What do rock radio and new technology have in common? Young males. And so it should come as little surprise that just-released results from the annual Infinite Dial study show it is rock radio formats that score the highest for listening to podcasting. Edison Research says eight-in-ten alternative rock radio listeners and three-quarters of heavy metal listeners have given podcasting a try. But it is age more than musical preference that matters. Read more
Podcasting remains more of a passion project than a personal money-maker for many radio hosts, especially in the current business climate where local broadcasters are focused on rebuilding core revenue rather than focusing on what is still a small part of their billings. That is not discouraging several personalities who told Thursday’s Morning Show Boot Camp that podcasts are allowing them to go beyond the confines of what they’re allowed to do on-air. Read more
Apple has quietly been putting more focus on its podcast business this year, recruiting staff and making tweaks to its operating system and hardware to become more podcast-friendly. It is also apparently buying companies, not that it wants anyone to know. Apple is now confirming a Bloomberg report that revealed Apple purchased the startup Scout FM earlier this year. Read more
WNYC Studio’s Radiolab, one of its the most popular and influential podcasts and radio shows, announced that creator and host Jad Abumrad will be joined by two new co-hosts following the retirement of longtime co-host Robert Krulwich. Abumrad is joined by Lulu Miller, a veteran of the show and former co-host and cofounder of NPR’s Invibilia podcast. Also taking on co-host duties is Latif Nasser, who is currently Radiolab’s Director of Research. Read more
As Spotify continues to produce more original series, it is looking to turn more of those series into television shows, films and digital video. The company has signed a multiyear partnership with Chernin Entertainment, giving the production company access to more than 250 Spotify original series from Spotify Studios, Gimlet, Parcast and The Ringer. “Audio is by far the fastest-growing medium in the entertainment business,” said CEO Peter Chernin. Read more
Braden Gall, a former morning on-air personality at Cromwell Radio Group’s sports “102.5 The Game” WPRT-FM Nashville, isn’t spending long on the sideline. Let go from the station in February after a four-year stint, Gall has launched a new podcast that will be the basis of a sports-focused podcast network, 440 Sports. Read more
ESPN Audio credits the unusual confluence of all major professional sports for the most-ever number of listeners to ESPN podcasts … The production company UCP is adapting the podcast The Lost Kids into a TV series… The video game podcast Spawn On Me has joined Fanbyte Media in a multiyear partnership … Spotify and Deezer join a new organization that is accusing Apple and Google of using their app stores to unfairly protect their competitive advantages in the digital space … Produce Your Podcast, the podcast production solutions company, has launched the Personal Finance Podcast Network. Read more
The latest Share of Ear data from Edison Research shows that Americans spend nine percent of their time listening to audio sources with YouTube. Some podcasters have looked to the video sharing site as a way to reach people who may not yet be listening to podcasts. That list includes NPR, which has been testing what role YouTube will play in its distribution since this spring. Read more
With a theory that saying yes, even if it means creating discomfort, helps achieve growth, it probably was not that tough to convince Thomas Brag, Matt Dajer and Ammar Kandil to convert their popular Yes Theory YouTube channel into a podcast. And that is what they have done. The trio has teamed up with Headspace Studios and Cadence13 to create The Yes Theory Podcast. Read more
The political season is bringing all sorts of Washington-focused podcasts, and not all of them are talking heads digging into the campaign. The iHeartPodcast Network has just launched Daughters of DC. The political thriller is set in a Washington prep school and is geared toward young adults in the first co-production of iHeart and Einhorn’s Epic Productions. Read more
The X Fronts, a first-of-its-kind event that will unite more than 15 podcast companies in a single presentation to preview new shows, seasons and rising stars to advertisers and media buyers, is being held today (Sept. 24). Actress Busy Philipps, TV commentator Touré and social media singer-songwriter Phenom Mxmtoon are among the podcast creators and executives slated to celebrate the creativity of small, indie podcast networks. Read more
When E.W. Scripps Co. sold its podcasting, radio, and newspaper properties, it signaled its intention to focus resources on building a bigger footprint in television. The Cincinnati-based company made good on that pledge today, saying it will buy national broadcast network Ion Media for $2.65 billion. Read more
