EarMax Media co-founder Andy Maxwell highlights a new update to Google search and the Gemini AI overviews. In a recent update, Google has started indexing and sourcing Instagram content. A move that could be a boon for podcast discoverability and advertising. Maxwell uses the example of a listener who remembers a NordVPN sponsorship a podcast did, but didn’t click the link in the description. Due to Instagram clips featuring that ad read, Google was able to quickly provide a result going directly to a source that has the link, facilitating a potentially lost customer to make it back to the promo code/link with ease.
The Power of Podcast Search Optimization – An Interview with Jennifer Han
Ausha CMO Jennifer Han recently recorded an interview with Sounds Profitable discussing what the platform does and the tools it provides to podcasters to make their shows discoverable. With proper PSO (podcast search optimization), shows are more likely to actually pop up in search results for terms besides the exact title. Han points to a recent case study Ausha published about working with BBC Studios, during which PSO caused Spotify search to become the second-highest discovery channel for the podcast being optimized.
In Graphic Detail: Inside the state of the creator economy industrial complex by Krystal Scanlon
A look into the creator economy, and how it has evolved into something more akin to traditional media. Continuing to look at Billion Dollar Boy’s research surveying 2k marketing professionals around the world, the piece highlights data finding about a third of surveyed marketers have trouble managing relationships with content creators at scale. Burnout is a growing concern as creators navigate constantly-changing social media landscapes on top of contracted work for brand deals. All of which is to say, while the creator economy might have started out as an alternative to dealing with traditional establishment advertising venues, it has itself – for better or worse – grown into its own traditional venue with all the tech stacks, brand safety, and associated services that brings.
The new Tech Lab initiative – temporarily named the LLM Content Ingest API Initiative – will act as a formal process to approve use of content for LLMs to ingest, including a tiered scheme based on content relevance and value. While the initiative and coverage of it exclusively focuses on text-based publishers, it’s still of note for the business side of podcasting due to the amount of podcasts that run robust websites/post full transcripts online where they might be scraped.
As for the rest of the news…
- A new podcast called Podbiz has launched focusing on the business side of podcasting. Current and upcoming interview subjects include Acast VP of Product Milly Botes, Adopter Media SVP of Client Services Adam McNeil, and our very own Bryan Barletta.
- Zeno Media has entered into a strategic partnership with RCC Media, one of the largest radio networks in the Dominican Republic, to grow access to Spanish-language audio content across Latin America.
- Spreaker will now have scalable, programmatic host-read ad inventory read by a generative AI host thanks to a new partnership between parent company Triton Digital and ekoz.ai
- MarketingBrew has a look at Wave Sports & Entertainment and why they heavily invested in women-led sports podcasts.
- Catherine Browne has started a new position as Vice President of Revenue & Partnerships in The Roost Podcast Network at Night.
- Podcast production company Kaleidoscope has raised $5 million in Series A funding and aims to both produce more original podcasts and turn existing content into movie and TV adaptations.
