In a detailed and wide-ranging data report titled Podcasting Today, Nielsen spotlights diverse podcast audiences, their share of the addressable market, and how they respond to podcast advertising. Click through for much more including graphics and a free download link. Continue Reading
Bauer Media, a leading European digital commercial broadcaster and audio operator, will acquire Communicorp, Ireland’s largest commercial radio group. In this merger, Bauer expands its audio business to eight countries reaching over 55-million listeners. Communicorp owns and operates a portfolio of media channels with a strong focus on commercial radio and emerging digital media. Price is reported to be €100m. Continue Reading
Digital audio advertising exchange company DAX is announcing today that it has reached agreement with NPR to manage the public radio juggernaut’s Canadian podcast ad inventory. The agreement establishes DAX as the exclusive third-party partner for handling sponsorship deals across NPR’s podcast inventory in Canada. Continue Reading
Online counseling service BetterHelp and used car retailer CarMax were the leaders in Magellan AI’s two January podcast rankers: Top Spenders and Top Movers and Shakers. Click through for details and graphics. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia is announcing today its new partnership with Novel, an indie UK podcast company, to produce narrative investigative podcasts. Eleven shows are planned; two are described in today’s announcement: Click for details. Continue Reading
Digital audio was emphasized numerously in the Q4 earnings call of Cumulus Media, supported by a slew of numbers. Podcasting is up in every way for the company, and Cumulus is not particularly acquisition-minded. Click through for details and quotes. Continue Reading
Triton Digital is announcing that its measurement of French-language digital audio streams has been certified by the France-based Alliance for Press and Media Figures (ACPM) association, whose mission is to provide industry-standard measures to certify the audiences of any media that seeks to attract advertisers, including digital radio, websites, applications, podcasts. Continue Reading
Jottings of note:
— Frequency and reach
This Harvard Business Review article separates correlation from causation in digital advertising. Which is better: frequency or reach? P&G and Unilever cut their overall budgets and increased returns.
— Digital marketing predictions
Adobe presents “Three Digital Marketing Predictions for 2021 and Beyond. In briefest summary: Non-linear, privacy, and AI.
— New podcast book
Director of Podcast Pioneers Katharine Kerr is out with a new book: Step by Step Podcasting for Business.
Wednesday, February 24, click through for links Continue Reading
Many of the announcements in Spotify’s flood of news in yesterday’s “Stream On” presentation were about platform features for creators and advertisers. But new and exclusive podcast content was also featured. The biggest headline is certainly the launch of a Barack Obama / Bruce Springsteen conversational show called “Renegades: Born in the USA.” Also, DC Comics and Ava DuVernay. Click through for info, audio, and video Continue Reading
In the slew of announcements during Spotify’s “Stream On” presentation Monday, the company seemed to recognize an affinity between podcasting and blogging. Spotify’s new agreement with WordPress.com, which leverages Spotify’s Anchor podcasting platform, bridges the two realms. The result is near-instant podcasts. We now await the reverse.
Spotify grabbed part of competitor Tidal’s key differentiator yesterday by announcing the introduction of a new subscription level called Spotify Hi-Fi. We have always questioned the degree to which most people can distinguish hi-rez differences, especially given the degrading audio signal chain most people use. Still, it’s a market, and Spotify says users ask for it. Continue Reading
Marketing it as a “first-of-its-kind audio advertising marketplace,” Spotify announced the Spotify Audience Network as part of its wide-ranging “Stream On” presentation. The promotional emphasis is on podcast advertising, but the marketplace itself includes music streamed to an audience of about 155-million listeners in Spotify Free. At the foundation of this initiative is the company’s Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) tech. Continue Reading