Mexican-American boxer Abner Mares is bringing the Blue Wire Podcast Network into Spanish-language podcasting. The sports-focused network has tapped Mares to host a new series in both English and Spanish. The sister podcasts, On the Hook and El Gancho, will feature Mares’ take on boxing, his life as a father, and as a modern business mogul. Read more
Best-selling author Dr. Brené Brown returned to podcasting earlier this year with a deal to launch Unlocking Us on Cadence13. But starting next year that show will become a Spotify exclusive, and under a multiyear deal Brown has just inked with the streaming service, before that she will launch a new show through its Parcast studio. Read more
Podcasts are running more ads that they were pre-COVID. That is the conclusion of a new analysis by MediaRadar. Its data shows the average podcast ran 3.7 advertisements during the first half of 2020. That is up 12% compared to the average 3.3 ads than ran during the second half of 2019. “Ads typically last fifty seconds,” the report said. MediaRadar also found more marketers embraced mid-roll ads. Read more
Radio stations looking for podcast talent are increasingly going beyond the morning show team and outside the station to interesting people in the local community. Hubbard Radio’s all-news WTOP-FM Washington (103.5) offers another idea for programmers looking to expand their podcast presence. Julia Ziegler, WTOP’s Director of News & Programming, found her next podcast host on her own Instagram feed. Read more
Libysn is offering the first snapshot on what impact Amazon Music’s entry into the podcast business may have for the industry. VP Rob Walch said that for the more than 69,000 podcasts his company hosts, the newcomer had more downloads on its first day than many of the established players. Libsyn also reports that desktop downloads rose in August, perhaps a signal that more people are back at their regular work desks using browsers and not apps to listen. Read more
Spotify today has begun testing a new interactive tool to strengthen the link between the podcaster and the listener. It has debuted Polls, an interactive feature that allows a show to post a survey for listeners to take right on the Spotify app. Participation from listeners is fully optional and anonymous. Read more
American Public Media, the Minneapolis-based broadcaster that produces some of the biggest public radio shows and podcasts like Marketplace, In The Dark and The Weeknight Kitchen, is seeing a change at the top. Jon McTaggart has told board members and staffers at APM — which also operates Minnesota Public Radio and Southern California Public Radio — that he is stepping down from the organization that he has led since 2011. Read more
In a first for the Westwood One Podcast Network, the company has begun releasing a new show in English and Spanish. The Imperative Entertainment podcast is called The Red Note and La Nota Roja, depending on the language, and it tells the story of the killings of women in the Mexican border city of Juarez. The podcast series is set to become a documentary feature film entitled “Flowers of the Desert: Stories from The Red Note” in 2021. Read more
Back to school may be helping give podcast download numbers a boost. That will become clearer in the coming weeks, but whatever the reason, podcast downloads jumped nine percent last week. That is according to Podtrac’s weekly update of the publishers and shows that it measures. There was also a 52% spike in downloads compared to a year ago. Read more
Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination, is introducing her first podcast in the middle of the election season. “You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton” is a new show that the former Secretary of State is launching with the iHeartPodcast Network. “This podcast is a chance to talk about subjects that are too often overlooked and share the inspiration and education I’ve gotten from my guests,” said Clinton. Read more
How can broadcast radio hold onto advertiser money? A new Borrell Associates survey suggests the answer lies online. It said that rather than cut audio advertising form their media plans, ad buyers want to place it digitally. That means tens of millions of additional ad dollars flowing into streaming audio and podcasting. And that is where broadcasters should focus some attention in order to capitalize on that shift. Read more
As a podcast hosting company with more than 74,000 active shows, Libsyn has always been agnostic on the distribution front. The podcasts it hosts appear across the spectrum of apps serving up on-demand audio. That constellation will now have another star as it adds Player.FM to the list of third-party podcast apps. Read more
