Podtrac released its monthly Top Podcasts ranking for June, among Podtrac-measured shows. NPR appears most often, as owner of nine shows, two more than in the May ranker. Three new shows entered the list in June. Continue Reading
ARN, the Australian media group which manages the iHeartPodcast Network on that continent, released listening numbers that could fairly describe a COVID success story. Podcast tech company Megaphone measured ARN listening from January to mid-March, and compared it to mid-March through June. Several categories, and overall listening, rose during the COVID period.
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Edison Research put out a fact blast from its subscription Share of Ear study, an ongoing quarterly examination of what Americans listen to. From the Q2 study of mid-May surveys, the company found that Americans (13+) have shifted their morning audio routines. Before COVID-19, 50% of the population started listening to any kind of audio by 7:15am. Since COVID-19, that audio start time for 50% of the population is 8:30. What does this imply for the future? Continue Reading
What was previously a Rumor Fact(ory) item is today finalized and confirmed: SiriusXM is buying Stitcher from Scripps. We received press releases from both SiriusXM (via the PR office of subsidiary Pandora) and E.W.Scripps. From Scripps, the news is about that company’s profitable investment in Stitcher over five years. for sirius, the vision gets big, fast, and the company isn’t shy about claiming preeminence in podcasting. Continue Reading
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its annual Podcast Advertising Revenue Study for 2019. It contains last year’s metrics and projections for full-year 2020. COVID-19 is built into the forecast research. $1B annual revenue is in sight, though projections have slowed down that track. Host-read ads still dominate. So do direct-to-consumer ads. Click through for much more. Continue Reading
Pod Drop features new and returning podcasts. Today — A guru who’s also a convicted felon; a series about addiction; and unusual stories tracked down by CNN. Continue Reading
Toronto-based TPX (more lengthily known as The Podcast Exchange) is announcing the availability of programmatic podcast advertising. The tech is powered by Triton Digital. While this initiative obviously targetsCanad, TPX’s home market, the PR carefully points out it is for “premium domestic and international podcast publishers.” TPX anticipastes questions about the initiative, and answers important ones in an unusually detailed press release. Continue Reading
by Jeff Umbro
RAIN News welcomes Jeff Umbro in his first weekly appearance as guest columnist. In this edition, he offers in-depth analysis of siriusXM’s pending acquisition of Stitcher, and covers other podcasting news as well. Jeff is CEO of the Podglomerate podcast network. Click through for more details about Jeff, and of course to read the column. Continue Reading
Podcast content network Wondery has appointed DAX as its exclusive advertising partner in Canada, we are learning today. DAX will offer Canadian advertisers spot ads and host-read sponsorship messages. Wondery continues to be enterprisingly international. Although translation is probably not necessary for the Canadian market, wondery has been a pioneer in translating hit shows for non-English speaking audiences in other parts of the world. Continue Reading
Another legacy media brand dives deeper into podcasting. New York Magazine (a Vox company) hired its first editorial director of audio, Hanna Rosin. A Stanford University alumna, D.C.-based Rosin comes to New York Magazine from The Atlantic and Slate, according to her LinkedIn page, but is probably better known to many as co-host of NPR’s Invisibilia. Continue Reading
The enterprise podcast hosting and monetization company Megaphone announced a partnership with podcast advertising attribution company Podshights. In this arrangement, Megaphone will provide attribution metrics to all campaigns run through the Megaphone Targeted Marketplace. Continue Reading
In its latest app update, Pandora now offers offline listening to podcasts — in other words, downloading them. We had read that the feature was exclusive to subscribers, of which there are two tiers: Plus, and semi-interactive streaming service, and Premium, a fully interactive audio listening and collection service. We thought this limitation was unusual, and reached out to Pandora for confirmation, which we received. Click through for a perspective.
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