The global podcast listening audience is projected to reach 383.7 million this year according to an eMarketer analysis of 18 markets including the U.S., Canada, and China. And it predicts the number will top a half billion by 2024. The firm says the U.S. has the highest listening penetration of any market, with podcasts reaching 40% of internet users. Read more
PRX Chief Executive Kerri Hoffman says a move by Spotify and others to lock up show exclusives is a worrying development that threatens the long-term health of the podcast industry. In an interview with Wired, Hoffman says what has made podcasting a healthy media ecosystem for nearly 20 years has been the fact that there have been “lots of access points” to content. Platform exclusives change that equation. Read more
The podcast studio Audio Up Media has signed a deal to work with Range Media Partners, the talent agency launched last September by several agents who left agencies like CAA, WME and UTA. Deadline reports Range Media Partners will help Audio Up explore adaptation opportunities for its podcasts into film and television. Audio Up will also help Range develop podcasts for the talent that it works with. Read more
Should I focus my buy on pre-roll or mid-roll ad units? What are some strong indicators that my campaign is doing well? And will the coming cookie apocalypse affect podcast metrics? Those are some of the questions the rep firm AdLarge Media looks to answer in its updated Podcast Buying Guide. The fourth edition has been released for ad buyers, and while similar to the previous three, AdLarge says v4.0 goes beyond the basics of buying and delves into the specifics behind content selection, measurement efficacy, and targeted delivery. Read more
Podcast download numbers go up and down, but rarely do they remain steady week-to-week. But that is what Podtrac says happened last week among the publishers it measures. The number of downloads week-to-week held steady, although they slipped one percent versus a year ago. The biggest gainer of the week was the True Crime genre, while four other big show categories were flat. Read more
The digital audio advertising company Targetspot had several months of record growth during the second quarter in the U.S. market and at mid-year it reports its ad revenue in the U.S. was up 72% compared to the first half of 2020. Across all the countries Targetspot operates, its first half revenue increased 56.3%. “In our view, this is a clear signal of the accelerating trend towards digital audio in advertising spend,” said parent company AudioValley Group. Read more
PodcastOne’s parent company LiveOne has completed its purchase of Gramophone Media, an artist and brand development company. Announced in June, the $650,000 deal will be paid for with a mix of cash and stock. The company is known for its innovative work discovering and breaking international acts like K-pop sensation BTS. CEO Robert Ellin says it could funnel some artists into podcasting. Read more
Making sure it is adopting to evolution of media habits is why the NFL is making a play for a larger share of the podcast listener’s time. This summer it signed a multiyear deal with iHeartMedia to create an NFL podcast network. “We’re creating content for all of the different places for where our fans are,” says VP Meredith Battin. Read more
The New York Times this week announced a beta test of a new audio-focused app including its podcast lineup which has the prospects to be a money-maker for the company according to Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar. The challenge, according to Venkateshwar, could be attracting engagement away from audio aggregation services like Spotify and Apple Podcasts onto a dedicated service for news oriented audio service. Read more
PRX’s Reveal is launching a new investigation series that will examine the death of a Black high school student in Mississippi during a police traffic stop, giving the podcast a wider distribution platform on radio. PRX says the series called Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe will also air on 544 radio stations nationwide. Read more
NPR has launched a new national marketing campaign designed to help people discover more of its podcasts. The campaign’s theme is “More Voices, All Ears” which NPR says reflects the diversity of its content. It is geared to bringing younger listeners and people of color to the network and its podcasts. NPR will be advertising on podcasts outside its network and online on sites like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. It will also buy some outdoor advertising in cities with large younger, more diverse population Read more
The podcast listening app Castbox is angling for a bigger share of in-car podcast consumption with a new partnership with Faurecia Aptoide Automotive. The auto tech company is expanding its audio and entertainment portfolio to vehicle users worldwide and Castbox and podcasts will be along for the ride. Read more
The latest in the Acast series geared to making podcasting’s ranks more diverse will target Native Americans. The November 3 Aclass: Indigenous Voices is a free virtual podcasting workshop providing insights and inspiration to Indigenous creators. “We hope to inspire the next generation of Indigenous youth to tell the stories of their people, and to be seen and heard,” says Acast’s Vernon Foster. Read more
