Month: May 2021

Evergreen Podcasts Wins 4 Communicator Awards

~ jen

Evergreen Podcasts is thrilled to announce that it recently won four Communicator Awards. This year will be the 27th annual celebration of the Communicator Awards, which honor excellence in strategic, effective, and meaningful communication across digital, video, podcasts, marketing, mobile and print. Three Evergreen podcasts took home four awards including:

Awards of Excellence: Individual Episode Business: Chad & Cheese – “Career builder Smoke Screen”

Awards of Excellence: Branded Series: Banking Transformed

Awards of Distinction: Individual Episode: Banking Transformed – “Banking Cannot Ignore the Gen Z Potential”.

Awards of Distinction: Individual Episode: Five Minute News – “Catastrophe in Yemen.”

“All of us at Evergreen are popping champaign corks today,” noted David Allen Moss, Chief Creative Officer of Evergreen Podcasts. “The entire team has invested so much more time and energy in creating some of the best shows in the podcast industry. A great acknowledgement that we are doing podcasting right.”

The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA), an invitation-only group consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. AIVA members include executives from organizations like Amazon, Big Spaceship, Chelsea Pictures, Conde Nast, Critical Mass, Disney, ESPN, GE Digital, IBM, The Nation of Artists, Next-door, Spotify, Time Inc., The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones and Wired. To learn more about the AIVA, please visit their website.

Catalina and iHeartMedia Partner to Measure Impact of Ads on Offline Sales

~ jen

Catalina, a leader in shopper intelligence and omni-channel media solutions that personalize the shopper journey, has formed a groundbreaking partnership with leading audio company iHeartMedia, to measure and attribute the impact of podcast advertising on offline sales in physical stores, which continue to represent the majority of CPG purchases.

To date, podcast measurement capabilities have helped advertisers understand the impact on an ad campaign on brand lift metrics like purchase intent or message recall, as well as attribution of digital user activity such as website visits from those listeners exposed to that campaign. Now, CPG partners will also gain visibility into the true offline sales impact of their marketing dollars within podcasting.

In addition, as part of this data partnership, Catalina will provide iHeartMedia with audiences and measurement services within iHeartMedia’s SmartAudio platform, for CPG ad campaigns that air on the latter’s linear and streaming radio programming.

“Podcast listening continues to skyrocket, with more than 115 million people in the U.S. anticipated to listen to podcasts this year – and podcast advertising expected to double over the next five years,” said Brian Dunphy, SVP of Catalina’s Strategic Partnerships and Channel Sales. “As the medium continues to rapidly grow, Catalina’s multi-path identity resolution capabilities combined with iHeartMedia’s unique Multiplatform audiences at scale enable us to match deterministic shopper households across a variety of identity paths helping advertisers measure the effectiveness and success of their podcast campaigns.”

To accomplish this, data & analytic teams at Catalina and iHeartMedia have worked together over the past year to test the feasibility of applying Catalina audiences and measurement capabilities to enhance the effectiveness of CPG ads running on iHeartMedia’s Multiplatform audio properties. The teams have since successfully completed pilot tests for measurement and audience targets across a range of iHeart’s audio properties, including podcasts.

“We have been impressed with Catalina’s ability to deliver highly-scaled, extensive data and insights for CPG advertisers, enabling them to measure the effectiveness of their brand messaging on in-store sales,” said David Shiffman, EVP of National Research at iHeartMedia. “We continue to focus on cross-platform measurement and attribution capabilities for advertisers and now in partnership with Catalina we can provide CPG advertisers tools to maximize their podcast campaigns’ ROI, with measurement and attribution solutions to more effectively plan and execute their multi-platform audio campaigns.”

Catalina’s Dunphy added, “As consumer-directed media consumption grows, it is critical for marketers to have a partner to help them effectively measure across channels. Thanks to our new partnership with iHeartmedia, we are excited to be unlocking and adding radio, streaming audio and podcasts to Catalina’s now comprehensive omni-channel platform capabilities that also includes TV, Out of Home, Digital Advertising, and In-Store campaigns. We have the capacity to reach shoppers with personalized messages at every step of the consumer journey, measure their impact, and even make adjustments in real time to drive sales.”

Headspace Studios to Launch New Podcast Channel and Sleep Subscription

~ jen

Headspace Studios, the multi-platform content studio from Headspace, announced the launch of a new Headspace Channel on Apple Podcasts. Access to the channel is set to be free for Apple subscribers, with an additional $3.99 a month Sleep Subscription available as an add-on featuring 10 meditations exclusive to Apple Podcasts, as well as sleep music, wind downs, and ‘Sleepcasts,’ audio content designed specifically to create the right conditions for healthy, restful sleep.

