Tag: Podchaser

Podchaser Brings Radio’s Relied-On Airchecks Feature For Podcast Advertisers

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaser, the podcast industry’s intelligence engine, announced Airchecks to provide advertisers with a deeper understanding of podcast ad campaigns. More specifically, Airchecks leverages a sophisticated machine learning algorithm to identify keywords and patterns in the audio waveform. These transcriptions and insights are then made available to media buyers and planners to not only confirm that their ad ran across the intended podcast, but also to quickly understand the brand positioning and representation within the ad by the podcaster to help inform current and future campaigns.

For advertisers, airchecks have long been a staple of radio campaigns and have become a relied upon source for measurement as well as planning. As the podcast landscape continues to mature from increased investments, advertisers are still lacking scalable and standardized measurement to inform their continued spend. In fact, according to Nielsen, nearly half (49%) of global marketers plan to increase their spending on podcasts over the next year but only 44% are extremely or very confident in being able to measure return on their investments. Now, with Airchecks, advertisers using Podchaser Pro have access to even more insights that enable them to forge connections with these tuned-in audiences.

“Podcast advertising is reaching such scale that many brands are now buying across hundreds or even thousands of podcasts at a time. The industry has been calling out for a scalable way to discover and track these. With Airchecks, our Podcaster Pro users are able to quickly discover, listen to, and learn from podcast ads through voice transcription technology,” said Bradley Davis, CEO of Podchaser. “Having access to this data is not only a powerful validation tool for in-progress campaigns, but also yields crucial insights for planning future campaigns.”

Airchecks is currently in beta across the top 5,000 podcasts and is the latest feature to be added to the Podchaser Pro suite of podcast data, insights, and planning tools for advertisers and media planners. Podchaser Pro also includes powerful insights on audience reach, listener demographics, brand safety, and much more.

This news comes on the heels of Podchaser’s recent Predictive Demographics launch, which is an industry-first predictive language modeling capability that users AI to analyze the language spoken within a podcast to predict the age and gender of its likely audience.

To learn more about Airchecks and Podchaser Pro, please visit http://features.podchaser.com/pro/ or email Cole Raven at cole@podchaser.com.

Podchaser Integrates With Sprinklr Insights To Introduce Podcast Listening Data To Platform

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaser, the leading podcast database, launched an integration with Sprinklr – the leading unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM)- to enhance Sprinklr’s AI-powered social – powered social listening and monitoring product suite – Sprinklr Insights – with Podchaser API’s robust podcast metadata.

Podcast are crucial for brand through leadership as they offer powerful platform to engage audience with in-depth discussions, share expert insights, and establish a brand’s authority in a convenient and accessible format. This partnership allows Sprinklr customers to understand brand-relevant conversations happening on podcasts as well as measure the impact of editorial podcast content. Specifically, the Podchaser integration will arm Sprinklr customers with powerful data on podcast reach as well as audience demographic insights that enable them to make informed decisions for their campaigns.

“As the medium continues to grow, it’s becoming increasingly important for companies to understand how their brand and products are being discussed on podcasts,” said Bradley Davis, CEO of Podchaser. “Through Podchaser’s data integration, Sprinklr customers are gaining unparalleled insight into their podcast presence and its impact.”

“The digital world generates oceans of valuable information. Brands need onmichannel listening strategies to filter signal from noise on an enterprise scale, and transform it into actionable insights that drive better strategies and customer experiences,” said Sprinklr Chief Technology Officer, Pavitar Singh. “The integration with Podchaser provides Sprinklr customers the ability to listen to and measure conversations happening on podcasts alongside the 30+ digital platforms already supported by Sprinklr.”

The integration of Podchaser’s global metadata on over 4.5 million podcasts and 170 million episodes enables Sprinklr to offer an industry-leading social listening podcast platform to its customers. The integration will be generally available to all Sprinklr Insights customers at the end of June as part of Sprinklr’s 18.5 product release.

Podchaser Develops AI-Powered Data Capabilities With Launch of Collections+

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaser – the podcast industry’s intelligence engine – announces the launch of a groundbreaking AI-powered capability to allow advertisers to expand their reach in podcasting and refine their targeting further than ever before. Podchaser’s Collections+ has been developed and tested with Acast, and is now being made available to any hosting provider, ad platform or marketplace in the industry looking to enhance its own targeting offering for advertisers.