Spotify is expanding its roster of podcasts about its operations. That includes making a podcast the only place it will release some business updates. We want to tell stories in a way that’s uniquely Spotify and probably to no one’s surprise, we believe audio provides the perfect medium,” said spokesman Dustee Jenkins. Read more
Apple TV+ has released the trailer for the TV adaptation of the 2019 Wondery and Bloomberg Media podcast The Shrink Next Door… PodcastOne is building its true crime catalog as it picks up the distribution and ad sales rights to True Crime All the Time Unsolved and This is Monsters… F Street Productions is a new company in the podcast creation business formed by media veterans Scott Kushner and Michael Simon… Film financier Peter Samuelson and showrunner-director Jonathan Prince have joined forces to launch PhilmCo, a production and distribution company with a socially conscious focus… Vox Media has hired Greg Barber as VP of Product-Consumer Revenue. Read more
From a true crime series hosted by a comedian to a SpongeBob re-watch podcast, there are plenty of options for anyone looking for something new to listen to. There are also new podcasts from a former member of Congress, a TV newscaster that landed on hard times, and a former MTV veejay. Here’s some of what’s new this week in podcasting. Read more
A recent Advertiser Perceptions survey found one third of ad buyers that use audio in their media mix are relatively new to the space. As more audio newbies look to navigate radio, streaming and podcasting, Cumulus Media is pivoting its Insights division to the newly branded Audio Active Group. Under Pierre Bouvard, the unit is shifting from creative testing and ROI studies to making recommendations and offering audio best practices as a creative advisory group. Read more
Recording artist The Weeknd and indie music label Reservoir Media are among the new investors in Audio Up, which has just raised $12 million as part of its Series B funding round. The podcast studio has also added a series of high profile names to its board of directors as founder Jared Gutstadt says they remain focused on building stories that can be translated across a variety of media outlets. Read more
A flurry of podcast deals by SiriusXM continues. Its Stitcher division has just acquired The Bellas Podcast hosted by WWE Hall of Fame Inductees Brie and Nikki Bella. Before going on hiatus in the spring, The Bellas Podcast was part of the Endeavor Audio network. As it relaunches, hosts Brie and Nikki will produce the show with support from Stitcher. It has also picked up the indie show New Rory & MAL for Stitcher's More Sauce label. Read more
Theo Balcomb, the founding producer of the New York Times daily news podcast The Daily, is leaving the show after a five-year stint. “I’ve decided to go out on my own. I’m looking to dive into tape, hunker down with stories, edit and produce beautiful things,” said Balcomb in a Twitter post. Read more
Following Les Hollander’s ascension to CEO, North America at digital audio advertising platform DAX, the company recruits Jon Hales as its new Chief Growth Officer, North America. Hales joins DAX from Spotify, where his seven-year tenure saw him launch the Spotify Canada Team, stand up Spotify’s Global Sales Operations Group and, most recently, lead a re-boot of Spotify’s Latin American advertising business. Read more
The conservative media company The Daily Wire has built one of the most listened-to podcast networks and now it is casting its sights on publishing. It will debut DW Books next spring. It says the move is in response to several of the traditional publishing houses that have scrapped their release of books by right wing authors. Books are the latest brand extension for The Daily Wire. In January it announced it was creating its own entertainment division to create its own film and TV projects. Read more
The BBC Panorama and Frontline PBS podcast I’m Not A Monster and the DMC Studio Argentina drama series Weightless were both named Grand Award winners at the New York Festivals Radio Awards’ 2021 Storytellers Gala. The BBC was honored with the 2021 Broadcaster of the Year Award. Read more
The iHeartRadio Podcast Awards will return in 2022 to once again celebrate the best the industry has to offer. The fourth annual awards will be held in-person on Jan. 13, 2022 at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles. The list of nominees has just been released, including the ten podcasts vying for the Podcast of the Year award. The winner is selected by listeners though voting on Twitter. The winners in the other categories will be chosen by a blue-ribbon panel. Read more
A sleeping giant in podcast advertising may not be very big at all. As the industry closes in on a billion dollars in ad revenue – possibly as soon as this year – the overwhelming majority of that comes from national marketers. Small and medium sized businesses are still largely on the sidelines, but Borrell Associates says if similar patterns hold with other emerging media, local advertisers may follow their lead in the years to come. Read more
