Audicia Audio Marketplace Launches In Australia

Singapore-based Audacia makes a move into the Australian market with a presence in Sydney.

Audacia is riding the wave of the booming audio advertising market with its latest launch in Sydney. Following its inaugural Singapore launch in 2022, the immediate interest in the Australian market from advertisers and publishers has prompted the opening.

Audio is digital advertising’s fastest-growing category. By 2027, it is projected to grow by 9.15% (2022 – 2027) resulting in a market volume [US$11.85bn] in 2027. Audacia was created to service this growing interest in a bid to make audio easy for everyone. Founded by ex-Spotify Director, Kym Treasure, Audacia is the only independent, full-stack, digital audio advertising platform providing a full-service global solution.

“Since Audacia’s launch in 2022, the immediate interest launch in 2022, the immediate interest in Australia from advertisers and publishers across the globe has exceeded expectations. We believe that now is the time for advertisers and publishers to invest in their audio offering, and launching in Sydney is a natural step that our clients have been asking for” says Treasure. “The buzz across Australia right now is electric, it definitely feels that both the region and audio advertising are having a moment.”

Audacia offers the following unique services:

  • Access to the Audacia Premium Audio Marketplace providing advertisers with over 30B monthly impressions globally
  • Programmatic solutions across Music Streaming, Digital Radio, Podcasts and In-Game inventory
  • Global Podcast Sponsorship opportunities
  • Quality, custom audio creative builds for every campaign, in any language
  • Access to best-in-class interactive audio ad formats
  • Campaign measurement and reporting

“We are excited to bring Audacia Down Under. Since launching in 2022, we have been transforming the audio ad experience for our clients and allowing them to reach a new global audience with ease while making it even easier for publishers to monetize their content.”

Audacia is a global advertising marketplace connecting publishers, advertisers, and customers across premium audio environments.

iHeartMedia Launches Podcast Brand Safety Tool Powered By Sounder

iHeartMedia, the largest audio media company in the U.S. and the top podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, today launched new brand safety technology for podcast advertising powered by Sounder, an audio intelligence platform that builds foundational podcasting technology. iHeartMedia is the first to go live with Sounder’s AI and Machine Learning (ML) technology, giving brands episode-specific safety assurance, a level of precision previously unavailable in podcast inventory, at scale.

With the rapidly growing podcast advertising market expected to surpass $3 billion in 2023, there has never been a greater time to prioritize brand safety. Sounder is the first to help advertisers deem if a podcast episode is brand safe before an ad runs, enabling advertisers to plan and execute campaigns with confidence.

“Audio had been without a truly operative brand safety tool that gave advertisers the ability to run without risk at a national scale. The process was labor intensive, fragmented, and often failed to deliver the level of protection brands truly needed,” said iHeartMedia Chief Data Officer Brian Kaminsky. “This new tool changes the future and opens up endless possibilities. Brands are now able to opt out of content they deem unsafe and inappropriate. Our possibilities. Brands are now able to opt out of content they deem unsafe and inappropriate. Our partnership with Sounder has set a benchmark for transparency in transparency in audio advertising that has been long overdue.”

“At a time when brand-trust is eroding overall, marketers are excited about the power of the podcast advertising to deliver authenticity, impact, and rebuild trust,” said iHeartMedia Chief Marketing Officer Gayle Troberman. “With iHeartMedia’s new brand safety capabilities, marketers can leverage the full power of human connection and contextual relevance that podcasts provide, without the fear and risk of unsafe inventory.”

“Coming out of CES, marketer demand for podcast marketing is at an all-time high,” Troberman continued. “But they’re not willing to accept unnecessary risk to do so. This tool solves this challenge by providing objective, third-party brand safety verification and unlocking access to more content that moves the needle for marketers.”

With the tool, powered by Sounder’s technology, iHeartMedia can perform brand suitability analysis, topic analysis, content summarization, and dynamic segmentation, ahead of an ad flight. Integrated directly into iHeartMedia’s podcast hosting platform Omni and ad-serving platform Triton, the technology interprets context and assesses risk for brands in seconds across the iHeartPodcast Network’s large and growing audience, from the biggest and most divers shows in the network, to brand safety verification at an episodic level for podcast advertisers, effectively unlocking thousands of hours of new, premium audio content for brands.

