Spotify lays off 1,500; companies might lose IAB certification

• After reporting its first quarterly profit for more than a year, Spotify is laying off 17% of its workforce, according to an email sent by Daniel Ek to employees. Approximately 1,500 jobs will be affected by the cuts. “I realize that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance,” Ek wrote - the layoffs are in addition to 800 already announced this year. The stock price went up 7.5%.

  • We don’t yet know where the cuts are coming from, though this message from Megaphone’s support team is ominous.
  • Podnews’s jobs board is the largest in the industry, and is free.

• What’s the future for IAB Podcast Measurement? In November 2022, we reported that the IAB’s v2.0 certification would no longer be valid after Dec 31 2023. As of today, some of podcasting’s largest names are still only compliant to v2.0, and all will lose their claim to certification by the end of the year unless recertified: Adswizz, Buzzsprout, Captivate, Chartable, “EmpireStreaming” (now Soundstack), Libsyn, PodBean, Podtrac, Simplecast, and “Anchor” (now Spotify Creator Studio).

  • A spokesperson at the IAB Tech Lab told us: “We do expect companies who have not been certified on version 2.1 to be re-certified or they will lose current status. They are welcome to regain status once they sign up again and complete the certification/audit process. We do have several companies in process of recertification and we do expect them to be completed by the end of the year. For obvious reasons, I can not tell you which ones.”

• On the day Heavyweight was made one of The New York Times’s Best Podcasts of 2023, Spotify is to cancel Heavyweight and the Pulitzer Prize winning Stolen. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Spotify “will work with the show creators to ensure a smooth transition for wherever these series go next”. The cancellations are apparently unrelated to Spotify’s job cuts.

• Podcasting will see the most growth of all media channels in the next 6-12 months, according to Nielsen’s 2023 Consumer Survey Report. The report also suggests that listeners to podcasts are happy with the amount of advertising they hear, with 55% saying podcasts contain “an appropriate amount” of advertisements. That figure drops to 38% for radio, and 26% for free-to-air TV.

• The global audio market will surpass $75bn in 2024, says Deloitte: a 7% hike.

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• Headliner has posted how its own podcast is using video platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

• RØDE has acquired pro-audio manufacturer Mackie. The acquisition gives The Freedman Group, RØDE’s owners, access to Mackie’s professional customer base.

• The owner of audio editor Audacity, Muse Group has acquired Hal Leonard, the largest publisher of sheet music and educational books.

• Apple Podcasts will announce the 2023 Show of the Year at 8am Eastern today.

Moves & Hires

• Tom Brady has joined the sales team at AdLarge. He joins from Disney Advertising Sales.

• Collin Jones is to be the new President of Westwood One. He has worked for Cumulus Media in Development & Strategy since 2011 - and remains EVP of Strategy and Development for the company. He replaces Suzanne Grimes.

• Climate reporting network Drilled has made a number of hires: Alleen Brown as Senior Editor, Mary Annaïse Heglar as Senior Editor, Writer, and Molly Taft, Senior Editor and Reporter.

Podcast News

Rabia and Ellyn Solve the Case has been acquired by PodcastOne. Its the third home for the podcast this year; it was with Kast Media, then switched to Rhapsody Voices in August.

Wow in the World has released a book - Wow In the World’s Wow In Space, on-sale today - and to celebrate, the show rockets off with podcast programming from Saturn to Mars to the sun and everything in between on “Wow in the World” and “Two Whats?! And A Wow!.” It’s a month-long space-themed celebration for kids and their grownups.

Was Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin a Radical? Before he converted to Islam in the 1970s, he was a charismatic Black Power activist named H. Rap Brown: and like his contemporaries, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, and Martin Luther King Jr., he was targeted by the FBI. Convicted of shooting two sheriff’s deputies in 2000, he claims he’s innocent. It’s new from Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts.

From iHeartPodcasts, Ruthie’s Table 4 returns for a new season with renowned chef and restaurateur Ruth Rogers, the owner of The River Cafe in London. The all-new season will feature prominent guests including Will Ferrell, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Ritchie, Fisher Stevens, J.J. Martin and others.