Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Today’s items include a Google Podcasts AMA, some figures from a Russian streaming service, and more of the latest on how the music industry is responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has been moving aggressively to support independent and grassroots artists in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Today, CEO Kerry Trainor authored a blog post outlining the company’s strategy to help alleviate the financial woes performers are facing. Continue Reading
Chartable released an assessment of podcast listening, adding a new layer to the picture of how the world is consuming media during a pandemic. It combined data about downloads with its listening statistics from publishers from Apple Podcasts Connect and Spotify for Podcasters. It examined a subset of about 6,000 podcasts and compared their March results with a baseline of those from the second half of February, when there were just over a dozen confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. Continue Reading
With the coronavirus crisis saturating media news, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that quarantine references would seep into podcast advertising — especially when podcasts hosts are controlling the message to a large extent. Magellan, and podcast advertising analytics company, examined the phenomenon. Continue Reading
Podtrac continues its very interesting year-to-date and week-over-week charting of podcast downloads and audience size. New in this report, Podtrac has added arrays of micro charts for 19 major podcast categories. In these, we see interesting stories being told of attention paid to different types of content. It can be understood as a kind of sociological study of listening in a stressful era. Continue Reading
Nielsen is the latest research company to share its insights on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on audio. It shared a positive outlook for radio from an online survey of 1,000 U.S. adults between March 20-22. While more than half (55%) U.S. listeners have not changed their radio habits, 28% said they are tuning in more as a result of the outbreak. Continue Reading
Stewie and Brian do a podcast. “Let’s make a podcast.” “Wow, that sounds hard.” No, actually Brian it’s about the easiest thing in the world.” Continue Reading
Italy has been dominating headlines as a center of the western world’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The country is expected to take major economic hits as a result of the outbreak, and the music industry will almost certain reverse the positive growth it saw last year. Continue Reading
Voxnest shared its latest statistics on podcast listening, offering a global snapshot of how COVID-19 has impacted audiences. The company noted that its Spreaker is the top hosting platform in Italy, which has been hardest hit by the pandemic in Europe. It also shared details from Spain, from across Europe, and some early figures from the U.S. as it prepares for the full force of the virus. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: “Alexa, what is coronavirus?” Get your classical concert fix in isolation. And don’t despair, indie artists. Continue Reading
Podcast Radio, the London all-podcast DAB station, sent us a note announcing it is giving over three hours a day to Health Info Radio, a coronavirus-focused DAB multiplex station. Podcast Radio will link into it 10am, 1pm, and 5pm London time each day. Continue Reading
Coronovirus is a rare example of a global #1 news topic. How is podcasting responding to the appetite for information? A breakout by time period, region, and category. Continue Reading