James Cridland returns with a richly informative newsletter about radio around the world. An Australian radio station doesn’t give time checks — for a clever reason. BBC’s random traditions. Much more in this roundup of observations and insights. Continue Reading
Today audio juggernaut SiriusXM is announcing the merger of three internal sales divisions attached to Sirius, Pandora, and Stitcher. Unifying the three ad sales entities creates a marketplace of 150-million listeners across a constellation of satellite programming, lean-back streaming music, and podcasting. The newly combined unit is called SXM Media. Continue Reading
According to the new Techsurvey 2021 from Jacobs Media 29% of P1 radio users listen to podcasts weekly or daily. That nearly matches the U.S. national number measured by Edison Research and Triton Digital. Are the radio-associated podcast listeners taking that time away from AM/FM listening? Continue Reading
The drip of announcements related to The Ambies, the awards program produced by The Podcast Academy, has turned into a stream of news as the organization discloses celebrity participation for the first Ambies ceremony on May 16. Click for details. Continue Reading
Jottings of note:
— In Front of the Upfront (IAB and RAIN)
— Millions of Moms (Call of the Day)
— A Day in the Life (Podcast Day)
To promote its Podcast Consumer Tracker research product, Edison Research released an interesting data munchable: the top 10 most recalled brands in podcast advertising for Q1. We compared Edison’s list with the top spenders in podcast advertising from Magellan AI. The result? Money and memory are bedfellows of advertising. Continue Reading
Techsurvey 2021 from Jacobs Media was released today. This annual research project surveys highly engaged P1 radio listeners (42,000 of them) on questions about their broad listening and tech-usage tendencies. Much interesting information this year as always, including how the appeal of radio is changing. Hint: It is increasingly NOT about the music. Continue Reading
One audio company claimed a spot in the parade of big media brands which is IAB Newfronts: Audacy. JD Crowley and Ken Lagana held forth and featured a custom video of AJR playing its hit song “Bang!” Also — an upcoming app relaunch.
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In its first quarter earnings report this week, Cumulus Media framed a predictable Covid downturn as an upturn in progress. There’s more money in the bank. Podcasting experienced growth in revenue, downloads, and syndication strategy — and was also rebranded. Continue Reading
Global audio streaming service Deezer is becoming a cornerstone investor in DREAMSTAGE, a U.S.-based live music streaming startup. (No financials are disclosed.) The new funding will enable the company to significantly speed up growth and expand its operations. In the announcement, Deezer cites a MIDiA Research projection that global live music streaming will grow to $6.4-billion by 2027. Continue Reading
Peabody has announced its final nominees for this year’s awards, bestowed in June. Among the categories of Entertainment, Children’s/Youth, News, Documentary, and Public Service is a collection of eight Podcast & Radio nominees. Click for the list and descriptions. Continue Reading
Audio giant Audible is sending around notice of a development and production deal with audio storytelling company Treefort Media, to produce original scripted audio series. Described as a “first-look development and production deal,” three shows are starting production now, each one featuring known film actors. To our eyes, they appear primed for video/TV crossover. Continue Reading