Month: November 2022

Following the phenomenal success of last year’s inaugural show, The Podcast Show is now truly positioned as THE international event for the business of podcasting.

Last May, we brought together over 9,500 visitors, across the day and night of the festival, from every corner of the world – from the east and west coasts of the US to Mexico, China, South Korea, Australia, and all across Europe. The show delivered some of the most recognizable faces in podcasting including: Louis Theroux and My Dad Wrote A Porno, through to leading players in the business.

We’re back, we’re bigger and more ambitious than before, with more venues, more content, major players and bigger names!

By day the global podcast community will gather under one roof at the Business Design Centre, 24 – 25 May, in the heart of London’s buzzing borough of Islington.

We are delighted to announce our first group of partners for next year. Headliners will be Amazon Music | Wondery and Acast and returning as official partners to the show are Audioboom, BBC Sounds, and Global.

Also joining the show will be an impressive list of partners and exhibitors including Audible, Sony Music Entertainment, Patreon, Trition Digital, BetterHelp, Insanity, Podopolo, Fresh Air, Crowd Network, AdTonos, Ponders, AudioUK, Pod Bible,The Radio Academy, The Podcast Academy, BCMA, Libsyn, Adelicious, Riverside.fm, Shure, Diety Microphones, Black Cat Music, Cloud Mics, POW PR, Podcast Radio, Call Me by Vortex, Stak, TBI Media, Sontronics, Creative, Mackie, PRX, Alitu, and Auddy with many more set to be announced between now and the festival next May.

A massive 500+ brands attended in 2022 to meet the podcast community and this is set to grow in 2023. We’ll be doubling the size of our Brand Works Theatre on the main show floor and delighted to announce this will be presented by Global in association with Campaign Magazine – expect to see some of the biggest brands and media agencies face-to-face with podcast creators.

We’ll also be dialing up content across the show for independent podcast creators, the lifeblood of the podcast industry. The Creator’s Corner, newly partnered with one of our headline partners, Acast, is back giving creators even more chances to meet up & seek advice from key figures in the industry and we’ll be launching a brand new feature called Create & Play… watch this space!

Also new for 2023, is PodHouse, an exclusive area located at the heart of the show-floor that will host back to back networking drinks receptions. These ‘invitation only’ events will be hosted by leading organizations in talent, brands, production and advertising… a place to get deals done!

Expect even more networking opportunities at next year’s show from day time gatherings in our central Hub Bar, end of show day drinks events and all manner of evening parties for attendees…

And finally, we are super excited to bring a major new addition to The Podcast Show 2023. We can announce an exclusive Launch Party & Preview Night on Tuesday 23 May, the eve of the show. With a limited number of tickets on offer, this promises to be the hottest podcasting ticket in town and will include; complementary drinks, very special guest appearances, exclusive industry announcements, DJ sets and a few other surprises! Plus, your 2 day pass to the main day business festival.

And if that’s not enough, by night, we’ll have another week-long live podcast festival.

This year we brought you The Podcast Show LIVE, 15 live shows including; British Scandal, Kermode & Mayo’s Take and The Receipts, to name a few. Get ready for 2023 as the program will double in size with 30 live podcasts from 23-28 May, celebrating world class talent and bringing your favorite voices to life in major venues across Islington, London.

Tickets go on sale early January 2023 as well as a host of new programme announcements.

ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network has been named Australia’s #1 podcast publisher for the 30th consecutive ranker report, while also achieving record downloads, regaining the top ranked podcast, and holding half of the top 10 shows.

Results from the October ranker show the network delivered a combined total of 5.6 million listeners (up 4%) and 26.6 million monthly downloads (up 7.5%), the highest number of downloads ever achieved.

ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network continues to hold half of the Top 10 most listened to podcasts in the country – more than any other publisher – including Casefile. The popular true crime podcast from Audioboom has regained the #1 overall slot with 993,418 listeners and over 2.9 million downloads, making it the most downloaded podcast in the ranker.