“Sounder’s brand safety and sustainability solutions are here to ushers in the next stage of growth for podcasting and audio advertising. Our technology provides the transparency needed for confident decision-making and transacting across publishers, agencies, and ad tech partners,” said Sounder CEO and Co-Founder Kal Amin. “As a key partner and strategic investor in Sounder, iHeartMedia has recognized the need for new brand safety tools and standards across audio.”

The iHeartPodcast Network is home to more than 750 iHeartPodcasts which span every category from business, sports, spirituality, and technology to entertainment, family, comedy, and true crime including leading podcasts such as The Ron Burgundy Podcast, Paper Ghosts, Fake Doctors, Real Friends, Atlanta Monster, You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton, The Laverne Cox Show, Las Culturistas, and Noble Blood, as well as over a hundred shows from iHeartMedia’s on-air talent – like the popular Bobbycast from its nationally-syndicated host Bobby Bones and The Breakfast Club radio show podcast. With this roster of hits, iHeartMedia has more top 10 shows on Podtrac than the next three podcast networks combined and twice as many podcasts with 1 million monthly downloads than the next largest podcast publisher.

Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast Signs Exclusive Ad Partnership With The Viall Files

Liberated Syndication Inc. (“Libsyn”), the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers, today announced an exclusive, multi-year advertising deal between AdvertiseCast, the industry’s premier podcast advertising marketplace that connects advertisers with podcasters and The Vial Files, an award-winning pop culture podcast hosted by Nick Viall – a TV personality, best-selling author, and former star of ABC’s ‘The Bachelor.’

The Viall Files will leverage AdvertiseCast’s full-service advertising platform, including Libsyn’s Automatic Ads solution to augment their host-read program with programmatic ad revenue and Libsyn Subscriptions to build listener membership for its subscription-based, ad-free content.

Launched in 2019, The Viall Files is a weekly multi-episode podcast that discusses relationships, pop culture, and provides real and unfiltered dating advice. It has amassed over 100 million downloads with an average of 5 million listens per month. The series was nominated for a People’s Choice Award in 2020 and voted one of the Top 10 Podcasts of 2019 by AP.

On Mondays, listeners call in to “Ask Nick” for advice on all aspects of their lives. On Tuesdays, during ‘The Bachelor/The Bachelorette’ seasons, Nick ands team recap each episode. And on Wednesdays, he has one-on one, in-depth conversations with a special celebrity, pop culture, or expert guest, in which the past have included Nikki Glaser, Justin Long, Jim Jeffries, Josh Peck, Meghan Trainer, Steve-O, January Jones, Taylor Lautner, Maria Menounos, Kelly Osbourne, Brian Baumgartner, and Chrishell Stause. They sometimes challenge the way he looks at the world – and no topic is off limits as Nick gets intimate taking inspiration, friendship, family, dating, and sex with his guests and audience.

“Nick has built an incredible team of podcast professionals who understand their listeners and embrace the underlying principles of both audience and revenue growth. Our sales team is ecstatic to represent The Viall Files and are already actively introducing new brand and agency partners to the show,” said Rick Selah, Senior Vice President, Content Partnerships, Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast.

“I’m elated to bring The Viall Files over to the razor-sharp team at Libsyn. We have some amazing things planned to continue growing The Viall Files into an undeniable media brand, and Libsyn has built an incredible home to expand and flourish under,” said Nick Viall, Creator, Producer, and Host, The Viall Files.

Libsyn’s AdvertiserCast empowers brands to effectively target and reach a fast growing and coveted podcast audience and helps creators to monetize their audio and video content. The marketplace combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-service capabilities that makes it easy for podcast advertisers to initiate and manage highly targeted and measurable campaigns, while providing maximum return for creators.

Vizzy Studio Lets Podcasters Turn Audio Into Video For YouTube

Vizzy Studio, a popular podcast enhancing software platform, has released a new feature to help podcasters produce video versions of their show. It is the fastest way to produce engaging video content; podcasters and creators can upload any mp3 audio and add a series of images via the Vizzy Studio which will generate a video file for use in YouTube and other video platforms. Existing Vizzy users can use 1 click to generate videos for their already visually enhanced episodes.

