Spreaker unveils the Supporters Club, a new monthly subscription feature directing 100% of revenue to creators. With a commitment to amplifying the creator-audience connection, Spreaker’s transparent, all-in-one platform fosters a sustainable and vibrant podcasting ecosystem. See more.
Audacy Receives Court Approval of Reorganization Plan
Back in early January, Audacy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now their plan to rectify the situation has been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company’s reorganization plan includes equitizing over 80% of their existing debt and establishing a robust capital structure in hopes of driving long-term growth. Audacy CEO David J. Field says the announcement is a step forward for the company and positions it to continue working on growth and financial performance. [Source]
Top Podcast Advertisers for January 2024
Each month Magellan AI analyzes the previous month’s data to suss out the top podcast advertisers by spend, as well as how much that spend has changed over time. The latest chart, covering January, shows some drastic change-ups in spend percentage. Intuit is leaning into tax season advertising and is third for the month in overall spend with $902,900, a 1232% increase from December. In second place for percent change, juice brand Squeezed upped their spend 1553%. But the overall winner, is work platform Monday.com, which went from a $100 ad spend in December to over $268,000 in January, a rare instance of an over 200,000% ad spend increase. Magellan’s next 10 minute webinar looking at the top 15 rankings and forecasted trends for the month ahead is tomorrow, February 22nd, at 11:00 EST. [Source]
The first Arabic podcast AI brand safety & suitability tool by Suzi Kuban
Next Broadcast Media and Barometer have partnered to create a new brand safety and suitability tool specifically designed for Arabic podcast content. The team-up will implement Barometer’s AI and contextual experience with NBM’s podcast inventory and local reach to open up new opportunities for advertisers in the Middle East. Barometer’s AI engine ensures NBM’s content is GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) compliant, an extra layer of third-party brand safety measurement to provide added insurance advertisers can trust the content is compatible. [Source]
2024 is a huge year for political advertising. What does that mean for other advertisers? By Sara Lebow
This week eMarketer breaks down five details of the political advertising machine for 2024 that will impact the wider world of advertising in general. Such as the fact that TV political ad spend will break $7 billion this year. With political campaigns buying up ad spots (both on TV and elsewhere), supply and demand kicks in, causing prices to increase overall. As elections heat up, politically-charged content becomes more popular, and the inventory on those spaces increases in inherent value as well as rarity. Something for political podcasting to keep in mind. Meanwhile, the risk for AI deepfakes and misinformation is higher than ever as higher quality generative AI tools become publicly available. eMarketer predicts there will be higher pressure for platforms to establish policies on AI-generated content. Pressure that likely will bleed into podcasting as well, given the relative ease of synthesizing a short voice clip in comparison to creating convincing deepfake video ads. [Source]
…as for the rest of the news: Blue Wire has raised new funding from Decathalon Capital, The Media Leader breaks out their fishbowl of questions to interview Acast’s Solène Dassing, and Audily has announced a partnership with The Pop Ups to lean into live events and children’s content.
