Month: March 2022

Spotify’s Podcast Platform Megaphone Welcomes Two Leading French Publishers

~ jen

Spotify’s Megaphone, one of the world’s leading podcast publishing and advertising platforms for enterprise publishers, continues its expansion in France by welcoming Bababam and Choses à Savoir, two of the leading French publishers. This comes as the podcast market in France is booming:

According to podcast analytics firm Chartable, podcast downloads in France grew 76% between 2020 and 2021.

This growth has continued in 2022 with unique podcast downloads increasing 46% YoY in February 2022 vs February 2021.

What’s more, per a May 2021, IAB Europe report, ad spend on podcasts across Europe is expected to grow by more than 50% to over €200 million 2023.

It is in this context that publishers Bababam and Choses à Savoir have chosen Spotify’s Megaphone to provide a single service for all their podcasting needs, from creation to monetization to analysis. As part of joining Megaphone, these two publishers will be the early testers of the Spotify Audience Network in France. This means that Spotify will be unlocking more advertiser demand for Bababam and Choses à Savoir, driving increased monetization for their businesses while helping advertisers target more French podcast listeners. The Spotify Audience Network will be available to all French advertisers later this year.

“We are delighted that two of France’s leading publishers, Babamam and Choses à Savoir, have chosen Megaphone by Spotify as their podcast platform of choice. Megaphone formally launched in France just a few months ago and we’re pleased with the momentum the platform has seen in this important market. We’re ready to serve more enterprise podcast publishers across Europe with our robust, differentiated offering and help them to grow their business,” said Emma Vaughn, Global Head of Advertising Business Development & Partnership at Spotify.

“Bababam was created with the conviction that it was necessary to democratize the podcast. We do everything possible to offer ambitious and popular productions to the general public. This partnership with Spotify’s Megaphone was therefore logical given its weight in the market and its position as a rallying point for the ecosystem. Bababam Originals recently produced Noises, voted best native podcast of 2020 at the Salon de la radio, and Silencio, a critically acclaimed series starring Zita Hanrot and Alban Lenoir, among others,” explains Pierre Orlac’h, founder of Bababam.

“At Choses à Savoir, the most listened to native podcast network in France, we are happy to join Megaphone, whose service meets all our needs in terms of creation, analysis and monetization. This collaboration will allow us to accompany our development, the rapid growth of our audience on the 20 Choses à Savoir podcasts, and to ensure our mission: sharing knowledge with the greatest number of people.” Louis-Guillaume Kan-Lancas, founder of Choses à Savoir.

Podcast Advertising Commands the Highest Levels of Attention Across Media Formats

~ jen

A new study commissioned by the Guardian found podcast advertising raises positive perceptions of brands and encourages listeners to take buying action.

The nationwide study, undertaken on behalf of the Guardian by independent research company Tapestry, looked at the effectiveness of podcast advertising and found that podcast advertising commands the highest levels of attention of any media channel. The study found 65% of listeners paid attention to podcast adverts – more than adverts on TV at 39% and adverts on the radio at 38%.

These high levels of attention translate into greater likelihood to buy the product or service being advertised. For example, 51% of weekly users of each channel said podcast adverts made them want to buy something from the brand versus 38% for radio.

Listeners turn to the Guardian for informative, memorable podcast experiences

Guardian branded podcasts are particularly impactful, improving listeners’ opinions of brands. When comparing the same adverts being played on the Guardian and other unbranded podcasts people are more likely to say the ad was “informative”, “memorable,” and “appealing”.

Positive and trusting perceptions of the Guardian are also rubbing off on listeners of these podcasts, 51% of respondents surveyed said hearing about a brand on a Guardian podcast improved their opinion about a brand and made them want to find out more about a brand.

The research findings are in line with results seen by brands advertising with the Guardian including the retailer Ocado. Ocado, who are the sponsors for the hit podcast show Comfort Eating, after advertising with the Guardian saw an uplift in new customers, with 25% saying they’d listened to the podcast. They also saw a 62% increase in positive customer brand perception and 89% new unique visitors to their website.

Podcasts have a multiplier effect on other advertising formats

On its own, podcast advertising has clear benefits – they are strong at telling consumers something new about a brand, raising perceptions and ultimately, driving purchase.

Interestingly, in combination with other media, the overall effectiveness of an advertising campaign is maximized by adding podcasts into the mix. For example, those saying “it tells me something new about the brand” increases by 34% when podcasts are added alongside a radio campaign.

They also help dial-up the ‘brand’ part of branded content – 47% of those exposed to branded content said “it improves my opinion of the brand.” Add podcast adverts to the mix and the same metric jumps to 64%.

