99% Invisible bought by SiriusXM

Vanity URLs and promo codes often fall short, says Sounds Profitable’s Bryan Barletta. Even if a listener hears a lot about an advertiser on your podcast, they might just Google the company’s name - leaving you without any credit. Pixel-based attribution fixes that, he says. You should subscribe.

Sep 3 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• SiriusXM has bought 99% Invisible Inc. The company, owned by Roman Mars, makes 99% Invisible and What Trump Can Teach Us About Constitutional Law. The podcast will remain free to everyone, according to the New York Times.

  • No terms were given, but Roman Mars is to give $1m from the sale to support Radiotopia shows, says PRX. 99% Invisible started in 2010, initially crowd-funded on Kickstarter.
  • Matt Deegan comments that building scale is essential to podcast success.

• Facebook is to add a podcast player in its app, powered by Spotify. It’s being rolled out to 27 markets, none in Europe.

• First look: Acast has launched “Sponsored Stories”, longer ad spots that can last up to four minutes.

• First look: Today, Magellan AI launches its Q1/21 podcast advertising report. Of their findings:

  
  Sep 3 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • Podcast ad spending in March was higher than the Q4/20 monthly average.
  • 50% of podcast ad revenue went to the 500 most popular podcasts
  • 21% of podcast episodes have just one advertiser.

• Acast claims the future of podcasting is Dynamic RSS, according to a post by Matt MacDonald. dRSS is the company’s brand for custom feeds, which, the company says, allows personalisation for audiences.

  • Most podcast hosts write static RSS feeds; though as we highlighted yesterday, Podnews serves dynamic RSS feeds to allow us to better identify the apps that listen to us.)

• WeArePodcast is running a new virtual event on 20-21 May, called “Make Money From Your Podcast”. Promo code PODNEWS will get you a discount.

• MorganStanley issued a client note saying mostly positive things about Spotify, calling them “overweight”, and predicting they’ll hit $350/share in the next twelve months (they’re $298 currently). Spotify releases their earnings results for Q1/21 tomorrow (and possibly, with it, their plans for podcast subscriptions); they’re currently increasing prices in the US and UK.

• Eric Nuzum writes about why subscriptions matter: suggesting that podcast creators shouldn’t rely on one source of revenue; but to examine who owns the relationship.

• Buzzsprout now integrates with Canva to make artwork easier. Find it in your podcast settings.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Day 24

• The Basics to Monetize a Podcast include ads, sponsorships and products, say Blubrry.

• How to write compelling show notes includes the suggestion to “use Google’s Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to find keywords relating to your topic”.

Podcast News

The Limelight with Layyah Rasdien is a South African interview podcast with a difference: Layyah is just nine. Her dad is a comedian.

May I Elaborate? offers daily wisdom from JB Smoove. Everyone needs a guru, and this one is, um, quite sweary.

Oooh, you’re in trouble is back for a new season later this week: a podcast for 9-13 year-olds, it says that sometimes it’s okay to break the rules, with true stories of rebels and rule-breakers.

Looking Forward focuses on trends and the opportunities they bring. So far with 39 episodes, it’s hosted by Jeff Ostroff, a voiceover talent and a Luck Instructor (no, really).