“We’re excited to be collaborating with Apple, as they launch a game-changing platform that puts both creators and listeners first,” said Leah Sutherland, Podcast Director at Headspace Studios. “With so many of our listeners engaging with mindfulness content, such as sleep, we’re looking forward to offering them a dedicated space for this through the Headspace Channel.”

Through the Headspace Channel, listeners will be able to enjoy other Headspace fan favorites for free, including:

Radio Headspace – currently in its new season, the podcast is hosted by Headspace’s Director of Meditation and mindfulness teacher, Eve Lewis Prieto. Past seasons feature Headspace co-founder Andy Puddincombe which are also available for listening.

The Gift of Forgiveness – hosted by Katherine Schwazenegger Pratt and inspired by her book, “The Gift of Forgiveness,” each episode dives into true stories of forgiveness – straight from the people who’ve lived through them.

The Yes Theory Podcast – the series explores how stepping out of your comfort zone may be the key to happiness, and featuring the creators of the popular YouTube channel, “Yes Theory”.

For more information on Headspace Channel with Apple Podcasts and details on the Sleep Subscription, please visit HERE.

US Podcast Ad Revenues Grew 19% in 2020

~ jen

According to IAB’s U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study, prepared by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and released at the IAB 2021 Podcast Upfront, podcast advertising will grow as much in the next two years as it did in the past decade.

Driven by a particularly strong fourth quarter (+37% YoY), podcast advertising revenues climbed to $842 million in 2020, up from $708 million in the year prior.

“Podcasting will grow in the next two years by leaps and bounds,” said Eric John, Vice President, IAB Media Center. “Podcast listeners have shown that – even when working from home – podcasts are a preferred medium. Advertisers are benefiting from new technologies developed to serve these marketplaces, to make podcast advertising more dynamic and measurable than ever before.”

Podcast publishers were well-positioned for the quick pivot, with the leading audio platforms steadily investing in new content and buyer-friendly ad tech. In particular messaging agility, enabled by dynamic ad insertion, made podcasting especially attractive in an unpredictable year. Marketers valued the ability to quickly switch out messaging as-needed: dynamically-inserted ads, which enable ad placement at the point of listener download, increased share of revenue from 48% to 67% year over year. Announcer-read / pre-produced ads, which also put more control in buyers’ hands, increased share from 27% to 35%. Host-read continues to represent over half of the revenue by ad type, which illustrates buyers’ desire to tap the direct, influential relationship creators have with their listeners.

Perhaps the most important shift is that brand advertising (45% of 2020 revenue) is approaching parity with direct response (51% of 2020 revenue). Bigger brands are discovering that podcast advertising can work across the sales funnel.

Additional highlights:

  • At 76%, mid-roll spot placements continued to account for three-fourths (76%) of revenues.
  • Half of podcast ads lasted longer than 30 seconds in length. Seller Perspective: Longer ads allow for creative storytelling.
  • News continued to be the top content genre for podcast advertisers (22% market share.) Seller Perspective: Advertisers should be leaning-in to News.
  • Direct-To-Consumer brands maintained the top advertiser category market share (19%), while Pharmaceuticals more than doubled in share YoY (9%). Seller Perspective: Bigger brands are buying in.

“The big takeaway from consumer behavior pre, during, and post pandemic is that podcasting has tremendous growth ahead. Consumers love listening and will integrate it into they live whenever it fits. Advertisers love the flexibility to adjust their messaging on the fly. And most importantly, brands are continuing to shift to podcasting simply because it works: when they run an ad, the cash register rings,” said John.

For the IAB Full-Year 2020 U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Report, click HERE.

CBC Podcasts and the BBC World Service Launch Open Call

~ jen

CBC Podcasts and the BBC World Service – two of the world’s leading podcast commissioners and creators – launched a new podcast commissioning opportunity. Together, the organizations are seeking proposals from audio producers for a factual narrative podcast, unique in story and treatment, told over 8-10 episodes, which will be presented as a major joint series in 2022.

Pitches are accepted from 24 May 2021 to 24 June 2021. Results will be announced at the end of September 2021. You can find full details and submission portals on the BBC site and the CBC site.

“We’ve been working informally with the BBC World Service over a number of years and are excited about this formal collaboration,” says Arif Noorani, Executive Producer of CBC Podcasts. “Together, we have a deep commitment to rich narrative storytelling and creating a series that is world class for global audiences. The audio making community has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years and we look forward to tapping into some more of that energy and talent.”

“We’re looking for an outstanding, ‘unputdownable’ story for audiences around the world,” says Jon Manel, Podcast Commissioning Editor at the BBC World Service. “I am a huge fan of CBC Podcasts and what they have been achieving and we are delighted to be working with them on this exciting project. We hope whatever podcast comes out of this, it will have global appeal, attracting new listeners to podcasting, as well as appealing to existing audiences.”

