Month: October 2022

Edison Research, provider of Edison Podcast Metrics, the largest and most complete survey of podcast listening, announced today that it has developed a complementary service to count downloads for participating publishers. After months of research, Edison is utilizing a new method for determining U.S. downloads that does not employ a redirect nor involve delivery of log files.

“We have developed an elegant new solution that will enhance our unique Edison Podcast Metrics survey,” said Edison Research President Larry Rosin. “While our survey of 20,000 podcast listeners each year provides the most complete look at the totality of actual listening to podcasts, download data will provide deeper information to subscribers, especially for smaller and short-run shows.”

Edison Podcast Metrics is the only survey measurement of U.S. weekly podcast listeners currently available. It covers the entire podcasting category with data about listening, not downloading. As such, it covers listening across all platforms and cannot be manipulated. The download counts will be a supplement to the established service. “This combination, designed using input from various publishers, will make our data even richer and more comprehensive – allowing podcast producers and advertisers to have even more understanding of the space,” said Rosin.

Edison Research is an independent, third-party research supplier. It is not owned by nor affiliated with any publisher or sales house in the podcasting field. The new research will be available sometime near the end of fourth quarter.

PodcastOne, a leading podcast platform and a subsidiary of LiveOne, announced today that the network has experienced unprecedented growth in 2022 across total episode downloads, YouTube subscribers, and social media engagement.

PodcastOne continues to see considerable growth in several key areas of podcast consumption and interaction through the strength of targeted and paired marketing campaigns, episodic launch strategies, and its video strategy.

PodcastOne’s dedicated YouTube channel has seen a 45% increase in views and is up 106% in subscribers in Q3 ’22 compared with total growth at 128% since the start of the calendar year.

On social media, Instagram engagement is up 13.7% over the last 90 days vs the previous 90 days and PodcastOne’s dedicated TikTok account has amassed over 1.5 million views since its inception in July 2021 giving network hosts and podcast advertisers a direct path to promote content to a dedicated fanbase.

“We’ve built a full-funnel marketing operation at PodcastOne that allows us to leverage our current podcasts to grow and launch new shows in both the audio and video spaces. Data coupled with our custom creative strategies and off-network relationships have grown our network audience exponentially and consistently lands our shows in the top 100 chart rankings,” said Ilana Susnow, Head of Marketing & Audience Development of PodcastOne.

With the success of focused marketing and creative and integrated strategies, podcast in key categories such as True Crime, History, TV & Film, Self-Improvement and Society & Culture have seen double- and triple-digit growth in audience downloads. Successes include:

Trust Me, which has grown a remarkable 85% in audience since the beginning of the year.

Cold Case Files has expanded to two weekly episodes due to the overwhelming demand for content. Each week, fans are now treated to an original episode as well as a classic episode replay.

The Dr. Grundry Podcast has shown a 30% uptick in listeners since the beginning of 2022.

American Nightmare Season 2 has relaunched as part of the strategy to launch Season 3 with double digit downloads.

The Prosecutors recently debuted a spin off show, The Prosecutors: Legal Brief, in the wake of the success of its 14% episodic audience growth since onboarding with PodcastOne in January 2022.

“We were getting a few thousand downloads an episode when we first started PodcastOne, and our audience has grown significantly and continues to grow since. Cross-promoting our show with other related shows has been critical for that growth, as well as generally having a team that cares about reaching the right audience and making sure our content is valuable for listeners,” said Lola Blanc, creator and host of Trust Me.

Additional strategic marketing successes include:

Our Fake History has experienced a 25% increase in audience sizes since January 2022.

The Jordan Harbinger Show has had a 25% increase in episodic downloads numbers.

Melissa Gorga On Display and Kail Lowry’s Coffee Convos have each grown over 125% in August alone with On Display climbing to #19 on the All Categories chart on Apple.

Namaste B$tches from Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice and co-host Melissa Pfeister debuted in the Top 100 on Apple’s top podcast chart.

Since early 2022, PodcastOne has consistently charted in the top ten of all reporting podcast networks, and Podtrac reports that the network grew from 6.148M unique US downloads in July 2022 to 7.303M downloads in August for an increase of nearly 19% in overall audience.

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, today announced that for the first time ever in podcasting, advertisers can leverage their own first-party data to target high-value audiences across the Acast Marketplace.

According to research, 88% of marketers say that collectors first-party data is a priority, and brands that use first-party data for key marketing initiative see an uplift in revenue of nearly three times when compared to those that do not.