Life Uncut with Brittany Hockey and Laura Byrne moved up to #3 overall (#1 Entertainment), increasing its audience by almost 60,000 listeners to 479,601, with nearly 1.66 million downloads.

Kyle & Jackie O also moved up one place to #5, maintaining its position as the #1 Catch-up podcast, with 390,678 listens and 1.65 million downloads.

Stuff You Should Know moves into #6 overall (#1 Knowledge) with 352,026 listeners and 2.83 million downloads; and The Imperfects continue to move up the ranker, finishing at #8 (#1 Health & Fitness) with 281,722 listeners and 611,402 downloads.

Other standouts include No Such Thing As A Fish (Audioboom) at #17 and She’s On The Money at #25 (and the ranker’s #1 Finance podcast); while the biggest rise on the ranker was from Will & Woody, with the Catch-up podcast jumping 47 places to #93.

ARN’s Head of Digital Audio, Corey Layton, said: “Today marks a significant milestone for the iHeartPodcast Network, holding the #1 Publisher spot for 30 consecutive rankers. Our incredible slate of podcasts continues to engage Australian audiences, leading to our highest ever downloads.”

Overall, ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network represents 45 of Australia’s top 150 most popular podcasts.

Nomono, the pioneering developer of audio recording and collaboration tools designed to help podcasts and journalists tell immersive audio stories, announced it has named seasoned technology executive Sylvia Brudeli as Chief Product Officer. The appointment comes on the heels of the company closing at NOK 35-million ($3.6M USD, €3.55M) investment round led by Schibsted Ventures, enabling Nomono to scale the market for its podcasting and spatial audio solutions.

Sylvia will be responsible for overseeing the Nomono product portfolio, which is poised to revolutionize the capture and editing of high-quality, on-the-go, spatial audio for podcast creation. Specific responsibilities include the management of all software and hardware product development; leading the company’s growing product team; and defining and implementing the company’s strategic product roadmap.

“Podcast creation is at an all-time high and predicted only to continue its exponential growth for the foreseeable future; despite seeming market maturity, we still very much appear to be at the dawn of the podcast revolution,” said Jonas Rinde, CEO of Nomono. “Nomono is perfectly-suited to capitalize on this explosive growth, and the appointment of Sylvia as Chief Product Officer only reinforces the strength of our market position. She has a proven track record developing category-defining solutions that scale across markets, and we’re thrilled to have her aboard.”

Sylvia joins Nomono with twenty years of experience in product development, most recently as Product Manager at Telenor Digital, a software company that accelerates the modernization of the telecommunications industry. Throughout her previous roles, Sylvia has developed a strong design thinking mindset and plans to bring that approach to Nomono.

“Creating industry-changing technology is all about solving the most pressing problems for consumers, and that’s exactly what Nomono has done with its Nomono Sound Capsule and the Nomono Cloud,” added Brudeli. “Nomono has developed simple-to-use products that will revolutionize the podcasting market, and I look forward to working with an already stellar product team to continuously create products that push the boundaries of podcast recording and content creation.”

The Nomono Sound Capsule is a cloud-connected, self-contained recording kit for capturing audio recordings in the field and designed specifically for professional podcasters and broadcast journalists.

It includes a Wi-Fi enabled recorder that combines four ultra-compact wireless lavalier mics with a 360-degree spatial audio microphone array and weighs less than 4 pounds.

The Nomono Sound Capsule connects seamlessly to the Nomono Cloud, an online audio collaboration tool where content creators backup their recordings, collaborate with their production team, and apply AI-powered dialogue enhancement processing to ensure their audio sounds the best it can before starting the editorial process.

With unparalleled portability and ease-of-use, Nomono’s combined solutions are revolutionizing how professional-quality audio is created. Unlike current podcasting workflows that depend on separate field recorders, microphones, mixers, and accessories, Nomono offers a portable, all-in-one field recording solution built specifically for podcasters and journalists that automatically uploads recordings to an intuitive cloud-based audio collaboration and preparation tool.

