Influencer-focused agencies interviewed by Digiday expect TikTok to play a key role in the creator space during the final months of the U.S. election cycle. A report from Collective Voice found 76% of surveyed consumers want election content from creators, while 46% of influencers are adjusting their content and partnership strategies to accommodate the election. 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to support influencers who align with their values. As studies like The Medium Moves the Message find, podcast audiences are not as skittish about challenging/political content than one might presume, as the average podcast listener self-selects the content they listen to. If the content is not wildly different from the show’s core experience, audiences actively choose to continue consuming it.
YouTube Develops Synthetic Audio ID Tech by Laurie Sullivan
Robots will soon be fighting robots, as YouTube is developing an AI-powered version of their Content ID system that will auto-detect AI-generated content featuring simulated voices and faces. A key portion of the system focuses on detecting synthetic singing to curb the uptick in songs created using commercially-available generative AI tools. The replicant-detection tech is expected to enter a pilot program with select partners in 2025.
The Waiting Game – Optimizing the News
This year’s IAB advertising outlook finds ad growth is up overall, but a few sections of the industry have backslid. Gaming revenue in particular has stagnated with a flat 5.1% growth year over year, signaling a loss of market share to other channels. Gaming’s 3.8% ad revenue share dropped to 3% y-o-y. Channels like podcasting, which has had an uphill battle attracting ad budgets, continues to grow. While there’s potential arguments gaming as an industry has transitioned towards direct-to-consumer branded experiences on centralized platforms (see: Call of Duty and Fortnite), instead of selling in-game billboards, that still means their former market space has freed up. Podcasting, with a sizable collection of gaming-focused content, is in a position to leverage that freed space.
On N.B.A. Player Podcasts, There’s the Star and Then the Other Guy By David Gardner
As more and more active and retired NBA players become podcast hosts in their spare time, a subgenre has emerged: Player-hosted shows featuring a friend or business partner as co-host, often someone unknown in the media sphere. The player brings audience draw, while the co-host provides chemistry via their existing friendship. The co-host also tends to blend the role of host and producer, often handling the lion’s share of behind-the-scenes work so the podcast leaving it largely hands-off for the athlete. Some unknown co-hosts are friends doing it for free, some are paid a basic wage, others have ad revenue share. Leaving some podcasts on potentially shaky ground as a vital piece of the production could end up overworked or undercompensated as productions grow exponentially.
As for the rest of the news…
- Amazon nears major deal to broadcast NBA, MLB, and NHL games to Prime Streaming
- Rain News is covering The Podcast Landscape with two pieces
- Auddia announces an AI Podcast Player in faidr that will visualize auto-detected chapters and allow users to skip detected segments.
- BuzzMyVideos is hosting a webinar sharing AI YouTube growth tips and tricks
- Digiday has updated their March article about the Google antitrust case with a “WTF is” explainer video
- Pushkin Industries has promoted Nicole Op Den Bosch to Vice President, Operations & Publisher of their audiobooks program