In a world of niche media, audio continues to have the big reach that drives marketing results. Consider this: Nielsen says 91% of Americans aged 18 and older listen to broadcast radio each week. Digital reach is also growing and the industry will be able to make its case to the marketing world at the IAB’s Reach Conference, which is set to begin Sept. 29. The Reach Conference will include a special focus on audio trends and strategy, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Read more
Actor and comedian Kevin Hart is expanding his Laugh Out Loud multi-platform entertainment company into podcasting. As part of a new deal with SiriusXM, Hart will produce additional podcast videos that will be distributed across the SiriusXM ecosystem, including Pandora. Hart last year debuted his first podcast, Straight From The Hart. Read more
Podcasters furthered their position as a news outlet today as the daily news podcasts like The Daily and Start Here served up special programming in response to the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. That includes special content and double-episode releases. Read more
Three-time All-Pro linebacker and Lights Out Xtreme Fighting Founder Shawne Merriman is the host of the latest Fox Sports Radio-iHeartRadio original podcast. Lights Out will feature Merriman as he takes on the biggest stories in sports, with a focus on the NFL, MMA and NASCAR. Merriman will also welcome celebrity guests and friends from the worlds of sports and entertainment. Read more
Music may soon play a bigger part in the shows released by the podcast production company Audio Up Media. The Nashville-based company has hired music industry veteran John Ingrassia as President of Music. Ingrassia, who most recently spent 11 years as General Manager at the talent firm Vector Management, previously worked at Sony Music in a variety of roles, including as EVP of the Columbia Records Group. Read more
Podcasting is giving actors a way to spread their wings. For some, it is genres that they don’t typically turn up in on the big screen. For actress Elle Fanning, a new podcast is allowing her to show her serious side. She has signed on to narrate One Click, a new documentary podcast from Entercom’s Cadence13 that investigates the deadly diet drug DNP. “I hope [it] will start an important conversation amongst my peers,” said Fanning. Read more
Acast has had more than eleven million downloads in Canada but until today it has never officially operated in the market. That changed today as the company partnered with several Canadian broadcasters and hired its first manager for its operations north of the border. “It’s increasingly important to offer ad partners cross-market campaigns that reach consumers in North America and beyond,” said Brian Danzis, Managing Director, Americas at Acast. Read more
The fictional fantasy podcast Carcerem has signed with Cabana for ad sales representation. Carcerem is an original series from Shane Salk Productions that features a star-studded cast, original music and sound design. Read more
While larger retailers typically hype holiday sales promotions in the bountiful fourth quarter selling season, more direct-to-consumer brands have been following the trend. That’s good news for podcast advertising, according to a new White Paper from Magellan AI, “How does your holiday podcast advertising campaign measure up?” Read more
Radio veteran Mike McVay’s venture into podcast development and production—via his McVay Media Podcast Networks—is collaborating with Benztown for a re-tooling of “Many Screens, Big Picture,” a podcast series that explores “trends and things to watch for in the evolving film and entertainment landscape.” Read more
One week after “The Black Effect Podcast Network” was announced, a joint venture between Charlamagne Tha God and the iHeartPodcast Network, the syndicated radio personality explained what he hopes to accomplish with the venture, the interplay between it and his daily radio show and the slate of new podcasts in the works. Read more
Audio production studio Campside Media’s alliance with Sony Music Entertainment to develop a slate of original podcasts will kick off with the Oct. 1 launch of “Chameleon,” a true crime series about the ongoing hunt for the Hollywood Con Queen, a notorious scam artist who impersonated powerful female film producers to prey on aspiring members of the entertainment industry. Read more
Well-tread entertainment thumbs-up, thumbs-down portal Rotten Tomatoes has launched podcast “Rotten Tomatoes is Wrong,” offering “informative and lively conversations about the most beloved and despised movies, TV and streaming shows ever made.” It is hosted and distributed by ART19. Read more
Come on, Vogue… let your body move to the… 90s. The iconic magazine is embracing audio with new podcast “In Vogue: The 1990s.” The docuseries reflects on key moments in the decade’s culture through the lens of fashion, “from slip dresses with army boots to colorful tracksuits and minimal pantsuits.” Read more
