Podtrac released a special ranker of the top new podcasts released during 2019. Wondery had an impressive showing in the ranker, with eight podcasts in the top 20, mostly investigative projects with partners such as Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times. Continue Reading
Pandora announced the full rollout of its latest mobile redesign. The new look was introduced to a limited number of users in October. Its new features include a personalized “For You” section and the Pandora Modes option for tweaking the curation algorithms of a station. Continue Reading
RadioPublic has ended its Paid Listens program. This service, which offered payments for every thousand listens accumulated, debuted in February 2018. It was intended to help smaller podcasters monetize even if they lacked the resources to support advertisements in their episodes. Continue Reading
British audio production house and consultancy Listen Entertainment has renewed an agreement with leading audiobook marketplace Audible.com to produce a follow-up in the “A Grown-Up Guide” audio franchise. The project is an interesting combination of multi-episode podcast and audiobook. Continue Reading
Podspec: Detailing the podcast space. In this inaugural Podspec, we look at the top daily news shows to survey their attributes including length, use of music, use of pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, and their ad loads. Continue Reading
The Reuters Institute has published its foundational Digital News Report 2019. It mentions podcasting 186 times. A key point is a so-called Pivot to Audio, which describes how phones and smart speakers are fostering the growth in podcast news shows. Continue Reading
The Audio Production Awards, a ceremony to honor excellence in radio, audiobook, and podcast creation hosted by AudioUK, announced its tenth year of results. Fresh Air Productions was named the production company of the year. Continue Reading
Targetspot sent us a note that the company has hired David Sasson to enhance the company’s U.S. sales presence, focused on the northeast. Sasson has filled executive sales positions at IGA worldwide, Tribune Publishing Company, and Nexstar Digital. Continue Reading
Katz Digital, an arm of the Katz Media Group, has entered a partnership with Vibenomics, a provider of streaming audio experiences. Katz will represent Vibenomics’ premium inventory for its audio out-of-home programmatic advertising marketplace. Continue Reading
The UK is experiencing a surge in audiobook popularity. Deloitte’s latest projections anticipate that audiobooks will generate UK revenue of £115 million in 2020 and outpace sales of ebooks. A similar growth curve is happening in the U.S. Continue Reading
Megaphone announced that the latest client for its podcast hosting and technology tools is CBNC. The media company will take advantage of Megaphone’s services for hosting, publishing, dynamic ad insertion, and more. Continue Reading
Digital audio advertising platform DAX held an Upfront presentation last week. The company announced multiple new publisher deals at the event as well as a new feature for its clients. Continue Reading