For Olympic activations, brands are turning to platforms beyond broadcast by Alyssa Meyers
Many younger Olympics viewers are expected to consume this year’s Paris games through social platforms, such as clips posted to TikTok, than on a traditional TV watching NBC or streaming on Peacock. In anticipation, Team Great Britain officially partnered with TikTok, while Team Canada debuted their uniforms on the platform in partnership with Lululemon. Podcasting companies like Acast and The Athletic have pre-empted the games by approaching brands up to years in advance. Sports podcasting captures leaned-in podcast audiences who might not be watching the official live streams, as well as those who are tuning in regularly and want more Olympic insights.
Acast Sees Sustain Growth, Improved EBITDA in Q2 2024
Net sales for the company grew 24% year-over-year to SEK 477.9 million (around $44 million USD). The growth is largely attributed by North American and European markets. Acast saw an overall decline in listens of 15% y-o-y, though this is attributed to the iOS 17 update changing podcast auto-download behavior in Apple Podcasts. CEO Ross Adams believes the company is on track to reach their goal of EBITDA profitability by the end of the year.
Publicis intends to acquire Influential as it expands influencer marketing offerings by Antoinette Siu
The intended acquisition of influencer marketing company and platform Influential will allow Publicis Groupe to expand their influencer marketing services. The deal is set to close in late August. The move comes as the overall merger and acquisition space continues to unthaw after a slow 2023, along with influencer marketing’s continued growth. Good news for an influencer-driven industry like podcasting.
Even If Third-Party Cookies Had Vanished, We Would Have Been OK by Dave Taylor
With the long-stressed death of third party cookies now a non-issue, Taylor argues the advertising industry should take a step back to recognize that cookies are a tool, not a strategy that fully substituted good data practices or marketing plans. He also breaks down similar sky-is-falling moments in advertising and how the industry handled them, such as the rise of ad blockers, the CAN-SPAM act, and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency update in 2021.
Cannes Lions and Possible Acquisitions Reflect Growing Optimism in the Ad Industry by Mark Stenberg
Continuing the theme of M&A: both the Cannes Lions festival and Possible event have been acquired within the past week. The deals broadcast the value of business-to-business events, both with the storied legacy Cannes Lions and the relative newcomer Possible, two of the three tentpoles of the advertiser event circuit (the third being the Consumer Electronics Show).
…as for the rest of the news:
- Lower Street has acquired Pacific Content, including a number of former employees.
- The Wall Street Journal covers the income of some top podcasts, though it’s worth noting their headline gives the false impression they’re the only podcasts making money.
- Podnews has shared an email announcing the closure of the bCast platform due to lack of revenue. The service will shut down August 30th
Jobs in Podcasting
- Head of Revenue Partnerships at Realm of Possibility
- Production Partnerships Lead at Realm of Possibility
- Media Planner Buyer at Oxford Road
- Media Director at Oxford Road
- Chief Technology Officer at Tree Goat Media, Inc.