Combined with the visual cues of digital display, podcast make campaigns more memorable and trustworthy. Trust level increases from 45% to 63% when podcast are added into the media mix.

Podcasts have grown in popularity and are reaching a younger, more diverse audience

Podcasts are now reaching younger and more diverse audiences, many of whom are parents – 26% of weekly podcast listeners are now coming from non-white backgrounds and the average listener age is younger at 37, compared to 40 in previous Guardian research in 2020.

Podcasts have shown the most growth of any media, helping them to become more mainstream – 41% of podcast listeners are listening to podcast more than they were 12 months ago, increasing to 53% for the Guardian audience.

Liberated Syndication Announces $4.75 Million of New Equity Financing

~ jen

Liberated Syndication (“Libsyn” or the “Company), the industry’s leading podcast hosting platform and advertising marketplace, announced that it has raised gross proceeds of $4.75 million in a private placement led by Carmac Partners, LLC, along with other existing shareholders and several new investors. Libsyn sold 1.27 million shares of its common stock at a price of $3.75 per share.

“This new equity financing comes at such an exciting time in the history of Libsyn. With the acquisitions of AdvertiseCast in June 2021 and PAR in February 2022, Libsyn is now one of the largest independent and fastest-growing advertising marketplaces in the podcast sector,” said Brad Tirpak, Libsyn’s CEO. “The PAR transaction will allow us to scale our AdvertiseCast platform even faster than we initially projected by adding experienced team members to our organization, increasing our inventory, and expanding our reach to new advertisers. The additional capital gives us greater flexibility across our businesses as we seek to become the preferred destination for both creators and advertisers.”

The company also announced that AdvertiseCast revenue exceeded $18 million in calendar year 2021, which triggers an earnout to the AdvertiseCast members under the purchase agreement, subject to final review. Libsyn acquired AdvertiseCast on June 4, 2021. AdvertiseCast reported $12 million in revenue in calendar year 2020.

Following the PAR acquisition and the financing transaction announced, Libsyn has a cash balance of approximately $13 million and 27.86 million shares issued and outstanding.

Lemonada Media Expands Production Team

~ jen

Lemonada Media, the podcast network that makes life suck less, announced new additions to its production team, led by co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Stephanie Wittles Wachs. On the heels of securing $8M in funding, Lemonada has quickly been able to expand its in-house production team to keep up with its current slate of 21 original podcasts, which reaches millions of listeners per month and will grow to over 30 original podcasts in 2022.

In 2021, Lemonada tripled its revenue, added 10 new shows, designed and trademarked an audio reality series (BEING Studios), and co-created original shows like Written Off with Jay Ellis’ Black Bar Mitzvah and Believe Her with publishing house Speigel & Grau, which launched at the top of the podcast charts.

Joining the company is Steve Nelson, as Vice President of Content & Production overseeing Lemonada’s always-on slate. Most recently, Steve served as the Head of Talk at Religion of Sports and prior to that, Senior Director of Programming at NPR and Director of On-Demand Programming at APM.

Steve’s team will be bolstered by two additional new hires: Rachel Neel, most recently NPR’s Supervising Senior Producer, in an new role at Lemonada as Senior Director of New Content, leading the development, pre-production, and launch of Lemonada’s rapidly growing portfolio of originals on its always-on slate; as well as MPR Lead Producer Kyle Shiely, who ran both Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and will now serve as Senior Producer of In The Bubble with Andy Slavitt, Lemonada’s popular and calming series that will shift to three times per week as of May.

Steve will work alongside Jackie Danziger (Vice President of Content & Production for Lemonada’s narrative slate) and Kasey Barrett (head of BEING Studios) and their growing teams.

Wittles Wachs says, “We are thrilled to welcome these exceptionally talented leaders to our growing production team who help Lemonada continue to scale our original weekly podcast programming and expand our mission to make life suck less.”

Jessica Cordova Kramer, Lemonada’s co-founder and CEO added, “And that goes for our work culture as well. In addition to having a skilled and diverse team, we are committed to prioritizing the well-being of our staff with benefits like 7 weeks paid time off annually, including 2.5 weeks of company-wide time to prevent burnout and foster creativity; parental leave that is inclusive of all genders, foster and adoption; full benefits and stock options for all full-time, permanent staff to date; as well as flex hours and flex location with co-working opportunities.

Winners of the Spark Media Podcast Awards 2022

~ jen

The third annual Spark Media conference was a resounding success. Misty Philip, Founder of Spark Media partnered with the National Religious Broadcasters to provide excellent growth and collaboration opportunities for faith-based podcasters.