Despite the immense value of first-party data, until now brands have not had the ability to leverage these insights into podcast advertising due to the inherent scarcity of user identifier data signals across the medium.

Similar to connected TV, the podcast advertising ecosystem is a data scarce environment, with limited availability of user identifiers for inventory addressability. This has created challenges for advertisers to target podcast audiences with the same strategies they often use across other forms of media.

Acast has now solved these challenges by developing an industry-first identify graph tailored for podcasting. Through a combination of IP address, as well as other unique listening consumption signals, the Acast identity graph will enable advertisers to onboard their own first-party data and to find and match their high-value audience segments across the Acast Marketplace, creating new ways to target relevant audiences who consume podcasts.

The new Acast identity graph and advertiser first-party data onboarding solution is now available in Acast’s US and Australian markets for both direct and programmatic buys.

“We’ve created a bridge between the media buyer and podcast content supply that effectively enables brands to use the first-party insights they already have to serve more relevant ads in podcasts. It’s a massive first for the industry that not only drives revenue for brands, but creates a more enjoyable experience for listeners and ultimately increases monetization potential for podcasters – which is at the heart of everything Acast does,” said Global Head of Ad Innovation Elli Dimitroulakos.

Acast’s first-party data solution comes to market as advertisers continue to prepare for the anticipated death of the cookie and restrictions on use of mobile identifiers, which will require them to rely on their own first-party data. For podcasting specifically, this solution is particularly well-times as Wall Street analysts have recently projected the podcast advertising market to triple in value, reaching $6 billion by 2026.

The news of Acast’s first-party data targeting solution comes on the heels of the company debuting second on Podtrac’s inaugural Sales Network Ranker, which was announced last week. As a leader in podcast advertising, Acast works with more than 2,400 advertisers each year. Some of the biggest brands partnering with Acast include Amazon, State Farm, Macy’s, Ikea Klarna, Ulta, and more.

For more information on first-party data targeting please contact sales@acast.com.

With one of the fastest expanding and most diverse podcast network in the country, New Zealand Media and Entertainment today celebrated hitting 50 million annual podcast downloads.

Since September 2021, when the Triton Podcast Ranker was first introduced in New Zealand, NZME’s network has always taken out the Top Network spot, regularly seeing more than 4 million monthly podcast downloads across its network. In the latest results for September 2022, NZME celebrated 4.8 million monthly downloads – more than 3.7 million more than its next network rival, and 800,000 monthly listeners over the same period.

Michael Boggs, NZME Chief Executive says: “NZME is strategically focused on expanding our podcast network, recognizing that podcasting is one of the fastest growing digital media platforms in the world. We’re proud to offer the country’s most diverse and expansive range of world-class global and local content across our podcast network. Be it through our independently produced podcasts, or those of our partners and external providers via our iHeartRadio platform, we cater to a hugely diverse audience which shows the strength of NZME’s network,” says Boggs.

NZME’s Head of Digital Audio, James Butcher, says: “Podcasting is growing exponentially around the world as one of the most popular ways people consume audio content. In Australia, for example, around 40 percent of Australians have listened to a podcast in the past month, and these numbers will only grow as more and more people understand the strength and variability of podcasts globally. We are seeing more and more brands value the powerful advertising possibilities that podcasting provides through the intimate connection between host and listener,” says Butcher.

In the monthly NZ Triton Podcast Ranker, NZME-produced podcasts Fletch, Vaughn & Hayley and Mike Hosking Breakfast have regularly made the top or second spot over the past year, with Matt Heath & Jeremy Wells also securing a regular top spot in the top ten with their award-winning Matt & Jerry podcast.

Hayley Sproull from ZM’s Fletch Vaughn & Hayley, says: “We’re stoked with the huge growth in our podcast downloads and listeners. Taking out the top spot a few times over the past year has been awesome. We love providing our listeners with fun, entertaining content and having it available across different platforms makes it even easier for them to tune in wherever they are,” she says.

Matt Heath from Radio Hauraki Breakfast and the Matt & Jerry podcast says, “We’re really proud to consistently have around 50,000 regular listeners to our podcast. As well as our loyal Radio Hauraki listeners tuning into our podcast, it also provides another avenue for us to connect with a more diverse range of listeners locally and globally, across different backgrounds and ages. Podcasts are such a powerful and entertaining platform and the variety of content available really does blow your mind,” says Heath.