Evergreen Podcasts is unleashing new podcast “Rebuilding America,” with partners New Politics and Service Year Alliance. Hosted by Ken Harbaugh—who also helms “Burn the Boats” and “Medal of Honor” podcasts on the network—the 10-episode limited series showcases advocates national service. Read more
Big Al Mack, a co-host of YEA Networks’ syndicated “The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show,” launched his podcast, “Let’s Be Single Together.” Mack and co-host Marjanna will focus on their current and past dating lives. To help boost subscriber numbers, Big Al said he would give up to $1,000 to the charity Kidd’s Kids, based on the number of new subscribers on the podcast’s launch day this week. Read more
Bobby Bones is expanding his podcasting empire. The on-air personality and iHeartMedia executive has announced the launch of “Too Much To Say with Kalie Shorr,” featuring the country singer/songwriter sharing her thoughts on “everything from music to martinis.” It is distributed by Bones’ Nashville Podcast Network and Premiere Networks. Read more
In 2016, music publicist Rob Goldstone’s life was upended when he generated an email that established a Trump Tower pow-wow between Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian government official. He has now parlayed his “RussiaGate” notoriety into a new podcast, “Rob Goldstone Is An Englishman In…” And it’s a global smash. Read more
CBS TV Studios power couple Robert and Michelle King are turning their true-to-life podcast about a teenage girl who finds out her father was a serial killer, into a TV series for CBS All Access. “The Good Fight” creators will develop a drama based on the 2019 “Happy Face” podcast. Read more
“In a time with so much uncertainty in the music industry, we feel it’s extremely important to help artists find new creative outlets,” says longtime veteran Dave Shapiro. That is why he and fellow industry namesakes Tim Borror and Matt Andersen are making the move into podcasting. The trio’s entertainment agency, Sound Talent Group, has formed new podcast network Sound Talent Media. Read more
Art19 notes that nine in 10 podcasts it hosts logged international listeners in August. With many podcast publishers lacking a global sales force, the company’s sales team has created VAST. Via multiple third-party vendors around the globe, the new service allows it to offer U.S. podcasters a way to monetize listeners outside of America’s borders. Read more
More than a dozen independent podcast networks will preview new shows, seasons and rising personalities during The X Fronts, the first such event designed specifically for indie podcast networks, on Thursday, Sept. 24. It is directed toward media buyers, brands and advertisers, and podcast publishers. Read more
Following the announced launch earlier this month of syndicated radio personality Charlamagne Tha God’s “The Black Effect Podcast Network,” in conjunction with iHeartMedia—featuring a variety of Black voices with content across myriad genres—the iHeartPodcast Network Speaker Series will offer a webinar with the personality discussing his new venture’s mission and goals. Read more
The secret was already out: Amazon had podcasting in its sights. The question was when Amazon Music would start offering spoken-word audio content. That has now been answered as Amazon Music on Wednesday began serving up podcasts. The streaming service launched with a mix of established podcasts from a wide array of the industry’s top publishers. It also announced several new, original shows produced exclusively for Amazon Music. Podcasts will be available across all tiers of service at no additional cost. Read more
CNN Audio and the iHeartPodcast Network are teaming up to launch Election 101, a new co-produced podcast the companies say will “demystify” the American political system while offering a unique perspective on the inner workings of the electoral process. Hosted by CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes, “Election 101” is designed to answer questions that are weighing on the minds of Americans as the country approaches Election Day. Read more
Meredith Kopit Levien, the new chief executive of the New York Times, expects podcasting will play a bigger part of the newspaper company’s future, and she has no plans to change efforts to move deeper into the medium as it moves beyond text. “Audio is an area we are particularly excited about,” she told investors at a media conference. And Kopit Levien said The Daily listeners are “quite different” than traditional newspaper readers. Read more
Jake Shapiro, co-founder of RadioPublic and Podfund, has joined Apple as Head of Creator Partnerships at Apple Podcasts. “I’ve played a part in podcasting from its earliest days, and am thrilled to take on this new role to help the ecosystem thrive,” he said in an announcement. Read more
