RAIN Notes: January 8
— Innately Personal (Jennifer Witz
— Exponential (E.B. Moss)
— Mapping Serialization (Dan Misener)
— Dream Come Tru (Buzz Knight Media) Continue Reading
Sirius XM
RAIN Notes: January 6
— Terry Foxx (Black Information Network)
— Leading Intelligence (Hetal Thaker Patel)
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RAIN Notes: December 19
— Philosophical (Evergreen Podacsts)
— Mission Critical (Podnews)
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RAIN Notes: December 16
— Slipping Into The Role (Slipstream / Jonathan Lane)
— Spotify Rapped (Spotify)
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“True potential” in Sirius XM podcast biz. Fortune 500 buying in. Pandora hanging in.
In the recent Q2 earnings call from Sirius XM, we heard a measured bullishness about the audio giant’s podcast business, including a key bragging point of interest: CEO Jennifer Witz noted that the first half of 2023 booked over 2,600 podcast campaigns across more than 100 Fortune 500 brands. Click for lots more detail. Continue Reading
Farewell to Stitcher as SiriusXM seeks to consolidate users
In a sad but arguably predictable action, Sirius XM announces it will shut down the Stitcher podcast app in August. Founded in 2008, Stitcher is a venerable brand in the renaissance of podcasting. Existing Stitcher registered users will be shifted to the Sirius XM platform. The decision might have a brand maintenance aspect as well. Click for details. Continue Reading
New Hampshire Public Radio piles its podcasts into Stitcher for exclusive deal
New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) has made an exclusive national marketing agreement with Stitcher, a subsidiary of Sirius XM, in which SXM Media will represent ad sales for NHPR’s original podcasts. Continue Reading
AdsWizz reaches one billion monthly podcast downloads
Digital audio advertising company AdsWizz is announcing having reached the milestone of one billion monthly downloads. The company is paired with podcast host Simplecast, via separate acquisitions by parent entity Sirius XM. Continue Reading
Global buys into iHeartMedia — 8.8%
UK-centered media and technology company Global has activated its investment arm, Honeycomb Investments LTD, to acquire 8.8% of iHeartMedia, the largest American commercial radio group and top podcast publisher. Remembering that Liberty also owns a stake in iHM, we speculate a brewing battle of buyers, as listener reach and advertising pull are increasingly parts of a cross-category landscape. Continue Reading
Jeff Umbro: SiriusXM, Spotify, Amazon, and the New York Times Announce Earnings
by Jeff Umbro
In this week’s column, The Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro rounds up recent earnings reports from Spotify, SiriusXM, The New York Times, and Amazon. (With stock charts.) A nice grab-bag of industry updates rounds out the issue. Oh, also a podcast recommendation. Continue Reading
SiriusXM earnings: A Pandora write-down + praise; Stitcher and the podcast biz. And the numbers.
SiriusXM, whose native and acquired assets address 150-million listeners, one of the largest audiences in American audio, reported Q4 earnings. Here, we recap the major financial points, then dive into key remarks pertaining to subsidiaries Pandora, Stitcher, and podcasting generally. Click through for illuminating quotes from the investor call. Continue Reading
Jeff Umbro: Content Moderation: Twitter, YouTube, Podcasts?
by Jeff Umbro
In this week’s column, The Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro grapples with the often-overlooked, always-challenging topic of podcast content moderation. Should podcasting undergo the level of scrutiny that social networks do? Along with these ruminations, the column catches up with news from Spotify, Apple, and elsewhere. Continue Reading