Before we get into the news, a quick heads up that the first Sounds Profitable presentation of 2025 is next week! Join Tom Webster for a half-hour presentation of The Business Podcast Consumer, a look at the audience for business podcasts and what makes them different to the audience of any other genre. Join in next week on Wednesday, January 15th, at 3:00 p.m. EST. Registration is free and open now.
Why Razorfish is Prioritizing Podcast Ads and Second-Party Data by Victoria McNally
A short interview with Rob Silver, EVP of Media at Razorfish, recorded on the show floor of CES. Silver says podcasting is attractive as both the audio and video side of the medium open the door for brands to have more opportunities to get in front of new audiences.
Hot on the heels of the PayPal Honey controversy that triggered a class action lawsuit, a new suit has been filed against Capital One. The suit revolves around Capital One’s ‘Shopping’ browser extension, which functions similar to the popular Honey extension in that it tests discount codes at online shopping checkouts. The plaintiffs of a class-action suit filed in Virginia allege that, similar to the Honey allegations, Shopping strips existing affiliate marketing cookies out of a user’s browser to replace them with Capital One’s own cookie, effectively taking credit for a sale someone else influenced. The second of a pair of important cases to keep an eye on, as the ramifications could impact a decade of affiliate marketing campaigns.
Amazon Is Reportedly Exploring Investments in Original News Programming by Ethan Alter
A Variety article reports Amazon is looking into creating more news content for Prime Video in the wake of the successful Election Night Live event hosted by Brian Williams. Amazon has declined to officially comment on the Variety article. If original news content is rolled out with more gusto on Prime Video, their in-house podcast production and distribution capabilities (namely Wondery and Art19) put them in prime position to turn on-demand news content into podcasts as well.
A short list of very polite demands—goals, really—for the podcast industry in 2025 by Sharon Taylor
In addition to contributing to the Triton Digital 2025 industry predictions piece, EVP of Podcast and Content Delivery Sharon Taylor has also written up a list of ‘demands’ for podcasting as an industry. The first is a strong one: advertisers need to embrace podcasting, and it’s not unfeasible for the industry to hit $3 billion this year. As Taylor says, “Podcast advertising works – we know it works – with spending and ad load both up in 2024.” The iOS 17 update has calmed the waters of downloads vs. listens, and The Ad Bargain shows podcast audiences skip fewer ads than other forms of content. Advertisers can invest in podcasting confidently.
2024 laid the groundwork for brand studios. Will it start to pay off in 2025? By Kristina Monllos
Last year several major brands announced the launch of content production studios with a focus on outputting branded TV and movies. Starbucks Studios, reality TV from Chick-Fil-A, a lot is in the pipeline. Branded podcasting has been a significant part of the industry for years and continues to grow, meaning the incoming world of branded TV and film has a logical self-promotional route via companion and tie-in podcasts that also benefit the brand at the heart of it all.
As for the rest of the news…
- SiriusXM Media has launched The Trendcast, a five-part podcast series reflecting on trends from last year, a companion piece to the 2024 Podcast Trends Report.
- Amplifi Media founder Steven Goldstein shares his 7 key takeaways from CES
- PRX has been tapped to distribute Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio to podcast platforms and national public radio
- Heather Osgood interviewed Lex Friedman on The Podcast Advertising Playbook about the future of podcast advertising
- Podseo, founded by Spreaker co-founder Andrea de’Marsi, has launched its podcast search optimization platform.
- Rococo Punch co-founder John Perotti is teaching an online class via the Maine College of Art & Design about what to do after a podcast pitch is accepted.
- PAVE Studios has announced Mantra, a new OpenMind original series.