Opening Keynote, Lauren Green, Chief Religious Correspondent for Fox News kicked off the event. We heard from an exciting array of industry professionals including Rob Walch from Libsyn, Chris Krimitsos of Podfest Global, Rahny Taylor of Access More, and Ryan Dobson of Rebel Parenting. We concluded our event by honoring the work of faith-based podcasters.

Best Business Podcast: Erin Harrigan – The Hustle with H.E.A.R.T Podcast
From: Erin Harrigan
Hosted by: Blubrry

Best Interview Podcast: Russ Jones – Abide Radio: Be Well With Us
From: Abide Christian Meditation App
Hosted by: Spreaker

Best Kids & Family Podcast: Catherine J. Segars – Christian Parent, Crazy World
From: LifeAudio
Hosted by: Spreaker

Best Lifestyle Podcast: Alicia Michelle – The Vibrant Christian Living Podcast with Alecia Michelle
From: Alicia Michelle
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Best Society & Culture Podcast: Summer Shepherd – No Seriously, How Do I Do This?
From: Northwestern Media
Hosted by: StreamGuys

Best Podcast Graphic: Shea & Michelle Watson – The Pantry Podcast | Spiritual Nutrition for Christians Craving Christ
From: Shea Watson, Michelle Watson

Best Podcast Co-Hosted: Wendie Pete & Todd Isberner – Your Biggest Breakthrough
From: Wendie Pete and Todd Isberner
Hosted by: Captivate

Best Female Podcast: Emily P. Freeman – The Next Right Thing
From: with Emily P. Freeman
Hosted by: Libsyn

Best Male Host: Tony Miltenberger – Reclamation Podcast: Reclaiming Good Practices for Faith and Life
From: Tony Miltenberger
Hosted by: Podbean

Best Podcast Interviewer: Meridith Foster – The Unfolding
From: Meridith Foster
Hosted by: StreamGuys

Best Solo Podcast: Jodi Howe – The Air That I Breathe
From: Jodi Howe
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Most Binge-Worthy Podcast: Linda Goldfarb – Your Best Writing Life
From: Linda Goldfarb
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Favorite Podcast Host: Doris Swift – Fierce Calling
From: Doris Swift
Hosted by: Blubrry

Most Original Podcast Concept: Margie Bryce – The Crabby Pastor
From: Rev. Dr. Margie Bryce
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Best Podcast Producer: Gary Dell – God in the Ordinary (GITO)
From: Wiseword Radio & 61 Things
Hosted by: Anchor

FAN AWARDS

Best Male Podcast: Eric Nordhoff – Courage Cast – Build Your Belief
From: Eric Nordhoff
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Best Female Podcast: Ashley Opliger – Cradled in Hope
From: Ashley Opliger of Bridget’s Cradles
Hosted by: Transistor

Best Solo Podcast: Jodie Niznik – So Much More: Creating Space for God (Lectio Divina and Scripture Meditation)
From: Jodie Niznik
Hosted by: Libsyn

Best Co-Hosted Podcast: Rejoice Marriage Ministries – Charlyne Steinkamp & Lori Lassen – Fight For Your Marriage Podcast
From: Rejoice Marriage Ministries
Hosted by: Libsyn

Gow Media Partners with Bleav to Create the Bleav Hour

~ jen

Gow Media, with over 500 affiliate networks, and Bleav, the #1 content network for professionals, announce a partnership, creating the Bleav Hour. The Bleav Hour will be available across all affiliates, nationwide starting at 7 PM ET.

The Bleav Hour will showcase the best of Bleav’s 500 shows and 800 host, talking the nation’s hottest topics based on the current sports calendar. With over 150 professional athletes hosting for Bleav, the listeners will get a variety of athletes’ perspectives on their national stories, allowing fans incredible insight and access.

David Gow, CEO of Gow Media, elaborates, “We’re excited to work with Bleav to provide our affiliates an incredible amount of new and premium shows, personalities, athletes, and talent. Their list of content creators is exceptional, and we believe our fans will thoroughly enjoy it.”

Bron Heussenstamm, CEO of Bleav Podcast Network, continues, “Gow’s brand, business and distribution is exceptional. We’re thrilled to partner with them to further raise the voices of our talent!”

