Before we get into the news, a quick heads-up that Sounds Profitable’s own Tom Webster will be presenting new data and findings from the landmark Podcast Landscape 2024 study in a free webinar with Crooked Media VP of Sales Giancarlo Bizzaro. The two will discuss how the study’s findings show the real story behind “audio vs. video,” why podcasting remains fundamentally audio-first even with video’s crucial discovery role, and strategic implications for both podcast creators and platforms. Register now for the live webinar on Wednesday, November 20th, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Spotify Reports Third Quarter 2024 Earnings
Yesterday Spotify published their latest quarterly earnings report, featuring growth noteworthy enough to generate coverage in Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Noteworthy stats include paying subscribers reaching 252 million in Q3, beating analyst estimates of 250.1 million. Their gross margin also beat expectations, growing to 31.1%. Advertising revenue is only up 6%, attributed to lower prices in both music and podcast advertising.
Many brands either reduced or outright halted investments in influencer marketing to barricade themselves from political blowback during a heated election season. With the U.S. election over, marketers tell Digiday they expect to see budget spend on influencers increase during a holiday season compacted down by election and economical concerns. Meanwhile platforms like Meta and TikTok are pushing the premise of a “Q5”, suggesting brands take advantage of advertising lulls during the end of December/early January when shopping spikes again.
This past quarter merger and acquisition (M&A) activity saw significant growth, with the overall volume of M&A increasing 13% quarter over quarter. A trend in the M&A of later is “rationalization” deals that aim to consolidate or expand the purchaser into new markets. Podcasting is no slouch in the M&A game, such as the recent Insignia Capital acquisitions of Lower Street Studios and Veritone One, which will eventually merge the two companies and bring podcast advertising to a previously podcast-less Insignia portfolio.
While direct-sold remains a top priority for publishers interviewed by Digiday, subscriptions are making notable gains in regards to where publishers are making the most money, and thus will get more focus in the approaching quarters. A Digiday survey found the top three revenue sources for publishers going into 2025, in order, are direct-sold ads, video advertising, and branded content. Video advertising came in fourth place in 2023, making its current spot in second place a notable jump in revenue.
As for the rest of the news…
- AI audio studio Wondercraft has partnered with Frequency to launch an automated ad personalization integration.
- Magellan AI demonstrates how it can measure a spectrum of podcast promo types, from leadership interviews to branded podcasts.
- Documentary.tv and Evergreen Podcasts have teamed up to adapt the Warriors in Their Own Words podcast into a YouTube docu-series.
- True Native Media has brought on Angie Trueblood as Account Executive
- Politico discusses lessons to be learned from podcasting during 2024 election campaigns.
- A new Myers Report forecasts digital video will be the top growth category in Australian advertising for 2025.
- Digiday covers the lack of significant traffic increase to news publishers this year compared to the 2020 election.