Business continues to boom for Audioboom which reports its third quarter revenue soared 161% compared to a year ago to $16.9 million – a new quarterly record for the company. Audioboom says revenue also increased 28% compared to its second quarter results with revenue for the first nine months of the year tracking up 117% versus the same period last year. The company also swung to a profit as its list of active advertisers closed in on 400. Read more
Audacy has a $40 million digital acquisition in the works but the parent of Cadence13, Pineapple Street and Podcorn is not showing its hand just yet. The company says it is “in the process of completing a small digital acquisition for approximately $40 million” that it expects to close this month. The disclosure was made in a press release announcing a $45 million note offering of 6.5% senior secured second-lien notes that come due in 2027. Read more
Wondery continues to move deeper into the kids podcasting market. The Amazon-owned studio has formed a partnership with Gen-Z Media. Under the terms of the deal first reported by Deadline, Wondery will handle distribution and ad sales for Gen-Z Media shows. Wondery will also have a first-look at all new shows in development. The deal will also mean Gen-Z Media podcasts will now be available ad-free on the Wondery+ Kids app. Read more
As Vurbl closes in on its first birthday, the company has expanded its management team with the hiring of Alex Underwood as its first Chief Revenue Officer. He will be responsible for developing Vurbl’s monetization strategy, including its advertising business and developing its content partnership strategy. Underwood is a veteran of Spotify, Google and the Radio Advertising Bureau. Vurbl launched last November and is positioning itself as a sort of library of audio content. Read more
Apple Podcasts has hired Susie Warhurst as its new Head of International… She Podcasts Live has announced that the podcast hosting and advertising platform Libsyn will be the presenting sponsor for its annual conference that starts Thursday… Actor Michael Imperioli, best known for his role on HBO’s “The Sopranos” television series, is expanding his podcast work… Targetspot is expanding its programmatic ad tech into the French-speaking podcast segment including in France and Quebec, Canada. Read more
When Spotify inked a deal two years ago to make The Last Podcast on the Left an exclusive to its platform, the creators of the comedic horror series got an earful from the show’s fans. Now as more podcasters ponder whether exclusive deals are the right move long-term, the trio behind The Last Podcast says they will return to a wider distribution strategy beginning in February. The move comes as part of a three-year deal with Stitcher. Read more
Facebook has become a place to find podcasts in recent months and now the social network has added an “Audio” hub to its mobile app. The section will feature a variety of audio now available on Facebook, including podcasts, Live Audio Rooms, and Soundbites – its new feature that allows users to share short audio clips with followers via their News Feed. Read more
The New York Times is launching a freestanding audio-focused mobile app that will be home to its podcasts and a variety of other curated content. It will pull from Times podcasts, Times articles, premier magazine publishers like New York magazine and Rolling Stone, and new audio formats from The Times newsroom. The paper has also begun experimenting with featuring audio stories in its main news app. Read more
A week after Podtrac reported that podcast streams and downloads slipped two percent among the publishers it measures, the company says they increased by an similar amount last week. Downloads were however off by two percent compared to the same period a year ago. The Sports genre had the week’s best growth. It was up six percent week-to-week. Read more
Liz Alesse has already been working on ABC News podcasts such as In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson and The Dropout. Now she is taking a bigger role at the network, which has just named Alesse as its new Director and Executive Producer of Podcast Programming. “She has big plans for the unit, including adding new titles and seasons to our existing podcast library,” says ABC Audio VP/ GM Stacia Philips Deshishku. Read more
The first West Coast PRX Podcast Garage at San Francisco’s KQED debuts with a slate of events scheduled to take place in the new community events space, classroom and recording studio. Located within the newly redesigned KQED headquarters, the PRX Podcast Garage will host workshops and panels on the art and business of podcasting, lectures and networking events. Read more
Kara Swisher is adding hosting duties on another podcast. HBO has tapped Swisher to host the companion podcast to the television series “Succession.” In the network’s latest reach in the podcast space, Swisher will unpack real world events that echo the saga unfolding on screen. HBO says she will dive into family dynamics, capitalism run amok, and power unchecked with top journalists, writers, thinkers, psychologists, and cultural critics, as well as some of the people who made the show. Read more
