The Advertising Landscape Part One: Reach by Tom Webster
Sounds Profitable’s latest research is the largest study to date on podcast advertising effectiveness in the US, surveying 5,000 Americans 18+. The report will be published in several parts, breaking down different aspects of the data into manageable chunks. This first edition focuses on podcast advertising’s reach. Key findings include 31% of Americans 18+ being monthly consumers of ad-supported podcasting, which thus means a substantive portion of the monthly podcast audience does not perceive that their podcasts have ads.Â
Spotify’s Global Wednesday Outage
A post from Richard Lawler on The Verge reports that at 8:45am EST Spotify’s Status account on X posted about being aware of some issues and looking into them. This, combined with the Megaphone Status site, confirmed a global impact on Megaphone’s CMS, API, analytics, and content delivery. The outage lasted until about 11:15 a.m. EST.
The current state of YouTube podcast advertising is similar to how podcasting was in 2015: baked-in is the name of the game. While there is not yet any way to dynamically server ads into video podcasts on YouTube, there are ways to measure brand lift. Signal Hill Insights has spent a year piloting measurement on embedded YouTube podcast ads, and their findings of the test include the sentiment that host-read video podcast ads share the same benefit as audio host-read ads. Audio remains the foundation of podcasting on which everything else stands, but video is part of the medium’s evolution and proper advertiser support is key to continuing that growth.Â
77% of companies have increased their influencer marketing spend this year
Tubefilter looks at a new report from eMarketer and Spotter that finds 77% of surveyed companies have increased their influencer marketing spend this year. Creator respondents say they’re looking for long-term partnerships with compatible brands. Of the 139 marketers surveyed, 43.9% said that “finding the right creators” is their biggest challenge faced in their influencer marketing campaigns. “Finding long-term creator partnerships” is the “emerging creator marketing tactic” according to 37.4%. Podcasting serves as a template for that, with many of long-term brand partnerships working so well they’re indelibly linked to that podcast (just try discussing Serial season one without Mailchimp coming up).
The Gauge™: March Madness Lifts Cable, Streaming Competition Grows as Seasonal Trends Take Effect
Nielsen data showing how TV performed last month. While time spent viewing TV in March was down 6% compared to February (likely due to seasonal shifts), streaming kept on trucking. 43.8% of TV usage in March was streaming content. Max charted its highest month over month increase among steaming services and increased 6% in March, largely attributed to the strength of The White Lotus reaching the end of season 3. Time will tell if the viral success of The Pitt and the return of The Last of Us will move the needle even more. Regardless, the March data shows something increasingly relevant to podcasters, as well as TV: the power of “live” content. Both actually live content in the form of sports, and timed releases that generate week-to-week discussion and keep IP in the zeitgeist longer than publishing an entire season in one day.
As for the rest of the news…
- Edison Research and SiriusXM Media have released early info from an upcoming Women’s Audio Report, which debuts Tuesday April 29th at 2 p.m. EST.
- Acast is expanding their sports offering with a new exclusive podcast deal signed with The New York Times’ sports company The Atlantic.
- Speaking of Acast news, the company has welcomed aboard Tommy Walters as their new Senior Director, Global Research & Insights.
- Digiday covers Publicis Groupe’s latest quarterly earnings call, in which CEO Arthur Sandoun discussed the more reserved atmosphere among advertisers in the wake of new and proposed trade tariffs.
- Headliner is celebrating their birthday with a look back at their seven years of history some stats about the company’s output (including use in 193 countries, with a ‘joking’ promise of reaching use in Antarctica by their eighth birthday).
