iHeartMedia today announces that Sarah van Mosel, formerly CRO of Stitcher, will lead the company’s new iHeart Audience Network (“iAN”), an highly scaled audio inventory and audience targeting environment that spans podcasting (iHeartPodcast Network), streaming audio (iHeartRadio), and the vast reach of the largest commercial radio group in the U.S. Continue Reading
The RAIN Podcast Business Lunch features Cassasndra LaPrairie, Performance Marketing Lead at fintech company Wise, speaking with Scott Davis, SVP of NPR Sponsorship. Continue Reading
Podcast network Wondery has announced and opened The Booth, a free opportunity to participate in surveys, see new podcast ideas before they become public, and (in the promo language) “shape the future of podcasts.” It starts with a survey. Continue Reading
Tom Webster, SVP of Edison Research and a widely recognized keynoter at audio industry events, will leave Edison Research at the end of May. He announced the decision in today’s issue of his I Hear Things newsletter. Click for more info. Continue Reading
The trascript of Manoush Zomorodi’s appearance on the Podcast Business Lunch on April 6, 2022. We asked her to review her entire podcast career, starting as a network producer, migrating to startup entrepreneur, and returning to a big network as host of The TED Radio Hour. It’s a fascinating trip with one of the most accomplished audio producers and personalities. Continue Reading
Riverside, the remote video production platform increasingly used by audio podcasters, has completed a $35-million fundraising round. The investment is led by Oren Zeev (early investor in Audible and many other startups). The funding windfall comes days after the announcement of a high-level partnership with Spotify. Continue Reading
Spotify slightly missed its MAU (monthly average user) growth for the first quarter in an insistently upbeat investor call. No matter how the analysts received it, the public stock dropped to its lowest level ever, dipping below the IPO opening… Continue Reading
Spotify released its quarterly inancials for Q1 today, revealing a four percent month-over-month growth of monthly active users (MAUs), from 406-million to 422-million. Those numbers include both parts of Spotify’s platform model: paying subscribers and non-paying listeners who hear ads. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group (WMG) today unveiled its new podcast network, Interval Presents, which will produce multi-format, culture-forward audio content at the intersection of music, pop culture, and social impact. The initiative marks the first major music label to follow in Sony Music’s lead; Sony entered the podcast arena five years ago in May, 2017. Click for show details. Continue Reading
Industry group Podcast Taxonomy was founded in January 2021 (see RAIN coverage HERE), serving to define roles and responsibilities in podcast creation. Today we learn of updates. Nine new roles have been added to the group’s definitional whitepaper. Click to see them, plus new “also known as” titles. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has added a new component to its sprawling reportage of podcast downloads and podcast network success in major markets around the world, launching the Canada Podcast Report. Total downloads of all shows by participating publishers in the month of March is 13.8M. Click for more details. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note
— Retirement (Ad Results Media)
— Best (Triton Digital)
— Playpods (Apple)