Protecting user privacy in the Listening Reports
Apple has published a follow-up to their listener reports upgrade in Apple Podcasts. The new post clarifies two privacy measures used to protect identities. The first is noise, which adds or subtracts a small random number to metrics. Second: Apple employs thresholds that leave out values where the metric has a value less than five. So if, say, subscribed listeners’ total amount (actual or noised) is less than five, it will be replaced with an empty value in the generated report.
The SEO Collapse: Did Podcasts Replace Late Night? by Steve Goldstein
Traditional late night talk shows are expensive, with Stephen Colbert’s now-cancelled Late Night reportedly costing $100 million annually to produce with a staff of 200. And, as DWNLOAD Media writer Chris Peterson notes, former late-night star Conan O’Brien is effectively doing his old job in a way that attracts the same big-name guests for a fraction of the cost in podcasting. Heck, Paul Rudd’s Mac ‘n Me joke even came over to podcasting. Goldstein gives an overview of where we’re at with podcasting similar to the traditional late-night formulas, and what’s happening now. As he says, the spotlight has shifted to new forms of media that capture younger audiences with clips and on-demand content. Flexible productions like podcasts can surf the algorithmic waves with more agility than the regimented clips of late-night talk shows originally produced for TV.
Taylor argues there’s a part of the story being left by the wayside whenever narratives about video’s growth are discussed: just because video podcasting is growing doesn’t mean existing audio audiences are leaving the medium in droves. Much in the same way simply uploading audio to video platforms does not innately make good video content, the reverse remains true. Ignored/underserved audio audiences can’t be taken for granted. As Tom Webster hit on in his piece The Podcast Preservation Paradox, the onus is on the podcasting industry to remember what made the medium appealing in the first place. It’s important to preserve and support those audio specific roots that make up the foundation the wider industry rests on.
How Podcast Clips Can Work For You – An Interview with Louis Roberts
Continuing our running interview series with folks around the world of podcasting, this week I’ve got an interview with OpusClip Head of Business Development Louis Roberts about their OpusSearch tool and why podcasters are using clips. Roberts recalls that, during his time working for The Pat McAfee Show, 5 to 10 minute clips of back-catalog content were monetized with a 15 second ad and managed to get CPMs comparable to the CPM from sponsors for full episodes. Catch the full 2.5 minute video, with transcript on Sounds Profitable.
As for the rest of the news…
- Signal Hill Insights president Paul Riismandel has a new blog looking at the synergy between attribution and brand lift, noting “brand lift is chocolate to attribution’s peanut butter” (and yes, I was going to make that same joke if he hadn’t beaten me to it).
- Edison Research has published the 2025 edition of their Podcast Consumer report, finding 73% of respondents aged 12+ have ever listened to a podcast.
- The official YouTube blog has a roundtable discussion between Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie, Podcasts Product Lead Steve McLendon, and marketing expert Jon Youshaei with five key takeaways.
- Suzy founder Matt Britton interviews Amazon Ads Global Director of Brand Marketing Carly Zipp in a new episode of The Speed of Culture Podcast.
- NPR has a feature piece covering Michael Vargas Arango, winner of the NPR College Podcast Challenge.
- And for a fun cap to your afternoon: Switched On Pop has a new episode looking at the common themes connecting a bunch of different popular podcast intro songs, featuring an interview with the mysterious musician Breakmaster Cylinder.
