WNYC Studios has entered a partnership with Science Friday, which will join its portfolio effective January 12. Science Friday includes a podcast, radio show, videos, and digital presence. Its programming focuses on fun and educational stories about science and technology. Continue Reading
RAJAR has shared the results from its MIDAS Survey for winter 2017. Live radio has a 90% reach. Live radio also has the largest share of listening hours for each age bracket. The survey also offers data on on-demand listening and podcasts. Another interesting data set is the device share, which breaks down types of listening by platform. Continue Reading
Jimmy Iovine has denied the rumor that he would leave Apple in August. Speculation emerged last week that the decorated music exec would split with Apple later this year after his shares in the tech company fully vested. Iovine has now told Variety that he’s with the company for the long haul. Continue Reading
PodcastOne SportsNet is partnering with AP to provide listeners with reports from athletic events. The partnership will kick off with coverage of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. The deal promises real-time access to sports programming, and expands PodcastOne’s existing roster of shows centered on athletics and athletes. Continue Reading
Michael Huppe has signed a contract to remain the CEO of SoundExchange. He has been in the top role since 2011, and will stay in that position for another four years under the newest contract. The group’s annual collections have grown by more than 150% since Huppe took over. Continue Reading
Cabana, the podcast and digital audio division of audio ad company AdLarge, has released an eight-page online brochure for advertisers, evangelizing the podcast opportunity. It seeks to be comprehensive and concise, and succeeds in our view. Continue Reading
The Consumer Technology Association has released new projections for tech sales in the U.S. Retail revenue from the consumer technology industry in 2018 is estimated to reach $351 billion, up 3.9% from the previous year. The report, released ahead of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, also examined some product segments of interest, such as streaming and smart speakers. Continue Reading
The Google Assistant voice control platform is getting integrated with Android Auto. The interactive car dashboard previously had Google Voice support, but now it will have the full feature set available from Google Assistant. It will still offer the more common functions that Android Auto owners have likely already been using, such as pulling up music or driving directions. Kia has also added Google Assistant support. Continue Reading
Mike Reznick’s Reznick Media is leveraging CES to announce that he is partnering with Frequency, a “dynamic audio” provider to audio advertisers, part of audio ad agency F Sharp. Mike Reznick was formerly EVP, Advertising Sales at Triton Digital. Continue Reading
Smart speakers are projected to reach 56.3 million global shipments this year, according to research by British firm Canalys. Amazon Echo and Google Home devices are expected to stay at the top of the field, but more products will likely enter the competition. The United States is expected to be the top market with an estimated 38.4 million units in 2018 and will likely remain at the top through 2020. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio announced several news items at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. The company said it now has more than 110 million registered users for its audio service. It also shared developments related to connected cars, wearables, and voice controls. Continue Reading
SoundCloud drew some heat recently when some users noticed changes in their audio quality. Select people noticed a shift from 128 kbps MP3 to 64 kbps Opus when using the SoundCloud streaming platform. The company has since clarified that these experiences are part of frequent tests it makes of audio, but are not part of any overall change to its technology or listening experience. Continue Reading