Work-From-Home Leads to Enormous Shift in US Audio Consumption

~ jen

As a significant share of American workers shifted to at-home employment in 2020, naturally their audio consumption patterns were deeply affected as well. Data from Edison Research’s Share of Ear survey allows its clients to quantify those shifts and also predict how things might shift again if and when people go back to commuting to offices and other work locations.

In addition to previous data releases that showed a massive shift in the total share of all audio consumed at home, the latest Share of Ear release shows a clear difference in listening between those working primarily at home vs. those not working from home.

In addition to previous data releases that showed a massive shift in the total share of all audio consumed at home, the latest Share of Ear release shows a clear difference in listening between those working primarily at home vs. those not working from home.

Among employed persons who work from home, nearly three-quarters of their total audio consumption (72%) happens at home. Meanwhile, among those who work away from their homes, only 29% of their listening happens at home.

Share of Ear subscribers recently received an extensive report detailing all the ways audio has changed in the last year under so many COVID-related disruptions. Included are details on the work-from-home cohort, as well as many insights into how the pandemic changed audio over the last year.

Share of Ear has tracked the growth of audio consumption since 2014 and has always tracked listening location as part of that dataset. The study has now added a measure of those U.S. adults who are employed and work primarily from home, and those who are employed and do not work primarily from home, leading to new insights.

“We knew from Share of Ear data in 2020 that a tremendous amount of listening had shifted to home as a result of quarantine restrictions. While almost everyone was spending at least some increased time at home during the pandemic, it is those who shifted their work to their homes who drove the biggest changes,” said Director of Research Laura Ivey. “We also saw audio consumption rise on computers and other devices such as internet-connected televisions, so we can see that at-home workers are using various audio devices at home.”

As quarantine restrictions continue to evolve and the American workforce continues to adapt to workplace changes, Share of Ear will continue to track these findings.

Sounder Acquires Podnods

~ jen

Sounder announced the acquisition of Podnods, a leading podcasting discovery and analytics technology. Podnods’ AI-driven technology will be incorporated into the Sounder platform, bringing state-of-the-art technology to creators and listeners worldwide. As part of this acquisition, Podnods Co-founder and CEO Mercan Topkara will become Sounder’s new CTO, leading the company’s new research and development hub in New York City.

“Sounder and Podnods started with the same mission: to help creators be heard. Audio has been deprived of true technological innovation for quite some time and by bringing our two companies together, we aim to deliver the next generation of audio technology, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, to fuel growth for creators everywhere,” said Kal Amin, Co-founder and CEO of Sounder. “We are thrilled to have Mercan join as our CTO, help us accelerate our operating plan, and lead our next phase of engineering innovation.”

Podnods has leveraged its propriety natural language processing (NLP) technology to process and index over 1.7 million of the world’s 2 million podcasts (and their episodes), generating an audio data graph of more than 3 billion data signals. By incorporating Podnods’ cross-podcast analytics with Sounder’s in-episode keyword-based analytical capabilities, Sounder will be able to create new taxonomies and personalize discovery and recommendations at an unprecedented scale.

In her new role at CTO, Ms. Topkara will lead Sounder’s global engineering department, and spearhead the growth of the company’s newly established research and development center in New York. Prior to cofounding Podnods, Ms. Topkara was VP of Data Products at Luminary media, as well as a Research Engineer at JW Player and a Research Scientist at IBM. She received her Ph.D in Computer Science from Perdue University. Sounder Co-founder and current CTO Goran Krgovic will assume the role of Chief Architect, reporting to Ms. Topkara.

“I’ve been a fan of Sounder from the beginning. Podnods solved discovery for podcast listeners, and Sounder did it for podcast creators — you need both to change the industry,” Ms. Topkara said. “Our complementary approaches to processing and indexing audio content will position us to improve both discovery and engagement dramatically.”

Bloomberg Media and iHeartMedia Team Up to Launch Original Podcasts

~ jen

Bloomberg Media and iHeartMedia announced an exclusive multiyear agreement to co-produce and distribute more than a dozen new original podcasts, and will also include the distribution of Bloomberg Media’s existing state of over 20 podcasts through the iHeartPodcast Network.

The new agreement will build on the success of Bloomberg Media’s lineup of business-related podcasts, including the incredibly popular Masters in Business, Odd Lots, Foundering, and The Pay Check, among others. The first four new co-produced iHeartRadio Original podcasts will take a broad view on business topics covering subject areas like financial crime or the cost of climate or the future of an industry. The new podcasts will be rolling out this year and will be available on the iHeartRadio App and everywhere podcasts are heard.

“Bloomberg Media continues to be one of the first, most-trusted destinations for high-quality content – from market news to business trends, to deeper financial backstories on what’s moving the economy overall,” said Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. “We are excited to partner with Bloomberg, not only to grow the audience of their existing slate of great shows, but to develop a whole new list of titles across the next several years, combining their editorial expertise with our mass reach and monetization.”

