The power of comedy podcasts

• Media and entertainment company Global has released a report on advertising within comedy podcasts. 68% of listeners prefer host reads where it’s clear that the host uses the product or service.

• On Air Fest has announced On Air LA Annex 2023, a four day festival presenting live podcasts in Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles.

• Did you make it into the Podcast Movement Denver highlights video? The Podnews Puppies did…

• In Australia, the IAB reports that online advertising was still growing in Q2/23, but that growth has slowed. Podcast advertising grew 24% last quarter, and was AUD $91.2m (US $59mn) in FY23 (July-June).

• Online therapy provider BetterHelp was, once more, the #1 podcast advertiser in June, says Magellan AI, spending $9.2mn. Real estate company Zillow was the most increased advertiser, spending $1.1mn.

• Podbean’s Norma Jean Belenky is one of the featured speakers at Radiodays Asia next week. The event’s podcast track, Podcast Day Asia, will be co-hosted by Podnews’s Editor, James Cridland.

• Sounder is to join the Prebid Audio Taskforce. Prebid is an independent organisation designed to ensure and promote fair, transparent, and efficient header bidding across the industry.

• Podhero, a podcast app, appears to have closed. It used the Twitter API for login, which is no longer available for developers to use; the website was last live in early July.

• The Madness of Chartrulean is crowdfunding for a new season. The Ambies-nominated show is produced by Packhowl Media, an independent audio fiction production company, and distributed by Realm.

• PBS Kids has announced an expanded podcast slate into Q3/23.

• Further reading: Jeff Vidler from Signal Hill Insights calls for digital audio to be positioned next to other digital advertising offerings, to ensure that audio is on a robust revenue growth track … and the Washington Post report on people who listen to podcasts 24-hours a day (but oddly neglect to interview Arielle Nissenblatt, who must have pioneered that, surely?)

Tips and tricks - with Pod Predictor by Coleman Insights

• We Edit Podcasts give us ten warning signs that we might need to revamp our podcast.

Podcast News - with Airwave

Part of the Airwave podcast network: The Age of Napoleon Podcast is a history podcast about the life and career of Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as the general context of Europe between the early eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Expect big trends, the grand sweep of history, as well as the smaller, individual stories that bring them to life.

The Media Roundtable has an interview with Allan Jones, the visionary CEO & Founder of Bambee; and a look back at Podcast Movement.

Don’t Kill the Messenger with Movie Research Expert Kevin Goetz has reached its 25th episode, and will be celebrating with special guest legendary studio executive, producer, and journalist Peter Bart. Over the past year, it has given listeners an insider’s look at the world of movie audience research and testing.

By Little Podcast is a new show that explores how everyday people can make the world a better place. Hosted by Thamarrah Jones and Courtney Kelly, the show aims to offer listeners an uplifting counterpoint to today’s bleak news cycles.

Conference Call is new today from Paradiso Media and Realm. A star-studded parody scripted audio drama, it stars Emma Roberts (“Scream Queens”) as an investigative journalist who explores a failed business partnership and the resulting legal spat. The show is made up of recordings of video conference calls between entrepreneurs, in the style of a radio documentary.

One Year is back with a new season, and a new year: 1955, a year when a team of 12-year-old Little Leaguers became civil rights pioneers, “weather girls” took the country by storm, and a conspiracy theory about communist brainwashing infected the nation’s politics. For the first time, Slate Plus members receive exclusive access to the first three episodes, ad-free.