Spreaker, the global leader in programmatic ad tech, announced the release of a first-party data audience segmentation solution by providing advertisers a way to reach very specific and complex audiences at scale by layering multiple data points, now available for programmatic, and direct sales across the Spreaker network.

“Depreciating accuracy from third-party data, limitations on mobile devices, identifiers, and the loss of tracking cookies continue to have an unfavorable effect on those relying on third-party data for podcast advertising,” said Martin Haro, Data and Insights Lead at Spreaker.

“Now with Spreaker’s first-party data audience segments, our solution ingests data through AI and machine learning from real listeners’ listening patterns, behaviors, and podcast content, which has enabled us to build specific audience segments that have proven to be 3X more accurate than third-party data.”

Since June 2022 Spreaker began testing its first-party data for audience segmentation with selected advertisers and agencies, which now allows advertisers to directly connect with audiences precisely within the target they are looking for – avoiding mass targeting, and the results are impressive.

Spreaker is a multi-faceted podcast platform that provides both independent content creators and established publishers with the tools and support to launch, grow and monetize their podcasts easy and fast. This new solution benefits advertisers and creators alike.

For advertisers looking for more information on first-party data audience segmentation, they can contact marketing@spreaker.com.

For more information about Spreaker, please visit spreaker.com.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in partnership with the Federal Trade Commission and other state attorney’s general, announced against Google and iHeartMedia resolving allegations that Google paid DJs, predominately at iHeartMedia, to offer misleading personal endorsements of the Google Pixel 4 cell phone, even though most had never used the phone.

This conduct violated California’s False Advertising law and Unfair Competition Law. As part of the settlement, Google will pay $9 million, of which California will receive approximately $2.7 million, and iHeartMedia will pay $400,000, of which California will receive approximately $125,000. Both companies will also be required to comply with important injunctive terms to deter future misconduct.

“Goole tried to take shortcuts in advertising its products, and now it’s paying the price,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Asking DJs to share personal experiences about a product they had not used is misleading – and a violation of state consumer protection laws. As Attorney General, I won’t stand by when consumers spend their hard-earned money based on a lie.”

In 2019, Google partnered with iHeartMedia and other local radio stations to run an ad campaign for the Google Pixel 4. In these ads Google instructed radio personalities to describe their supposed personal experiences using the Pixel 4, despite the phone not yet being available, and despite Google refusing to provide the phones to any stations in advance of recording and airing the first-round ads.

Therefore, the radio personalities’ statements about their personal experience were generally untrue. Google ran these ads over 23,000 times in 10 different markets, including more than 9,000 times in the San Francisco and Los Angeles media markets.

In addition to monetary penalties, Google and iHeartMedia will comply with injunctive terms to deter future misconduct. Google, specifically, will be subject to a 20-year injunction prohibiting it from making misrepresentations or encouraging misrepresentations when hiring endorsers to advertise its products. Google will also be required to submit compliance upon request and engage in robust record keeping to demonstrate full compliance with the settlement agreement.

Attorney General Bonta joins the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York in the settlement against Google. Texas also joined the group settlement against iHeartMedia.

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio research and analytics platform, announced that Octave Studio, the targeted audio advertising platform and joint venture of News UK’s Wireless and Bauer Media, has renewed their partnership with Veritonic, selecting their Brand Lift technology to provide their clients with unparalleled data and insights around the performance of their audio creative.

Through this partnership, clients of Octave Audio can conduct studies to evaluate the impact of their audio on their overall goals, including product promotion, lead generation, brand loyalty, and more. By measuring key metrics such as brand awareness, favorability, and purchase intent, clients can leverage the actionable data from the studies to adjust their campaigns and increase their ROI.

“We are proud to support Octave in their mission to generate and deploy powerful audio advertisements on behalf of their client base,” said Damian Scragg, General Manager of International & Brand Sales for Veritonic. “The robust nature of our Brand Lift solution lends itself well to verifying and amplifying the impact of audio campaigns and, ultimately, the development of a comprehensive audio strategy.”

