Three More Podcast Hosting Companies To Support OP3

Three podcast hosting solutions, Podlove, podCloud, and Castopod by Ad Aures are excited to announce the support of OP3, an open source and open data analytics service. They are joining Transistor.fm who has been supporting it since September 19th.

The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) is a free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy.

With OP3, podcasters will be able to value their analytics data, to share, validate and compare them with the open podcasting ecosystem. Eventually, they will be able to track and analyze the performance their podcasts, giving them valuable insights into their audience, engagement and growth. The OP3 support is designed to be user-friendly and accessible to all podcasters, with no need for technical expertise.

The open source nature of OP3 means that its source code can be analyzed by anyone and improved by the wider podcasting community, ensuring that it stays relevant and useful for all. The open data analytics also allows podcasters to share and compare their data with other users, fostering collaboration and innovation within the industry.

As podcasting continues to grow, it’s important that podcasters have access to the tools they need to succeed in an open ecosystem. OP3 is a game-changer for the industry.

“The more shows participate in OP3, the more everyone benefits,” said John Spurlock, the founder of OP3. “Honored to see these pioneering podcast hosting platforms offering first-class OP3 integration, and excited to make OP3’s novel open data approach benefit participating podcasters and the wider open podcasting world going forward.”

“As a strong supporter of open standards – like the RSS format – for many years, podCloud is always excited to see new open source and open data initiatives within the podcast community.” Said Giovanni Olivera, CEO of podCloud.”We are happy to support the project and eager to see the path it will take.”

“As an advocate of open source and open ecosystems, OP3 is the analytics solution we’ve been waiting for,” said Benjamin, CEO of Ad Aures, the company who develops Castopod. “Moreover, it offers free third-party validation and it guarantees that data are not altered.”

OP3 is available now for all podcasters of Transitor.fm, Podlove, podCloud, and Castopod.

Red Brick Road Appointed For Brand Relaunch By Auddy

Auddy, one of the UK’s fastest-growing podcast brands, has appointed creative agency Red Brick Road to support it in the next stage of its growth.

The London-based podcast company provided recently raised £2.5m in seed funding in a round led by Pembroke VCT with participation from current backers Haatch Ventures and Brick Capital Ventures.

Founded in 2020, and with 4,000 podcast shows and 12 million monthly downloads across the UK and DACH regions, the company delivers premium podcast solutions for both creators and brands. It also connects brands with highly targeted audiences through responsive advertising technology and sponsorship opportunities.

Red Brick Road are helping Auddy to launch a refreshed brand positioning and identity, as well as providing creative marketing consultancy services.

The refreshed brand positioning, ‘Sound in a new light’ perfectly showcases Auddy’s audio-first ethos in the ever-changing podcast sector, one that allows them to continually push the medium and create award winning and game changing content and solutions for their audiences.

This ethos is echoed in the refreshed visual identity that is built around a series of sound related 3D assets, which all reference sound in different ways, from the cone of a speaker to a visual representation of a sound. The result is a fresh look and feel which will be used across all touchpoint, starting with the website and social channels which all go live this week.

Sally Miller, CMO of Auddy, said “Auddy has rapidly grown to be a key player in the podcasting sector as we offer a unique combination of creative production, sales and publishing services to our partners. Red Brick Road are the perfect partner to help our business achieve our ambitious growth targets through a clearly defined new brand positioning and identity. We’re thrilled with the end result.”

Zoe Crowther, Managing Director of Red Brick Road said, “The podcast sector is surging at the moment, it’s the most dynamic and exciting sector in media; we’re thrilled to be working with the ambitious and talented team at Auddy.”

Podsights Reports ARN’s iHeartMedia Australia Outperforms Global Benchmarks

Findings from the Q3 Podsights Benchmark Australian Report show ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia continues to be the market-leader in advertising effectiveness, with conversion rates outperforming global standards by a significant margin.

Through its partnership with Podsights, ARN is setting the standard for podcast advertising measurement, providing commercial partners with data-led insights to ensure maximum engagement and conversion with iHeartPodcast Network’s audiences.