Kristin Charron joins audio advertising analytics provider Veritonic as VP of Marketing. She comes to the company after ten years with Triton Digital, where she has been serving as in the same position since 2016. Her appointment follows Veritonic’s recent hiring of Korri Kolesa as Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to joining Triton, Charron served in roles at Marvel Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment. Read more
Since its launch last year, Audio Up has worked with a variety of partners and distributors as it released several series, most with a theme built around music. Now the company created by Jared Gutstadt has struck a deal that will give it a closer alliance with SiriusXM and its owned platforms Stitcher and Pandora. Terms of the deal were not disclosed although Audio Up has just completed a $12 million fundraising effort with the current round led by SiriusXM. Read more
Topic Studio’s musical podcast Anthem: Homunculus is for the first time going to be available to all listeners, without a subscription. Topic Studios has signed a deal to release the show via Acast, giving it wider release than it has had since debuting in 2019 on the Luminary subscription platform. Read more
The Canadian man who made up his story about being an ISIS executioner leading to changes in the podcast team at the New York Times has admitted in court he fabricated his story. Under a plea deal with Canadian authorities, Shehroze Chaudhry, 26, admitted he made up the tale that became the basis of the podcast Caliphate. In exchange, prosecutors dropped terrorism-hoax charges against him. They say he never presented a threat to the public. Read more
As YouTube looks to expand its reach into podcasting, a new forecast from eMarketer is shedding some light on the size of YouTube’s paid user base. One in four paid audio subscribers today are estimated by eMarketer to be YouTube Premium customers. And by 2025, it forecasts one in three will be. Read more
MeToo may be changing workplaces today, but the evolution began three decades ago. A new podcast from The Meteor and Pineapple Street Studios called Because of Anita will examine the impact of Professor Anita Hill’s testimony during the Oct. 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and what changes have been made in the workplace. Read more
American Public Media’s podcast Field Work, the series about sustainable agriculture, is adding a third host for its fourth season. Tara Vander Dussen will join hosts Zach Johnson and Mitchell Hora as co-host when the new season begins in early 2022. Vander Dussen is a fifth-generation dairy farmer and environmental scientist and goes by the nickname the New Mexico Milkmaid. Read more
True crime meets climate change: That was the podcast Drilled. The creator of that series, journalist Amy Westervelt, has just received the audio/radio award at the Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards. The judges also honored Coffee & Quaq. Created by Jenna Kunze and Alice Qannik Glenn, that series offers an insider’s look at the impact of climate change on the Indigenous community of Utqiagvik, Alaska. Read more
Conde Nast Entertainment produces 40 podcasts across its portfolio of brands including Vogue and Vanity Fair. Now it has recruited former Stitcher executive Chris Bannon to become Head of Global Audio for the magazine and media brand. Conde Nast says the hire is part of its ongoing transformation, prioritizing a global entertainment strategy and expanding in the audio space across its network of brands. Read more
APM Studios, the newly-created podcast production division of public broadcaster American Public Media, has recruited Joanne Griffith as the unit’s first Chief Content Officer and promoted Thomas De Napoli to be its first Chief Strategy Officer. APM Studios launched last month with a goal to expand APM’s reach into podcasting and bring new voices and perspectives into the space. Read more
NPR’s daily morning news podcast Up First – which Podtrac says was the third-biggest show in September – is getting a new executive producer. NPR has hired KQED San Francisco Podcast Director Erika Aguilar for the role. Aguilar will also be an executive producer on the “Morning Edition” radio show. Read more
Podcastle, the podcast recording and editing platform, has raised $7 million in new funding. The latest round brings the total amount raised by the year-old company to $9 million. Podcastle says it is working with about 150,000 creators and has debuted several production tools on its creation platform that enable producers to convert text into podcasts in seconds. Read more
Sony Music Entertainment previewed a slate of new podcasts that it has cued up for the coming months during this week’s 2021 IAB UK Podcast Upfront. The list includes Hemingway’s Picasso, a show that will explore the intersection of art, drugs and mystery. It debuts Oct. 18. In addition, SME showcased several podcasts from the past year, many of which will return for new seasons soon, including Smoke Screen: The Sellout on October 26 and Power: Hugh Hefner on November 1. Read more
