US Podcast Ad Revenues grew 48% in 2019

• The US podcast ad market grew 48% in 2019 to $708m, according to the IAB’s annual Podcast Ad Revenue Study: nearly $30m higher than predicted. Host-read ads were responsible for two-thirds of the revenue; the leading content genre for US podcast advertisers is News, which generated 22% of revenues.

  
  Aug 25 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • We’ll not hit a billion in 2020 though, but we are still growing: the IAB predicts a lower growth of 14.7% this year (to US$812m), thanks to the pandemic.

• It’s official: Scripps has agreed to sell Stitcher to SiriusXM - the agreed price is $325m ($265m cash plus earnouts). Stitcher is a podcast advertising saleshouse, an original podcast studio, and an app.

• We’d expect the announcement of a new CEO for Pocket Casts shortly: it’s likely to be John W Gibbons. Based in LA, he’s a strategic advisor to Podchaser, and worked at IMDb and Amazon for 14 years.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 25 2023

• Spotify’s Gimlet Media is being sued for failing to make its podcasts accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. The New York lawsuit argues that Gimlet violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide closed captioning on various podcasts.

• Americans are starting their 'audio day’ a little later, according to new research from Edison Research.

• SHIFT, the kickoff event for the Podcast Movement University, happens later today. It’s free to take part in this virtual day, and free to be a member of the University.

• Triton Digital has published their June Podcast Report for Australia. Total downloads of the top ten publishers are virtually unchanged month-on-month. The report only measures participating publishers; the country’s largest podcast publisher, the ABC, is not measured (in spite of being announced as 'joining in the next few months’ back in October).

• ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia, still #1 according to Triton, claims podcast listening in the News and Entertainment categories are at record highs.

• Podtrac has also released their US Top 20 Podcasts ranker. The Ben Shapiro Show climbs to #5. It only measures participating publishers.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 25 2023

• Podcasters Unlimited is a new podcast network and consultancy, based in Newark NJ.

• Podchaser ratings, reviews, and replies are now available on Podkite.

  
  Aug 25 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Zeno Media is to distribute NPR podcasts on their diaspora-focused service, the company has announced.

• Brad Schwartz, who became the new podcasting boss of Audible last month, has left the company after 'employees discovered an old sexual-harassment lawsuit in which Schwartz was named’.

Tips and tricks - with Podcorn

• How to create an accessible podcast (Podcast Movement)\

• Four methods for finding sponsors for your website (Jack Rhysider)

Podcast News

Launched last month, One Foot In is an Australian podcast aimed at LGBTQIA+ people from diverse backgrounds who have one foot in the closet, feel heard and know that they are not alone.

Once Upon A Time… In The Valley,from Entercom’s Cadence13, is launched today. Before there was Paris or Kim, there was Traci Lords, but this adult star… wasn’t.

Demi Moore is starring, and producing, a brand new podcast. Dirty Diana is “the story of a dying marriage and how two partners find their way back each other through perseverance, connection, and sex”; it launched yesterday.

Returning for a second season, Storybound, “a radio theater program designed for the podcast age”. The podcast features the voices of today’s top literary icons reading their essays, poems, and fiction. The show is a collaboration between The Podglomerate podcast network and Lit Hub Radio.

The MindShift podcast from KQED returns for season five today, giving listeners an inside look at how schools are developing solutions to meet the needs of students in person and online - particularly during the pandemic.

The Orange Tree is released today: new from The Drag, a new audio production house of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, it focuses on a murder just a few blocks away from the university.

A new season of Arty Farty, a podcast for creative kids, is out today from the Sydney Opera House. The new season is called House Call, and is “jam-packed full of interesting stories from the people who make magic happen behind-the-scenes”.

Congratulations to the Art Insiders New York podcast has been awarded the 26th Annual Communicator Awards of Distinction by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) for the episode “Frank Gehry - Interview with Paul Goldberger” (which aired Jan 9).