The report examines data gathered from October 2021 – September 2022. Key findings from the benchmark report and additional analysis include:

  • iHeartPodcast Network’s advertising conversion rates continue to be higher than social and digital channels, including Facebook, Twitter, and more.
  • Australian campaigns are getting bigger, with ad spend up to 54% year on year.
  • When breaking down global conversion rates by industry, retail, education and fashion categories experienced the strongest Q3 attribution results.
  • When breaking down global conversion rates by industry, retail, education and fashion categories experienced the strongest Q3 attribution results.
  • 81% of Podcast campaigns placed advertising in either pre or mid-roll spots, with mid-rolls outperforming pre-roll conversion rate by 4%.
  • iHeartPodcast Network Australia recorded 5.4 million listeners in September 2022, resulting in 24.8 million downloads equating to an average of 4.6 downloads per listener.

Podsights brings the tools of digital reporting and attribution to podcasts, enabling clients to monitor and measure the effectiveness of podcast advertising in real-time using a specialized dashboard. These capabilities are included in every iHeartPodcast Network Australia campaign.

ARN’s Head of Digital Audio Corey Layton said, “Australian podcast campaigns continue to drive higher conversion rates that set the global standard. It’s a testament to the execution of our creative and talented voiced campaigns that outperform other social and digital channels.”

Libsyn Introduces Podcast Creation & Recording Features And New Interface

Liberated Syndication Inc. (“Libsyn”), the leading “Podcasting As A Service” platform, announced the rollout of enhancements to the Libsyn platform that delivers the most intuitive, user-friendly, and innovative experience for podcasters. Among the features are the integration of Studio into Libsyn, allowing creators to record their podcast inside the Libsyn toolset, as well as a brand-new navigation and user experience.

“We’ve built Libsyn to be a one-stop destination for the full spectrum of new to established podcasters to access everything they need to unleash their full creative potential,” said Yvette Meanse, Senior Product Manager, Libsyn. “We’re continually investing in cutting-edge tools to make it even easier for creators to record shows directly from Libsyn and we’re streamlining workflows for podcasters so they can quickly record, distribute, and monetize their content.’

Seamless Integration of Libsyn Studio

Studio, an all-in-one podcast planning, recording and distribution platforms now fully integrated within the Libsyn podcasting platform. Studio is designed to benefit both new podcasters and experienced creators who want a simple, reliable, and fast recording solution – and it will continue to serve as the fastest and easiest way to create and launch a podcast for Libsyn creators. Studio is now exclusively included with all Libsyn podcast hosting plans, and episodes published with Studio won’t count towards storage limits for consumer plans.

The Addition of Reusable Chapters & Editing

With sample recordings and content tips, Studio guides the podcaster through creating and recording the chapters that comprise a podcast, such as the opener, closer, teaser, and main chapter. Additionally, Studio has a Reusable Chapter tool to help speed up podcast creation. By allowing podcasters to record in chapter, they can create portions of their episode – like an intro, an outro, and a call-to-action – just once.

Those chapters are then automatically inserted into future episodes when a new recording is started to minimize recording and editing time, as well as provide structure and consistency to the episodes. Podcasters can always re-record the Reusable Chapter while editing an episode if they want to modify them. Reusable Chapters can easily be moved around to create a finalized high-quality episode.

New User Interface & Navigation

Libsyn has elevated the podcasting workflow experience for creators with a whole new look. The entire experience has been redesigned with a more modern aesthetic and the new structure makes accessing and analyzing insightful podcast performance data even better. In addition to the clearer user interface for managing podcasts, Libsyn now has a more intuitive layout and navigation has been moved to the top for easier access and clarity.

For the month of December, you can try Libsyn Studio for FREE using code “STUDIO” at checkout. More podcasting tools, features, and functionality will be introduced in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Veritonic Added To List Of Acast’s Preferred Audio Attribution Partners

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio analytics and research platform, announced today that they have been approved as an attribution partner by Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company. As a result, the more than 2,400 advertisers and 88,000 podcasters that use the Acast platform to distribute their podcast content can elect to utilize Veritonic’s robust attribution capabilities to optimize and further increase the ROI of their audio campaigns.

“We are pleased to partner with Acast to support brands, agencies, and publishers with the holistic data and analytics they need to increase their reach and ROI with audio,” said Scott Simonelli, chief executive officer of Veritonic. “The powerful combination of our attribution and brand lift technology provides unparalleled and comprehensive measurement of audio campaigns from top to in one unified and intuitive platform.”

“Veritonic shares our commitment to arming brands and agencies with actionable and insightful audio performance data,” said Kevin McCaul, Global Head of Ad Operations at Acast. “Our partnership is an important step for the open ecosystem of podcasting as we continue to work together to provide independent measurement insights to prove the effectiveness and efficiency of podcasting as a marketing channel.”