Vizzy Studio has launched video to satisfy increasing demand from podcasters and creators to be able to produce video content in a quick and cost effective way. CEO, Nic Ivanov said “Many podcasters don’t know that YouTube is the leading platform for podcast consumption in many countries, including the US and Australia. With YouTube’s official entrance into podcasting this year, it’s more important than ever for podcasters to have a presence on the platform” which has 2.5 billion monthly active users and is the second largest search engine in the world. Using Vizzy provides podcasters with a cost effective way to produce videos with engaging visuals to grow their podcast without the need of a camera or video editing skills.

Podcasters can Produce a Video with Fizzy in three simple steps:

  • Upload their audio
  • Use Vizzy’s simple timeline to add contextually relevant images at exact points in the audio
  • 1 click to generate a video file to use in YouTube, Video Podcast Hosts, Vimeo, etc.

This new feature integrates seamlessly with all existing Vizzy Studio features:

  • Add images to audio files that listeners see in Apple Podcast Player
  • Easily create chapters to break up your story
  • Add short form urls to create trackable links to products and advertisers

For existing creators who already use Vizzy Studio for audio enhancement the 1 click video allows them to produce high quality output for YouTube and any other platform that requires a video file.

“We’ve been excited to launch this product which has broad application to podcasters, creators and even educators,” said Nic. “This method of producing video satisfies many requirements; it’s fast, simple, and effective, while still providing engaging on screen visuals. We also expect this to be popular for the production of narrated video slideshows and many other creative applications”

About Vizzy

Australian Headquartered, Vizzy’s mission is to build the software tools that enable podcasters and creatives to add images and interactivity to podcasting.

For more info check out www.vizzy.fm or sign up for a Vizzy Studio account go to app.vizzy.fm/login. Follow our Founder, Nic on @Nic_Vizzy on Twitter and feel free to get in touch with the team on hello@vizzy.com.au

PodX Group Acquires A Majority Stake In Swedish Podcast Production Company Flit

In 2022, PodX Group made acquisitions of French podcast studio Nouvelles Écoutes, British audio fiction company Goldhawk Productions and Argentinian podcast production company Posta. PodX Group is now expanding further by acquiring their first podcast studio in the Nordics, Flit. Flit is a market-leading independent podcast company based in Stockholm, Sweden, established in 2002 by Erik Roll, Roger Dackegård, and Anders Elfström.

Flit is a highly qualitative production studio that specializes in storytelling. They produce a wide range of podcasts, including journalistic true crime and fiction dramas, and have received numerous awards such as Prix Italia and Guldörat. Their productions are widely listened to with a weekly reach of 1 million listeners. Flit has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo and also produces content in Finland Swedish for YLE in Finland. Flit is the creator behind successful formats such as Stil I P1, Kropp & Själ i P1, Smittan (P3 Serie), Punani_99 i P3, Därför mördar dom, Djaevlen i Detaljen och Drogerna. They also make branded podcasts for clients such as Unionin, The Nobel Prize Museum, Telia, Försvarsmakten, MSB, Amnesty and RFSU.

Staffan Rosell, CEO and Member of the Board, PodX Group: “We are delighted to add one of the most successful podcast companies in the Nordics, Flit, to the PodX Group. This production studio is well-known for its fantastic, high-quality productions for Swedish Radio, Podme, Storytel, and many others. We are excited to start working with this brilliant team.”

Anders Elfström, CEO and Co-Founder, Flit: “We are very excited to take the next step on our journey to becomes the leading audio producer in the Nordics. We look forward to publishing new and creative documentary series in multiple languages, and establishing our existing formats in new markets beyond Scandinavia. As founders, we look forward to continuing to develop Flit within the PodX Group.”

About Flit

Flit’s tagline is “Better audio stories.” Flit produces editorial radio and podcasts with a focus on storytelling that strive to be touching, entertaining, and rewarding. The radio and podcast shows cover a wide range of areas, including culture, society, science, tech, audio drama and entertainment. Since 2002, they have been one of the leading audio production companies in Sweden and in later years also in Denmark and Norway, focusing on ideas and content with the goal of creating world-class radio and podcasts.

