The winter 2019 edition of the Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research has been released on the CES stage, with the latest insights on how listeners are using voice tech and smart speakers. In the new report, 24% of U.S. adults own a smart speaker for an audience of about 60 million people. Continue Reading
Edison Research and NPR have released the results of a new survey into consumption of spoken word audio content. It includes five years of previously unreleased data about audio, including podcasts, news, sports, talk radio, and audiobooks. The Spoken Word Audio Report found that 73% of the U.S. population listened to spoken word audio in the past month. Continue Reading
NPR is changing its approach to video content. After several years running the VuHaus collection of music-related videos from several public radio stations, NPR has relocated that material to a new microsite within NPRMusic.org. This section is called Live Sessions From NPR Music Stations Across America. Continue Reading
NPR has announced the hire of AI expert Noelle LaCharite as Vice President of Digital Technology. NPR’s Chief digital Officer Thomas Hjelm made the announcement. LaCharite has been an artificial intelligence expert at Microsoft and Amazon, and is a veteran speaker, teacher, and digital product developer. Continue Reading
NPR has announced the second Student Podcast Challenge, an opportunity for kids and teachers in grades 5-12 to create and submit new shows. The first year resulted in 6,000 submitted shows from teams representing 25,000 students. Continue Reading
Podtrac released the September edition of its Top 10 Podcast Publishers list. (See below.) Podtrac notes that month-over-month reach gained one percent, while the year-over-year metric was 64% increase in unique listeners. NPR and iHeartRadio trade positions again. Kast Media enters the top-10 group. Continue Reading
NPR has long been a leader in podcasting, and now the organization is forecasting breakthrough financial returns on the audio format. Deborah Cowan, chief financial officer at NPR, said that the network has projected that corporate sponsorship revenue from podcasts will reach $55 million in the 2020 fiscal year. Continue Reading
Podtrac released its Top 10 Podcast Publishers ranking this morning, noting that all 10 network producers showed audience gains from July. iHeartRadio took the #1 spot from NPR for the first time, as the two behemoth podcast producers continue to dominate Podtrac’s ranker. Continue Reading
It took a bit longer than projected, but NPR has named its new chief executive to take over the role from semi-retiring Jarl Mohn. It is John Lansing, currently CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media which runs Voice… Continue Reading
AdsWizz has released a new version of it Ad Insertion Software that includes support for the Remote Audio Data standard developed by NPR. The RAD platform offers reporting on actual listening to a podcast file rather than simply the number of times it is downloaded. Continue Reading
The TED Radio Hour podcast will be sounding a little different next year. NPR announced that Guy Raz will step down from his dual roles as host and editorial director of the show at the end of 2019. Continue Reading
Fifty-three million American adults own smart speakers. Because some people and households own multiple speakers, that adds up to 118.5-million devices — a 78% increase in overall device ownership year-over-year. This, and much other data, come from the NPR/Edison Research Smart Audio Report, released in a webinar today. Continue Reading