Advertising Week New York has kicked off its 20th anniversary this week with panels like Brand as ‘Multiplier’ – Why We Need to Rethink Brand vs. Performance and Bridging the Gap: Performance Marketing Meets Brand Building. The divide between the two schools of thought is older than Advertising Week itself, but this year’s presenters tell Digiday there’s a different way to approach the two concepts. Brand and performance can work in tandem, rather than operate as two competing interests.
Audible celebrates 4th anniversary in Spain Highlighting the Rise of Audio Entertainment
In four years Audible.es has more than doubled their inventory of Spanish-language audiobooks, audio fiction, and audio documentaries. Key findings from a report fielded by NielsenIQ data for Audible include nearly 30% of the Spanish population (14.5 million) have listened to a podcast in the past year, with 9.3 million having listened to at least one audiobook in the past year.
How Walmart is redefining podcast advertising through influencers and data-driven insights
D.J. Vaughn, director of multicultural media partnerships at Walmart, says podcasting’s ability to tap into diverse audiences has led Walmart to focus on customizing their audience, investing in integrations with podcasting that go beyond old-school sponsorship messages. One result of this is a shout-out campaign that prompts podcast hosts to give a testimonial for a diverse-led product available at Walmart, as well as briefly interviewing the founder of that product.
7 lessons from a year of paywalled podcasts at The Economist
One year ago, The Economist made a bold decision: to take all of their accompanying podcasts, excepting The Intelligence, behind a paywall. According to Director of Podcasts John Shields, the move has paid off. 80% of listeners have stayed with the shows, and that listenership has grown to 5 million monthly unique listeners between 2020 and 2023. The Economist also reports that, while the publication famously does not provide bylines on articles, strong personalities and distinct voices appear to be what is driving listenership to their shows. Shields encourages other outlets to follow suit with their own paid plans, advising, “You’ve got to make the effort to bring people with you.”
The IAB Predicts Social Video Will Overtake CTV This Year by Alyssa Boyle
CTV (connected television) is having a supply and demand switch. Ad supply has outpaced demand in the streaming landscape, with streaming services like Prime Video announcing plans to increase ad load while the industry deals with a lack of pricing and measurement consistency. This lack of transparency is making streaming appear to not be worth the effort compared to cross-platform purchases, one executive shared. Buyers are reportedly planning to spend more on social media this year, and podcasting’s ultra-personal role in listener media consumption could fit right in.
As for the rest of the news…
- Magellan AI has published a case study of a podcast ad campaign run by subscription-based baked goods company Wildgrain earlier this year.
- Digiday covers a push by Omnicom Media Group for new standards and clarity for ad auctions.
- Ad Results Media has hired Kristen Abramo as their Chief Operating Officer, reporting directly to new CEO Jordan Fox.
- PRX has launched a pilot program to strengthen the podcasting capabilities of 30 public media stations, funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
- Political podcast appearances continue to make waves as Kamala Harris’ Call Her Daddy episode gets further coverage in The Atlantic and Morning Brew.