NZME’s diverse podcast network covers everything from current affairs to parenting, finance to dating advice, and sport to te reo Māori pronunciation. You can find them all on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

The Australian Podcast Awards (APAs) powered by iHeart, today announces Osher Günsberg, one of Australia’s most recognizable media personalities and an industry leader in the podcast space as Chair of Judge for the APA’s.

The APA’s are Australia’s most prestigious and well recognized podcast awards. 2021 winners included Laura Byrne and Brittney Hockley’s Life Uncut, Julia Gillard’s A Podcast Of One’s Own and Brook Boney and Linda Marigliano’s Brooke and Linda’s Dream Club.

As part of his duties as Chair of Judge, Osher has appointed several judges that will form part of the world-class panel of local international judges that will bring in a range of different perspectives to the awards this year.

Osher Güsberg, Chair of Judges at the Australian Podcast Awards, said:

“Podcasts are a form of spoken-art, nothing beats the authenticity and intimacy of podcasting. It has been incredible to see the growth of podcasting in Australia and I am honored to celebrate the top local podcasting talent we have had this year by appointing some of the top industry leaders and podcasting royalty to be part of the panel of judges to bring fresh and diverse perspectives to this year’s Australian Podcast Awards.”

The judging panel includes a list of well-known personalities, industry veterans and audiophiles who will together determine the best Australian podcasts.

A few names to take note of on this years judging panel are Media Personality and Podcaster, Georgia Love, Head of Digital Audio at ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network, Corey Layton, Emma Georgiadis, Triple J Presenter, ARN Podcast Operations Executive, Gabi Price, Commissioning Editor at SBS, Marissa McDowell along with Partnerships Lead at Spotify, Prithi Dey.

The APA’s independent judging panel also unites talent from the nation’s leading podcast production houses including: Spotify Acast, ARN/iHeartRadio, LiSTNR, SoundCartel, SBS, SCA and Piccolo Podcasts.

Matt Deegan, Director at the Australian Podcast Awards, said:

“We are thrilled to announce industry leader, Osher Günsberg as our Chair of Judge for the sixth year of the awards. The judging panel is world-class and will bring new perspectives to this year’s awards. It isn’t strictly audio experts. Instead we ensure that each category has a broad mix of people from podcasting and outside of podcasting to give different viewpoints. It is incredible to see the content Australian creators are bringing to the table, sparking new conversations around the world.

The judging commenced last week and will continue over the next two weeks. Category winner will then be announced at the event in November in person at the awards ceremony taking place at Seymour Theatre on Monday 21st November from 7-11pm.

Event Details:

The Australian Podcast Awards

Date: 21st November, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM

Address: Seymour Theater, Cnr City Road & Cleveland St, Chippendale NSW 2008

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio analytics and research platform, announced today that they have been approved as an attribution partner by Audioboom, the leading independent global podcast publisher. As a result, the 8,000+ creators and brands that use the Audioboom platform to distribute their podcast content can elect utilize Veritonic’s robust attribution capabilities to optimize and further increase the ROI of their audio campaigns.

“We remain committed to working with the industry’s most credible and transparent providers of audio campaign performance data,” said Erica Tong, Chief Operating Officer of Audioboom. “We are pleased to be partnering with Veritonic, who shares our mission of furthering the growth of the audio landscape through insightful and actionable data and analytics.”

“We are thrilled to be supporting Audioboom in providing publishers and creators with the reliable data and analytics they need in to increase their reach and ROI,” said Scott Simonelli, chief executive officer of Veritonic. “The powerful combination of our attribution and brand lift technology provides indispensable, full-funnel audio campaign lifecycle management and measurement in one unified, intuitive platform.”

Veritonic’s Attribution solution enables users to glean actionable insights from top-of-the-funnel branding initiatives through bottom-of-the-funnel conversions & transactions. Through an intuitive and interactive dashboard, brands can determine which publisher and specific ads had the highest impact and use that data to optimize ad performance.

Veritonic’s Attribution solution is available now via self-serve or managed service. For more information or to get started, visit www.veritonic.com or contact sales@veritonic.com.

As the 2022-23 NHL season kicks off, Playmaker Capital Inc. – the digital sports media company that delivers authentic content experiences through its own portfolio of sports media and technology brands – is entering a new season of its own through a major new partnership with Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company.

Playmaker has identified its podcast network as key to its content offering and has recently welcomed new members to its team of on-air talent, including Caroline (Salame) Szwed and Dean “Boomer” Molberg. The partnership with Acast will catapult Playmaker’s podcast business and expand the reach of its portfolio of more than 20 shows, which at present include acclaimed series like Daily Faceoff Live, Canucks Conversation, World Soccer Talk, Barn Burner, and many more.