Libsyn reports for episodes it hosted during August the median number of downloads ticked higher and some metrics are back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time… Spotify will lose some of its reach on mobile phone customers using AT&T’s Unlimited &More Premium plan… Targetspot is putting audio ads onto web videos in deal with Dailymotion… Deezer says it has seen a 61% increase in podcast streams on its app in the last year. Read more
It’s one series in two languages. My Cultura is releasing its new narrative podcast Princess of South Beach with a cast of English and Spanish-speaking actors. Also this week, Lemonada Media releases its first true crime series. Stitcher debuts a sex advice show. HBO Max rolls out a “True Blood” re-watch podcast. And Victoria’s Secret gets into the podcast game. Here’s some of what’s new this week in podcasting. Read more
The top formats in podcasting may be Comedy and News, both reaching 12% of podcast listeners aged 18 and older according to Nielsen. But that only tells part of the story. Westwood One has dug deeper into the numbers to reveal that depending on the demographic a marketer is trying to reach, the biggest formats may not be the right pick. In other cases, the wrong genre choices may mean an advertiser could keep hitting the same listeners and not expanding their reach. Read more
Subscription podcasts created by NPR continue to pop up in new places. After launching its own channel on Apple Podcast Subscriptions and its own NPR Plus this summer, NPR is now teaming up with the subscription podcast platform Luminary to launch a new Guy Raz-hosted series. Wisdom from the Top is an extension of Raz’s successful How I Built This franchise. Read more
Audioboom has created a new business unit that will encompass all its creative services, including original show development; co-productions; branded content; production services; and creative advertising services. The just-launched Audioboom Studios will be led by newly appointed Chief Content Officer Brendan Regan. He will now oversee global content operations including original show development, production services and creator partnerships. Read more
Emily Morse, who has been a guest host on the syndicated radio show “Loveline” and hosted a show on SiriusXM until earlier this year, is doubling down on her Sex with Emily podcast. Morse has just signed a distribution and monetization deal with Acast as she aims to grow her listeners internationally. Read more
Audacy, the parent of podcast studios Cadence13, Pineapple Street and 2400Sports, has promoted Tim Clarke to Senior VP of Digital Audio Content on the company’s digital team. He will be responsible for audio content across the Audacy digital platform, including working with the leaders of each podcast studio. Audacy says Clarke will focus on the strategy and execution for new exclusive and original content for the platform and work with the company’s podcast partners. Read more
Actor, writer and producer Lena Waithe is looking to move beyond the big screen and the written page. Hillman Grad Productions, the company created by Waithe and Rishi Rajani, has signed a multi-project development deal with Audible to create audio programming.
The first podcast in production is a comedy series that follows the life of actress and comedian Kym Whitley. Read more
Triton Digital is adding another country to its podcast measurement map. It has aligned with the Radio Broadcasters Association of New Zealand to measure podcast listing in that country. The rankers will provide a ranking of the top podcasts and networks in New Zealand, as measured by Triton. It also measures podcast listing in Australia, the Netherlands, Latin America, and the U.S. Read more
iHeartRadio remained at the top of Podtrac’s monthly ranker of biggest podcast publishers in September as it hit a new high-water mark for downloads. Podtrac says iHeart had nearly 282 million streams and downloads last month, a 12% increase from a month earlier. NPR, Wondery, the New York Times and Disney rounded out the top five. Overall, Podtrac says 16 of the top 20 had an increase in their streams and download numbers last month. Read more
The top five podcasts in September were the same as in August and July as stability may be more of the winner in Podtrac’s ranking of the most listened-to podcasts than an individual series. The New York Times-produced The Daily was again at the top among the publishers it measures. Podtrac says global downloads for the top 20 overall were up seven percent month-over-month in September. Read more
Investigative journalist and bestselling author M. William Phelps is moving deeper into podcasting. He has struck a deal with the iHeartPodcast Network to create a slate of podcasts, expanding on the success of his Paper Ghosts series that has released two seasons during the past year. The new slate kicks off today with the debut of the weekly podcast called Crossing the line with M. William Phelps. Read more
Jason Ross, entrepreneur and one half of the consultancy Mercer + Ross that works with media companies, brands, and entertainers, has assembled a team of television, film, and streaming veterans to launch a new company focused on narrative audio storytelling. Fresh Produce Media quietly came together during the past year, and now it’s making its public debut – and announcing its first five content partnerships. Read more