Veritonic’s Attribution solution enables users to glean actionable insights from top-of-the-funnel branding initiatives through bottom-of-the-funnel conversions & transactions. Through unintuitive and interactive dashboard, brands can determine which publisher and specific ads had the highest impact and use that data to optimize ad performance.

Veritonic’s Attribution solution is available now via self-serve or managed service. To request a demo or get started, contact sales@veritonic.com.

PodX Group Acquires A Majority Stake In Posta

PodX Group, a company committed to investing in international podcast companies and IP rights, proudly announces its first investment in Latin America through the acquisition of a majority stake in Posta, Argentina’s leading podcast production company.

The step further consolidates PodX Group as one of the biggest players in the global podcasting market. PodX has previously announced investments in French podcast studio Nouvelles Écoutes and British audio fiction company Goldhawk Productions. As the first podcast production company to be founded in Argentina, Posta is a pioneer in the Latin American podcast scene. Since its establishment in 2014, they have produced more than 150 shows, reaching millions of listeners, not just in its native country but also in Mexico, Brazil, United States and Spain.

Through their award-winning branded content unit, Posta Studios, they service more than 60 world-class companies, including Netflix, Uber, Microsoft, HBO, PlayStation, Mercado Libre and Globant, among many others.

Posta’s mission is to create the best audio content for Spanish-speaking markets. Following PodX’s investment, their plan is to combine strengths in order to:

  • Continue developing original fiction and non-fiction narrative podcasts and explore opportunities in adapting them to other media.
  • Further consolidate its successful branded podcasts revenue stream.
  • Expand their reach, audience and influence in the Latin American and U.S. Hispanics markets.

Posta co-founders, Luciano Banchero and Diego Dell’ Agostino, will continue leading the company in this new chapter, as Chief Creative Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively. They are joined by former Chief Operating Officer, Juan Manuel Giraldez, who moves into the position of Chief Executive Officer.

Luciano Banchero, co-founder and COO, Posta: “We couldn’t possibly be more excited for this new adventure. The PodX team has proven to be the best partner to take this gigantic leap into the future of Posta. I’m thankful for the continued trust and investment, and believe they will level up our current capabilities, expand our values of diversity, innovation and excellence in audio, to help us achieve our dream of reaching even more millions of listeners.”

Diego Dell’ Agostino, co-founder and CMO, Posta: “We are very excited and happy to have found in PodX a strategic partner that will empower us and from whom will surely learn a lot in the future, At Posta, we hope this will bring new possibilities for the podcasting ecosystem in the region. We look forward to working with the other professionals that make up the group in pursuit of these objectives.”

Patrick Svensk, co-founder and Executive Director, PodX Group: “Posta has really great and unique creativity and quality in the audio entertainment they create and deliver in the Spanish-speaking part of the world. It will e so exciting to support them in creating an even bigger footprint for their content, not only in Argentina and LatAm, but also in the rest of the podcasting space. Posta is so very welcome into the PodX family and I already love working with them.”

Podimo Hires Claus Thune As Global Director Of Programming

Podimo, Europe’s fastest-growing subscription service for podcasts and audiobooks, announces that longtime Apple executive Claus Thune has joined the company as Global Director of Programming. Thune will be working closely with the product and local curation teams to ensure that Podimo’s discovery and user journey is seamless and engaging as a high quality product.

“I’ve had my eyes on Podimo since the company’s start in 2019,” says Thune. “Today you see headphones being on at all times. Being able to impact the personal listening experience, educate, challenge and expand people’s view of the world really speaks to me, and this is what Podimo strives to do. I am honored to join this group of smart, visionary individuals, and look forward to applying the knowledge and experience I have gained in global content and curation to the fastest growing media type of the last decade.”

With a background in marketing from Carlsberg and Sony Music, Thune joined Apple’s iTunes Music in 2010 in Denmark, holding various international positions and focusing on creator relations and content curation. Thune returns to Denmark after several years at Apple Music’s worldwide headquarters in Los Angeles and a stint at Sweden-based Epidemic Sound as Director of Music Curation, and will be base at Podimo’s HQ in Copenhagen.

“Podimo is built on developing and working with premium creators in local languages,” says Chief Content Officer Sachin Doshi. “We know we’re competing for people’s time, so its important that our user journey for listeners is as delightful as possible. We want to be more thoughtful and creative in unfolding podcast discovery and content for our listeners on a global and local level, and Claus has a strong feel for how to mix both an editorial voice with empathy for the listener, along with an understanding of working with a premium product to scale that experience.”