“We continue to see growth with our chart-topping, award-winning podcasts, as we had 26% increase in podcast downloads in 2020,” said Scott Havens, Chief of Growth Officer and Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, Bloomberg Media. “Bloomberg Media delivers the global perspective and deep insight business-minded listeners crave, and new platforms such as the iHeartMedia network extends our reach with new audiences who are seeking quality, premium content.”

Bloomberg’s podcasts offer unparalleled insights and analysis into the financial and business worlds through a mixture of timely reporting and narrative style programs. Drawing on the journalistic strength of its global newsroom of over 2,700 journalists, Bloomberg Media’s podcasts deliver quality audio content that cover an extensive range of topics across business, finance, economics, technology, healthcare, and more.

British Podcast Awards Announces 2021 Nominations

~ jen

British Podcast Awards celebrates great British podcasts. They have released a Nominations list for 2021. The nominated podcasts were chosen by over 100 independent judges. British Podcast Awards 2021 is powered by Amazon Music.

The winners of the 2021 British Podcast Awards will be announced on July 10, 2021, at 2pm, with hosts Poppy Jay (Brown Girls Do It Too), Jordan North, and William Hanson (Help I Sexted My Boss).

Some of the categories include:

Best Arts & Culture Podcast – Supported by Create Podcasts

Happy Place
Real Dictators
Shade Podcast
The Empire Film Podcast
The Secret Life of Songs
Transmissions: The Definitive Story of Joy Division and New Order

Best Interview – Supported by Pod Bible

Dead Honest
Future Prison
Masala Podcast
The Student Sessions
Today in Focus
Ways to Change the World

Best Branded Podcast – Supported by Acast Creative

Gardening with the RHS
Grilling
Military Wives: The Official Film Podcast
Table Manners with Jessie Ware
The Crown Podcast
The Midpoint

Best Business Podcast – Supported by Wondery

Doing It For The Kids
How To Own the Room
Money Maze Podcast
The Diary of a CEO
The Voiceover Social
We Built This City: Greater Manchester

Best Comedy Podcast – Supported by Stitcher

Beef and Dairy Network
Dear Joan and Jericha
Hidden Ireland
Kurupt FM
Poppy Hillstead Has Entered the Chat
SeanceCast

Best Current Affairs Podcast

Interconnected Voices
Stories Of Our Times
The Intelligence
The Oxfordshire News Podcast
Today in Focus
Your Broccoli Weekly

Best Daily Podcast – Supported by Spotify

Anthems
Stories of Our Times
The Intelligence
The Santa Daily
Today in Focus
Wake Up, Wind Down

Best Family Podcast

Bottle Ship Adventures
Fun Kids Science Weekly
History Story Time
Homeschool History
Maddie’s Sound Explorers
World Wise Web

Best Fiction

Cassie and Corey
DEM TIMES
Lem N Ginge: The Princess of Kakos
Once Upon A Time in Zombieville
The Harrowing
This Thing of Darkness

Visit the British Podcast Awards website to see the full list of categories and podcasts.

Sony Music Entertainment Unveiled 2021 Show Slate

~ jen

Sony Music Entertainment (SME) unveiled a robust slate of new original podcast titles and announced the official return of several high-profile series from some of its leading global creative partners during the 2021 IAB Podcast Upfront.

The company, whose podcast monthly downloads monthly downloads have grown more than 200% year over year (in April 2021), showcased several of its chart-topping podcasts from the past year, many of which will return for new seasons starting this summer. SME also previewed a range of upcoming projects from its creative partners around the world while highlighting core genres including kids and family, emerging audiences, true crime, and entertainment superfans.

In the presentation, SME previewed several upcoming true crime series from veteran investigative journalists, including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Carreyrou, who will debut Bad Blood: The Final Chapter, a podcast with Three Uncanny Four following the upcoming trial of Teranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and Trevor Aaronson and Vanessa Grigoriadis of Campside Media, who will debut Chameleon: High Rollers, the second season of hit podcast series Chameleon, in June.

The company also previewed season two returns of chart-topping series Smoke Screen and Power, which will return with new seasons soon. Other new shows from SME’s creative partners around the world will debut in coming months across a range of genres, including politics, culture, history, entertainment and more.

Highlights from the presentation included appearances from sixteen-time GRAMMY-winning artist, songwriter and producer Kirk Franklin who announced the return of Good Words with Kirk Franklin. Model, activist and entrepreneur Leomie Anderson also previewed her new podcast Role Model, and Emmy Award winning and Academy Award nominated storyteller, filmmaker and podcaster Marc Smerling discussed his upcoming project Firebug, and the power of true crime storytelling. Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas also shared details about their media company Tinkercast, noting the kids and family genre as one of the fastest-growing podcasting sectors.