RAIN Notes: Monday, February 13
Jottings of Note
— How and When (Semafor)
— Glass Half Full (Signal Hill Insights)
— Dream Come True (The Podglomerate)
News
RAIN Notes: Friday, February 10
Jottings of Note
— Black Podcast Listening (Edison Research)
— Subscriber Benefit (Wondery+)
— Dream Come True (The Podglomerate)
Sirius earnings: Bullish on podcasting despite cyclical softness
“The economics of podcasting got a little out of hand, to say the least.” So said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer of SiriusXM. Sirius noted that headwinds with economic and business uncertainties causing many major advertisers to be cautious in their marketing spend. Still podcasting grew 24% in full-year 2022, and represented 38% of total advertising business in the year. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Thursday, February 9
Jottings of Note
— Wisdom of a Certain Age (Lemonada Media)
— Infinity Measured (Edison Research)
— ChatGPT In Action (Ron Rivlin)
Google reduces podcast involvement in surging AI focus
Google has withdrawn a key podcast listening product, signaling a trim of its podcast initiative. At the same time, Google appears to be rallying a counter initiative to the high-buzz ascendance of AI tool ChatGPT (owned by OpenAi). Recent Backstepping… Continue Reading
American Music Fairness Act reenters Congress, probably bound for stalemate
It has been in circulation since 2021, when the American Music Fairness Act was introduced to Congress.The proposed bill intends to rectify what musicians and their chief lobbying organization, SoundExchange, call a “decades-long injustice.” The argument is over a historical anamoly which has always exempted broadcast radio stations from paying creator royalties — songwriters for the most part. Continue Reading
Spotify earnings message: “Speed plus efficiency”
Spotify was ready for investor questions about the recent reorg. The company’s remarks emphasized a shift from previous spending to future operational efficiency. This core message was connected to every aspect of the product, with some emphasis on podcasting (thanks to relentless investor questioning about the podcast business) and especially the recent departure of Dawn Ostroff, who ran the podcast business. Click for quotes. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Friday, February 3
Jottings of Note
— Boiling Down the Artwork (True Native)
— 185 Nominees (Podcast Academy)
— A Healthy Sign (JAR Audio)
Spotify Q4: 489M users, 205M subs, 100M tracks, 5M podcasts, 300k audiobooks. (Oh, and financials)
“So, by the end of the year, we had more than 100 million tracks on our platform and more than 5 million podcasts and more than 300,000 audio books being enjoyed by almost 0.5 billion listeners.” –Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify… Continue Reading
SoundStack grabs execs from Veritonic, AdsWizz, and Libsyn
SoundStack, the self-defined “audio-as-a-service” podcast tech company, blasted into February by announcing a triple executive raid. Three new executives join SoundStack’s marketing, finance, and product groups. Click for deets and pics. Continue Reading
Libsyn’s links with YouTube to flow data into the AdvertiseCast marketplace
Podcast host Libsyn is announcing a data integration partnership with YouTube. The result is that data about podcast consumption on YouTube will flow into the Libsyn-owned AdvertiseCast advertising marketplace. More announcements to come, Libsyn says. Continue Reading
Marketers bullish on podcast programmatic … but most selected marketers don’t know what programmatic is
In an exceptionally interesting report from global podcast behemoth Acast — “The Rise of Programmatic Podcast Ad Buying” — we learn about a generally bullish attitude among podcast marketers toward podcast programmatic. And there is an interesting detail about how the respondents were screened. Continue Reading