Comprehensive coverage of the podcasting industry and its business ecosystem.
by Steve Goldstein
In the latest guest column from Steve Goldstein, he cites Edison Research indicating that spoken word’s share of all audio listening continues to rise. That’s good news, according to Steve, but the breakdown is troubling for talk radio stations. “Talk radio needs to think beyond the transmitter.” Click through for more metrics and graphics. Continue Reading
Podcast advertising market intelligence company Magellan AI is announcing a new partnership with PRX, wherein podcast download data from PRX is ingested to Magellan’s media planning platform, called Magellan AI Verified Downloads, which launched late last year in beta. Continue Reading
In an ambitious and consequential grab, Spotify has acquired two pillars of podcast advertising attribution, Chartable and Podsights. The additions fortify Spotify’s inceasingly formidable podcast tech stack, at the center of which is the Megaphone hosting and ad-tech platform. Continue Reading
The Podcast Academy’s second annual “The Ambies” award ceremony is scheduled for March 22 as an online presentation only. The livestream will be on Twitch exclusively. Today, the Academy releases the nominee field — 178 shows and individuals across 25… Continue Reading
Podchaser is announcing a new integration with podcast hosting and analytics company Transistor. The deal allows Transistor users to easily submit their podcasts to Podchaser via the Transistor dashboard. That’s a more streamlined use case for Transistor users than Podchaser’s podcast-adding page which is open to any show.
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Checking the U.S. Weekly Podcast Download Growth chart from Podtrac, we see that downloads last week were up over three percent from the previous week, which brought the year-long trendline up to 54% growth year-over-year. Click for the visuals. Continue Reading
Apple top-10 charter and NPR hit How I Built This with Guy Roz has been licensed by Amazon Music subsidiary Wondery for semi-exclusive distribution. Wondery and Amazon get the show exclusively for a week, and also enjoy exclusive ad-repping. NPR continues to underwrite. Click for details. Continue Reading
Sweden-HQ’d global podcast company Acast released Q4 and full-year 2021 finances today. For the first time, Acast shows registered a billion listens in a single quarter. Full-year listening reached 3.7-billion plays. Click for finance details. Continue Reading
“We’re really pleased with Stitcher where we’re at right now,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer. He and his executive colleagues bragged about Stitcher’s shows and the placements on “best of” lists in the past year. Additionally, the call noted a synergy of content, marketing, and sales which, Greenstein said, would attract new podcasting talent to Stitcher. Click for more, including an interesting bit about semiconductor shortages. Continue Reading
Leaping into the moment, Canadian research firm Signal Hill Insights has produced a survey study of consumer reaction to the controversy swirling around Spotify’s distribution ownership of The Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan’s wide-ranging interview show is possibly the most successful podcast in the world. Signal Hill dashed into the field for survey work on February 2 and 3. One fulcrum of opinion lies on the American-Canadian border. Click for findings. Continue Reading
In the beautifully produced (virtual only) iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, You’re Wrong About won the Podcast of the Year prize. It is produced by journalist Sarah Marshall, who partners with guests to reconsider a person or event that’s been miscast in the public imagination. Click for competing nominees with their publishers and number of episodes. Also a link to catch-up watch. Continue Reading
Spotify released quarterly earnings last night. In the investor call, the Q&A session began as many observers probably guessed it would: “Our first question today is going to come from Rich Greenfield on Joe Rogan.” CEO Daniel Ek treated it as a non-emergency, with careful answers. Meanwhile, podcasting contributed to higher gross margins. Continue Reading