I wanna give you a heads-up about our next research presentation: on Thursday, June 26th at 2:00 p.m. EST Sounds Profitable and SiriusXM Media / SiriusXM Podcast Network are hosting Unlock the Power of Purpose-Driven Podcasting. The webinar will focus on two of podcasting’s fastest-growing audiences: Health & Fitness, and Self-Improvement consumers. Based on new data from The Podcast Landscape, the presentation will explore what motivates these audiences, how they discover and engage with new shows, and what makes them uniquely receptive to branded content and advertising. Registration is open, grab your virtual seat now.
A Look Back at Cannes Day 1
The week of festivities in Cannes kicked off earlier today and we’ve got some coverage. First up, Digiday has a vibe check for day 1. A dark cloud hangs over the beach in the form of who isn’t coming to the event, with ad executives who do business in the U.S. (but without permanent U.S. citizenship) electing not to come to France over concerns about what might happen when they try to re-enter the country. There’s also a shift from excess and improvisational business meet-cutes to tightly-programmed meeting blocks to maximize productivity and make the trip a worthwhile expense. Meanwhile, on Saturday The New York Times wrote a pre-Cannes piece detailing generative AI’s place as a hot topic at the events this year due to factors like the top media owners investing in their own AI tech (e.g. Google and Meta), and holding companies investing in building their own AI platforms.
Can This Audio DSP Bring ‘Viewability’ To Podcasting? By Anthony Vargas
AdExchanger takes a look at audio demand-side platform (DSP) Audiohook, and a new feature that aims to solve podcast advertising’s lack of “viewability” (or, as Vargas coins, ‘audibility’). In general podcast ad tech is good at saying an impression has been delivered, but a data signal common elsewhere in advertising is whether the audience member actually looked (or listened) to the ad itself. Audiohook’s solution is a new podcast panel built through partnerships and API integrations with several podcast platforms, which all serve up a pool of 250,000 U.S.-based podcast consumers on iOS, Android, and online who can be tapped into for audience listening habit data. The data is anonymized and aggregates the average length of time users tend to listen to a given episode, and how likely they are to skip. As such, pool data will only consider a podcast ad listened to if it’s allowed to play in its entirety without skips.
Will 2025 be the year when ad spend on creator platforms outstrips traditional media? by Sam Gutelle
WPP Media’s projections for the rest of the year include the expectation ad spend on user-generated content platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn will outpace traditional media platform spend. The forecast estimates $325 billion in combined ad spend will go to creator-driven platforms this year. Gutelle’s writing then looks at the tightening gap between traditional TV and YouTube before posing the question “does the distinction between TV and digital still matter?” Attention is flowing to platforms, whether or not popular influencers are making TV-esque content on creator platforms or hosting content creator-esque shows on traditional TV. Regardless, it’s working, as YouTube’s latest impact report contains Oxford Economics’ finding that YouTube’s creators contributed over $55 billion to the U.S. GDP last year.
Despite Economic Uncertainty, The Advertising Market Is Still Primed For Growth by Joanna Gerber
As the headline says, even with the current state of economic wibblyness, global advertising revenue is trending upward according to Magna’s latest global ad forecast. In the report, global ad revenue for media owners is expected to reach $979 billion this year, up 4.9% from 2024. While traditional media channels are expected to cool, retail media and search are expected to grow 8% this year, picking up the slack. As InsideAudioMarketing’s reporting shows, the same report anticipates the U.S. ad market will grow 6.9% this year (excluding cyclical ad spending). Technically overall audio sales are expected to drop 2% this year in the U.S., but with the context that this stat is overall audio. Digital audio advertising is forecast to increase 3.7%, while over-the-air radio is expecting to decline (3.2%).
As for the rest of the news…
- Coming up on Wednesday, June 25th at 12:00 p.m. EST, Moneywise producer Jackie Lamport and Lower Street founder Harry Morton will be hosting an hour long webinar going over the process of taking a $150k/month audio podcast and to video production, including unfiltered metrics and observations about the process.
- The Podcast Business Journal has a new joint interview with Brains On! Host Molly Bloom and Science Museum of Minnesota researcher Elena Tsakakis discuss joint research done by Brains On and the SMoM looking into how to design kid-focused podcast content that sparks conversations among families.
- Colin Gray has a new YouTube video covering the experiences of five podcasters who made the transition from audio-first podcasting to adding video production, including what worked, what didn’t work, and alternative strategies besides fully committing to one medium or the other.
- Trevor Noah has signed an exclusivity deal with SiriusXM to bring his podcast What Now? to the SiriusXM Podcast Network starting July 1st.
- Health & Spirituality podcast Almost 30 has signed onto the YAP Media Network, with the network facilitating DAI podcast ads, custom integrations,and 360° creative campaigns as of this morning.