About PodX Group

PodX Group is a Stockholm-headquarted company committed to investing in businesses with international podcast IP rights: offering financing, as well as support around business development, internationalization and commercialization to emerging podcast producers and creators.

PodX Group invests podcast producers who create the best content, and takes on the role as an active partner to jointly develop the podcast companies into leading producers in each market and segment. Additionally, partner companies of PodX Group become a part of a global network of renowned podcast companies that enable collaboration and synergies across the group. PodX Group has previously announced investments in French podcast studio Nouvelles Écoutes, British audio fiction company Goldhawk Productions and Argentinian podcast production company Posta.

Immediate Media Co Joins Megaphone And The Spotify Audience Network

Immediate Media Co, the special interest content and platform company, has announced a partnership with Spotify’s Megaphone to host its award-winning podcast portfolio. From March 2023, Immediate Media’s podcast shows will be hosted and monetized through Spotify’s enterprise podcasting platform, Megaphone.

Megaphone is the industry-leading podcasting platform for enterprise publishers and professional podcasters globally as it offers a comprehensive set of tools that enable publishers to publish, monetise, and grow their podcast businesses. With 489 million MAUs, Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service. In the UK, Spotify reaches more than half of the online population.

As the UK’s leading publisher podcast producer, Immediate’s output includes the HistoryExtra podcast – which recently celebrated 200 million downloads – Radio Times’ View From My Sofa, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast and the BBC Good Food Podcast with Tom Kerridge.

Immediate produced 750 podcast episodes across its portfolio last year, with 12 ongoing series across its brands and 5.5 million downloads per month. Partnering with Spotify will further increase the reach and profile of Immediate’s content, driving innovation and commercial growth.

The Immediate podcast portfolio features a range of expert voices and high profile guests, alongside Tom Kerridge on BBC Good Food, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast features Alan Titchmarsh, Monty Don, Adam Frost, Francis Tophill and Art Anderson with guests including Michael Mosley, Dame Judi Dench, Joe Lycett, and Deborah Meaden, and the BBC Good Food Health podcast which in January hosted Nutracheck’s expert nutritionists.

HistoryExtra features interviews with notable historians on topics spanning ancient history through to its historical conspiracies and events shaping our modern world. Episodes feature historical perspectives on everything from Tudor monarchs, The D-Day landings, and a 5,000 year history of tattoos.

Top names from the world of TV film and entertainment include Jed Mercurio, Helen Fielding, KSI, Letitia Wright, Louis Theroux, Stephen Fry, and Daniel Radcliffe have all joined Radio Times’ View From My Sofa.

Olive magazine’s podcast has the latest foodie trends, travel tips and hacks every week, whilst the new Top Gear series features high profile names from the world of motor sport, including Jenson Button.

Sean Cornwell, Immediate’s Platforms CEO, says: “Immediate has been consistently growing our podcast output, reach and revenues over the last few years, and our partnership with Spotify will help further accelerate this growth. The combination of our trusted brands and quality content is continually attracting new audiences and this partnership will enable us to significantly scale our proposition.”

Chelsea Bradbury, Head of UK Publisher Partnerships at Spotify says: “Over the past year, we’ve been focused on strengthening Megaphone’s already robust offering to ensure it remains the best place for publishers to understand and grow their audiences and monetise their content. We are thrilled to partner with Immediate Media and we believe these tools will play a critical role in helping them accelerate their growth.”

Podimo Arrives In Mexico

Europe’s fastest-growing podcast and audiobook subscription service Podimo announces its arrival in Mexico at the end of March this year, offering listeners exclusive access to an extensive range of content created by the best local talent, intelligently curated, and with an intuitive design that will provide a personalized experience.

The Copenhagen-founded company aims to change the rules of the audio entertainment game in the country, promoting the creation of exclusive high quality content with a regional focus, produced and hosted by Mexican creators, covering a variety of topics from true crime, sexuality, investigative journalism, body positivity and personal relationships, amplifying the stories and voices that need to be heard. The Podimo Mexico team is located in Mexico City, and will be in continuous search of new talent and original content.

