Today in the business of podcasting:
The Podcasting Advertising Anomaly: New Research on Attention and Gender by Tom Webster
The next chapter of data from The Advertising Landscape will focus specifically on podcast advertising’s performance in regards to attention and trust. One bit of data that stands out to Webster is evidence there is (near-as-makes-no-difference) no gender gap in podcast advertising recall. Male podcast listeners surveyed for The Advertising Landscape clocked in at 86% recall on podcast ads, while female listeners scored 85%. A “gap” so small that statistically it might as well be a rounding error. For comparison, AM/FM radio scored an 11 point gap between the two measured genders. Cable TV is a 5 point gap. Reddit has a sizable 24 point gap. Following up, Webster also has a new LinkedIn article digging into that 11 point gap for AM/FM and what those gaps mean for advertising mediums (as well as what makes podcasting unique in having closed that gap).
Spotify Updates Podcast Discovery Features
Changes to the app include a new podcast recommendation area underneath users’ shortcuts on the Home screen of Spotify. In addition the Podcasts area of Spotify now has a second feed users can swap to which filters to just posts from shows they’re already following. Over the coming weeks they intend to roll out a new global feature called “In this episode” where creators can list out other content mentioned within the episode that’s also on Spotify (e.g. songs discussed, an audiobook that was reviewed) and that will create a carousel that listeners can click on to directly view that media.
Nielsen has published their 2025 annual marketing report, built from a survey of 1,400 leading marketers around the world. In the macro, 54% of global marketers plan to reduce ad spend this year, and 48% of North American marketers prioritize revenue growth and brand awareness equally. Focusing on podcasting: 16% of advertisers surveyed plan on increasing their podcast budgets by over 50% this year (down 2% from 2024). The report anticipates new budgets will predominantly go to digital channels throughout the year, but not at the same rate as last year.
Horizon Media opens public RFP to drive transparent ad tech partnerships
The request for information and proposal process has been kicked off to build a partner network for its Blu marketing platform with a focus on keeping the process transparent. Horizon Media president Bob Lord says this will also allow them to show the rationale behind selections, eliminating the possibility of ad tech decisions motivated by outside incentives.
Carr to Drive Comedy Podcast for Netflix [Multiple Sources]
As covered in The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, BBC Studios has teamed up with Netflix to produce The Big Pitch with Jimmy Carr. The podcast is a branded comedy series in which comedians pitch Carr on a movie idea that is specifically tailored to one of Netflix’s 27,000+ hyper-niche genres (e.g. Australian Dysfunctional Family Comedies Starring A Strong Female Lead). While Netflix has had a healthy stable of podcasts for a few years now, they tend to be official tie-ins to popular Netflix properties, redistributing existing content, or chat shows about Netflix properties. The Big Pitch is a step in the direction of getting a net-new show on the comedy charts with a branded element baked into the premise.
As for the rest of the news…
- The Tribeca Film Festival, under two weeks away, has their full 2025 lineup posted, including a section specifically for Audio Storytelling featuring events from the live taping of This American Life: Excellence in Audio Journalism Gala to a live episode recording of Talk Easy with guest Sam Rockwell. Space is limited!
- PRX, in partnership with KUT and The Drag Audio, is hosting a multi-day podcast summit in Austin from June 16th through the 18th. In addition, they’ll be hosting a Creative Design Workshop where selected applicants will gather to brainstorm, collaborate, and prototype a new podcast idea over the course of three mornings. Applications are open now.
- Acast has launched a new search engine powered by Open AI’s LLM aiming to enable advertisers to find podcast audiences they want to reach by describing who they want to reach to the LLM, after which Smart Recommendations will act like an AI media planner and build out a list of applicable shows.
- BBC Sounds and Audible have teamed up with Crossed Wires to sponsor the two day podcast festival based in Sheffield, starting July 4th. The resulting collaboration includes live recordings of popular BBC properties and Audible-sponsored events (such as a live show where broadcaster Greg James will attempt to convince Monty Python star Michael Palin to start a podcast).
- Wondercraft has announced new customization for their generative AI voice clones that allow users to shape the automated voices’ accent, sound, and even ask it to mimic the vocal patterns of another voice.
- Dear Media has become the new home of parenting podcast After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings, hosted by Kristin Gallant and Deena Margolin.
- AdTonos and NumberEight have announced a new partnership that will marry AdTonos’ ads-serving tech with NumberEight’s ID-less audience solutions.
- TubeFilter covers the new show 100 CEOs with Steven Bartlett, an animated series where Bartlett discusses ten lessons audiences can learn from entrepreneurial inspiration, with the animation and voiceover being produced with generative AI tools.