Hosts for Bleav span across the sports spectrum, including DeSean Jackson, PacMan Jones, Jason Campbell, Ryan Leaf, Lofa Tatupu, Bill Polian, Taylor Davis, Takeo Spikes, Issac Bruce, Charlie Ward, Marcus Lattimore, D’Eruq King, Eric Metcalf, Ahman Green, Ralph Sampson, Eric Snow, Robert Sacre, Kwame Brown, Kenny Anderson, Polina Edmunds, Shelden Williams, Rick Barry, Heath Bell, Ian Butler, Steve Lyons, Mark Sweeney, DeMarcus Beasley, Ogushi Onyewu, Jason Brown, Mike Catherwood, Erin McLeod, Tanner Tessman, Tracy Sandler, JT the Brick, EJ Hradek, Arash Markazi, Levon Kirkland, Matt McGloin, Carl Banks, Bob Papa, Solomon Wilcots, Shelvin Mack, and more.

For station affiliates, schedules, and additional info on Gow Media, please visit sportsmapradio.com for more on Bleav, please visit @BleavNetwork or www.Bleav.com

Gumball Raises $10 Million to Expand its Podcasting Host-Read Advertiser Platform

~ jen

Gumball, an advanced advertising technology solution from the team behind claimed podcast network Headgum, has announced it has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Union Square Ventures and Good Friends. Bringing total fundraising to $12 million, the round also includes investment from Craft Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners, Animal Capital, Calm Ventures, Gaingels, and Riverside Ventures.

While host-read advertising is the vehicle that built the ever-growing podcast medium, it is one of the few areas of digital marketing untouched by technology or delivered at scale. Brands and marketers currently negotiate and contact podcasters or networks individually, and independent podcasters must cede control to podcast networks to optimize revenues. Gumball is an innovative technology-led marketplace that streamlines and democratizes the process. With just a click, it allows marketers to connect with multiple podcasters to instantly identify and buy inventory and plan, manage and track executions at scale and in minutes rather than weeks.

The team behind the critically acclaimed and commercial successful Headgum Podcast Network created Gumball. Known for its stable of comedy podcasts, its executive team includes many key contributors that helped build CollegeHumor before its acquisition by IAC and the CTO of Vimeo before its IPO.

Gumball’s current inventory includes 100s of podcasts, including Headgum Original shows, podcasts within the Headgum Network, and hundreds of independent podcasters and content creators. While in development, Gumball worked with more than 500 brands and delivered more than 15,000 host-read ads.

“The host-read ad is the most valuable and powerful asset in podcasting, providing authentic, intimate, and endorsement-level messages natively within target content,” said Marty Michael, CEO. “Despite being equally loved by brands, listeners, and talent, the way campaigns are bought, planned, executed, and tracked is antiquated, gated, and largely unchanged since the dawn of podcasting. Gumball turbo-boosts the medium with a solution that provides the kind of scale and efficiency of programatic advertising. Today’s funding will allow us to further invest in the technology and attract independent talent wishing to take advantage of this impactful marketing discipline.”

Some of the biggest podcasting brands include Capser, CBS, Netflix, OkCupid, Squarespace, Warby Parker, Brooklinen, AMC, Linkedin, and StockX, to name a few successfully using Gumball. It is a powerful tool with benefits for both advertisers and content creators.

Gumball allows Advertisers to:

  • Browse and book available inventory in real-time with transparent pricing
  • Find audiences by demographic
  • Have automatic brand category exclusivity
  • Utilize automated ad copy, vanity URLs, and coupon code distribution
  • Easily verify ads have been aired and listen in one place
  • Scale across thousands of shows

Gumball allows Podcasters to:

  • Gain access to the biggest brands that align with their values
  • Better manage campaigns with intuitive dashboard tools, including ad scheduling, unified script and referral code access, and timely reminders to make sure ads air on schedule and air checks uploads
  • Get paid faster and on time with transparent payments with predictable timelines
  • Book more advertising spots, increase revenue, and focus on developing compelling content

Radiodays Europe 2022 Adds a Podcast Summit in Malmö

~ jen

Radiodays Europe 2022 is pleased to announce our new Podcast Summit in Partnership with Acast and supported by our sister organization Podcast Day 24. This year we have the full Sunday afternoon dedicated to Podcasting along with sessions running in the main programme.

The Podcast Summit is moderated by James Cridland, Editor, Podnews, a person for all podcast occasions! If you’re a podcaster you want to join this Summit!

Programme & Speakers

Developing a new show

Podcasts allow you to try something different: but what’s the best way to plan a new show? How do you get the format right, choose the right hosts, and get the most out of it? Speaking in this session Julie Shapiro (PRX, USA) & Lory Martinez (Studio Ochenta, France).

Making Podcasts Pay

What options are there to earn revenue from podcasting? Does all podcast ads need to sound like radio advertising; and how flexible can they be? The two headliners of this mega session are Rob Greenlee (Libsyn’s Advertise Cast, USA) & Daniella Murphy (Acast Creative Director, UK).