Fireside, the content platform backed in part by billionaire Mark Cuban, has gone live. Fireside has been in private beta for the past several months and has already attracted hundreds of creators and claims audience reach of more than 100 million. It aims to work with podcasters to go beyond being a place where live audio chats are recorded and distributed. Read more
In June, Audacy announced the launch of 2400Sports, a sports-focused podcast studio that is a sister to the company’s Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media shops. Now it has recruited veteran sports studio producer Lena Moss to run the studio as VP and Executive Producer. Glaser will oversee all production and content operations for all 2400Sports podcasts, partnering with producers and talent internally and externally to develop slates of new podcasts. Read more
SyncFloor, the company that licenses music for use in podcasts and other media, has hired Samu Rast as its Head of Sales. Rast joins the B2B platform after a five-year stint at Jingle Punks. “We're thrilled to have Samu joining SyncFloor to build out our fitness book while driving expansion in our media and podcasting business,” says cofounder and CEO Kirt Debique. Read more
LiveXLive began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the stock ticker “LVO” today as it completed the month-long process of changing its name. Now LiveOne, the parent of PodcastOne sports a brand that is closer to the podcast company it acquired in July 2020. The company says LiveOne “captures the core of its brand's mission” to be a comprehensive platform for everything from podcasting and music to e-sports and live events. Read more
Borrell is calling for another healthy increase in ad spending by local businesses for 2022. The firm’s new market-level local advertising report forecasts local businesses will increase spending yet again in 2022, by 6.4%, to $138.9 billion. That comes after a projected 9.9% increase in 2021. With an expected 17.8% increase, streaming audio/podcasting is among the channels poised for the largest growth in 2022. Read more
Patreon has built a business on helping creators like podcasters monetize their work. But it is also getting into the original content business. After it raised $155 million earlier this year, Patreon has been courting podcasters to make content that will appear live on its app before being distributed more broadly. “It’s quite clear that creators want better native media features,” Patreon CEO Jack Conte told Bloomberg. Read more
Google is angling for a bigger share of the podcast market and it will do that not only through its Google Podcast app but also on YouTube. The company is reportedly looking to hire its first podcast-focused executive for the video streaming service. The Strategic Partner Manager of Podcast Content Partnerships opening says the position is focused on working with YouTube content creators and podcasters to help them build and grow their business on the video platform. Read more
After two weeks of double-digit growth, the True Crime category gave back some of the gains it made last week according to Podtrac. Among the publishers it measures, the True Crime category had a 29% drop in week-over-week downloads. The biggest gains came in the History and Society & Culture categories. Overall, Podtrac reports total downloads slipped two percent from the previous week. Read more
In what may prove as a cautionary tale for podcasters as more of the industry embraces subscriptions is the balance sheet from the paid sports site The Athletic. The company reportedly burned through $95 million between 2019 and 2020 according to The Information. But the company, which is considering a sale, says it has turned the corner and it will be close to profitable in 2022. Read more
Global, Europe’s largest radio company, has acquired digital audio content start-up Remixd, which converts text articles into audio files with naturalized language. The technology will be added to Global’s proprietary digital ad platform DAX (Digital Ad Exchange). DAX and Remixd will offer monetization tools to enable digital publishers to generate incremental revenues on their articles. Read more
Osiris Media, the podcast studio focused on music-based storytelling, and Audacy are set to release the first season of their joint production Breaking Waves series. It will focus on the Seattle grunge scene and follow the chronological journey of the evolution of the genre and the bands that started it all. “So many music scenes have their roots in radio, and the grunge scene in Seattle is no different,” said Osiris Media CEO RJ Bee. Read more
Actress Lindsay Lohan has made a lot of headlines through the years, mostly for her work off-screen. But her latest is about her latest venture – as a podcast host. Lohan has signed with Studio71 to host a still-untitled podcast tentatively set for a late 2021 or early 2022 release. Studio71’s data indicates that 75% of the network’s listeners are between the ages of 18 and 34 and 55% are female. Read more
