This is my last daily issue of The Download for the week (I’ll be back with our weekly recap tomorrow) before Gavin returns from vacation. I have tried not to break anything, though I may have left our Google Drive looking like 40 miles of bad road. Hope to see some of you at the IAB Podcast Upfront, or the many Sounds Profitable panels and events in NY at Advertising Week! But first, the NEWS!
How Do Humans Feel About AI Voices in Podcasting?
With the recent entry of Inception Point AI into our little sandbox, there has been a hue and cry about the impact of fully AI-generated podcasts from some very prominent voices in the space. Rather than add to a pile of hot takes (and I love me some hot takes, don’t get me wrong), I thought I would take a data-driven approach to the issue, and see how our podcast audience feels about the subject. Spoiler alert: it’s a pretty mixed bag, with more than twice as many podcast consumers saying they would be “less likely” to continue listening to one of their “favorite” podcasts if they learned it was AI-voiced as the percentage who said “more likely.” Check out the article linked above for more context!
High-Attention Media is More Profitable
This, according to a UK study from Newsworks, Lumen and effectiveness expert Peter Field. The work, presented at The Future of Media Manchester, an “astonishing absurdity” – advertisers have reversed their spending patterns over the past decade. In 2015, more than two-thirds (68%) of media investment went to high-attention channels, compared with 32% going to low-attention channels. Today, that ratio has flipped. Field emphasizes this doesn’t make commercial sense and needs urgent correction. Podcasting, of course, is one of the highest-attention media platforms of all, and we agree with Mr. Field.
Video is a game changer for big-name podcasts. But will independents get left behind?
A timely piece from Oxford Road’s Giles Martin, which notes that the recent rush to video in the podcast business threatens to leave the very important, and very underdeveloped independent creator behind. Martin writes, “many advertisers are forfeiting potential earnings by allowing indies to get left behind; podcast advertising revenue continues to concentrate among top-ranked shows, with the top 500 receiving nearly half of all ad spend. And as podcasting shifts to video, that imbalance may get worse.” Spot on, Giles.
Retailers and Automakers Will Slash the Most Digital Ad Spend This Year, and Tariffs Are to Blame
An Emarketer report takes recent tariffs into account, and revises their US digital ad spending estimates to forecast 9.5% growth, instead of their previous estimate of 11.5%. The hardest-hit categories? Retail and automotive. The article quotes Emarketer’s Oscar Orozco as noting that “while ad budgets remain active, they are increasingly focused on ROI-driven digital campaigns, promotions, and partnerships rather than blanket marketing pushes.” This could spell opportunity for creative podcast partnerships, as well as branded content.
As for the rest of the news…
- You can now watch New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce on Amazon Prime Video, which certainly plays into the recent rise in smart TV podcast consumption.
- The Sidemen empire expands, with a new deal that will scale their platform (which Arcade Media, their management company, calls a “nine-figure business”) to a global football audience.
- Spotify strengthens their AI protections in a move designed to assuage concerts from creators. They also clarified that a recent change in their Terms of Use was aimed at listeners, and not creators.
- And finally, From the Mansion to the Mic: Libsyn Inks Hosting & Advertising Deal with Girls Next Level. Congrats to our friends at Libsyn!
