This Week in the Business of Podcasting

I couldn’t quite package dry ice fog or eerie theremin music in a newsletter so just pretend I decorated the place to be extra Halloween-y for this particular Friday the 13th. Luckily, I bring nothing particularly horrifying in the world of podcast news.

Joint Statement on the Continued Integrity of the Download Metric

This Thursday, Bryan Barletta published a joint statement on the continued integrity of the download metric, supported by the collaboration of Apple and over sixty partner companies. Several months ago members of the podcasting industry recognized a chance to increase the credibility of the download as a metric and took their suggestion to Apple. Combined with Apple’s own internal research, the resulting changes to how Apple implements auto-downloading went live in the iOS17 launch on September 18th.

Podcast publishers might notice variations in Apple download statistics, especially with older episodes. Factors like catalog size, listener habits, listenership on Apple Podcasts, and iOS17 adoption rate will influence the rate and extent of the change. A quote from National Public Media COO Bryan Moffett:

“The challenge has been striking a balance between user convenience and potential unused downloads for advertisers. The download remains the primary reliable metric. Our industry has tirelessly refined its definition, and Apple’s recent adjustment is a step forward.”

The next step forward is educating advertisers on the change and any strategy adaptations that might require.

How Spreaker Detects Outliers

This week the Spreaker blog cracks open their fraud-detection process to explain their methodology for detecting outliers. From explaining what an outlier is, up through the specific algorithm chosen to catch deviations from the expected norm. From the blog:

“At this point, it is worth noting that not all outliers are a sign of something going wrong. It is true that detecting them is very useful when trying to identify fraudsters (more on our fraudster detection system here) but outliers can also be generated by, for instance, a big ad campaign that starts to run on our platform, or a very popular show that migrates to Spreaker. Detecting outliers is also very helpful to catch bugs and misconfigurations and to monitor industry-wide changes.”

In addition to their chosen seasonal trend algorithm doing a fair bit of the work, there is also a human element built into the process to ensure the automation is double-checked regularly. The algorithm feeds its findings into a QuickSight dashboard that is checked daily so a team can validate what the algorithm has deemed an outlier on a daily basis.

The Latino Podcast Listener Report 2023

Last Thursday from Edison Research: the 2023 Latino Podcast Listener Report. The new report uses data from 2,637 online interviews with U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults 18 and up, conducted in August of 2023.

Among other key findings: Monthly podcast listenership with the US Latino population has increased 52% since 2020, almost four times faster than the general US population. A quote from Gabriel Soto, Senior Director of Research:

“Investing in Latino podcasts is about more than diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is also a smart business decision. There are more Latino podcast listeners than ever, and they are interested in purchasing products from podcast advertisers, paying to subscribe to podcasts, and even buying merchandise from podcasts.”

49% of respondents have purchased a product or service as a result of hearing it advertised on a podcast. 50% say their opinion of a company is more positive when they hear it mentioned on a podcast they regularly listen to. 53% of Latino respondents who consume Spanish-language podcasts say they find the ads on those shows more relatable.

Breaking down Canada’s new podcast platform registration form.

This week from Hot Pod: The regulatory body that oversees radio, TV, and online streaming in Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, announced a new rule last week that impacts podcasting.

Any online streaming service that operates in Canada, offers ‘broadcasting content’ and earns $10 million in annual revenue will need to complete a registration form with the CRTC by November. The CRTC maintains this registration process is purely for platforms and individual podcasts will not need to register.

For those outside of Canada, it should be noted that traditional forms of broadcasting in Canada have to meet CRTC quota requirements that state a certain percentage of content aired must be Canadian-made content (or CanCon). It’s likely this move to register the big names in podcast distribution is the first step towards CRTC requiring podcast distribution in Canada to platform a certain percentage of CanCon podcasts, bringing podcasting more in line with Canadian broadcast TV and radio.

Industry Insights with Magellan AI

Podcast ad spending in the US picked up in Q2 2023, increasing 24% Q/Q and putting the market on track to grow about 33% in 2023. Average ad loads increased from 5.55% in Q1 to 5.97% in Q2 and 2,465 new brands advertised on podcasts for the first time in Q2.

Looking to get a handle on podcast advertising metrics? Book a demo with the Magellan AI team.

Quick Hits

While they may not be top story material, the articles below from this week are definitely worth your time:

• IAB Podcasting Buyer-Seller Checklist. The checklist is a living document and is open to feedback from anyone in the industry, regardless of IAB membership status.

• Nearly Half of Data Use for Ad Targeting is Wrong by Jack Neff. A reminder to those in the podcast space to work with partners that are meticulous in both their accuracy and purging what they find to be inaccurate.

• TV and film producers prepare for potential post-strike production logjam by Tim Peterson. A predicament that could lead to more new productions being piloted as podcasts while they wait for the post-strike traffic jam to clear.

• Advertisers will spend $84 billion on ad fraud this year: report by Ryan Barwick. Problems like this exist in all mediums, but podcasting has an opportunity to collectively prioritize high-quality, vetted advertising inventory.

• Podchaser Brings Radio’s Relied-On Airchecks feature into 21st Century for Podcast Advertisers. Airchecks, adapted from the radio measurement standard, allow for podcast planning and campaign management in Podchaser.

• Audio Ad Data Breakthrough: Sonnant & Podder Merge Content Signals + Audience Demographics. The two companies have partnered to combine Sonnant’s content data with Podder’s demographic analytics.