11/21: Audio + testing = optimization (Veritonic). Comedy & conversation lead AnalyticsIQ study. MORE

=z = DAILY DIGEST LUV AT (T Thursday, November 21 Audio + testing = optimized podcast advertising (Veritonic) Audio analytics and research platform Veritonic has delivered a concise and punchy graphical rationale for podcast advertising. The presentation emphasizes three main points. Click for details and the download link. 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% % of Demographic Group 0% Podcast Purchaser Demographics 28% 26% 22% 17% Boomer Gen X Millenial Gen Z Generational Age Comedy and conversation lead in AnalyticsIQ study of podcast listening behaviors The firehose of podcast advertising research brings a new deck from AnalyticsIQ, an Atlanta-based research consultancy. The study is titled Podcast Listening Behaviors, and takes its data from Pew Research Center, Forbes, and the IAB.The report’s thesis hangs on two basic facts: Podcasts have grown in popularity, and that growth is an opportunity for marketers. We dive into the numbers. THE STATE OF PODCASTING INSIGHTS FROM INDUSTRY LEADERS 2024 EDITION Politics, competition, innovation: Podcast predictions (The Podglomerate) If there is a podcasting new-year predictions race, The Podglomerate wins the year (as far as we know). The podcasting services firm has unleashed 2025 predictions garnered from featured guests in the Podcast Perspectives video series. There have been 46 guests in that series, and 18 of them have joined (so far) in the predictions series. Click for everything. | QUOTE MARKED | "At Acast, we run a marketplace with two core user groups: podcast creators (supply) and advertisers (demand). Balancing these sides is a constant challenge." Milly Botes VP of Product Acast Jottings of Note Following TheMoney (Sort Of) Milly Botes, VP of Product at global podcast company Acast, has posted an interesting column which compares Acast’s product management to basic investment philosophies. Those investment planks include diversification, rebalancing, and risk management. Acast’s scale encourages broad management philosophies: 135,000 podcasts generating over a billion listens per quarter. The challenge is felicitously connecting those shows and their audiences with brands. “By thinking like an investor, you can make more informed decisions, minimize risks, and build resilient product portfolios that thrive in both good times and bad,” Botes observes. Read her treatise HERE. Benchmark Survey; New Questions Radio/audio consultancy Jacobs Media has begun preparation of the 2025 edition of Techsurvey, the broadcast industry’s largest participant survey. The survey is open to commercial radio stations in the U.S. and Canada; last year 500 stations and 31,000 listeners participated in the detailed questionnaire. The broad purpose is to identify key digital trends. New questions this year will explore the impact of time-shifting, the popularity of online newsletters, how consumers are using YouTube, and the appeal of short-form videos and how radio stations can best utilize them. Participating stations receive nationwide total results, and (for a fee) individual station results. Info HERE. Shade DIY music distribution expert and indie musician hero Ari Herstand has posted How To (Officially) Report Shady Spotify Playlists — a tutorial for grass-roots efforts to keep Spotify royalty operations legitimate. Not throwing any shade on Spotify itself, the article supports a grass-roots bulwark against AI-generated non-human music and playlists. Those faux playlists potentially soak up royalty payments and dilute the royalty pool at the expense of human creators. He observes that 100,000 tracks are uploaded daily to Spotify,with payment based on an artist’s proportion of streams. “Even if you didn’t listen to Taylor Swift last month, she got some of your subscription money,” Herstand asserts. “That’s how pro-rata works.” Record labels are also complicit in Herstand’s outlook. READ November 20, 2024 | QUOTE MARKED | "Public radio is less compelling now than it used to be. That, in 11 words, sums up all public radio’s current woes: audience erosion, declining member revenue, the bottoming out of underwriting, decreases in philanthropic interest and support, and diminished public awareness and appreciation for public radio’s mission and work–all of it is because of that sentence. Eric Nuzum Co-Founder, Magnificent Noise READ Top podcasts of 2024 nearly identical to 2023 as success breeds success Apple’s annual release of top podcasts in various categories is here. It is based on devices that pull from Apple Podcasts — not a platform-agnostic list such as produced by Edison Research. Click for the list, and RAIN’s year-over-year comparison. | QUOTE MARKED | "I’m as guilty as anyone, but we need to stop treating these podcasts as the 'alternative' media when they are absolutely the mainstream these days. The top ones have audiences as big as, if not bigger than, most legacy outlets." Helen Lewis Staff Writer, The Atlantic READ Jottings of Note A New Deal Acast has inked the Casefile true crime podcast for exclusive ad sales, hosting, and distribution, moving the show from Audioboom. Casefile is Australia’s most successful podcasting export, according to Acast, and the deal will add 80-million annual listens to Acast’s global network. The show, which launched in 2016, can brag about harvesting 800 million listens total, while holding a place on Spotify’s “Podcasts of the Decade” playlist. Casefile is a classic bedroom-to-world-stage success story — although it was a living room in this instance. “This new partnership not only brings even more high-quality content to Acast, but also a massive global audience of engaged listeners for brands to connect with,” observed Acast CEO Ross Adams. The host of this show is famously anonymous, but they offer a quote as well: “Since starting as a side project in a spare room, Casefile has grown massively to reach new global audiences and we’re looking forward to joining the Acast Content Network to expand even further, both in Australia and internationally.” The Tops Edison Research has released its Top 50 Podcasts in the US ranker for Q3. Edison lists, which are based on surveys, are different from rankers which derive their results from server downloads, because Edison’s results can include any podcast in the world. That difference is reflected in the #1 spot –The Joe Rogan Experience — which is a Spotify exclusive. See Edison’s rundown HERE. Edison also unleashed its Q3 list of top 10 podcast networks, ranked by reach, also for Q3. Spotify reigns over that reckoning, followed by SiriusXM Podcast Network, iHeartPodcasts, and Wondery. See that one HERE. Keys, Shifts, and Trends UK-centered MIDiA Research put on a conversational webinar called “2024 in review — key trends and insights in the music business.” Featuring company head Mark Mulligan and Senior INdustry Analyst Tatiana Cirisano, the conversation breaks down the shifts and trends in the music industry during 2024. Watch HERE. Then, when you’re ready for the annual industry prediction ritual, register for MIDiA’s 2025 Prediction Webinar titled It’s Social’s Stage Now! Register for that one HERE. November 19, 2024 - Topics, formats, budgets: Podcast growth decisions part 2 (Podcast Marketing Academy) Yesterday we looked at the Podcast Marketing Trends report issued by the Podcast Marketing Academy. Today we bring part 2 of our review. The information is based on a survey of 515 podcasters, representing over two billion downloads and 28,000 episodes. Heather Osgood: Do You Really *NEED* a CTA? by Heather Osgood Is call-to-action (CTA) always the best approach advertisingto podcast ? Not necessarily, and that is the subject of this guest column by Heather Osgood, Founder and CEO of podcast ad-rep company True Native Media. A more nuanced approach is sometimes suggested. And this comes with a reassurance: “The absence of a CTA doesn’t mean the absence of KPIs” (key performance indicators). Click to learn about the power of connection over direct action, and avoiding audience fatigue. Copyright © 2024 RAIN: Radio And Internet News, All rights reserved. You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to our daily summary e-mail. Our mailing address is: RAIN: Radio And Internet News 10 W. Hubbard St. #5W Chicago, IL 60654 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can or .