In an encouraging sign of variety in listener choice, 44 Australian podcasts debuted on Triton Digital’s Australian Podcast Ranker for November. The ranker lists 200 podcasts, a first-time expansion of Triton’s format. The company cites “the influx of new podcasts.” Click for more info. Continue Reading
by Steve Goldstein
In this epic review of podcasting in 2023, guest columnist Steve Goldstein takes us on a retrospective tour of business developments in the fast-moving, still-evolving industry. What is a podcast — that existential question starts things off. YouTube. Gimlet. The job scene. Amp. Brand safety. The audio market generally. Research notes. Success at the top. AI. Omnichannel distribution. SiriusXM. Wall Street. Public radio. And … the opportunity of 2024. A must read. Continue Reading
Sound You Can See; Podcasting’s Video Dilemma, a new study produced by Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill Insights, explores the duality of podcasting as an audio and video format. Fielded in November the survey reveals a large volume of granular information about usage habits among video consumers of podcasts. Click for some key details, graphs, and a link to the complete 81-page PDF. Continue Reading
In a dramatic simplification of its mobile experiences, NPR is discontinuing the NPR One app. In this consolidation the company has moved NPR One features into the existing (and now revamped) NPR app. Click for details and history. Continue Reading
Pierre Bouvard of the Westwood One Blog has revealed portions of the Share Of Ear research study performed by Edison Research. Among many results, we learn that spoken word audio is generally up — due initially to the pandemic and accelerating since then — and ad-supported streaming music via Spotify and Pandora is down. Oh, and podcasting share has risen dramatically over seven years. Continue Reading
In a joint announcement this morning, Spotify and media giant Warner Bros. announced a distribution and sales agreement which will see podcasts in the Warner Bros Discovery unit hosted and monetized in Spotify’s technology and sales systems. The agreement includes shows in over two dozen media brands owned by Discovery, including CNN and HBO. Continue Reading
The FCC has announced an open application period, starting on November 1, for new Low Power FM (LPFM) Radio Stations. The opening follows a brief blackout period for new applications. Click for a help center with filing instructions. Continue Reading
Global podcast company Acast is publicizing its accomplishments in Australia. As a broad and significant metric, the company has disclosed that it has delivered $31-million in local ad revenue to its indie podcast creators. The time span for this accomplishment is about six years — Acast entered the Aussi market in 2017.
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Spotify’s well known Chief Financial Officer, Paul Vogel, will leave the company in April. A search for his replacement is underway as of now. All this in a straightforward announcement. It will be a fairly short tenure for Vogel, who… Continue Reading
by Steve Goldstein
“Authenticity is Merriam-Webster’s 2023 word of the year,” Steve Goldstein informs us in his latest guest column. That word resonated in the podcasting field, used to represent a unique value to both listeners and advertisers — “both a cliche and a cornerstone,” Steve says. That brings podcasting up against AI, arguably pretty low on the authenticity scale. Things brings up a conundrum: Is AI a boon to podcasting or a threat? Steve holds forth. Continue Reading