Today in the Business of Podcasting
Confused About Video? The Listeners Aren’t! by Tom Webster
This week on Sounds Profitable, Tom Webster writes about a hot-button topic: the definition of the word ‘podcast’ now that YouTube is the biggest platform for podcast discovery. While the modern definition of “a podcast” is often debated online, surveyed podcast listeners pretty clearly know what it is. Of those familiar with podcasts surveyed for The Podcast Landscape, 30% expect a podcast to be audio-only, and a further 37% expect it to usually be audio-only but it may be video. Webster proposes a mindshift away from focusing on YouTube’s popularly shifting what “counts” as a podcast. Instead of thinking about YouTube as a place to promote a podcast, imagine instead that it is a place to promote a podcaster. [Source]
Meet the Millennials
A new study from GWI focuses on the social media, entertainment, and purchase journey trends of interview respondents aged 16 to 64, with a special focus on millennials for this study. According to the GWI Core data from Q1 of this year, surveying over 241,000 respondents 16-64, 36% of millennial respondents listen to podcasts, and average out to one hour and two minutes of podcasts consumed per day. The least-represented group is baby boomers with only 5% listening to podcasts, but those who do still have a healthy appetite with 31 minutes daily listen-time. [Source]
Publishers pitch their methods for growing and engaging audiences to marketers by Sara Guaglione
Several publishing executives from media companies demonstrated their ability to grow and engage audiences during this month’s Advertising Week event in New York. Betches Media CRO David Spiegel spoke to the importance of investing in the work and time necessary to build a solid audience. The U.S. spinoff of The Sun, launched in 2020, reported 100% growth year-over-year with 40 million unique visitors since 2022 after focusing on increasing coverage of women. Their audience is now reportedly 60% women, 40% aged 35-54. Targeting underserved niche audiences works, especially when one produces authentic content for them, and niche content for niche audiences is podcasting’s (many) special abilities. [Source]
Omnicom Media Group aligns with SSPs through its CASA initiative to fight fraud and MFA abuse by Michael Bürgi
Once more from Advertising Week: Omnicom Media Group’s Council on Accountability and Standards in Advertising (or CASA) has set its sights on both the buying and selling sides of programmatic. The council’s goal is to encourage both sides working together, currently working with six major supply-side platforms to align common interests. OMG is also bringing CASA’s methodology to connected TV, having recently partnered with NBC Universal to deliver program-level reporting at scale. The deal is the biggest roll-out of CASA’s CTV standards yet. In addition, major streaming players like Netflix, Disney, AMC, Fox, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery have signed on to CASA’s CTV initiative. [Source]
TV Measurement Is Transforming – But Buyers Need More Transparency by Alyssa Boyle
TV measurement is going through an evolution, as the growth of programmatic advertising has led to a shift towards audience-based impressions instead of the incumbent industry standard of panel-based ratings. According to speakers at AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O conference this Monday, though, there’s still some roadblocks to TV’s bright programmatic future. Chief among these is a lack of transparency as publishers keep first-party data to themselves. NBCUniversal’s EVP of measurement and impact Kelly Abcarian stressed more transparency is needed for responsible media buying, and that the connected TV industry’s publishers need to usher in change, not fear it. [Source]
…as for the rest of the news: As for the rest of the news… writer Will Page expresses concern that many authors still don’t know how Spotify’s royalty structure works for audiobooks, and Edison Research’s Share of Ear for in-car listening shows AM/FM radio consumption drops 21 percentage points for respondents whose primary vehicle has Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