Per the deal, Acast will support ad sales for Playmaker’s podcast network using its novel advertising technology. Acast will also host, distribute, and promote Playmaker’s podcasts widely, making them accessible to audiences across all players, platforms, and geographies.

As the fourth largest digital media group across the Americas, Playmaker creates content that reaches hundreds of millions of sports fans every month across a variety of channels. Its growing podcast content holds huge value both in Canada and beyond, where podcasts have massive value for brands looking to rally sports fans every month across a variety of channels. Its growing podcast content holds huge value both in Canada and beyond, where podcasts have massive value for brands looking to rally sports fans.

A recent study Acast conducted with Nielsen found that 43% of Canadian podcast listeners trust podcast hosts when they endorse products or services, and also found that 42% of Canadian podcast fans say they develop a more positive opinion towards brands that advertise on the shows they listen to.

“Acast is the ideal partner to increase the reach and monetization of our lineup of shows as we look to facilitate a more meaningful connection between sports fans and the brands we partner with,” said Jake Cassaday, Playmaker COO. “The team at Acast is ready and excited to support our growth, and it’s exciting to formally announce this partnership at a pivotal time as the sports calendar ramps up.”

Brands including Amazon, DAZN, PointsBet, DoorDash are already advertising across Playmaker’s podcasts using Acast’s technology.

Spirit Studios, the independent content production company backed by C4’s Indie Growth Fund has appointed influencer expert Millie Webber as Head of Digital.

Millie, who joins from talent agency Gleam Futures where over six years she cultivated strong talent and commercial partnerships relationships, navigating the ever-changing digital landscape to ensure legacy talent has credible, diversified revenue streams. She was latterly Talent Director and Podcast Lead.

Having been instrumental in the development of 5 Sunday times Best Selling books, multiple high figure brand partnerships and an array of licensing deals, Millie’s true passion is podcast development, where she helped develop a number of chart-topping podcasts, generating six figure incomes for talent.

Millie has a seat on the Global Academy Industry Advisory Board and was named by Talking Influence in their Top 50 Change Makers for breaking boundaries and diversifying the industry.

Reporting to Spirt Studios’ Founder and Creative Director Matt Campion and CEO Peter Cowley, Millie’s primary role is to build commercial opportunities and new revenue streams for the company’s audio and digital brands which include mental health campaign #IAMWHOLE, hit YouTube channel ‘The Lion Whisperer’ and the podcast Private Parts, with Jamie Laing and F1 podcast Pitstop.

Millie will also liaise with talent agents, media agencies, brands, content platforms, identifying and building new commercial opportunities and talent relationships for Spirit.

Millie’s appointment is the latest in a series of senior strategic hires for Spirit Studios following the appointment of Martin Sadofski as Head of Scripted and Alexandra Fraser as Creative & Board Advisor.

“After a rewarding and hugely fulfilling six years at Gleam Futures, I’m excited to be starting a new chapter with Spirit Studios. I’ve long admired their creativity and values-based approach and I’m thrilled to be helping them further build commercial opportunities and revenue streams for their hugely successful digital brands whilst bringing the very best talent to new and existing projects” said Spirit Studios Head of Digital Millie Webber.

“We’re thrilled to have Millie join Spirit at such an exciting and transformational time. Her pedigree of working with the biggest creators and brands in the UK means she is the perfect candidate to lead and scale our podcast and digital studios” said Founder and Creative Director Matt Campion/CEO Peter Cowley.

Spirit Studios’ original programming includes The Stand Up Sketch Show for ITV (winner of Best Comedy at the International Format Awards); BAMOUS for BBC, The Whole Truth, First Impressions, Trigger Happy, and The Artists for Channel 4 and Comedy Against Living Miserably for Dave/UKTV.

It’s growing network of popular podcasts, which have been downloaded over 50 million times include: Private Parts with Jamie Laing; Homo Sapiens with Chris Sweeney and Oti Mabuse’s Rhythm of Life, as well as a number of commissioned shows for BBC Sounds, Audible, Spotify and Red Bull.

Respected journalist Sarah McVeigh is joining Schwartz Media as head of its audio division. Following a period of significant growth for the publisher, McVeigh is well-positioned to build on the strong foundations Schwartz Media has established in longform journalism and audio daily news. Schwartz Media’s current audio programming includes 7am, Australia’s No. 1 news podcast, and The Culture podcast, soon to be relaunched in partnership with LiSTNR.

