Media Briefing: Some podcast execs are not won over by Spotify’s video efforts yet By Sara Guaglione
Four podcasting executives tell Digiday they’ve yet to be swayed by Spotify’s push into the world of video podcasting, choosing to prefer YouTube. One factor, as brought up by Pushkin VP of marketing and audiobooks Eric Sandler, is inertia. Companies like Pushkin have had YouTube presences for years now and prefer to keep building an existing platform instead of also starting a new-new presence elsewhere. Spotify’s unique upload process is also cited as a roadbump to the adoption process, as the fact video podcast files replace the audio-only file can lead to issues when podcasters put the effort into differentiating the audio and video versions to play into each medium’s strengths.
The Big Game is almost here and MarketingBrew is taking a look at advertisers who are saving some pennies by opting to focus on regional advertising during the Super Bowl. While national TV spots famously fetch some of the highest prices in advertising, such as $8 million for a national 30 second buy, brands can shell out $1.4 million for a regional buy in a major city (e.g. Chicago), scaling down to as low as $50k in smaller cities. While a viable strategy, we’ll note sports podcasting continues to grow, has leaned-in audiences, and tons of inventory for even cheaper.
Why brands should still embrace DEI by Hunter Johnson
Several major companies, in the wake of highly-publicized polarizing political commentary, have rolled back their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Despite the insistence of political figures and influencers, DEI initiatives both in the workplace and advertising have decades of evidence to show ‘go woke, go broke’ is the opposite of the truth. Diverse workplaces run more efficiently, and inclusive marketing campaigns have higher success rates. Johnson also stresses that comparing political polling to marketing research is flawed, as political polls don’t include non-voters who make up almost a third of the population. Regardless of which politicians win a race, the population makeup of the U.S. is more diverse and that population prefers when corporate America reflects that diversity.
The end of Twenty Thousand Hertz? By Dallas Taylor
A LinkedIn video post by the 20khz host on his concerns about the YouTube-ification of podcasting. Specifically, the fact that certain types of podcast simply cannot make the jump to video in the current copyright-detection climate. Journalistic and documentary style podcasting like 20khz make use of brief clips of music and other media, clips that – despite their legality – will automatically get demonetized or outright blocked on YouTube. With the recent flood of music takedown requests on Spotify, Taylor questions the viability of these kinds of podcasts in a video-first world, as 20khz could not survive the revenue hit of a Spotify copyright takedown.
2025 Advertising Outlook Report
Ad-buying service Mediaocean has published their annual report on advertising expectations for the year, with this 2025 edition being built from surveys of just under 700 leading marketing industry professionals. Key findings include 25% of respondents predicting they’ll increase audio advertising investment this year, and 52% saying they’ll hold the same budgets this year compared to 2025.
As for the rest of the news…
- Our very own Tom Webster has recently guested on The Agents of Change to discuss growing a podcast audience.
- Triton Digital has partnered with ID management and data collaboration firm Optable to allow premium audio publishers to administer, control, and govern their first-party ID data.
- Analyst Adam Bowie has published a look at the new RAJAR quarterly report on audio in the UK, including podcast listening reaching a new high under their current methodology of 22.5% of the population listening at least weekly.
- Digiday looks at the data for YouTube Shorts usage by marketers since the latest threat of a ban has put TikTok’s shortform video haven in limbo.
- Audion has appointed Cyrine Chahed, formerly of Sky Media, to the role of UK sales manager.
- PAVE Studios has announced a new slate of video series under the Crime House branding, focused on the world of true crime.
