Paywalling Podcast Journalism
Today Adam Shepherd, former editor of PodPod, announced he is stepping away from podcast coverage to work in a different section of Haymarket Media Group, the parent company that merged PodPod into Campaign in February of this year. After the announcement of the PodPod brand being dissolved, podcast industry coverage appears to have dried up at Campaign and what does exist is paywalled. A growing trend in podcast coverage. Yesterday Ashley Carman’s Soundbite newsletter – a source of a fair bit of breaking industry news – announced new issues are now paywalled behind Bloomberg subscription. Sounds Profitable wouldn’t exist without the support of and free access to Podnews. We encourage you to subscribe and consider supporting Podnews, as we all have. In addition to Sounds Profitable sponsoring Podnews as a company, we as individuals have also pledged to the Podnews Patreon to support the continued publication of podcast industry coverage.
The case for increased investment: Breaking down the barriers behind the Audio investment gap
WARC has published a new report made in partnership with Audacy that looks into the audio investment gap, a noticeable gulf of difference between the large share of consumption audio content gets versus the small share of advertising spend the industry gets. Key findings include audio accounting for 24.5% of ad-supported media consumption but just 8.4% of ad spend in the U.S. A large perceived barrier to podcast advertising is the idea measurement and modelling is not ready yet, which the report finds is untrue.
Spotify Wrapped is Here [Multiple Sources]
It’s the week after Thanksgiving in the U.S., which means it’s time for Spotify Wrapped, a yearly tradition in the app that shows users how much they listen to certain artists, genres, specific songs, and podcasts. This year’s edition of Wrapped comes with extra details shared by Spotify, such as the top ten breakout podcasts of the year (which means Business Insider has now discussed ‘Talk Tuah’) and top shows overall. In addition to the usual data tidbits, this year Spotify has employed Google’s NotebookLM tool to use generative AI to make a bespoke podcast where two AI “hosts” discuss your listening habits throughout the year.
Five million new Canadian Adults have become Monthly podcast listeners since 2019 by Matt Hird
Signal Hill Insights began tracking Canadian podcast listening in 2017 with The Canadian Podcast Listener report. The latest edition finds that in the past five years monthly podcast listenership has risen from 26% of Canadian adults to 39%. Taking into account population growth, that rise means there’s 5.1 million more monthly podcast listeners in the country than there were in 2019. Even with the growing population, podcast listeners are trending younger, more affluent, and more educated than the average Canadian adult, making them a group with both high purchasing power and plenty of time to become long-term consumers.
Global Ad Spend Forecasts – December 2024
A new report from Dentsu finds that even with 2025 not having the advertising boosts that were the 2024 Olympics and U.S. election season, next year is forecasting ad spend increase in the U.S, with audio ad spend in particular showing “resilience” with a 1.8% increase next year. Podcasting specifically is predicted to grow 5.3% in 2025, given audio’s growth is tied to digital and generates high attention.
As for the rest of the news…
- Wondery is offering select access to video podcasts through their Wondery+ app
- Apple has shared its podcast of the year: Hysterical with Dan Taberski from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios
- Podcast marketing platform Ausha has announced the expansion of its AI search tool Ausha Intelligence
- Jay Green is now EVP, Business Strategy, Partnerships at QCODE