If the first stop in fixing a problem is admitting you have one, then Anchor.fm co-founder Mike Mignano is halfway there to fixing the problem of fake podcasts being created using his company’s platform. He said Anchor is working to update its automated copycat detection system and it is putting additional checks in place to help crack down on what has been a growing problem for podcasters this year. “This is definitely a new type of attack,” said Mignano. Read more
Apple has released iOS 14, its new operating system that will offer new recommendation and personalization features for podcast listeners… Audible, which is moving into podcasting, has hired Pat Shah as its new Head of Content Acquisition and Development… Paramount Pictures executive Jean Chi is making her move into podcasting as Global Head of Podcast Business at Spotify… WNYC Studios will celebrate the tenth anniversary of Freakonomics Radio, the podcast and public radio show, with a pair of live tapings this week. Read more
To some consumers advertising is the enemy. But that’s not the case among podcast listeners. In fact, a new survey by MARU/Matchbox finds that nearly two-thirds of weekly podcast listeners would be willing to sit through a couple of additional ads per show in order to ensure their favorite podcast remained in production. And during the past three years the data shows ad tolerance has steadily grown among weekly podcast listeners. Read more
Podcast advertisers know well that live read ads work. Now new research says the same is true for broadcast radio and television. A new study by AI tech provider Veritone found live reads deliver more than double the lift of prerecorded spots, particularly in large cities, where live reads were 12 times more effective than those in medium markets. Read more
The podcast studio Treefort Media and the iHeartPodcast Network are partnering to launch a new sports-focused docuseries called Drafted. The podcast, produced in association with sports agent Klutch Sports Group and narrated by actor Keegan-Michael Key, follows top college football players as they prepare to enter the NFL draft. Read more
After eight years heading SiriusXM, CEO Jim Meyer will retire from the satellite radio company at the end of the year. The company has announced Jennifer Witz, currently President of Sales, Marketing and Operations, will become the new chief executive of both SiriusXM and streaming service Pandora. Witz said she wants SiriusXM and Pandora to focus on “strengthening our position in the podcasting space.” Read more
It is no mystery: True Crime had the best growth last week among the big show genres. Podtrac says True Crime downloads were up nine percent week-over-week during Sept. 7-13. And the category was up 70% compared to a year ago. Other growing show categories included Sports, which saw a three percent uptick in downloads. Among publishers and podcasts tracked by Podtrac, overall downloads were down one percent last week. Read more
Drake Hall — the longtime morning man at Cumulus Media classic rock “98.1 The Max” WXMX Memphis, TN — is making his return to audio. But after decades on local morning radio, it won’t be on the radio. Instead, Hall is launching The Drake Hall Memphis Weekly Podcast. Hall also plans to begin live-streaming. “We are back in a different way,” Hall said on social media. Read more
Whether it is the range of new content options or just Netflix burnout, there is growing evidence that the coronavirus lockdowns may be steering more people to audio, even though their usual commute may have been disrupted. The MARU/Matchbox survey conducted for Westwood One’s annual Podcast Download report shows since the coronavirus pandemic hit, 41% of weekly podcast listeners report they are spending more time listening to on demand audio content. Read more
Joe Rogan and Michelle Obama have exclusive alliances with Spotify. ‘Big deal’ may be the response from Barclays media analyst Kannan Venkateshwar. “Just signing up headline grabbing talent is unlikely to be enough to succeed in this space,” he said. In a report to investors, Venkateshwar said that unlike video – where aggregation and content breadth tends to be an advantage – in the case of podcasting aggregation can actually “dilute” the content experience. Read more
A LeadsRX webinar last week entitled “Digital vs. Broadcast Advertising: The Truth About Performance,” emphasized that both channels working in tandem is key to maximizing conversions. That mix, panelists noted, includes traditional radio as well as streaming media. Participants included Lucas Sommer, Director of Marketing at LeadsRX; Lisa Higgins, Director of Paid Media at MarketForce; and Tom Galati, Digital Sales Director at Diray Media. Read more
Actor Vinny Pastore, best known for his portrayal of Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” is teaming up with longtime New York radio personality and standup comic “Goumba Johnny” Sialiano to host a new podcast called Fuhgeddaboudit. “Radio has been my life-long passion,” said Pastore, a former SiriusXM host. Read more
