Podcast ads generate as much attention as TV ads

• Podcast ads generate nearly the same level of attentiveness as TV, says new research from attentiveness measurement firm Adelaide. The data also says that 24% of podcast listeners never, or rarely, skip the ads: a better figure than TV’s.

• Podnews has a free jobs board. New jobs are posted below every day. We can link to your jobs board, too. Please let your HR person know!

• Run your podcast ad too often, and it won’t work as well. That’s according to the latest Podscribe Performance Benchmarks Q2 2024 report, which you can get free here. The fourth edition of the data suggests that host-read ads often work twice as well as others; and performance goes down by 60% if you play the same ad more than twice in the same show. There’s a free webinar tomorrow at 3.30pm ET to get more detail.

• New podcast The Daily Book Club is from Otis Gray: it’s a daily show from the creator of Sleepy, with a chapter of a classic story every day. The daily content of the podcast is made with his own cloned voice, using ElevenLabs: the use of AI isn’t mentioned in the audio, and is coyly described as a “voice recreation” in the show description. We asked Otis: he told Podnews that after running tests with listeners, “I told them it was AI, and asked if they had a problem with that. To my great surprise, none of them did. They did not feel duped. They just wanted more content, and they knew it was coming from me.“ He added, “if listeners think it’s Otis they’re hearing, then that’s just fine.”

• The Boston Globe hired three people to launch a weekly podcast earlier this year: but then, changed its mind and doesn’t plan to launch the show. It’s reported that two people are being paid while they look for alternative jobs at the company; and the producer of the show has been redeployed as the writer of a newsletter. (Thoughts and prayers.)

• Free money! All Hear is a free email newsletter which contains available grants, calls for podcast pitches, residencies and awards, and has almost 4,500 subscribers. Looking at August’s edition, there were 115 different opportunities all round the world. Subscribe over here.

• Listen Notes suggests that July saw the lowest number of “new podcasts” this year - more than 60% lower year-on-year. Technically, the number refers to “new feeds”; many new podcasts have been launched on defunct feeds for shows that have ceased. There is a decline in production of new podcast episodes: that’s only down 6% year-on-year according to the Podcast Index (see the tech stuff last month).

  • Meanwhile, Blubrry has published its July 2024 stats. (Only 2.3% are consumed on Spotify.)

• Headliner has announced a collaboration with Canva, for more sophisticated design capabilities for audiograms.

• Pocket Casts will add the ability to rate podcasts to the next version of its iOS app, v7.70. Listeners need to listen to two episodes or more to vote.

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Moves and hires

• The UK’s Goalhanger has made two appointments: Nicole Logan has been appointed as Executive Producer, Development. She joins from Reduced Listening. Andy Neilson has also joined as PR & Communications Manager.

• mowPod has made two promotions: James Flint becomes Director of Global Business Development and Marilyn Haigh is now Vice President of Sales.

Tips and tricks - with Ausha - Next Gen Podcasting 🚀

• On the Ausha stage at Podcast Movement 👉 Learn how the PSO Control Panel can skyrocket your podcast’s visibility and dominate Spotify’s search results.

• What is PSO Control Panel? Discover Ausha’s game-changing tool.

• Monetize your podcast: 14 tactics top podcasters use

Podcast News - with Airwave

From Airwave: A Mindful Moment’s Teresa McKee says: “Airwave took the time to listen to our needs and demonstrated sensitivity to our concerns about advertising. Since joining Airwave, they have consistently placed ads that align with our purpose, unlike previous networks."

One of the first - and biggest - advertisers in podcasting was ZipRecruiter, which has spent many millions on supporting podcasters. Talent All-Stars is new from the company today. Hosted by ZipRecruiter President Dave Travers, expect candid conversations with HR, recruiting, and talent acquisition leaders at some of the world’s most influential businesses. It’s produced by Podcast Pointman.

Dear Bri: Community Strategy, Fiascos, and Drama launches today with a mission to make community creators feel a little less alone and a lot less crazy. In every episode, host Bri Leever reads an anonymous letter from a real-life community creator. To answer the letter and give advice, she invites an expert from the community space. Think Normal Gossip meets community strategy.

What makes a place truly wild? How Wild aims to answer this crucial question as climate change, increased visitation, and new technology are testing the definition of “wilderness." The first episode, out today, looks at the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico. It’s from NPR and the Bay Area’s KALW Public Media.

Don’t Drink the Milk season two launches today - with the unexpected backstories of little things that everyone uses. Season one looked at things like passports, or beer, or bagels; season two promises more stories about everyday things.