Super listeners pay attention to podcast ads

Have you filled in our report card for the big podcast platforms yet? We’d really appreciate it; we’ve over a hundred responses already.

• Edison Research released their Super Listeners study, with Ad Results Media. “Super listeners” - US adults who listen to 5+ hours of podcasts a week - are listening to podcasts longer, and pay more attention to ads on podcasts than other media. However, 22% say there are “way too many” adverts: a figure up from 18% last year.

  • Over half Super Listeners have listened to podcasts on YouTube; and 19% say that’s their primary way of discovering new shows.

• Edison Research also released their first US Top Podcast Networks ranker. The data looks at all of 2021, measuring total reach. SXM Media is #1 for podcasts, the data finds (which is also what the latest Triton Digital US Podcast Ranker, based on server logs, says). “We’ve tracked this space for ten quarters with thousands of listeners, and the data we see has been incredibly stable over that period of time,” said Edison Research SVP Tom Webster.

• How much did Spotify license the Joe Rogan podcast for? The New York Times reports that the 3½ year deal was over $200m, not the $100m that everyone’s been reporting until now.

• Want to work on your favourite podcast? Now you can, kind of: anyone can claim to be a creator of any podcast within the GoodPods app, without any proof or validation, we’ve discovered. Danny Brown made himself a creator of Podnews’s podcast on the app to prove it could be done; and our Editor made himself a creator for Danny’s for a short while. We’d suggest: a) don’t do this; b) more importantly, all apps should respect creators and never allow unauthorised changes.

  • JJ Ramberg from Goodpods tells us that “this violates the Goodpods Terms of Service which states that the company may immediately terminate your Goodpods account and you may also be subject to civil or criminal penalties”.

• Podcast host Ausha has launched a complete social media management tool, and says its the first in the world to do so. Ausha is connected to Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

• iHeartMedia has signed with Veritone to use synthetic voices to translate shows into different languages. They’ll start in the Spanish market - and if this sounds familiar, it’s because Bryan Barletta from our adtech newsletter Sounds Profitable has been using this technology to host a podcast in Spanish, in spite of not speaking the language.

• The full programme for next week’s Podcast Futures Conference in London hosted by Podcast Radio has been announced featuring presentations and panellists from Triton Digital, Veritonic, Edison Research and Acast.

• The Good Life Project has joined Acast. The series celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.

• The BBC’s radio, music and podcast app BBC Sounds now lets users control your own play queue. If you’re on iOS, that is - Android users get this feature, as ever, “soon”. The corporation blocks its shows on Google Podcasts, and the BBC is removing some of its newer episodes from open podcast apps in favour of the BBC Sounds app.

Moves and hires

• Indira Birnie has been hired as Head of Marketing and Communications for Novel. She was with Penguin Random House (and used to work on the Penguin Podcast).

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 11 2023
• Terrance Moore has joined the Bleav Podcast Network as Head of Talent. He was with WME.

Tips and tricks

• “Get it wherever you get your podcasts”. Mark Watson suggests that people know this; and likens this phrase to butter adverts saying ‘get it in a corner shop or wherever you get your butter’.

• Justin Jackson picks up a copy of his local newspaper to see that the front story is all about a local podcast. Never forget the local angle for your publicity!

Podcast News - with Quill

Produced by Quill: Contributors features provoking conversations about how to take your organization one step further by prioritizing more than just the bottom line. Hosts Marnie Niemi Hood and Russell Evans from the CAAT Pension Plan sit down with leaders who are contributing to the well-being of the country and global stage by innovating industries and leading change.

Deeply Human from the BBC World Service, American Public Media and iHeartMedia, returns for a new season with writer and musician Dessa. The podcast is an exploration of human behavior, instincts, and culture. - read more