Chartable, the podcast analytics and attribution company, has just raised $2.25 million in additional funding from a group of investors… Blaze Media’s podcast network has picked up exclusive distribution rights to The Rubin Report… AdLarge’s podcast division Cabana has signed a deal to have its podcasts measured by Triton Digital. Read more
Authentic, the podcast ad sales company that is a sister to measurement company Podtrac, has announced the release two new podcasts during the next two months and the return of a third series. It includes a new chapter in the true crime podcast Murder Book. Read more
Historically during recessions, advertisers roll the dice and try something new — and this time it’s podcasting. “It’s the darling right now. It’s the thing people are looking to try,” iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman told Wall Street on Thursday. Pittman told the Bank of America media conference that podcasting is “a tremendous growth area” that is attracting premium pricing. “It’s something advertisers want and come to us looking for,” he said. Read more
Against the backdrop of this week’s IAB’s Podcast Upfront, SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer said podcasting would be part of both SiriusXM and Pandora’s future offerings, some of which will be free and some behind a paywall. Podcasting “has the opportunity to expand the whole audio pie,” he told an investor conference on Wednesday. Read more
Following its rollout of a targeted advertising marketplace last year, Art19 is launching a new division that will provide direct sales for podcast publishers and individual shows as well as offer audio production series. Art19 Media will focus on podcast production, show-specific advertising deals, and voiced reads. The company is also launching Misfit Toys, a comedy network. Read more
Ashley Flowers, host of the Crime Junkie podcast and founder and CEO of the Audiochuck Podcast Network, has announced a new slate of shows for her independent podcast network. The roster includes a mix of new and returning shows. As part of its growth plans, Audiochuck has signed a first-look deal with AdLarge’s Cabana to produce four original shows together over the next two years. Read more
Ever since tech journalist Kara Swisher announced in April that she was moving to the New York Times, it has been expected she would helm a new podcast for the newspaper company’s growing audio portfolio. Swisher left the influential Silicon Valley-focused Recode Decode podcast in July. Meanwhile Vox Media is recasting the show with a new name and host in a partnership with The Verge. Read more
Actor-comedian Will Arnett has signed with Cadence13 to host a weekly podcast… Michael Cohen, the former attorney and personal fixer to President Trump, is launching a new weekly podcast… actors Blake Anderson, Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Kyle Newacheck are teaming up for a new iHeartPodcast Network show called This Is Important… Vice Presidential Candidate Kalama Harris will be profiled in a new Wondery podcast… Music, Meet Podcasts is the theme of a new Spotify ad campaign. Read more
Nearly three years since Politically Re-Active released its last episode, the podcast is getting a new lease on life. Hosts W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu will return for another season produced by Topic Studios and WarnerMedia Podcast Network. “There is rarely a day that I don’t hear ‘when is Politically Re-Active coming back?’ from a fan online,” said Kondabolu. Read more
Advertisers and ad agencies are being presented with a variety of new podcasts, new hosts and even some star power this week at the IAB’s 2020 Podcast Upfront. The event, virtual this year for the first time, nevertheless has attracted record attendance which the IAB says mirrors the gains made by the industry overall. “By almost any metric, podcasts are a growing medium in the United States,” said IAB President David Cohen. Read more
Podcast advertising has grown “pretty aggressively” during 2020. That was the message AdsWizz CEO Alexis van de Wyer delivered to advertisers and agency buyers Wednesday during the IAB Podcast Upfront. He said AdsWizz’s podcast advertising inventory grew 36% between Jan. 1 to July 31. And advertising impressions increased 44% between January and the end of June. Read more
In the second of two major podcasting announcements Wednesday from iHeartMedia, the audio giant has struck a three-year partnership with ViacomCBS. The deal calls for the iHeartPodcast Network to mine hit series and intellectual property from MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT and other brands from the media company’s Entertainment & Youth Group to create dozens of original podcasts. Read more
