The Infinite Dial 2019 has been tracking the smart speaker trend since the debut of the first Amazon Echo device. In this year’s results, awareness of the hardware reached 79%, or about 223 million people. The rate rose from 75% in 2018 and 69% in 2017. Continue Reading
Over 450 attendees flocked to New World Stages in Manhattan for the third annual RAIN Podcast Business Summit on Tuesday. Keynoted by Zack Reneau-Wedeen (Founder and Head of Product for Google Podcasts), and highlighted with appearances by Jarl Mohn (President… Continue Reading
Google Podcasts are getting episode search results. Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Google Podcasts’ founder and head of product, announced the development during his keynote interview session at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit in New York. Continue Reading
The New York Times announced five new hires to join its audio team. These additions show the publication’s commitment to its audio strategy, which has been paying off with accolades and popularity for its shows such as The Daily and Caliphate. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has been moving to match the feature sets offered by other streaming services. The latest act is the launch of a student subscription tier. SoundCloud announced in a blog post that students can take advantage of a 50% discount to its SoundCloud Go+ tier. Continue Reading
Spotify has been available to listeners in India for barely a week, and the streaming company’s launch has received close scrutiny due to the legal debate over its rollout and the growing importance of this new market for the international streaming brands. A representative from Spotify said that the service already has 1 million users in India across its free and paid offerings. Continue Reading
Panoply Media has been making big changes in how it approaches the business of podcasting, and today it capped off those changes with a rebranding. The company will now be called Megaphone, adopting the same name as its hosting and ad-insertion service. According to the press release, the changed name reflects the business’ focus on podcast technology and infrastructure. Continue Reading
The IAB Australia has published its annual audio advertising report. The analysis shows strong support for streaming audio, with 87% of agencies using the format in 2018. Streaming digital audio was a regular part of ad activity for 62% of media agencies in the country. Continue Reading
As more creators hop on the podcasting bandwagon and more new shows launch, audiences for the audio format may find themselves facing the same questions as they do for streaming video. Read of for insights on programming and the paradox of choice. Continue Reading
New York Public Radio announced that COO Depelsha McGruder will serve as its interim CEO beginning this spring. She will take over on a temporary basis on April 1 following the departure of Laura Walker, who was the organization’s president and CEO for 23 years. Continue Reading
B2B music company 7digital has reached a settlement with German music service Juke that will end their partnership. The companies started collaborating in 2017 when 7digital acquired 24-7, Juke’s parent company, from MediaMarktSaturn. 7digital assumed regular operations of Juke through that deal. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Two complicated stories top the newsletter this week, one about linking to audio Australia and one about big cuts at Global in the UK. Continue Reading