“We are pleased to partner with Veritonic to offer this mission-critical data to our 700+ clients all over the world,” said Tom McKay, Head of Product & Safety at Octave. “Veritonic shares our mission of helping brands and agencies that are leveraging audio to understand the impact of their campaigns and gain actionable insights for future campaign planning.”

Octave Audio recently collaborated with their insurance comparison website client, Mustard.co.uk, to leverage Veritonic’s best-in-class audio Brand Lift technology to test which ads would resonate and perform best in terms of Awareness, Favorability, and Intent between targeted ads and non-targeted ads. Veritonic’s sophisticated technology provided Mustard with actionable and insightful data around the power of targeted audio ads, showing a 14ppt lift in recall, a 5ppt lift in intent, and a 4.5ppt lift in overall resonance for the targeted ads.

“Veritonic’s campaign measurement technology has empowered our team to make stronger, data-driven decisions in the audio space,” said Jazmine Brace, Marketing Manager at mustard.co.uk. “Having concise insights into what is working and resonating within our target audience or within our target creative type has granted us the confidence we need to deploy audio campaigns that we know will have strong ROI”

Veritonic’s Brand Lift technology empowers brands and advertisers to gauge the impact of their creative assets across a variety of audio outlets. The data and analysis gleaned from the technology provides a highly insightful view of campaign performance within brand or agency’s unique audience targeting requirements to establish a baseline of success measures or areas for improvement.

If you are interested in learning more about Veritonic’s Brand Lift technology, visit www.veritonic.com or contact sales@veritonic.com.

RØDE announced a new addition to its industry-leading range of USB microphones, the NT-USB+. Based on the legendary NT-USB, the NT-USB+ is a professional-grade USB microphone loaded with next-generation features. It is also compact, portable, and versatile, making it the ideal microphone for musicians, podcasters, streamers and professionals who want to capture studio-quality sound with ease.

The NT-USB+ is a professional USB microphone with next-generation features for recording studio-quality sound with ease.

KEY FEATURES OF THE NT-USB+:

Studio-grade condenser capsule and tight cardioid polar pattern, delivering pristine audio idea for recording vocals, speech, and instruments.

Ultra-low-noise, high-gain Revolution Preamp and high-resolution 24-bit/48kHz analog-to-digital conversion for professional sound quality with stunning clarity.

Internal DSP for advanced audio processing powered by APHEX – including a compressor, noise gate and legendary Aural Exciter and Big Bottom effects

High-power headphone output for zero-latency monitoring, complete with level and mix controls.

USB-C output for plug-and-play connectivity with computers, smartphones and tablets

Includes high-quality pop filter and desktop mount – an all-in-one solution for recording professional sound at home or on the go.

Designed and made in RØDE’s state-of-the-art facilities in Sydney, Australia

A LEGEND REBORN

The NT-USB+ is based on the original USB, which was released in 2014 and has long been an industry-standard professional USB microphone for musicians, podcasters, streamers, and other creators. Featuring the same iconic form factor and studio-quality sound as the original, the NT-USB+ builds on its legacy with a number of next-generation enhancements and is set to become a modern classic.

“The original NT-USB was an instant success when it launched almost a decade ago, setting a lofty standard for studio-quality USB microphones,” said RØDE CEO Damien Wilson. “With the NT-USB+, we are setting a new standard. We have kept the form factor and functionality that made the original such a success and introduced several new features, integrating cutting-edge technology for the next wave of creators. Plug-and-play USB audio has never sounded this good.”

STUDIO SOUND AT HOME OR ON THE GO

The NT-USB+ features a studio-grade condenser capsule that evokes the sound of a classic large-diaphragm condenser microphone. Delivering warmth and clarity with a full frequency response and tight cardioid polar pattern for clear, focused audio, it excels on everything from vocals and speech to acoustic guitar and other instruments.