The streaming music app Deezer has made podcasts a bigger part of its business during the past year, including making spoken word content available in dozens of countries around the world. Now the company is looking to expand its live business by accruing a minority stake in Driift, the producer of live-streamed events. Read more
Swedes are among the world’s most voracious listeners of podcasts with the country of 10 million punching above its weight when it comes to the number of downloads shows receive from the Scandinavian country. After all, both Acast and Spotify hail from Stockholm. Now one of the biggest shows in Sweden – Flashback Forever – is picking its hometown favorite, signing a deal with Acast. Read more
The number of new podcasts continues to add up with 629,570 podcasts added to the tally during the first nine months of the year. But the pace slowed considerably during the third quarter as the podcast search engine Listen Notes reports 100,615 new shows debuted. September brought the fewest number of launches so far this year – about a quarter the number of launches logged in March. By Listen Notes’ count, there are at least 2.6 million podcasts as of September 30, a 41% increase from the end of 2020. Read more
Team Coco, the podcast studio created by late night TV talk show host Conan O’Brien, is looking to become a bigger force in the business as its namesake no longer has the time constraints of hosting a television show. Team Coco CEO Jeff Ross told the Wall Street Journal that they are considering their business options going forward, including a possible sale of the company. Read more
Libsyn is getting its third chief financial officer in three years. The company has hired Jonathan Charak to fill the role. “He has previously been the CFO of five separate companies, founded two companies, and has experience in big four public accounting. I believe he will make a fantastic addition to the team,” said President/COO Laurie Sims. Read more
The fate of several Ozy Media podcasts is up in the air after the company announced Friday it would be closing down and laying off its roughly 75-person workforce. Ozy Media quickly collapsed five days after the New York Times last week published a story that raised several questions about the company inflating its audience numbers. Read more
Veteran gospel radio host and syndicator Mike Chandler is branching out into podcasting. He has debuted Black Podcasting, a new app that is targeting African American listeners. Chandler says his goal it to make the app a destination for a wide array of podcasts celebrating Black culture and topics of interest. It will also feature several music channels. Read more
More than 500 audio and digital content creators at National Public Radio will be covered under a new contract the radio network has agreed to with SAG-AFTRA. Members approved the agreement Sept. 30 by a vote of 324–4, and the SAG-AFTRA Washington-Mid Atlantic Local Board ratified it by a unanimous vote the same day. The parties met for a formal signing ceremony on Friday. Read more
Audio will have a bigger presence in Fox News’ newly renovated and ultramodern Washington Bureau. The facility now includes a new podcast studio and podcast control room to accommodate the growing lineup of Fox News podcast network content. The network has also invested in new equipment that will allow its talk radio shows to have new video components. Read more
Nearly one in five public radio listeners consume podcasts on a daily basis, while a separate group of the same size says they listen weekly. In fact, Jacobs Media’s annual survey of public radio listeners finds that just 29% of public radio listeners never listen to podcasts. “Podcasting didn’t have a huge amount of growth this year, but it’s still looking pretty solid,” said Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs. Read more
An indie podcast from a pair of gaming stars has unseated Joe Rogan on his own turf. The Spotify-exclusive The Joe Rogan Experience has been knocked out of first place on the app’s ranking of most listened-to podcasts on its platform. The new number one is a just-launched podcast called Banter, hosted by gamers Sapnap and Karl Jacobs. They pushed Rogan’s podcast back to second place. Read more
The average CPM rate for a 60-second spot sold by AdvertiseCast in September was $23.12. That was down slightly from the $23.57 rate a month earlier. But it is up 10% from the average $21.06 logged a year ago. According to AdvertiseCast, podcasts with between 1,000 and 9,999 downloads per episode had the best CPM last month at $24.97 Read more
Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who has been a longtime voice on NPR and its podcasts, is heading to the New York Times where she will host a new opinion podcast for the Times Opinion section. Garcia-Navarro announced last month that she will leave NPR at the end of October. She hosts the network’s morning news podcast Up First and the “Weekend Edition-Sunday” radio program. The Times says the podcast will “explore the personal side of opinion.” Read more
