Spotify released its quarterly inancials for Q1 today, revealing a four percent month-over-month growth of monthly active users (MAUs), from 406-million to 422-million. Those numbers include both parts of Spotify’s platform model: paying subscribers and non-paying listeners who hear ads. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group (WMG) today unveiled its new podcast network, Interval Presents, which will produce multi-format, culture-forward audio content at the intersection of music, pop culture, and social impact. The initiative marks the first major music label to follow in Sony Music’s lead; Sony entered the podcast arena five years ago in May, 2017. Click for show details. Continue Reading
Industry group Podcast Taxonomy was founded in January 2021 (see RAIN coverage HERE), serving to define roles and responsibilities in podcast creation. Today we learn of updates. Nine new roles have been added to the group’s definitional whitepaper. Click to see them, plus new “also known as” titles. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has added a new component to its sprawling reportage of podcast downloads and podcast network success in major markets around the world, launching the Canada Podcast Report. Total downloads of all shows by participating publishers in the month of March is 13.8M. Click for more details. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note
— Retirement (Ad Results Media)
— Best (Triton Digital)
— Playpods (Apple)
In this week’s guest column, James reviews the newly launched TalkTV to start. It went well until technical problems interrupted a call-in critical of the show. “As a way to run TV and radio output as one service, it works very well,” James says. Then, the BBC fixes technical problems with its Radio 4 interviews. And more.
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In its US Podcast Advertising 2022 Report released yesterday, eMarketer projects podcast ad spending to reach $1.7B this year, and $2.2B next year on its way to $2.6B in 2024. Continue Reading
AudioValley, parent company of digital audio tech platform Targetspot and venerated streaming app Winamp, has released annual financials for full year 2021. Targetspot represents 92% of the company’s revenue. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note
— The Moms (Edison Research)
— Les Mots (Deezer)
— Home Run (Fresh Air Production)
Two weeks ago global podcast company Audioboom disclosed its Q1 financials, reporting triple-digit revenue gain and double-digit podcast download gain. Today we see Audioboom’s full-year reporting of 2021 financials, where the success story gains more breadth. Click through for tons of detail. Continue Reading
In a significant product evolution, Spotify has announced the release of its Video Podcasts product from testing, making it available to all creators in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.K. It is an exceptionally mature launch, startlingly packed with features helpful in production, monetization, audience engagement, and analytics. Click for lots of detail. Continue Reading
This Rumor Fact(ory) comes from Bloomberg, which reports unnamed sources saying that the Obamas will not renew their deal with Spotify on behalf of their podcast creation company Higher Ground. The Obamas are being courted by iHeartMedia and Amazon/Audible, according to those insiders. Continue Reading