Chris Bannon, who was Chief Content Officer at Stitcher from 2015 to 2020, has been hired by Conde Nast Entertainment as SVP and Head of Global Audio. CNE currently produces 40 podcasts, and Bannon’s purview will be to expand that portfolio and internationalize it. Continue Reading
In a Livewire Labs release on Friday, 158 podcast hosting platforms are listed by number of new episodes posted in a single month. We wager most readers haven’t heard of #9 on this list. Click for details. Continue Reading
SiriusXM notified us of a creative and strategic agreement with podcast production house Audio Up to make podcasts and other types of audio. But there is more to this than the typical co-production deal. SiriusXM also laid $12M on Audio Up and joined the board. We asked Sirius whether an acquisition is in the wind. Continue Reading
James Cridland returns with a richly informative newsletter about radio around the world. In this week’s edition: Discussion of BBC World Service’s new five-year review: listener reach, digital growth, and more. Also, the demolition of a radio tower. And some dinky doo, too. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note
— Adaptation (AIMP)
— Punk Legacy (Double Elvis)
— Up the Ladder (Audacy)
Audioboom announces the launch of Audioboom Studios as of October 1, reminding us of a previous Audioboom Studios which we reported on in 2018. Whether revived, continued, or reinvented, Brendan Regan will run it — he is formerly Executive Vice President, Global Content & Production, and he picks up a new C-level title: Chief Content Officer. Continue Reading
by Tom Webster
This edition of Tom Webster’s once-in-a-while column is about greyhounds. And greyhound moms. Not really — but those dog moms do make a point connected to social media, and knowing oneself honestly. Read it.
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To promote an upcoming webinar next Tuesday, October 12, Borrell Associates has released projections of advertising recovery across 17 media categories. In it, radio is projected to experience negative growth, while streaming audio is predicted to grow ad revenue positively. Click for an explanatory graphic. Continue Reading
Jottings of Note
— Quest (Curbed)
— Audio Spice (Frontiers in Psychology)
— Recovery Stats (Borrell Associates)
Cell provider AT&T is dropping Spotify from its service bundles. Competing streamer Pandora also bundles into AT&T plans, and that deal appears to be remaining intact. No reason appears evident for the decision. Continue Reading
APM announced two new appointments: Joanne Griffith as Chief Content Officer, and Thomas De Napoli as Chief Strategy Officer. Griffith returns after a previous stint at NPM; she will be head of podcasts. De Napoli was already in APM; this is a promotion for him. Continue Reading
Global audio streaming service Deezer has developed and launched a fresh take on the mood-based music playlist genre. It’s called Flow Moods. It is an infinite playlist of the user’s favorite tracks, adjusted with a new Flow Moods wheel in the Deezer app. The company refers to this UX feature an Emotional Jukebox. Continue Reading