About Podimo

Podimo is a premier audio entertainment subscription service that offers original and exclusive podcasts ad-free, an extensive collection of audiobooks, plus your favorite podcasts from around the world via RSS feeds, all at an affordable price.

The Copenhagen-founded platform shares a portion of its revenue with all creators, whether they are exclusive or on the open RSS, and brings smart curation, discoverability features, in-app video, and intuitive design to listeners of both openly available and exclusive content.

As a full service content production house, Podimo is committed to amplifying the important stories that need to be heard – through partnerships with Disney, iHeartMedia, Wondery, and Paramount Network, the funding of independent investigative journalism, and more.

The app is currently available in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland, and across Latin America, and is expanding to more countries soon. Listeners can enjoy Podimo on iOS and Android, iPad, CarPlay – as well as on web player Podimo.com.

Magellan AI Taps Experian To Improve Attribution

Magellan AI, the podcast analytics platform with the world’s largest database of podcast advertising data, announced a new collaboration with Experian, the world’s leading information services company. Experian’s Identity Graph will power Attribution by Magellan AI. The new attribution platform was recently announced and will enable podcast advertisers and publishers to gain insights into campaign performance and success with the Magellan AI dashboard.

“The diversification of podcast hosting and listening platforms can lead to widely varying data coming from publishers and advertisers,” said Cameron Hendrix, CEO and co-founder of Magellan AI. “Through collaboration with Experian, we can map data with precision to clean up reporting for our clients and provide them with incredibly accurate attribution results.”

“Advertisers and marketers want to be confident in planning, optimizing and measuring the success of their campaigns” said Chris Feo, SVP Sales and Partnerships, Experian Marketing Services. “While fragmentation continues to challenge marketers, we’re excited to work with Magellan AI to enable more intelligent podcast campaigns.”

Magellan AI will utilize Experian’s Identity Graph, a privacy-safe digital cross-device technology providing the most comprehensive and differentiated digital identity resolution. Along with industry leading podcast advertising intelligence, marketers will have access to precision insights to optimize and measure their podcast campaigns.

“Identifying podcast audiences and unique households can be a challenge in an open ecosystem with limited data input,” said Bryan Barletta, founder of Sounds Profitable. “Magellan AI’s approach in using Experian’s Identity Graph will enhance their ability to accurately calculate reach and frequency to provide reliable measurement and attribution data. Publishers and advertisers need to prioritize independent solutions like Magellan AI, who are dedicated to solving for this critical piece of the podcast ecosystem.”

“By working with Experian,” adds Magellan AI Head of Publisher Partnerships Jim Ballas, “we’re partnering with the market leader in data privacy, not only setting us up to respect listener privacy now and in the future, but also providing unmatched accuracy and depth of insight on attributable behavior.”

Attribution by Magellan AI is currently in its beta, with plans to make it widely available in Q1 of 2023.

Voxalyze Raises Million Funding Round From Top German Investors

The Voxalyze platform allows podcast publishers to optimize the acquisition of new listeners.

Today, podcast discovery relies on two pillars: in-app discovery and social media. In-app discovery happens when users browse their favorite listening apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify or searches for specific content via the search bar.

Voxalyze is the company behind “Podcast Visibility Optimization”, a craft similar to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but applied to podcasts. The company offers keyword ranking for podcasts across millions of keywords in 14 different languages. They are also launching a new analytics solution, which will allow podcast publishers to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns in attracting new listeners via social media.

Podcasts are thriving. According to the recent Online Audio Monitor study, more than 20 million Germans aged 14+ listened to at least one podcast per month with a staggering 41% of the population aged 14 to 29 years doing so. Advertisers view this as a massive opportunity and the IAB is forecasting advertising revenues of podcasts to triple by 2024.

This has opened up possibilities for podcast publishers. In 2021 alone, more than 725,000 shows were launched, and there are now more than 3 million podcasts available. But how do listeners discover a show? And how could publishers increase their audience? This is exactly the problem Voxalyze is solving by providing visibility analytics and soon audience and attribution analytics.

Fundraising to accelerate the development of the technology and the go-to-market

“The market is literally booming,” says Alexis Hue, co-founder and managing director, “and podcast publishers are becoming more demanding regarding analytics: they now expect a similar level of data and insights as in the web and mobile spaces. That’s what we are building.”