More Sauce, the new podcast network launched by Stitcher, is designed to bring more diversity to the medium. Stitcher says More Sauce has a goal of creating and nurturing a space for Black voices in podcasting to discuss everyday lifestyle topics. Rather than pigeonholing Black creatives into conversations about race, More Sauce will be a place to speak about topics like love, arts and culture, family and current events. Read more
National Public Radio is banding together with a dozen local public radio stations in 10 markets to relaunch “Consider This,” which the public media powerhouse is rebranding as the nation’s first-ever localized daily news podcast. The podcast, NPR says, will combine reporting at the community level with national insights from the broadcaster. Read more
Sony Music Entertainment will launch nearly 40 new podcasts this year, according to the company, which announced several new shows during its first-ever IAB Podcast Upfront presentation on Wednesday. It plans to release a range of podcasts across multiple genres in the coming months, including true crime, politics, current events, music and social and racial justice. Read more
Television news personality and talk host Megyn Kelly is launching a new podcast that she says will allow her to do what television news no longer allows. Kelly said that what attracted her to podcasting was the freedom of doing and saying what she wants, and not having to follow the orders of network bosses. The Megyn Kelly Show is set to debut at the end of the month. Read more
“The pandemic is podcasting’s moment,” said iHeartMedia EVP of Smart Audio Intelligence Insights Hatel Patel. During a “State of Podcasting” presentation put on by the iHeartPodcast Network ahead of this week’s IAB Podcast Upfront, Patel said the release of new technologies in recent years have opened consumers to embracing new media habits. “It created this boom for podcasting amid the pandemic,” she said. Read more
Syndicated radio personality Charlamagne Tha God is about to make his mark on podcasting. The New York-based morning man is teaming up with iHeartMedia to create The Black Effect Podcast Network, which will feature a variety of Black voices with content across a variety of genres. “The only way to appreciate the diversity of thought and experiences in Black culture is to build a platform for those voices to be heard,” said Charlamagne. Read more
Former President Bill Clinton will reportedly launch a new podcast in 2021 in a partnership with iHeartMedia. No stranger to the medium, the 42nd President hosted a podcast last year for the Clinton Foundation, which is also part of the partnership with iHeart, according to a report published by Deadline. Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is also said to be planning to launch a podcast with the iHeartPodcast Network next year. Read more
There is a change at the top of the Interactive Advertising Bureau as former ad agency executive David Cohen, who joined the IAB earlier this year, will take over as Chief Executive of the trade group. He succeeds Randall Rothenberg who will become Executive Chair through 2022. Read more
The Westwood One Podcast Network will deliver more than just a message about new shows at this week’s IAB Podcast Upfront. It will also tell ad buyers that it has struck a new partnership to improve the ease and scalability of the company’s advertising sales operations. The partnership is with Placements.io, a revenue and billing management company. Read more
Wondery has inked a promotional tie-up with American Express that will offer all U.S. cardholders a free trial year of Wondery+, the podcast studio’s premium subscription service… Spotify may be looking to allow users of its app to download and save some podcast episodes for offline listening… Bacardi says it plans to use podcast live reads on three The Ringer shows to promote its new spice rum, which is rolling out this fall. Read more
Roughly 700,000 podcast listeners separated iHeartMedia and NPR as the back and forth between the two podcast publishers continued in August. After iHeart edged out NPR in July, the latest Podtrac tally shows NPR reclaimed No. 1 during August. The numbers were still good for iHeart, which posted a six percent increase in unique monthly listeners between July and August. NPR’s month-to-month growth rate was even stronger, increasing 12%. Read more
Advertisers will have an all-star lineup in front of them next week as the annual IAB Podcast Upfront takes place. The three-day event may be virtual in 2020, but interest in podcasts is the real thing. Two-thirds of ad agencies and brands say they have discussed adding podcasting to their media plans. And 45% are likely to consider podcast ads within the next six months. Read more
Podcast listeners went highbrow last week as the Arts category showed the latest week-over-week gain in downloads. Podtrac says shows in the genre posted a 15% gain, the largest increase of any of the major podcast categories. The holiday weekend brought a dip in downloads overall. Read more
