Looking @ Spotify’s Video Pivot, Uptick in Gen-AI Sites, & More

Before we get into the first story, a quick correction: Podscribe’s debut webinar for their new Podcast Advertising Benchmark report is Monday, November 25th.

The Implications of Spotify for Creators by Bryan Barletta

Barletta reflects on last week’s announcement that Spotify for Podcasters has been rebranded to Spotify for Creators, along with the launch of a new monetization scheme on the platform that removes dynamically-inserted ads from video podcasts viewed from a Spotify Premium account. While the announcement isn’t destined to flip podcast advertising upside down, it does highlight the industry lacks solid solutions for publishers who will go down a multi-platform path and distribute into walled gardens like Spotify. For more commentary in the same vein, PAVE Studios founder Max Cutler has a new article titled Adapt or Get Left Behind: The Future of Podcasting is Multi-Platform.

Slop-happy – From Optimizing the News

A side effect of the proliferation of generative AI tools has hit advertising, with Adweek reporting media buyers have found they’re dealing with a surge of made-for-advertising websites that have been generated with AI tools. According to fraud detection site DeepSee.io, they were tracking 20,000 Gen-AI MFA sites at the beginning of the year, now they’re seeing 50,000. A compounding issue is the AI ‘slop’ content becomes a larger problem when buying using AI-powered tools like Google’s Performance Max, as AI appeals to AI. One agency executive reported between 30 and 40% of display ads purchased in a recent Pmax campaign went to obvious MFA sites with questionable (or even dead) domains. While Google does provide a tool for dynamic exclusion lists, it does not allow advertisers to block MFA sites specifically, laying the onus on advertisers to manually block each MFA site individually. A sisyphusian task at the scale of programmatic campaigns.

How brands are redefining creativity in podcast ads by Matt Casey

A broad look at modern podcast advertising that then drills down to examples of campaigns and strategies implemented by companies like Audacy and Tenderfoot TV. Tactics include next-generation host-read ads like Tenderfoot TV’s Up and Vanished’s Liquid I.V. ads that used audio fiction-level sound design and building a narrative around the host using Liquid I.V. while researching the season’s stories in Alaska to elevate a simple host-read into what feels like content from the show. For visual pop, the article highlights Audacy’s Enhanced Video Units that add animations, graphics, and urls/QR codes to standard video podcast host-read segments.

Video’s Rise in Podcasting: Shaping the Future of Engagement and Consumption Trends

Yesterday Tom Webster and Crooked Media VP of Sales Giancarlo Bizzaro debuted a new study built from data collected in the comprehensive Podcast Landscape 2024 survey of 5,000 Americans. This new report focuses on Audio Primes and Video Primes, respondents who spend 75% of their time consuming podcasts in that particular format. Key findings include evidence that, while video has made a lot of progress, most podcasters spend more of their time listening to podcasts than watching them. While there are fewer Video Primes than Audio Primes, the video section has a larger footprint in terms of consumption. 19% of Audio Primes consume at least 9 hours of podcast content a week, while 33% of Video Primes are heavy users.

Ask Me Anything: YouTube Podcasting Q&A

YouTube is hosting a live Q&A session with Kai Chuk, Global Head of Podcasting, Stephanie Chan, Strategic Partner Manager (Podcasts) and Steve McLendon, Product Lead (Podcasts) on December 12th, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CST. The session aims to answer questions about YouTube and share details on platform updates.

As for the rest of the news…