RAIN Notes: Friday, August 11
— Podcast Finances (Libsyn)
— Groundbreaking + New Heights (Interview Valet)
— Upshift (Sirius XM)
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Shifting Share of Ear: A nine-year comparison of radio and podcasts
Edison Research has been operating its landmark Share of Ear Study for nine years. The full service is for subscribers, but Edison releases a summary graphic with each iteration of the survey. Looking back at the first release, and comparing it to the most recent (Q2 2023), reveals dramatic tidal shifts in time spent listening to different audio categories among American adults and teens. Click for revelations. Continue Reading
Alex Cooper (“Call Her Daddy”) launches Gen Z podcast network
Leading podcast entrepreneur and Spotify star Alex Cooper, creator of Call Her Daddy, is forming a podcast company with her fiancee Matt Kaplan (Founder/CEO of ACE Entertainment). The company is called The Unwell Network. This enterprise does not change Cooper’s exclusive licensing of Call Her Daddy on Spotify. Continue Reading
CoHost/Quill launches Advanced Audio Demographics, adding interests, hobbies, social habits
Podcast analytics and audience insights platform CoHost is announcing a new slate of demographics that includes listener interests, hobbies, and social media habits (and pets!) in addition to standard age/gender/income identifiers. Click for details. Continue Reading
Spotify bolsters pod subscription business, adding Patreon-exclusive streams
Spotify has built a new piece of linkage between the streaming giant’s platform and Patreon, where many subscription podcasts are managed. The new connectivity allows Patreon subscribers to access their paid-for podcasts within the Spotify app. Continue Reading
Cross-platform listeners: A trending quest for knowledge, entertainment, connection (Audacy study)
Media behemoth Audacy is splashing results of new survey work which explores cross-platform listening. Called The Rise of the Cross-Platform Listener, it drills into the “AudioX listener” concept which Audacy explored in the company’s meaty State of Audio report last summer. Click for details, findings, and links. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia Q2: Digital Audio Group leads revenue amid overall earning slippage
iHeartMedia’s Q2 earnings report, rich with metrics and charts, describes a giant audio company whose growth is focused on the digital side, with consolidated financials slipping a bit year-over-year. Click for lots of detail and graphic charts. Continue Reading
US Court rejects all appeals of Copyright Royalty Board ruling, ending two-year appeal of streaming royalties
It took more than two years: Webcasting music royalties are finalized for the 2021-2025 period. David Oxenford’s Broadcast Law Blog. The every-five-year royalty setting process has been controversial in the past, and is always a battle of music owners vs. the streaming platforms which license music. Click for the details, and a link to David Oxenford’s full coverage. Continue Reading
Podtrac Top Podcast Publishers shows audience growth, and RAIN Remix
In the Top Podcast Publishers ranking in July from Podtrac, we are told that the unique monthly audience (UMA) increased for two of the top 20 publishers, month-over-month. Meanwhile the average monthly audience for the entire cohort was down by nine percent. Leading networks iHeartPodcasts, Wondery, and NPR take the top three spots based on the ranker’s native sorting. But things get shaken up in the RAIN Remix, which resorts the Podtrac data to show audience and downloads per active show. Click for details and graphics. Continue Reading
Acast fosters advertiser/host teamwork with “AdCollab” launch
Global podcast hosting and marketplace technology company Acast has launched “AdCollab,” a service which enables advertisers to team up directly with podcasts hosts in planning host-read sponsorship campaigns. This initiative has been in testing mode since April, and is available to all advertisers planning host-read campaigns. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Monday, August 7
— Definitions (Jonas Woost)
— Intentional Boredom (iHeartPodcsts)
— Perspectives (The Podglomerate)
Steve Goldstein: When Podcast Apps Miss The Mark
by Steve Goldstein
In his latest guest column, Steve Goldstein offers a litany of podcast listening apps which launched with hope and fanfare, but underperformed their expectations. It’s an interesting trip through time. Continue Reading