Oprah Winfrey is bringing her book club to podcasting in a deal with Apple. The show, which is called Oprah’s Book Club, will begin with the Oprah’s Book Club selection “Caste: The Origins of our Discontents,” with each episode taking listeners through the “eight pillars of caste” in a conversation between Winfrey and author Isabel Wilkerson. The show will be an exclusive to Apple Podcasts. Read more
Curtis Flowers, the Mississippi man whose murder convictions were the subject of the American Public Media podcast In the Dark, had his 2010 verdict overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2019. Now the state of Mississippi has dropped the charges against Flowers, bringing to a close the death row case investigated by the In the Dark podcast. The news resulted in a special episode of In the Dark entitled “Freedom.” Read more
Mainardo de Nardis, former global CEO of OMD Worldwide, has joined the Voxnest board of directors. The ad executive, who earlier led Aegis media and WPP’s MEC, will bring an advertising perspective to the company. “Audio is the next big thing — it’s a really exciting time to join Voxnest’s board,” said de Nardis. Read more
Comedy and News tied for pulling in the biggest volume of podcast ad detections during the second quarter. The podcast analytics company Magellan AI analyzed how advertising was bought at placed on the top 400 podcasts during second quarter and found one in five ads ran on a Comedy podcast. The same share was captured by News podcasts. But they weren’t the winner for brands ads. Read more
The iconic characters of Sesame Street are making their move into podcasting as Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the children’s television show, teams up with Audible. The new Sesame Street podcast will be hosted by a new character named Foley. Each 15-minute episode will revolve around a different preschool-friendly topic and include visits from friends like Elmo, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster. Read more
Morning radio shows sometimes seem like they are pushing the boundaries, but in reality any show that wants to remain on the air plays within the government’s rules of what can be said on the radio. The solution for Matthew “Mattman” Harris and James “Nine” McDonald, the cohosts of the syndicated “The Rise Guys” show, is to launch a podcast that picks up where the radio show ends. Read more
A third Spotify-owned podcast company is unionizing. The Writers Guild of America-East (WGAE) has announced an “overwhelming majority” of writers, researchers, fact-checkers, hosts, and producers at Parcast have signed cards to unionize under its banner. WGAE, which is part of the AFL-CIO, already represents sister podcast companies Gimlet Media and The Ringer. Read more
Imagined Life is set to become the latest Wondery podcast that is headed for television screens...Podcast ad spending is having a better 2020 than digital radio overall says eMarketer forecast… Several controversial episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience have disappeared from the program’s back catalog…Podcasts get another entry point into General Motors vehicles… LiveXLive Media pays off debt. Read more
Paper Ghosts is a new true-crime podcast about the disappearance of four girls in neighboring New England towns in the 1970s. Najera in America is a new podcast addressing diversity in America with a comedic twist. Chrysalis is the third season of the sci-fi podcast series Dust. Raised by Wolves is a new podcast that accompanies the HBO series. And The Land of Atheria podcast is remaking bedtime reading for kids. Here’s some of what is new in podcasting this week. Read more
The rollout of T-Mobile’s 5G network brought the telecom company into the world of podcasting as it partnered with the iHeartPodcast Network to develop, produce and promote a pair of shows designed to help educate the business community on the impact of next generation wireless. “It gives you a way to tell stories that you can’t always do in a few seconds in an ad,” VP Catherine Captain told marketers Tuesday during the ANA’s “State of Audio Today” virtual conference. Read more
As one of many Democrats running for his party’s nomination this year, Pete Buttigieg raised his national presence far beyond what the South Bend, IN mayor had before. How he will use that high profile in elected life in the future remains to be seen. But to keep his name in front of Americans, Buttigieg has just signed a deal with the iHeartPodcast Network to launch a new weekly podcast. Read more
Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey surely has no shortage of film projects landing on his desk. But his latest endeavor will not be on the big screen but rather in earbuds. McConaughey has signed on to star in and executive produce a new children-focused podcast called Hank the Cowdog. Read more
