Jeff Vidler: How Can the Podcast Industry Best Manage the Ad Revenue Boom?

by Jeff Vidler
In his latest guest column, Jeff Vidler contemplates U.S. ad spend on podcasting has nearly doubled every two years since 2015. Listeners are receptive. The blend of advertisers is changing, and so are ad types. The highly successful host-read ad is difficult to scale. As podcasting steers toward programmatic, Jeff examines new formats and campaign types. Continue Reading

PRX gets distro/sponsorship agreements with Magnificent Noise, WaitWhat, and Skeptoid Media

PRX has evidently been busy making deals, and today released three of them. The public media organization is partnering with Magnificent Noise, WaitWhat, and Skeptoid Media to distribute selected podcasts, and provide sponsorship and promotional support. Click for details. Continue Reading

James Cridland’s International Radio Trends: Radio vs Spotify — some data

by James Cridland

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 intros interactive call-to-action cards for podcast advertisers, reducing reliance on discount codes

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

Downloads up, audience mixed (Podtrac) and RAIN Remix of December Top Publishers ranker

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

Surge in Latino podcast listening the #1 “Top Finding” in 2021 from Edison Research

In an online presentation today, Edison Research released its Top Ten Findings of 2021, an interesting selection of key metrics from the company’s many consumer survey studies such as The Infinite Dial, Share of Ear, Podcast Consumer Tracker, and The Black Podcast Listener Report. Click through for details and infographics. Continue Reading

Global acquires Captivate for heightened podcast exposure and monetization

UK-based radio group and worldwide media company Global has acquired podcast hosting/tech outfit Captivate. Global is the developer and holding company of DAX, the company’s international digital audio advertising exchange. Captivate will become part of Global Player, and will take advantage of DAX’s immense reach for monetization opportunities. Continue Reading

Podcast advertisers in November: Familiar brands plus the Pentagon

In Magellan AI’s just-released ranking of podcast ad spending, we see the continuation of a sameness trend. Eight of the top 15 companies have ranked in the list for eight straight months. And in November there are no new brands that haven’t appeared once in the past eight months of RAIN comparisons. Click through for links and RAIN’s 8-month chart. Continue Reading