Comprehensive coverage of the podcasting industry and its business ecosystem.
Podtrac released its monthly Top Podcasts ranker (U.S. listening) for October, which continues to show the success-breeds-success principle. The top five shows are identical from the September report. Of the three shows with the most upward movement in the chart, two of them publish multiple times a day. Continue Reading
A few interesting notes related to podcasting from Cumulus Media in the company’s Q3 earnings report. Cumulus owns Westwood One and the Westwood One Podcast Network, although neither entity was mentioned by name in the earnings call remarks by CEO Mary Berner and CFO Frank Lopez-Balboa. Podcasting provided a bulward during trouble performance of streaming and local digital marketing. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia announces today that it has accomplished a partnership with Pushkin Industries, the audio production company founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018. The alliance makes iHeartMedia the exclusive sales partner for Pushkin podcasts. Beyond the sales effort, the two companies will co-produce new shows, with a project timeline stretching over the next two years. Two of those shows are sketched out in today’s announcement. Continue Reading
Podcast pioneer and RAIN speaker Kellie Riordan has launched Deadset Studios, a consultancy and production house. The new company describes its mission this way: “We offer high-level strategic advice to media houses, brands, organisations and independent producers to set you… Continue Reading
by Jeff Umbro
In this week’s column, Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro covers key podcast news items from the past week. Also, he claims to have listened to non-political podcasts … for one day. Continue Reading
Riverside.fm is announcing its emergence from stealth mode with $2.5-million of seed investment from Oren Zeed. Riverside.fm is a video+audio recording and livestream platform for podcasters, with a specialty of hi-rez recording of audio and video in separate tracks. Riverside’s competitive strategy explicitly targets audio connection platform Zencastr, promising to “drink Zencastr’s milkshake.” Continue Reading
Week-over-week podcast downloads were nearly flat in Podtrac’s just-released weekly report. The longer year-over-year view shows 45%+ increase in downloads. Click through for charts. Continue Reading
CUMULUS MEDIA’s Westwood One today announced a partnership with Rolling Stone to market and distribute their podcasts Useful Idiots with Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper, and Rolling Stone Music Now. The agreement includes the back catalogue in addition to future episodes. Continue Reading
After Spotify’s Q3 earnings call this week, SPOT stock demonstrated investor unhappiness with some aspects of the financial performance, along with a wider midweek market downturn. This post digs into the call details to uncover several key points related to content metrics, audience size, and podcast strategy. Click through for some interesting metrics. Continue Reading
In one of its most imaginative studies to date, Magellan AI has released data showing how the two main party presidential campaigns have used podcast marketing. The quick summary is that both campaigns have advertised in podcasts, but on different schedules and in different ways. Click through for details and graphics. Continue Reading
Podcast Radio, the all-digital, all-podcast radio station heard in London, Surrey, Manchester, and Glasgow, has partnered with Curiouscast, the Canadian podcast network and part of the Corus Entertainment Network. A selection of Curiouscast episodes will be inserted into Podcast Radio’s rotation. U.S. listeners can hear Podcast Radio, too. Continue Reading
by Jeff Umbro
In this week’s column, Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro returns from a four-week hiatus with a review of podcast news from near and far. Also, his favorite pods of the moment. Continue Reading