Entrepreneurial Lessons From The Frontlines Of The Podcasting Scene In The Middle East by Malak Fouad
Podcasting has undergone a healthy expansion in the Middle East / North Africa region (MENA) in recent years, though the region’s podcasting potential has some hurdles to being fully unlocked. Examples include a lack of authentic regional content, lack of brand investment, and isolation among creators. There’s also a lack of rhythmic data. Where U.S. podcasting can rely on quarterly qualitative reports on things like popular categories or listener behavior, podcast companies in MENA are largely relying on surveys and estimations. Investment in research, creating relevant content networks, and broadening monetization could help foster an already fast-growing region. [Source]
Consumer Brands Are Leaving Trillions of Dollars Behind by Ignoring Women Over 40 by Julie Alvin
U.S. women in their 40s effectively live in a marketing blind spot. Marketing campaigns targeting ‘older’ women tend to focus 55+ with ads for memory-retention supplements, while fun ads tend to target women in the magic 18-34 demographic. Podcasting has its own advertising gap, as Tom Webster highlights with his Wilford Brimley analogy. Pop culture presumes Brimley was his elderly character in Cocoon, not the tough-as-nails guy who dropped out of high school to become a literal cowboy and rode horses the rest of his life. Podcast audiences over the age of 50 still buy meal kits. Women older than 35 still buy mattresses.And they tend to have more disposable income with which to do so than the hip, young crowd. [Source]
Quality Over Quantity Is A Growth Strategy by Steven Goldstein
In what first might seem like a paradox, reaching the saturation point of a medium and the resulting decline can evolve into something healthy for the industry long-term. Goldstein points to the flood of Covid-casts that launched during the early days of the pandemic, only to fade away. Offering fewer, higher quality options increases the likelihood audiences will engage with the content and be satisfied with it. And presenting said content in formats designed to be be ‘sticky’ to people who regularly skim long paragraphs/posts will give it more of a chance of catching that initial attention. [Source]
…as for the rest of the news:
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ARN’s iHeart and Indigenous Podcast Network BlakCast have launched Find and Tell, a podcast designed to find the next generation of diverse storytellers.
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Pacific Content co-founder Steve Pratt to publish marketing strategy book Earn It
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Magellan AI’s podcast ad spend statistics for April show 6% drop in overall spend, 10 of the top 15 podcast advertisers are repeats from March.
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The Trade Desk ranks its top 100 publishers, including notable audio names like Pandora, iHeartRadio, NPR, and The New York Times.
