Today in the Business of Podcasting
YouTube Podcasts in the UK and The Youtube Advertising Conundrum by Adam Bowie
As YouTube’s RSS feed ingestion draws closer to wide release, Bowie focuses on YouTube’s policy regarding advertisements and how that will impact podcasters who aren’t already YouTubers. The terms of service explicitly state podcast content uploaded to YouTube cannot contain “advertisements.” Anything other than a baked-in host-read endorsement that follows existing YouTube guidelines for in-video sponsorship are not allowed. The only third-party advertisements allowed on YouTube podcasts will be served by YouTube itself. This creates a new hurdle for larger podcasts with existing sales relationships or who use dynamic ad insertion. [Source]
Some Black-owned publications push back on MFA reform amid declining traffic by Kayleigh Barber and Sara Guaglione
Earlier this year an ANA report spotlighted how much advertising budget was unintentionally being spent on made-for-advertising (or MFA) websites. Now, as various outlets implement methods to combat MFA content, Black-owned publications are reporting being caught in the middle. Due to declining social referral traffic, publications are having to purchase traffic from Facebook or partake of ad arbitrage to meet ad impression targets for advertisers. Industry definitions of what qualifies as MFA content intentionally leave some gray areas on bought clicks and traffic to allow smaller businesses struggling to meet targets some grace, but the Black-owned publications interviewed still report being branded with the MFA scarlet letters is a regular concern. With declining social referrals, several publications are turning to sharing their audiences via cross-promotion to increase organic traffic. Given the proven cross-promotional power of podcasts, our industry might be the next step for small publications finding a wider audience and easily-marketable inventory. [Source]
Why the time is now for agencies to establish a B2B arm by Jason Pollock
An interview with Valerie Beauchamp, global head of agency education and development at LinkedIn, stresses the importance of B2B (business to business) marketing. Beauchamp says in the past couple of years in her position at LinkedIn her experience is that the amount of B2B companies is outgrowing the amount of attention agencies are putting towards investing in the space. A recent study from ContentFX and Lower Street found just over half of business owners surveyed listen to podcasts daily, making podcasting a prime place to start when getting into B2B content. [Source]
…as for the rest of the news: YouTube launches new AI-powered tool to target popular videos related to specific cultural moments, and a new Crowd React Media study finds 63% of sports audiences engage with radio and/or podcasts.
Data Snapshot
Source: The Evolution of Digital Audio Advertising in Europe Report 2023
What it says: Buyers across Europe are spending much more on digital audio today vs four years ago.
What it means: Half of buyers and publishers are reporting that digital audio represents more than 10% of ad spend, with a quarter reporting spending in excess of 25%
Why it’s cool: Just four years ago, 41% of European buyers and sellers reported NO ad spend in digital audio – today, that number is all the way down to just 3%
