Chartable Replacements, Podcasting @ Advertising Week, & More

This Week in the Business of Podcasting

It’s almost Advertising Week Eve! Before you jet off to New York and soak in all there is for the advertising industry to offer, let’s dig into this week’s news. Which, coincidentally, involves information to help you plan out AWNY podcast panels!

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19.2 Ounces of Podcasting Wisdom by Tom Webster

This Wednesday from Tom Webster for Sounds Profitable: Back in September, Tom took to the Podcast Movement keynote stage with an unassuming can in hand: a 12 ounce white can of still water. It felt wrong.

In late 2018 Liquid Death burst onto the scene, selling sparkling and still water in 19.2oz ‘tallboy’ cans. Their branding and general aesthetic features irreverent language and intentionally grotesque artwork befitting of 90s punk show posters. In a crowded seltzer market, providing water in a tallboy that provides enough liquid to “murder your thirst” set Liquid Death apart from the pack. A water brand that allowed non-drinkers to still fit in at social events, holding a can that could pass as an edgy hard seltzer or energy drink at a glance.

At Podcast Movement, Webster first encountered Liquid Death in the standard 12 ounce can universal to soda. In the same can every Tom, Dick, and La Croix comes in, Liquid Death loses its unique spark. A quote from Webster:

“I think about this in the current era of podcasting, where video has surged in importance for discovery, and YouTube has become the most commonly-used platform for podcast consumption. For podcasters who produce an audio podcast, it presents a dilemma: do I change the can so I can sell my podcast in more machines? Or do I stay with audio and close off that potential discovery opportunity?”

Webster passes along wisdom his mother shared when he scratched at a childhood mosquito bite: don’t make it worse

Instead, Webster calls for audio-focused areas of podcasting to double down on what makes audio special as a medium. Audio is a companion medium. Audio can follow you throughout your day, your commute, your chores, in ways video simply can’t. An audio podcast can play throughout doing the dishes, taking a walk, and taking out the trash without the illusion breaking once. Audio takes advantage of the listener’s imagination, moreso than the reality of video can capture. A quote from Webster:

“Ultimately, video is a key to getting your content in more vending machines, and potentially in front of a much larger audience. That’s just a fact. But don’t change your can if it ruins the contents.”

Podcasting is Coming to Advertising Week

Advertising Week New York kicks off on Monday, October 7th, and this year features a batch of podcasting-related panels and talks in and around the Podcast Zone dedicated to the industry. We’re providing a link to every panel relating to podcasting on the schedule, but here’s a rundown of some highlights to look forward to:

On Wednesday Spotify sponsors Playlists to Podcasts: Unpacking what’s new and next with Gen Z culture. On the Marketplace stage that same day, A Podcast Host and a Sales Manager Walk into a Bar… features SoundStack CRO Rockie Thomas chatting with Ira Glass (This American Life), and Scott Davis (SVP, NPR Sponsorship) about bridging the divide between the creative and business side of podcasting.

At midday on Thursday Tom Webster takes to the Podcast Zone for The Evolution of the Podcast Audience, a half-hour presentation of research from The Podcast Landscape demonstrating how podcasting’s audience has changed over time.

The Power of Family Podcasts: Unlocking Untapped Potential for Advertisers, will focus on the power of Kids & Family podcast advertising, featuring Jerry Kolber (Atomic Entertainment Group), Benjamin Salka (Story Pirates), Jed Baker (Starglow Media) and Molly Barton (Realm).

Going Global – Unlocking the international podcast market, presented by Next Broadcast Media, will discuss expanding reach beyond the U.S. Panelists include NBM’s Lemya Soltani, Bryan Barletta (Sounds Profitable), Anne Frisbie (AdsWizz), John Sardelis (Barometer), and Steven Abraham (Oxford Road).

Beyond Impressions: How Pixel Attribution is Revolutionizing Podcast Advertising will discuss podcasting’s ability to measure and track with the same precision as digital channels with pixel-based attribution. Panelists include Amelia Coomber (Podscribe), Cassandra LaPrarie (Wise), Grant Durando (Right Side Up,) Giancarlo Bizzarro (Crooked Media), and Matt Bahr (Fairing).

And the fun doesn’t stop within the confines of Advertising Week. On Wednesday, October 9th, YMH Studios – in collaboration with RedCircle, Podscribe, and Sounds Profitable – will be taking over New York Comedy Club for industry networking followed by standup from comedian podcasters. Space for this exclusive event is extremely limited, so apply here as soon as possible for consideration.

Updates to Apple Podcasts

This week has brought a couple changes to Apple’s podcasting ecosystem that increase discoverability and accessibility. Early in the week, Apple launched a new section called Series. Limited-run serialized podcasts have played a big part in the podcasting industry, but have a difficult time surfacing when up against perennial shows that upload weekly. This new genre-agnostic section aims to solve for that. In addition, a new top podcast chart tracking just Series has been added. In Apple’s announcement blog, they also provide a list of best practices for presenting serialized podcasts to get current and existing shows ready for the new area.

On Thursday, Podnews reported automatically-generated podcast transcripts on Apple Podcasts have been updated to now include eight new languages: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch. The official Apple Podcasts transcript blog post also notes the system has the ability to detect when more than one language is spoken in an episode and switch on the fly.

Options for Replacing Chartable

Last Friday from Bumper’s Dan Misener: It has been announced that Chartable will be shuttered as of December of this year. Misener reflects on the history of Chartable and its place in the industry with pioneering features like SmartLinks and SmartPromos. While there is no one-size-fits-all third party replacement for Chartable, the Bumper team has spent time testing replacement options over the summer, expecting the inevitable Chartable closure announcement.

Misener’s post is broken down by section, with each section focusing on a feature within Chartable that can be replaced by solutions tested by the Bumper team.

In this sundowning period, Sounds Profitable is working closely with our partners to arrange the best deals and migration solutions possible for partner companies before Chartable fully shuts down. For up-to-date details as this development progresses, we recommend partner companies keep tabs on the official Sounds Profitable Slack server.

Podscribe Index

Purchase Rate by Genre, July 2024

In our latest Podscribe Index, notable changes in purchase rates came out from June to July. “Business” replaced “Fiction” for the highest purchase rate in July, coming in on top once again. “TV & Film” came in second followed by “Health & Wellness” which has seen rising purchase rates over the last few months. The biggest improvement was in “Comedy” which came in at #6 making the top 8 charts for the first time in 2024!

What genres are driving the highest CVR month over month?