The Voxalyze team, vision and early customer traction has picked the interest of investors: Capnamic Ventures, seed+speed Ventures, and renowned business angels have invested a total of EUR 1.2 million in the company. With the capital, the podcast analytics provider plans on accelerating its technology deployment and go-to-market.

Alexis Hue continues, “The trust of such investors makes us proud. With the capital and the investor support, we are ready to bring our solution to the next level and become the analytics partner of choice for podcast publishers.”

Alexander Kölpin, Managing Director, seed+speed Ventures, commented “the podcast market is growing steadily and there is no sign of this trend reversing. Voxalyze is the missing link for the podcast industry and provides a platform-independent tool for publishers to measure, understand and grow audience and revenue. We are delighted to be on board with seed+speed Ventures as investors.”

About Voxalyze

Voxalyze is a leading provider of podcast analytics and is pioneering the listener acquisition analytics space with solutions like Podcast Visibility Optimization and Social Media Attribution. The company supports podcast publishers of all sizes, from the smallest creator to large media companies with hundreds of shows with data and insights enabling them to grow their audience.

The Future’s Bright For The Big Light In Glasgow Studio Move

Scotland’s leading podcast production company, The Big Light, has taken on new studio and office space in Glasgow as it targets commercial expansion.

The new state-of-the-art recording studio, editing suite, and production office will allow the company to expand its original content output as well as opening up commissioned podcast revenue streams.

Founded in 2020 by broadcaster Janice Forsyth and producer Fiona White, The Big Light has moved in with one of the country’s other leading creative marketing agencies, Frame, at its headquarters in Glasgow’s Pacific Quay.

An award winning, end-to-end producer, publisher, and distributor of premium on-demand audio-content, The Big Light has made podcasts for commercial clients including BBC Sounds, Spotify, and The National Trust.

It also creates original podcasts for its independent network including popular weekly shows such as TalkMedia with Stuart Cosgrove and Professor Eamonn O’Neill; Blethered with Sean McDonald; and Talking Derry Girls. The Big Light’s podcasts attract around 150,000 listeners every month from more than 50 countries worldwide.

The company is backed by high-profile investors from the Scottish cultural scene including Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, and Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr and Charlie Buchill.

Fiona White, co-founder and CEO of The Big Light, said: “Podcasting is the fastest growing sector in digital media and having our brand new studio space in the heart of Scotland’s media district will allow us to capitalize on that opportunity.

“Janice and I set up The Big Light in early 2020, so much of our production has – by necessity – been remote. Thanks to our incredible network of podcasters, we’ve enjoyed continued growth and now we hope to take it even further.

“It’s fantastic to be up and running in our new space which will allow us to build out our commercial capability. Sharing a space with Frame’s team of 70 specialists from PR, advertising, design, content and digital media will also help us to unlock new creative opportunities.”

Jim Kerr, singer with Simple Minds and investor in The Big Light, said: “We are huge fans of both the rapidly growing podcast medium and the very impressive team involved – we believe the opportunity to support The Big Light as it inevitably climbs from one level of success to the next is not to be missed.”

Jim Kerr, singer with Simple Minds and investor in The Big Light, said: “We are huge fans of both the rapidly growing podcast medium and the very impressive team involved – we believe the opportunity to support The Big Light as it inevitably climbs from one level of success to the next is not to be missed.”

Val McDermid added: “In these tough times, it’s vital to have independent voices, particularly here in Scotland, and particularly from the arts.

“We all need nourishment for our souls, and it’s the promise of that which has made me want to be part of The Big Light journey.”

Sir Ian Rankin commented: “I don’t suppose John Rebus is much into podcasts – though these days, who knows? But to me, it’s a vibrant can-do medium with a lot to say. (And I should add that both John and I are long-time Janice Forsyth fanboys). So three cheers and bonnets hurled high for The Big Light!”

The Big Light is multi-award-winning podcast production and distribution company. Its reflective series Ida Schuster’s Old School, was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2021 British Podcast Awards.

This year, musical-drama series, Atlantic: A Scottish Story, was nominated for Best Fictional Storytelling at the 2022 ARIA Awards. The Big Light’s climate podcast COP26 Daily, won the SILVER AWARD for Best Daily Podcast at the 2022 British Podcast Awards and Atlantic: A Scottish Story won the BRONZE for Best Fiction. The comedy show, Talking Derry Girls, picked up the GOLD Award for Best Arts and Culture at the 2022 Irish Podcast Awards.

To find our more about The Big Light, please visit: https://www.thebiglight.com/