Today in the Business of Podcasting
Why some publishers are reducing their podcast slate to try to grow their audio businesses by Sara Guaglione
Several major podcast producers gave Digiday their strategy on reducing new podcast endeavors to bolster existing content. NPR has shifted focus to consolidating podcasts down from individual feeds into central ‘showcase’ feeds, unifying both audiences and resources spent on production. Meanwhile, companies like The Atlantic have cut smaller podcasts to focus on growing flagship IP. Producers like The Economist, CNN, and Betches Media tell Digiday they’re going in the opposite direction, with a slate of new content in development for later this year.
Magnite And FreeWheel Link Up In The Name Of Interoperability by Alyssa Boyle
Magnite has announced a technical integration with the Comcast-owned FreeWheel. The connection will allow publishers on FreeWheel’s ad server to see inventory within Magnite’s supply-side platform (or SSP). This new interoperability gives buyers more granular information and control over bidding, and Magnite is the biggest SSP currently operating in podcasting.
Acast to focus on automation to ‘create value’ for advertisers by Ella Sagar
In the latest quarterly earnings call, Acast CEO Ross Adams explained the new focus on automation going forward, highlighting programmatic ad buying as a fast-growing advertising channel. Automated ad buying will create higher cost efficiency. Other automations include Acast’s self-serve platform and an AI-driven capability named Collections+ that uses Podchaser metadata to allow advertisers to target relevant listeners more effectively.
Top 3 podcasts in U.S. remain the same over two years by Brad Hill
Each quarter Edison Research conducts a survey to determine the top 50 podcasts in the US according to weekly podcast listeners aged 13 and up. The Q2 2023 edition, built from a pool of 5,352 online interviews, marks two years of the same top three podcasts: The Joe Rogan Experience, Crime Junkie, and The Daily.
The Media Rating Council is angling for better clarity in an era of compounding complexity by Ronan Shields
Established in the 1960s in response to a congressional committee on media measurement, The Media Rating Council has been working to become more explicit and bring clarity to conversations like the current debate over Google’s video ad transparency. While several aspects of Google advertising are accredited by MRC, no third party is currently accredited for Google brand safety in any form.
…as for the rest of the news: Digiday’s new Media Briefing presents the case for, and against, paid subscription trials. Digital subscriptions are a bright spot in otherwise down Q2 for Gannett. And, in a surprising turn after announcing their partnership with Spotify, ad group WPP cut their full-year growth forecast from 3 to 5% down to 1.5 to 3%, citing low spending from tech clients and delays in tech-related projects.
