Spotify

New from Podtrac: Podcasting rebounds, and Apple grows distribution lead … sort of

Posted on by Brad Hill

In a blast of information preceding its appearance Friday at the IAB Podcast Upfront 2020, Podtrac/Authentic sent us a ream of data and new show deals. CEO Mark McCrery is scheduled to speak at the IAB Podcast Upfront on Friday. Podtrac data indicate that podcast lilsteneing has rebounded from Covid, and that Spotify is chasing Apple hard in audience reach for podcasting. Apple still easily wins in number of downloads. Click through for much more details. Continue Reading →

Joe Rogan lands on Spotify; not exclusive yet; some shows missing

Posted on by Brad Hill

As reported, The Joe Rogan Experience — the world’s most successful podcast by many measures — has landed in the Spotify app. Thus marks the start of this well publicized exclusive distribution deal. Except … not exclusive yet. We are still able to play Rogan in other podcast apps. That’s not totally unexpected; the publicized deal details did note that episodes would persist for some amount of time before lowering the gate. There’s another peculiarity, though: Not all the episodes have made it into Spotify, according to reports. Speculation of censorship is circulating. Continue Reading →

Rumor Fact(ory): Spotify tries to acquire Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for podcast exclusive

Posted on by Brad Hill

It’s all over the entertainment press, each piece of coverage inching closer to “confirmed” than the last. (See The Mirror HERE.)To us it is still a Rumor Fact(ory) item, but certainly plausible: Spotify offering (or preparing to offer) an exclusive podcast deal to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The dollars might be relatively modest on Spotify’s balance sheet, though — The Mirror quotes unnamed sources who say that a seven-figure deal is in the works. Continue Reading →

Spotify might launch virtual concerts

Posted on by Brad Hill

Back in April, Spotify blogged about musicians setting up virtual concerts as Covid-19 forced them offstage. If the company wasn’t putting two + two  together at that time, it might be now. That is an easy conclusion to draw from hacker and reverse engineer Jane Manchung Wong, who uncovered non-public screens within the Spotify app indicating live virtual concert streaming in development. Continue Reading →

Jeff Umbro: Lemonada Media Moves to Stitcher’s Midroll for Ad Sales, an interview with CEO Jessica Cordova Kramer

Posted on by Brad Hill

by Jeff Umbro

In this week’s column, Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro provides news and commentary about Lemonada’s ad rep move, Joe Budden’s apparent separation from Spotify, Audible’s new plan, Joe Rogan and Apple … and an interview with Jessica Cordova Kramer. Continue Reading →

Google advances its programmatic audio buying tools

Posted on by Brad Hill

Google has raised its game in programmatic audio. Google’s broad digital advertising platform, Ad Manager, is getting audio programmatic for the first time. Additionally, Google’s DV360 is enhancing its existing tools. DV360 is the abbreviated brand name of Display & Video 360, formerly called DoubleClick. The systems stumbles over RSS feeds, perhaps slowing adoption ion podcasting, though independent distribution platforms like Spotify and Pandora work fine. Continue Reading →

Spotify announces video podcasts

Posted on by Brad Hill

On Spotify’s announcement blog, the company announced yesterday that video blogging is now native to the platform. The feature is not Spotify’s first foray in video presentation, but it is a new global feature for the company’s podcast service. This feature seems like a stage-setting for Joe Rogan’s video format, which moves exclusively to Spotify by end-of-year. Continue Reading →

“The Michelle Obama Podcast” announced as a Spotify exclusive

Posted on by Brad Hill

Spotify knows a magnetic star when it sees one. Last month, Joe Rogan. today, Michelle Obama. The audio platform has signed the former First Lady and memoir author for a conversational podcast that promises real-life inspiration. In the trailer (listen below) Obama plans to speak with members of her inner circle to start, then expand outward. Click through to hear the trailer. Continue Reading →