James Cridland returns with the latest installment of his weekly column. In this edition, how Spotify is eating into AM/FM listening — data is from Morgan Stanley. Also: The BBC in the pandemic. AM radio declining in Europe. Collectors of radio station beers. And much more. Continue Reading
Spotify is hoping a new podcast advertiser product — call-to-action cards — will bring interactivity to podcast sponsorship, allow listeners to easily pursue advertised offers, and double the benefit of podcast advertising to companies which offer products directly to consumers. The cards exited a testing period into formal launch today. Continue Reading
The Jordan Harbinger Show joined Podtrac’s monthly Top 20 Podcasts ranker for December. The other 19 shows all appeared in the previous month. RAIN’s 6-month comparison illustrates the nearly-unchanging stability of this list. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note, smart speaker edition
— Big Distro (Audacy / Samsung)
— Not Entirely On Air (On Air Fest)
— Broadening (Higher Ground)
In a just-released set of survey results from podcast consulting service Improve Podcast, longevity and detailed preparation lead to better podcast monetization. The survey queried over a thousand podcasters on basic show metrics and income. Continue Reading
In the December Top Podcast Publishers list from Podtrac, U.S. Unique Monthly Audience increased for 4 of the Top 20 publishers in December over November. Total Global Downloads for the Top 20 were up 9% month-over-month and up 19% year-over-year. Click through for the entire list, plus RAIN’s remix which sorts top publishers by average audience size and downloads per show. Continue Reading
In a very interesting set of benchmarks, podcast ad marketplace AdvertiseCast (a subsidiary of Libsyn) released its internal CPM numbers. The metrics include average cost-per-thousand podcast ad impressions for 30-second and 60-second sponsorships, as well as rates for podcasts with different numbers of listeners. Click for two-year trendlines for podcasts addressing different audience sizes. Continue Reading
Only 6,868 new podcasts were launched in December, a 13-month low point. That marker continued a four-month slide as new-show production diminished toward the end of 2021. However, 2021 as a whole produced the second-highest number of new podcasts in 12 years (over 687,000 of them). Click for charts. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note, smart speaker edition
— Ad Infotainment (Acast)
— Oopsamatic (The Verge)
— PRX Raids BSO (PRX)
The U.S. recorded music industry is projected to exceed a 48-year revenue record set in 1999, according to RAIN’s examination of reports from the RIAA. The historical revenue high point was set in 1999 at $14.6-billion in recorded music revenue. Based on a persistent trend of H2 revenue exceeding H1 revenue, we project a new high water mark driven by streaming, the most lucrative channel for music labels. Click through for details and infographics. Continue Reading
RAIN’s most-read articles of 2021. Some news items have import that goes beyond the moment — so it is that two of our top five were posted in 2020. On another note, hurrah to RAIN’s stellar lineup of guest columnists. Two of them landed in the 2021 top five. Continue Reading
The Podscape, a graphic representation of the podcast business landscape created by Magellan AI and Sounds Profitable, has been revised, again. The revision brings the detailed and useful infographic do date with podcast industry acquisitions made since the previous version. Continue Reading