New IDs in Podcasting, Micro-Influencer Rates 📈, & More

Magellan AI Brings Privacy-Compliant UID2.0 and ID5 to Audio Measurement

The two new identifiers being integrated into Magellan AI will allow the platform to provide clients with enhanced measurement capabilities in a privacy-focused environment. Even with the cookie receiving a stay of execution from Google, next-generation identifiers originally designed for a cookie-less world continue to grow in popularity, bolstering programmatic advertising’s capabilities. More data means more opportunities for podcast advertising.

40% of parents have put 2024 Back to School shopping in motion

A new study from Morning Consult finds parents are starting their back-to-school shopping season as early as July this year, with 40% of respondent parents already prepping for their kid’s return to school in August. Amazon Prime Day is cited as a big contributing factor. Parents expect to be spending the most on clothing and school supplies. Back-to-school spending remains elevated since peak inflation in 2022, with 25% of parents expecting to spend over $500 on back to school. Podcasting’s robust children and parent-focused genres offer advertisers an opportunity to target those seeking sales as retailers begin rolling out back to school promotions and sales.

As influencer marketing grows, so do micro-influencer rates: ‘there have been 10-20% fee jumps year-over-year’ by Kimeko McCoy

According to ad executives interviewed by Digiday, influencers with smaller, tight-knit audiences are starting to charge double or triple the rates they were charging in 2021. One example given is TikTok micro-influencers (accounts with 5k to 20k followers) charged between $1,000 to $3,000 per post in 2021. Now those same accounts charge $3,000 to $5,000. The jump is, in part, attributed to even smaller influencers becoming more business-savvy, incorporating aspects like brand licensing and category exclusivity into their fee structure. Something for podcast advertising to keep in mind, as podcast hosts are inherently influencers by design.

AI in Digital Media Buying Shows Troubling Signs for Advertisers by Jack Neff

While machine-learning powered tools have found success in several areas of advertising, a new report from marketing agency Tinuiti finds respondents are concerned about AI usage in digital ad buying. 89% of respondents who use Google Shopping for advertising have adopted Google’s Performance Max tool, but that rate has slipped since 2023. Concerns include how difficult it might be for AI tools like PMax to learn/adapt to franchise businesses. There are also early warning signs that click-through rates for search ads are in meaningful decline since Google’s AI search summaries rolled out in March. The new summaries use generative AI to scrape sites and provide more complex answers to search queries without the searcher having to click through to any results.

Here’s Your Very First Look at Critical Role’s ‘Moonward’ by Cheryl Teh

Critical Role, most known for the massively successful tabletop actual play podcast of the same name, is launching a new sci-fi tabletop roleplay series dubbed Moonward. The new series signals the company’s faith in the power of fiction podcasting. Moonward is set in the world of Midst, an experimental audio fiction series acquired by CR in 2023. Audio fiction podcasts have been a testbed for TV to pilot series concepts before committing to full production for the better part of a decade, but now even podcasting companies are leveraging audio drama IP for adaptation to different forms of storytelling.

…as for the rest of the news: