This Week in the Business of Podcasting
Hi all! Newton Schottelkotte here, in for Gavin as they take their birthday week off. I promise you won’t even notice the difference, unless you like me better, in which case please email Bryan with gusto. But after you check out the stories below…
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Brands look to sports for a big score
Advertisers are seeing more and more success in catering to sports fans and capitalizing on the industry’s increasing popularity on social media and in the podcasting sphere. Events such as the CONMEBOL Copa America and Leagues Cup are building excitement for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and a Monday article from Adweek by Daniela Silva found that the fanbase in the states mainly skews towards Hispanic Gen Z viewers, who largely consume content via social media sites like Instagram and Tiktok.
This rise in fandom is a boon for both advertisers and athletes, who are beginning to see brand deals similar to influencers’. Sam Bradley for Digiday noted that brands are looking to not just superstars, but up-and-coming and college athletes for shorter brand deals that specifically target the aforementioned social media platforms. These deals may point towards a move by athletes to the kinds of persona-centric podcasts that influencers use to build their personal brand.
In addition to seeking out new brand partners, advertisers are closely watching the fragmentation occurring for viewers, as sports fans are asked to purchase a larger number of different streaming subscriptions to watch their favorite games and teams. Jasmine Sheena for Marketing Brew writes that the jury is out on how fans and brands will react. Since the packages streamers purchase are often specific to certain teams or gathered data, advertisers are taking advantage of the specificity when targeting potential customers. It remains to be seen whether this potential increase in value can make up the difference if some fans call it quits.
75% Of All CTV Transactions Are Programmatic by Victoria McNally
This Wednesday from AdExchanger, a study found advertisers are looking more and more to performance metrics to shape their digital ad spend according to a new report from IAB. Their annual Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy report found that total digital ad spend is projected to grow 16% this year. According to the article, “Outcomes were among the top three KPIs for measuring success across social video (64% of respondents), online video (54%) and CTV (54%) subtypes of video”.
Ad buyers chalked this increased usage of programmatic ads up to its “easier campaign optimization, better ROI/ROAS and greater ease achieving scale”. Said CTV spending may also provide a more affordable CPM than hands-on, especially when many ad buyers are used to working with programmatic ads and their resulting data output.
While podcasting is low in programmatic usage, most active buyers in the space generally prefer the hands-on approach that allows them to more closely monitor the content they purchase space on. This presents two possible indications: that podcasting’s preference for hands-on ads sets the space apart and makes it especially appealing, or that the space will need to adapt to a programmatic preference in order to not be left behind.
Platforms struggle with misinformation and exploitation amid Trump assassination attempt by Krystal Scanlon and Marty Swant
After the assassination attempt of Trump last week, social media platforms have been struggling to deal with an influx of misinformation and conspiracy theories capitalizing on the event. According to Digiday in an article on Tuesday, from selling a variety of products styled around the event, such as coffee mugs and picture frames, to political ads making unverifiable claims, places like Facebook and Instagram were overwhelmed in the days that followed.
Said Jasmine Enberg, vp and principal analyst of social media and the creator economy at eMarketer, “The weekend’s events must have put advertisers on high alert. The platforms are also likely walking on eggshells, as they try to size the extent to which this election cycle could damage their businesses and determine what — if anything — they can do to prevent both monetary and real-world harm.”
Meta has not announced plans yet to police this content while still maintaining a stated policy of free speech, but platforms will likely need to act quickly in order to remain brand-friendly options for advertisers. These brand-safety tools are critical in mediums such as social media platforms and podcasting, as advertisers see increasing value in being able to monitor their ad placement in real time.
Podscribe Ad Read Index: June 2024
Top Genres by Read Type: Host vs Producer
What is the breakout between host-read and producer-read ads by genre? For host-read ads in June, “Kid & Family” came in at the top spot with 80% of the ad reads being host-read. “Education” came in second and “Health & Wellness” remained steady month over month in 3rd. As for producer-read ads, “Government” stayed in the top spot with 76% of all ads being host-read, the highest percentage of host read ads we’ve observed year to date. “Music” replaced “Sports” for second, and “Science” coming in 3rd.
Quick Hits
While they may not be top story material, the articles below from this week are definitely worth your time:
- What Has Your Podcast Got To Lose? by Tom Webster Tom shares an exercise for podcast producers to find what really matters.
- iHeart is Australia’s #1 podcast publisher for 50th time A big milestone for iHeart, plus key data on the Australian podcasting market as pulled together by Podnews.
- Why longer videos are becoming more commonplace on YouTube by Tim Peterson Many viral video essays are feature-length or longer, which could mean great news and more views for longform video podcasts.