The podcast app Podopolo is playing cleanup after getting into a public dispute Thursday with influential podcast producer Aaron Mahnke on Twitter that led to his demand that all the shows created by his Grim and Mild network be pulled down. In a letter posted online, CEO Mellissa Wittstock says Podopolo is not unlike most other apps in featuring content pulled from the public RSS feeds. And she insists Podopolo does not make any money from podcasts on its app unless a show explicitly partners with them. Read more
The podcast hosting company Captivate.fm has just unveiled a new guest booking and interview management system for users. It allows creators to book and manage their guest interviews from one central location that is connected to their podcast hosting. The new booking platform will be integrated with the remote recording platform SquadCast. Read more
Knock Knock is the winner of PodcastOne’s Self Made Podcast Edition, the company’s competition to find the next big podcast star. The indie show is the creation of Jason B. Jones. It is a true crime podcast that features the stories of the families and communities that have lived through the horror of an unsolved murder. Jones will receive a PodcastOne podcasting contract and a total prize package worth over $100,000 including promotion across PodcastOne’s network. Read more
The Washington Post has hired Sean Carter as the newspaper’s first full-time audio engineer and composer... Signal Hill Insights offers early peeks at the Canadian Podcast Listener report showing listening in French Canada is up sharply... The Black Effect Podcast Network will celebrate its first anniversary with a live-event planned for Oct. 7 ... The YouTube series Some More News partners with Kast Media to launch an audio version... Acast has inked a deal to bring another cast member from “The Real Housewives” franchise into its fold. Read more
It’s said inspiration comes for everything, and this week’s lineup of new podcasts demonstrates that. From a viral Reddit post that creates a horror series to a personal experience of being duped by a con artist that leads to the tale in a true crime series. There are also new shows that take on urban legends and what movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes get wrong. Podcasting also welcomes new hosts like TV’s Jon Stewart and a pair of “Dance Mom” alums. Here’s some of what’s new this week in podcasting. Read more
The podcast hosting, measurement and advertising company Triton Digital has shared several statistics about the growth it has seen in the international market. It found the U.S. accounted for 60% of all those downloads during the past year. News and Comedy were the most listened-to categories. Omny also says mobile devices accounted for 88% of all downloads. Apple Podcasts remains the most-used platform, but Omny also says Amazon Music is worth keeping an eye on. Read more
Apple Podcast subscriptions went live in June and the company has released its first ranking of the channels with the biggest number of subscribers. The top two – Wondery Plus and Luminary – are both veterans of the paid model, having previously offered subscription products to listeners. Read more
Spotify and its podcast hosting platform Anchor are rolling out new Q&A and Polls features that it says will help show creators have more interaction with their listeners. The two features allow listeners to respond to short questions posed by a podcast creator on the show’s episode pages in the Spotify app. Timed to coincide with International Podcast Day, Q&A and Polls are now available to all Anchor creators and Spotify listeners in 160 markets around the world. Read more
To mark International Podcast Day, Acast has launched a marketing campaign called “Made of Podcasts that will showcase popular creators celebrating the shows that have defined their podcasting careers. The ads will appear on social media as well as being dynamically-inserted across Acast’s catalogue of more than 30,000 shows. Read more
Fox Sports Radio weekend personality and six-year NFL veteran George Wrighster announced today that his podcasts Wrighster or Wrong and Pac-12 Apostles have joined the iHeartPodcast Network. Both shows are produced by Wrighster’s UnafraidShow.com. In a related move, Wrighster and fellow Fox Sports Radio personality Doug Gottlieb have partnered to bring KJ Live to iHeart. Read more
Podcasting listeners are becoming more diverse and so too are the ranks of podcast creators. Two veteran African American entrepreneurs have just launched Breakbeat Media. Dave Mays, creator of The Source Magazine, and Kendrick Ashton, co-founder and co-CEO of the sports and entertainment brand The St. James, say Breakbeat is a multi-media podcast network built to serve the interests and perspectives of the global Hip-Hop community. Its shows will include scripted, non-fiction narrative, news and discussion content, covering a wide range of subjects. Read more
Double Elvis Productions, the podcast studio that specializes in music and true crime storytelling, has announced the expansion of their podcast lineup. The four music-centric audio series partnerships announced today include three established podcasts -- Washed Up Emo, Sounds and Vision, and Women in Hip Hop, as well as a brand new series called Curious Creatures. Read more
