The global smart speaker market is surging to record levels, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, which frames its recent report as a “market recovery.” The data are from Q2 of this year, compared to Q2 2020, and represent the highest-ever Q2 growth. Click for an illustrative table which tells the whole story. Continue Reading
Spotify wants to broaden the listening repertoire of its Premium subscribers who build playlists. In today’s news, the company introduces Enhance, a song suggestion feature added to “Add song” and “Recommended,” tools which are already bolted onto playlists. Click for details. Continue Reading
Marbyl, a nascent podcast discovery solution created by audio startup Tree Goat Media, seeks to solve a particular problem: Topics people want are buried inside of long listening experiences. The AI-powered app promises to surface and socialize topics within podcast conversations, broadening audiences and facilitating surprising new discoveries. Click through for much more about how it works, illustrations, and how the founders plan to monetize. Continue Reading
If reaching for the screen is too much for advertisers to ask of streaming audio listeners, voice-response ad technology is available. If saying “yes” or “no” is a bridge too far, how about ads which respond to a nod or headshake? That’s the premise of Head Nod Detection, a new piece of ad tech from podcast analytics company Backtracks. Continue Reading
Audio search and discovery platform Audioburst has introduced a podcast player called Finder, which offers search and discovery of keywords and topics within a podcast episode. We test it and are impressed. The company says it’s “one step closer to solving the challenge of audio discovery.” Click for details and a screenshot. Continue Reading
Podcast hosting platform Omny Studio, a unit of iHeartMedia’s Triton Digital subsidiary, has introduced an interesting tool for its network clients which host multiple shows. Called Shared Listeners, the new feature allows publishers to determine how many listeners are unique to a particular show and/or shared across other programs in their network. It adds up to better promo decisions. Click for details and a screenshot. Continue Reading
VURBL, a free streaming audio platform for all audio types, has struck an agreement with DAX for U.S. ad reselling. It is an exclusive deal for DAX. Continue Reading
In an interesting piece of technology development, Audioboom introduced AdRip, a tool which removes host-read commercials from old episodes, creating a new ad break into which timely marketing can be inserted. The company says that 50% of downloads are from back catalogs. Continue Reading
Audio Valley subsidiary and digital audio solutions company Targetspot released first-half earnings for 2021, comparing the results to the same period a year ago. Revenue lifted 51% year-over-year. Continue Reading
As of today, global audio streamer Deezer has joined Ad For Good, a certification label that encourages brands to give at least one percent of their media budgets to social or environmental causes, and provides technology to do so via partnership with Boon.Today. Click for details.
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Remote podcast interview recording platform SquadCast has released v4 of its built-in toolkit, adding features which dramatically enlarge group sizes, and appear to rival and automate certain mastering capabilities of DAWs (digital audio workstations). Continue Reading
After a delay to fix widely reported bugs, Apple announces today a firm launch of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a platform for creators and networks to offer paid listening plans. In most cases, those plans will offer listeners and ad-free experience, and/or unique content not given to non-paying followers. (What will this do to the ongoing confusion of the word “Subscribe” in free podcasts?) Continue Reading