The NT-USB+ features enhanced circuitry, with RØDE’s ultra-low-noise, high-gain Revolution Preamp technology – first introduced with the groundbreaking RØDECaster Pro II – as well as the upgraded high-resolution 24-bit/48kHz analog-to-digital conversion for pristine audio quality. It also features powerful internal DSP, which allows users to apply advanced APHEX processing to their audio.

This includes a high-pass filter for cutting out low-end rumble, a noise gate for eliminating background noise, a compressor for delivering punchy low-end rumble, a noise gate for eliminating background noise, a compressor for delivering punchy and balanced sound, and the legendary Aural Exciter and Big Bottom effects for rich, broadcast tone. This studio-quality processing can be activated via the companion app RØDE Central – available for desktop and mobile – for use with any other software or application. It is also available in RØDE’s free podcasting and streaming software, RØDE Connect.

SIMPLICITY, PORTABILITY AND VERSATILITY

Not only does the NT-USB+ sound amazing, but it is also incredibly easy to use, portable and versatile. It features a class-compliant USB-C output that is plug-and-play compatible with Mac and Windows computers; it is also fully compatible with any Android or iOS smartphone or tablet, making it an excellent portable recording studio.

It comes with a professional pop filter for minimizing plosives, as well as a tripod mount for perfect positioning on a desktop. It also features a zero-latency headphone output for monitoring audio with no distracting echo or delay, complete with level and monitor mix controls. With its plug-and-play connectivity, including extras and all-in-one design, the NT-USB+ is the ultimate microphone for anyone who wants to record professional sound effortlessly.

The NT-USB+ is shipping worldwide and available now for US$169.

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, has announced the addition of Keyword Targeting to the Acast Marketplace, unlocking more contextual opportunities for advertisers and increased revenue for creators. The new proprietary capability follows Acast’s launch of Conversational Targeting earlier this year and is the second of several books to be released from the suite.

Despite macroeconomic uncertainties and shrinking marketing budgets globally, podcast advertising remains a growing industry and is still forecasted to surpass $4 billion in value by 2024 in the U.S. alone. With advertisers continuing to flock to the space, Acast’s insights and innovation-led approach creates opportunities for brands to scale their messages across its network of 88,000 shows.

Now with Keyword Targeting, advertisers can align their message with the most contextually relevant content spoken being about within an episode. This significantly increases targeting relevance, reduces wastage, and results in a more contextually relevant advertising experience for listeners.

Take for example, a guest and host of a comedy podcast record an episode about cooking disasters in the kitchen. By using advanced speech-to-text transcription technology combined with artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Acast can now identify key words and phrases spoken within that episode. This effectively enables an advertiser, for say, a new cookbook or perhaps kitchenware utensils, to reach new audiences by targeting contextually relevant conversations within shows that may be from a completely unrelated category.

Not only does Keyword Targeting enable more precise, privacy-safe targeting than ever before for brands, as the technology evolves it will be further incorporated into Acast’s existing brand safety capabilities.

“We’re on a mission to ensure advertisers can be as contextually relevant – and effective – as possible in podcasting. With Keyword Targeting brands can be part of the immediate conversation, whether that’s a minor calendar event, breaking news story, or even something as quirky as an interviewee’s favorite meal,” said Chris Wistow, Acast VP of Advertising Product. “Furthermore, Acast podcasters of all sizes will benefit, with Keyword Targeting surfacing new shows to advertisers who might previously have made decisions based on podcast category alone.”

As the latest development in Acast’s mission to revolutionize controversial targeting in podcast advertising, Keyword Targeting can be bought either directly or programmatically. Both Keyword Targeting and IAB Category Targeting, which launched earlier this year and enables advertisers to target on the episode level, are now available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Dutch, with more languages to be added in the near future.

Acast is a global leader in podcast advertising the 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, Alta, and more.

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio research and analytics platform, announced The summit will once again gather industry-leading brands, agencies, and publishers to dive deep into the data and analytics that are driving today’s successful audio and podcasting strategies. The summit will take place at the Second Floor in New York City on February 15, 2023.

Expert-led discussions from renowned industry leaders will spotlight creative testing and measurement practices furthering their campaign relevance, amplifying their message, and increasing their return.

