Podcasting

Comprehensive coverage of the podcasting industry and its business ecosystem.

SiriusXM closes Stitcher: 150M addressable audience, new lines of reporting, Pandora gets more podcasts

Posted on by Brad Hill

SiriusXM has closed its acquisition of Stitcher, three months after the July announcement that the satellite giant would buy the pioneering podcast company. Stitcher joins Pandora as a wholly-owned Sirius company. SiriusXM also has an exclusive ad sales partnership with Soundcloud. Today’s announcement puts the combined audience at 150-million listeners, and calls that reach “the largest addressable audience in North America across all categories of digital audio – music, sports, talk, and podcasts.” Continue Reading →

2

Steve Goldstein: Music Finally Meets Podcasts

Posted on by Steve Goldstein

by Steve Goldstein
In this guest column, Steve Goldstein discusses spotify’s new feature which allows music into podcasts, via the Anchor service. He recognizes the important (while noting some clunkiness in the end product), and also notes that broadcast radio has spent years decreasing the role of “the passionate musicologist DJ’s of FM radios early days.” Continue Reading →

Curiouscast, Corus Entertainment’s pod network, announces fall slate

Posted on by Brad Hill

Curiouscast, the podcast network owned and operated by Canada’s Corus Entertainment, has released its fall schedule of new and returning shows. The lineup features three investigative podcasts including the award-winning Crime Beat (Season 3), and new shows 13 Hours: Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre and Whatever Happened To. Four shows are featured in today’s announcement. Continue Reading →

Wondery pulls “Business Wars” into Wondery Plus subscription service

Posted on by Brad Hill

One of Wondery’s best known shows, Business Wars, is preparing a new season that will be distributed exclusively by Wondery Plus, the company’s ad-free subscription service. Some podcasts presented in Wondery Plus also are distributed via RSS normally, with ads in the programs. In this case, the new season of Business Wars is called and “Wondery + Exclusive.”  Continue Reading →

Spoken Word Audio Report 2020: Share jumps; 43% listen daily

Posted on by Brad Hill

The Spoken Word Audio Report 2020, produced by Edison Research and NPR, is out. One broad and important finding: 75% of the U.S. population (18+) listens to spoken word audio monthly. Daily, it is 43%. AM/FM is paying the price for increased listening to other platforms of spoken word audio; the trend is clear from 2014 to 2020. Click through for much more, and graphics, and a link to the download. Continue Reading →

Amazon acquires podcast.com and podcasting.com

Posted on by Brad Hill

In a blockbuster domain acquisition which indicates strategic purpose, Amazon has acquired the domains podcast.com and podcsting.com, we learned from Podnews. The domains lead to the Audible landing page for podcasts. Audible does not distribute public podcasts via RSS, but it does create originals. This is a land grab by Amazon-owned Audible, and it seems like the company is creating a unique category definition and experience of audio storytelling. Continue Reading →

Sam Harris: Has the Pandemic Offered a Pathway to Kids’ Podcasts?

Posted on by Sam Harris

RAIN is delighted to introduce the first piece from guest columnist Sam Harris of Hook Research in the UK. In this inaugural column, Harris explores the state of the kids spoken word content market in the UK and contemplates the benefits for brands operating within it. Plenty of research and quotes here, plus an overview of the child-oriented podcast and audiobook markets. Continue Reading →

Acast adds keyword targeting to podcast advertising, citing the supremacy of context

Posted on by Brad Hill

If users search for online content based on keywords, why shouldn’t advertisers purchase marketing campaigns the same way? In fact, they can do that within Google’s ad ecosystem. Now, podcast advertisers have an avenue for keyword-based targeting within the Acast marketplace, according to an Acast announcement. The initiative is based on proprietary technology, and an interesting view of the future. Continue Reading →

Spreaker launches Campaign Manager, giving podcasters more direct control of ad trafficking

Posted on by Brad Hill

Podcast host and technology company Spreaker has launched the Spreaker Campaign Manager, a tool which allows podcasters to have a more direct relationship with advertisers while increasing the podcaster’s control over ad placement. It is geared to shows where advertisers are “knocking down your organization’s door to be included in your catalog of podcasts,” Spreaker says. Continue Reading →

IAB UK Podcast Upfronts 2020: Presentation summaries and videos

Posted on by Brad Hill

Following the U.S. Podcast Upfront a month ago, today the IAB UK produced its corresponding event. This post contains summaries and videos of the presentations. As in the U.S., the UK Upfronts transpired virtually. Presenters for this event were Acast, Audioboom, Bauer Media, DAX, Podfront, and Spotify. Following are the session summaries from the IAB UK website, and the complete video presentations. Click through to see it all, and link to the IAB UK. Continue Reading →