iHeartMedia, Inc. Reports Results for 2024 Third Quarter
Noteworthy changes in iHeart’s Q3 2024 financial report from last week include podcast revenue increasing 11% year-over-year to $114 million, accounting for 11.3% of the company’s earnings in total. In addition to the quarterly report, an anonymous source told The Hollywood Reporter that iHeartMedia was in the process of laying off just under 5% of their 10,000 employee workforce, meaning somewhere under 500 positions will be affected. With that in mind we’d like to remind everyone in the business of podcasting, whether seeking new employees or looking for a new position, that the Sounds Profitable Job Board is entirely free and always accepting new job submissions.
Trump’s Win Cemented It: New Media Is Leaving the Old Guard Behind by Isabella Simonetti
A look at podcast appearances during the run-up to the November 5th election and how this year’s presidential campaign strategy stressed new media significantly more than prior election seasons. While TV news remains a sizable draw for older voters, younger generations have moved online, with the top three cable channels down 32% in collective viewership compared to 2020. WSJ interviews with various kinds of voters shows a consistent trend of perceiving podcasts as being more authentic, legitimate places to hear politicians speak. Even if said podcasts have the same power dynamics that ensure similar softball questions and forgiving editing found in mainstream television, podcasts come with the air of calm vibes and friendly conversational tone.
Podpage adds a listener survey tool by James Cridland
New from Podnews: Podpage has published a new tutorial video showcasing a new feature in their Pro plan: Listener Surveys. Inspired by Tom Webster’s discussion of the utility of audience surveys in his book The Audience is Listening, Podpage founder Brenden Mulligan built a new tool in the service that allows users to run listener surveys directly on their podcast’s website, with submissions tracked in the backend with a data visualization dashboard.
A new report from Quill – the 2024 Podcast Marketing Trust Index – finds 33% of Americans surveyed say they have changed their opinions on a topic or brand due to discussion on a podcast. 35% of that group are male, and 50% are aged 18-34. The survey was conducted by Ipsos, surveying 1,000 U.S. residents aged 18 and up. Other key findings include 56% of respondents say host endorsements influence their trust in a product or service to some degree, and 42% saying they trust or somewhat trust information presented in podcasts more than traditional forms of media.
Analyst Adam Bowie returns with a quarterly look at RAJAR data covering audio’s growth in the U.K. 88% of the U.K. population listens to radio at least 15 minutes each week, according to the survey, a year over year growth of 2.8% (though, Bowie stresses back in Q2 RAJAR re-weighted their population data to account for new census data). Podcast listening is up to 21.8% of listening time as measured by RAJAR, representing 12.6 million people a week.
As for the rest of the news…
- Music streamer Deezer has chosen DAX as its exclusive US ad sales partner
- A new study from Westwood One and Matchbox finds that podcast and radio listeners are a key potential market for auto parts advertisers
- True Crime podcaster Jonathan “MrBallen” Allen has announced MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark and Mysterious is the top debut novel in graphic novel and manga section of the New York Times bestseller list
- Awards show insider Bruce Vilanch is sharing Oscars secrets in his new podcast OSCARS: What Were They Thinking?!
- Vuori is allowing some of its employees and investors to sell their shares in a deal valued at about 5.5 billion
