This Week in the Business of Podcasting

This is a very special episode of The Download Recap, folks. If only because I’m writing this particular missive from a crowded seating area in Heathrow Airport. Podcast news sleeps for nobody, so let’s take a look at this week!

Connecting With Podcasting in London

This week the annual Podcast Show London took place in London. Hundreds of podcasting professionals descended on Islington to network and come together as an industry.

To get the pulse on how representatives from various companies throughout the industry are feeling, Bryan Barletta took to the show floor with a camera to shoot new installments of the Connecting With micro-interview series.

In general, interviewees settle on common themes when answering the question “why podcasting?” Lauding its strengths for audience connection, communication, and scalability. A quote from Magellan AI cofounder Cameron Hendrix: 

”I think its become an essential part of a media mix. We see advertiser after advertiser who started with Facebook, then they exhausted Facebook. Or they’ve been in TV but they’re looking to diversify away from existing channels. Podcast is still a relatively small media, $2 billion and change in the U.S. last year, but there’s a huge opportunity for advertisers to come into those markets. 

All Podcast Show London episodes of Connecting With, as well as those filmed recently at the IABPodcast Upfront, can be found in this playlist.

Simplecast Launches Professional Tier With AdsWizz Integration

This Tuesday on Sounds Profitable: Back in 2020 SiriusXM Media acquired Simplecast, an investment in the company’s prioritization of podcasting. The move integrated their existing audio programmatic platform AdsWizz with Simplecast’s creator-lead podcast hosting platform. After the setbacks of early pandemic and the inherent complexity of integrating two sizable pieces of technology, the two are now brought closer together with Simplecast’s Professional tier. A quote from Bryan Barletta:

The new offering includes deeper integrations between the two companies, allowing users to have more granular control of more advanced programmatic capabilities

“Today, Simplecast announced their Professional tier, a deeper integration between Simplecast and AdsWizz, placing the control of more advanced programmatic capabilities into the hands of podcasters and publishers who even two years ago would have found it difficult to directly take action on those capabilities to grow their revenue opportunities.”

To get more info on the new tier, Barletta interviewed AdsWizz SVP, Global Enterprise Business Anne Frisbie and Grace Kane, Director of Business Development. Frisbie notes the new tier also comes with the Simplecast platform officially becoming parts of AdsWizz, giving it capabilities from creation to monetization.

Further Looks Into the Habits of Business Podcast Audiences

Business is on the brain in podcast research. Last week Podchaser published a study using Podchaser Pro data to look at the makeup and preferences of executives who listen to podcasts. The report is inspired by a Signal Hill Insights report back in March analyzing the preferences of surveyed business executives who listened to podcasts.

Key findings in Podchaser’s data include 84% of podcasts popular with execs skew male, 78.2% of podcasts popular with execs regularly feature guests, and 91% of all executive-enjoyed shows are marked Clean.

Then this Tuesday Signal Hill Insights’ Jeff Vidler published an article expanding on the original March piece, expanding the scope from just executives to listeners of business podcasts in general. 

The new research is built from 1,245 Triton Digital Podcast Metrics Demos+ respondents Signal Hill Insights surveyed last year who had listened to a business podcast in the past week. Findings include a more diverse audience than the pool of executives, though - like the executive findings back in March - Business podcast listeners largely value podcasts as educational tools over entertainment as top reasons for listening.

 Kid's Podcast to 360-Degree IP

This Wednesday from Barbara Smith at License Global: The Licensing Expo conference took place early this week, with day two featuring a keynote on licensing in the world of podcasting.

The keynote featured Wow in the World host Guy Raz and Wondery Chief Brand Officer Nicole Blake, moderated by Licensing International U.K. managing director Steve Manners. The panel comes just a day after the announcement that Wow in the World and Wondery have expanded their consumer products program. With the expansion, screen-free audio company tonies and toy + games maker Goliath onboard for licensing the Wow in the World IP, along with existing relationships with STEM toy maker Thames & Kosmos.

With the expansion, the goal is to make WitW one of, if not the first 360-degree IP originally spawned by a podcast.

Quick Hits

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

• 2024 Podcast Trends Tour. Spotify breaks down trends in podcast advertising.

• Ad Labelling in Podcasts Research Report. U.K. advertising regulatory body ASA has done research into how audiences perceive podcast advertising language, and have published new guidelines for podcast hosts to follow when doing ad reads.

• Top podcast advertisers: April 2024. The new Magellan AI recap includes movers and shakers like retail chain Target, who upped their ad spend from $2,000 the month prior to $341,000.

• ‘Peppa Pig’ Audible Podcast Unveils Launch Date & Name by Max Goldbart. The podcast marks the first production from a previously announced partnership between Audible and Hasbro.