Designing your podcast to be a success

What is the best way to make a successful podcast? This session looks at the data of successful shows. What makes them successful and how can you emulate that success?

Bringing the research to this session Tom Webster (VP, Edison Research’s Podcast Consumer Survey, USA) & Rasmus Kidde (Audience Researcher, DR, DK)

What is next in podcasting?

What’s next for podcasting? Which content trends will become bigger? Is it still all about true crime? Will catch-up radio decline as more podcasters produce different-sounding content? Audio drama? Mental Health Podcast? Immersive audio? What does the heads of Podcasting plan for the year to come?

With more speakers to come but some awesome speakers in there right now Brian Barletta (Sounds Profitable, USA), Jessica Radburn (Head of International podcast content, Wondery, Germany), Craig Strachan (Head of Podcast Europe and ANZ, Amazon Music, UK)

To register for this Summit you must register for a full ticket for Radiodays Europe here. During registration you will then be able to ADD Podcast Summit as an event as part of your package. Price: 75 EUR + VAT.

The Podcast Summit is part of the wider programme of Radiodays Europe which includes more sessions focused on Podcasters and Podcasting. You can see the full program here.

Nation Broadcasting Acquires Strategic Stake in Podcast Radio

~ jen

Nation Broadcasting, the fast-growing radio and media group, has made a significant strategic investment in Podcast Radio, becoming the company’s lead investor in its latest fundraise.

The deal sees Nation taking a 10% interest in Podcast Radio, which launched two years ago and uses the trust people have in radio to help them sample and choose podcasts.

The station currently broadcasts on DAB+ in London, Surry, Manchester and Birmingham as well as via smart speakers, its own app and website.

In its current investment round – valuing the company at £2.9 million – Podcast Radio’s management are preparing to grow the station internationally and strengthen its on-air offering.

Nation Broadcasting is one of the UK’s fastest growing media companies with a portfolio of national, regional and local commercial radio stations, digital marketing services and investments in DAB transmission across the UK and Channel Islands. The group has a combined weekly audience of nearly 5 million listening hours according to RAJAR.

Jason Bryant, Founder and Executive Chairman of Nation Broadcasting, said: “We’ve been impressed by the growth of Podcast Radio and see the huge potential of their expansion plans into North America and Australia.

“We see significant value growth in the company as it adds bespoke brand extensions and further streams in areas such as sports, business and health.”

Gerry Edwards, Founder and CEO of Podcast Radio, said: “We warmly welcome Nation Broadcasting as a strategic partner in our business. We believe they can add true value to what we already do and will help us grow and expand internationally.”

Podcast Radio director Paul Chantler added: “We have some bold and exciting new ideas for the way podcast content is presented radio which we want to implement later this year. Jason and his team at Nation will help us do this.”

Podcast Radio is monetized by selling traditional on-air advertising and sponsorship; inserting commercials into its online audio stream; partnering with international content makers; and making original podcasts and bespoke audio content.

The company raised initial capital from angel investors and an equity fundraising campaign last year. Other investors include US production company Evergreen, entrepreneur Simon Squibb and former BBC Radio 1 DJ and businessman Bruno Brookes.

The latest fundraising round has a target of £500,000 and, in addition to the Nation investment, other private individuals have already committed a further £100,000 into the company.

Blubrry Announces New Advanced Hosting Plan Changes

~ jen

Next week, we’ll be upgrading the storage limits of all Advanced Hosting plans. In a continued effort to provide additional value to our offerings, we decided to reward our advanced users with more storage overall.

This means we will be discontinuing our no-fault-overages allowances. Effective Tuesday, March 15, 2022, the advanced users will have a higher monthly quota available, and standard users a strict 100MB allowance. This does not mean that users cannot reach out to the support team and request a small one-time bump when they have a larger than expected or an additional episode that month.

If you’re not familiar with our plans, our Advanced Hosting plans not only offer more storage but also include our Advanced Statistics and domain mapping. You can read more about those here.

The new storage options will be helpful to any podcaster who produces a video podcast or is focused on extremely good audio quality. Based that, you could increase your encoding rate with the new storage limits. Our new advanced plans offer a minimum of six hours of content at standard encoding rates each month.

Hosting Plan Charges

$20 – 250MB —> 400MB

$40 – 400MB —> 800MB

$80 – 1,000MB —> 1,600MB

“Additional storage allows a podcaster more flexibility with their schedule and episode length. This bump helps with both quality and quantity,” said CEO Todd Cochrane. “We have made numerous announcements over the past six months and will continue to make advancements on our website and tools for podcasters growth in 2022.”