Chartable is closing. What should I use instead? By Dan Misener
Bumper’s Misener reflects on the history of Chartable and its place in the industry now that it has been announced that the service will be shut down in December of this year. While there is no one solution that fits into a Chartable-shaped hole, he recommends several tools and services that can sub in for various features. On that note: Sounds Profitable is working closely with our partners to arrange the best deals and migration solutions to help them before Chartable goes fully offline. For more details we recommend keeping tabs on our Slack server.
Report: the state of sustainable news businesses by Brian Morrissey
A new report from The Rebooting surveyed 96 news publishers, qualified as publishers whose primary business is “journalistic content,” rather than entertainment or lifestyle-focused content. Key findings include 64% of respondents saying their news operation is profitable. 80% expect to grow profits next year. The biggest challenges facing the overall news industry according to respondents are traffic loss (27%), shifting ad demand (25%), and news avoidance (18%)
Why Brands Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Latinx in America by Paul Hiebert
A new report from the Latino Donor Collaborative and Kantar outlines how brands can take advantage of both recent and forecasted future growth of Hispanic consumers in the U.S. In 2022 71% of surveyed Latinx population aged 12 to 34 felt brands treat them as an afterthought. In 2024 that number has reached 76%. The LDC stressed that, as the data shows, the importance of forming marketing strategies for Latinx audiences is purely good business at this point, separate from social justice or DEI concerns that’ve become social media talking points.
Amazon’s Upfront Ad Haul Tops $1.8 Billion Target by Theo Wayt and Sahil Patel
The company’s first Upfront season after introducing ads to Prime Video reportedly has paid off, with the company exceeding its goal of $1.8 billion in ad-spend commitments for Amazon-owned video streaming services, including Prime Video and live sports telecasts like Thursday Night Football. One executive from an agency which booked over $1 billion in spending during the upfront told The Information they plan to spend as much on Amazon Prime Video and Thursday Night Football as it will on services owned by Disney over the coming year.
On Sports Podcast, Harris Will Discuss Race and Police Brutality by Emmanuel Morgan
Current Vice President and Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris appears in today’s episode of All the Smoke. The New York Times preview of the episode says the appearance continues Harris’ strategy of making campaign stops on non-traditional media platforms to appeal to niche audiences. In the case of All the Smoke, she’s stepping into a show with an audience largely composed of Black men, a demographic the Trump campaign has increasingly focused on in recent months. Podcasting’s ability to connect audiences with voices is such that non-political podcasts can become vital campaign stops during election season.
As for the rest of the news…
- Podcast distribution platform Podeo has raised $5.4mn in funding for discoverability and monetisation
- Starting tomorrow, Vox will manage ad sales rep and distribution for American Public Media’s The Splendid Table and its spinoff The One Recipe.
- Libsyn has added Lauren Jarvis to its Board of Directors in AGM
- Former Cumulus Podcast Network Executive John Wardock has launched his own podcast consulting firm
- The LA Times’ Ali Lerman dives into comedy podcasting powerhouse “Your Mom’s House”
- Podcast production agency Quill has ranked number 10 on The Globe and Mail’s 2024 Top Growing Companies List