“We are thrilled that a person of Sarah’s calibre and vast experience will lead our audio division, chief executive Rebecca Costello says. “Sarah will develop new offerings and work with the teams that make our podcasts to ensure that our journalism remains excellent, particularly as we scale to do more.”

McVeigh is an award-winning producer and reporter with experience developing new shows in Australia at the ABC, and at Gimlet and Spotify in the US. Her most recent project, Resistance, was listed as one of the best podcasts of 2021 in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, and Esquire, and won an award for excellence in coverage of trauma from Columbia University’s Dart Center for Journalism. Prior to Gimlet, Sarah created and hosted the ABC podcast How Do You Sleep At Night?

Schwartz Media’s editor-in-chief Erik Jensen says, “Sarah is a skilled and humane storyteller with a track record of making shows that push at the forefront of audio journalism. Her work here and in the US has shown her to be one of the most exciting voices in podcasting, and I can’t wait to work with her on the expansion of audio at Schwartz Media.”

As head of audio, McVeigh will oversee Schwartz Media’s commitment to being Australia’s leading publisher of news podcasts. Of her new role, McVeigh says: “I am so excited to be joining the team at Schwartz Media. I’ve been starting my day with 7am since it began, and have been a huge fan of The Monthly and The Saturday Paper for years.

“With Australian audiences spending more time with podcasts than ever, Schwartz is uniquely placed to be the home of the best narrative audio storytelling in the country. I’m excited to draw from the extraordinary journalism already being produced by Schwatz Media, while also surprising our audience with a broader range of formats and genres.”

Sarah will start her role at the beginning of 2023, following summer specials from 7am and the relaunch of The Culture.

Triton Digital, the global technology and services leader to the digital audio, podcast, and broadcast radio industries, today announced a new version of the advertising platform, Tap. The enhanced version, now available to all clients, provides a more fluid experience throughout the entire lifecycle of audio ad campaigns – from planning to billing – simplifying publisher workloads and increased revenue opportunities and a better listener experience.

Managing and monetizing advertising inventory can be a complicated and time-consuming task. With the latest version of Tap, audio publishers can streamline audio campaign management and focus on what matters most – growing their digital business. As an API-driven platform, publishers can choose to control everything via an API or the Tap UI, leveraging Tap’s enhanced capabilities in their preferred environment.

The enhanced version of Tap provides:

Flexible Campaign Set-Up: A simplified user interface and quick search filters limit the number of clicks required to create a campaign, delivering a more streamlined user experience.

New Creative Management Capabilities: Advanced creative management features, including the ability to use multiple creatives in a single flight, support for weighted or sequential rotations, and the option to apply targeting rules to specific creatives, build upon the data-driven ad personalization capabilities from partner Frequency, audio’s premier Creative Management Platform.

Advanced Ad Separation: Enhanced ad break support provides more granular control of pacing and frequency capping and new ad separation rules, in accordance with IAB guidelines, allows for better enforcement between publisher and direct sold and programmatic ads. Publishers can define their desired industry separation and override default settings to make more inventory available, as needed.

Expanded Ad & Campaign Targeting: In addition to advanced geotargeting across all countries, publisher content (podcast, streaming and on-demand) can now be effortlessly grouped into a single campaign, leveraging all available placements (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll) improving inventory management and monetization.

“As Australia’s leading independent audio entertainment destination, we pride ourselves on creating unforgettable experiences loved and shared by our listeners,” said Tim Armstrong, Director of Digital Capability and Data, Nova Entertainment. “With Tap we are able to streamline our audio campaign management to drive operational efficiencies, enabling us to deliver the audio campaign management to drive operational efficiencies, enabling us to deliver the audio entertainment experiences our customers have come to love and expect.”

“Our paralleled portfolio of audio advertising technology helps publishers manage and monetize content more efficiently,” said Benjamin Masse, Chief Product Officer, Triton Digital. “Tap provides a fluid experience throughout the audio ad campaign lifecycle to better deliver personalized ad creative that improves not only the listening experience, but an organization’s bottom line.”

Triton Digital provides the industry’s most comprehensive stack of advertising solutions to help audio publishers increase the value of their inventory. Tap makes targeting easier, provides sophisticated inventory forecasting tools, and enables streamlined production, management, and delivery of ad creative. With the enhanced capabilities in Tap, audio publishers benefit from streamlined workflow creation and simplified audio advertising flight management, improving inventory monetization.