“The Mexican creator community has welcomed us with open arms: we’re extremely honored to be working with such a diverse range of talent, and to provide high-value content that supports our ambitions of providing a fair and sustainable subscription model for both creators and listeners,” says Wendolín Perla, Head of Content at Podimo Mexico.

Since its founding in 2019, Podimo has been committed to offering a unique value proposition for both listeners and content creators, providing the possibility of monetization without needing to rely solely on ads. This philosophy became a reality thanks to a team of four visionaries – CEO Morten Strung, who wanted to elevate the audio listening experience, Eva Lægdsgaard, one of Spotify’s early executives, as well as Nikolaj Koppel and Andreas Sachse.

The service arrives on the strength of the recent podcast boom in Mexico the last four years, in which the number of users who consume audio entertainment in podcast format and the country has increased 70%, along with the number of influencers, youtubers, journalists, and communicators who have decided to join this industry.

“Podimo wants to empower Mexican creators, based on the idea that a podcast is a product that deserves to be paid for. Placing local talent and their stories in the spotlight is our priority,” says CEO and Founder Morten Strunge.

The app is already available in Latin America, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Finland, and will be launching in more markets soon.

Auddia Inc. Appoints Tim Ackerman As Chief Financial Officer

Auddia Inc. (“Auddia” or the “Company”), developer of a proprietary AI platform for innovative technologies for podcasts that is reinventing how consumers engage with audio, announced the appointment of Tim Ackerman to the role of Chief Financial officer (CFO). Mr. Ackerman succeeds Brian Hoff, who resigned November 4, 2022, and has been serving as a consultant since his departure.

Mr. Ackerman brings over twenty years of finance and operational experience in the software and services industry spanning both publicly traded and private held companies. His Auddia appointment follows Premier Crop Systems, LLC, a venture capital backed and leading precision agronomy data processing and analytics software and services company, where he served as Chief Financial Officer and board member prior to its sale in 2022.

Prior to Premier Crop, Mr. Ackerman served as Vice President of Finance with CSG International, a leading multinational SaaS software and services company. While at CSG, Mr. Ackerman spent time building and leading diverse and high performing FP&A teams and gaining deep multidisciplinary experience across every organizational function.

“We’re excited to add Tim to the Auddia team following our recent launches of faidrRadio and our proprietary streaming system,” said Chief Executive Officer Michael Lawless. “Tim’s ability to tackle broad operational issues as well as zero in on the key metrics and micro conversations integral to the success and growth of our flagship product make him a perfect fit for this organization not only at the stage it’s in today, but also for the future. We have aggressive goals in 2023, and Tim will be the lynchpin in helping Auddia scale and hit our necessary metrics-inflection point later in the year.”

In connection with Mr. Ackerman’s appointment, the compensation committee of Auddia’s board of directors granted Mr. Ackerman (i) an inducement stock option to purchase an aggregate of 150,200 shares of Auddia common stock, and (ii) 37,500 restricted stock units for Auddia common stock. These stock options and RSU’s were agreed to and granted as an inducement material to Mr. Ackerman entering into employment with Auddia in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c) (4).

The option have an exercise price of $1.12 per share, which was equal to the closing price of Auddia’s common stock on the grant date. One-fourth of the options vest on the one-year anniversary of the vesting commencement date and the remained vest in equal annual installments over the next three years, subject to continued service with the Company. The options have a 10-year term. The RSUs will vest in 12 monthly increments over one (1) year and shall settle (to the extent then outstanding and vested) on February 6, 2024. The options and RSUs will become fully vested if Mr. Ackerman is terminated without cause or he terminates for good reason during the 12-month period following a change in control.

About Auddia Inc.

Auddia, through its proprietary AI platform for audio identification and classification and related technologies, is reinventing how consumers engage with AM/FM radio, podcasts, and other audio content. Auddia’s flagship audio superapp, called faidr, brings two industry firsts to the audio-streaming landscape: subscription-based, ad-free listening on any AM/FM radio station and podcasts with interactive digital feeds that support deeper stories and open untapped revenue streams to podcasters. faidr also delivers exclusive content and playlists, and showcases exciting new artists, hand-picked by curators and DJs. Both differentiated offerings address large and rapidly growing audiences with strong purchase intent. For more information, visit: www.auddia.com

Kast Media And Big IP Media Announce First Look, Multi-Year Partnerships

Podcast studio Kast Media and production company Big IP Media have teamed up for a multi-year distribution deal for four popular shows that simulcast on podcast and video platforms and a first-look deal for new simulcast projects.

