Media Exchange and Edison Research. The purpose is for advertisers to better understand levels of consumer adoption of streaming. Pandora is releasing a raft of survey results gleaned from a study conducted by the streaming company in league with Publicis Media Exchange and Edison Research. The purpose is for advertisers to better understand levels of consumer adoption of streaming. Click through for extensive results/ Continue Reading