“We are looking forward to the second annual Audio Intelligence Summit,” said Gina Garrubbo, President and CEO of National Public Media, the sponsorship subsidiary of NPR. “Veritonic shares our vision of bringing the industry together around the technology, data, and analytics that are furthering the growth of the audio and podcast industry.

“It was a pleasure to attend and participate in the first annual AIS last year,” said Shira Atkins, Co-Founder and CRO, Wonder Media Network. “We look forward to coming together with fellow publishers, platforms, brands and agencies to collectively improve upon and consider the data and analytics that are making audio’s ever-expanding influence increasingly efficient and impactful.”

The half-day event will unite the foremost thought leaders in the audio and podcast space to discuss how to empower brands and organizations in having the confidence to leverage audio in their marketing mix. For more details about the summit and to register to attend, please visit the website

“As audio continues to grow at exponential rates, understanding how audio and audio advertising is being effectively leveraged, measured, and optimized as it relates to heightening brand awareness and ROI has never been more vital,” said Scott Simonelli, CEO of Veritonic. “We are elated to bring together renowned industry leaders to discuss their audio and podcast advertising strategies for the second consecutive year.”

The 2023 Audio Intelligence Summit Call for Speakers is now open until 5pm ET on December 23, 2022. If you’re interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities at AIS 2023, please reach out to AIS@veritonic.

Audion, the French leader in digital audio and podcast monetization, has raised a six million euros Series A funding round from Founders Future, Elevation Capital Partners, Financière Arbevel and business angels. In a rapidly changing global contest, digital audio is the only media that maintains a strong growth in H1 2022.

Audion is the industry leader in France thanks to an increase of turnover of almost 100% in 2022. The start-up, which enables publishers to broadcast advertisements on their audio content and convert their articles into podcasts, aims to become the European leader in the digital audio monetization market within three years and to open offices in three new countries. Audion is already present in the UK and France.

Audion announces the first fundraising in the ByoB digital audio sector in France, with its historical investor Founders Future (Yuka, Lydia, Omi…), Elevation Capital Partners (Morning, Certideal, Plug-in Digital…) completed by a bonded debt funding with Arbevel Dette Privée PME. The start-up, which provides text-to-speech and digital audio monetization technologies, aims to help publishers create and capitalize on their audio content.

Having raised €1.1m in seed funding in 2019, this new round should enable Audion to recruit around fifty people in the next twelve to eighteen months and open offices in three new European countries. The company, which already works with major media groups, will strengthen its offer and its presence with publishers, platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud…), advertisers (Intel, BMW, McDonalds, Lidl, Ikea…),and media agencies (WPP, OMG, Dentsu…), to continue innovating and accompany this digital audio revolution.

Founded in 2018, Audion works with more than a hundred companies – media, publishers, podcast producers… – and has seen a nearly 100% growth of its turnover in 2022. It is the only French company offering digital audio monetization technologies and is the leader in terms of revenue, number of clients and campaigns, and it also operates in dozens of countries.

While the global advertising industry is being massively impacted, audio records the most significant growth (+50% according to the Observatorie de l’e-pub). Audion continues to grow with nearly +100% in both 2021 and 2022. The only French company in the BtoB audio market, Audion wants to use these funds to accelerate its growth and become European leader. Based in Paris and London, it currently has 25 employees. It’s latest technology PrintAudio, which converts text articles into podcasts and broadcasts them, has already been implemented on almost one billion web pages.

Consumers listen more and more to digital audio – radio replay, non-linear radio, native podcast music streaming, web radio, text-to-speech, etc. 63% of internet users listen to online content every month (IAB Digital Audio Panorama, 2022), pushing brands and publishers to adapt their offer and their communications channels.

But the growth of digital audio largely relies on advertising, as publishers and producers cannot create a large audio offer without monetization capabilities. As the only French player in the market, Audion is benefiting from this evolution in usage, which explains its constant growth despite a struggling advertising market.