The two companies announced a distribution deal last month for Happy Sad Confused, an interview podcast hosted by Josh Horowitz that launched in 2014, added YouTube to its distribution in 2022, and just launched in video on Spotify.

Kast Media and Big IP Media now add four shows to their partnership: The John Campea Show, The Big Thing, The Dan Murrell Podcast, and Star Wars Explained. A fifth – The Office Virgin, an episodic recap of The Office – produced by Scott Porch and John Campea will launch in the spring.

Big IP Media’s TV & Film podcasts have enormous consumer reach – more than 140 million impressions last year across YouTube and podcast platforms – and all are hosted by well-known entertainment industry commentators. The shows drive Hollywood coverage with movie reviews, streaming recaps, box office breakdowns, and awards commentary.

Scott Porch and Kirstian Harloff launched Big IP Media in 2020. Porch is a journalist who has covered TV and digital media for the New York Times, Fast Company, and Decider and has co-created The Daily Beast’s The Last Laugh and Hugh Acheson’s Hugh Acheson Stirs the Pot podcasts. Harloff is former VP of development at Collider Video and VP of content at Skybound Entertainment, created The Movie Trivia Shmoedown, and hosts The Big Thing podcast and YouTube channel.

“We’re blown away by what Kast Media has done on audio, they like what we’re doing on video, and it takes both to be competitive now,” Porch said. “Every platform – YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Moment, etc. – is doing something a little different, and Kast Media is a great fit for helping us navigate that.”

Kast Media is a unique fit for Big IP’s slate with their already expansive slate of large simulcast shows in the TV & Film arena. Created and launched by Kast, The Friendship Onion, The Twilight Effect, Welcome to the OC, Bitches! and Was It Real? The Hills Rewatch are all rewatchables produced and marketed by the network, all of which reached the top of their respective Apple charts. Working with Big IP, Kast will expand audio listening of the slate, in addition to expanding each show into other revenue streams, including subscription and virtual events.

“Since the beginning, Kast has been a major believer in the simulcast space, producing and distributing the majority of our slate in visual and audio formats, simultaneously. Our partnership with Big IP is an exciting opportunity to not only join forces with a slate of high caliber visual podcasts, but also develop new shows and concepts to further both company’s impact. We view this partnership as essential in our 2023 growth and are excited for this important expansion,” said Colin Thomson, CEO of Kast Media.

The shows will be distributed and monetized by Kast Media throughout 2023, with expansion announcements already in the works across multiple shows in the slate.

Women In Podcasting Network Reaches 9,000 Members

The Women in Podcasting Network (WIPN), established in 2020, now boasts a very engaged community of 9,000 members across Facebook and LinkedIn groups, with a recent post attracting 1200 comments.

The network is dedicated to empowering and amplifying the voices of women podcasters through collaborative opportunities and access to essential resources for starting and monetizing podcasts.

According to the network’s founders, Jennifer Henczel, the vision of WIPN is to inspire and uplift women’s voices everywhere. The network’s mission is to create a space for women to share their unique perspectives and to increase representation in the podcasting industry.

The Women in Podcasting Network welcomes all women podcasters and expert guests, including those who are just starting their podcasting journey to seasoned professionals. The community offers opportunities for connection and collaboration, support and inclusivity.

The Women in Podcasting Show, – a production of the Women in Podcasting Network, is now streaming on major platforms, sharing insightful stories and experiences from women podcasters. The show will release a special episode featuring uplifting messages from its members on March 8th in celebration of International Woman’s Day.

The Network has almost 200 paid VIP members. The VIP membership of WIPN offers a directly listing and exclusive access to tools, templates, and training for starting and monetizing podcasts on their website at www.womeninpodcasting.net. These resources are designed to help women podcasters expand their reach and achieve their goals. The price to join has been intentionally set as low as possible at only $7/month, while still providing overflowing value, to help as many women as possible.

For more information on Women In Podcasting Network and its resources, visit the website.