With Collections+, data on podcasts and their audiences is pulled from the widest range of sources across podcasting – including the hosting platform’s own data, Podchaser’s first-party data, Apple Podcasts and Spotify category and chart data, IAB categories, surveys and transcriptions. 

The data is then synthesized using AI models, sorting podcasts into verticals based on all available data points. This creates the highest quality collections for advertisers to target against in the industry, replacing the traditional method, where podcasts are categorized manually into groups which advertisers then choose to buy against for their campaigns.

Bradley Davis, CEO at Podchaser said: “We’re turning what once was the art of podcast buying into a true science using everyone’s best friend, AI. By combining Podchaser’s position as the industry’s intelligence engine with Acast’s decade of deep experience in packaging podcasts to help advertisers reach valuable audiences, we’ve been able to create the highest-quality collections in the industry, which go beyond simple manual human classification.

“As audience-first buying becomes increasingly important, and more and more dollars flow into brand campaigns, we’re optimizing ad planning for everyone. Advertisers are empowered to plan smarter campaigns and we’re enabling more podcasters to earn more revenue. Most importantly, this data technique is being made available to the whole industry to use, to improve podcasting for all.”

Data shows that 44% of US podcast advertising investment lands with the top 500 shows. But these shows only account for 12% of monthly reach, which means advertisers are missing the opportunity to target nearly 88% of the addressable podcast audience. Collections+ benefits all parties in podcasting: for advertisers it brings more scale, increased longevity of creatives, better campaign diversity and increased effectiveness. For podcasters, it means greater discoverability amongst advertisers, increased chance of revenue and more shows monetized.

For example, a podcast may present itself as focusing on travel, but through Collections+ Podchaser can deduce that episodes veer heavily into discussions around, say, mental health as well as self-development, allowing that show to be included in more relevant sales verticals, making the podcast more discoverable to advertisers and attracting even more relevant advertising to engaged audiences than before.

At Acast, Collections+ has already seen uptake from a large number of brands including several Fortune 500 companies, and has enabled Acast to monetize 5% more shows in the first seven weeks of testing. For advertisers, buying through Acast, the capability is available in all markets at no additional cost – whether brought through Acast’s sales teams, programmatically or via Acast’s self-serve advertising program.

Collections+ is available now for any podcast hosting or ad platform – contact cole@podchaser.com for more information.

Podchaser Makes It Difficult For You To Remove Your Podcast

~ Jen Thorpe

As you may have heard, Podchaser has been acquired by Acast. It is entirely possible that your podcast – or some of its episodes – has been sucked into Podchaser without your knowledge or permission. I recommend you check on that.

I found Shattered Soulstone, the podcast that my husband and I have been working on for years, on Podchaser. Neither one of us was contacted by Podchaser when they decided to grab not only our episodes but also the data it generates.

In an article written by Paul Sawers (TechCrunch) he wrote:

…While Podchaser will continue as a separate brand and business once the acquisition closes, Acast said that it plans a “deep integration” of Podchaser’s data, giving its customers “authoritative, structured, metadata.” Indeed, while Podchaser is a consumer-focused platform in terms of how it aids discoverability, it’s also a utility for advertisers and marketers, as it allows them to find the most suitable podcasts to sell their wares to. Targeted advertising will play an important part of the fast-growing podcasting industry, and its partly why Acast is bringing Podchaser under its wing — Podchaser delivers additional data points spanning demographics, consumption, reach, and “favorability”.

Personally, I don’t want Podchaser to grab the data from my podcast and hand it over to advertisers – for the advertiser’s benefit. I don’t want Podchaser to collect data about my listeners, who have never given Podchaser permission to track them.

There is an Help article on Podchaser titled: “Requesting Removal of Podcasts from Podchaser”. The line under that title says: “Can I delete my podcast from Podchaser?”

The Help Desk person wrote this: “Podchaser is the world’s most comprehensive podcast database that strives to present an accurate representation of podcast information past and present. This visibly allows podcasters big and small to gain new listeners and monetization opportunities.”

It also says: “If you would like to request the removal of your podcast, please fill out this form”. (The word Form has a link attached).

I filled out the form, and waited, but nothing changed. Another problem appeared. In order to remove your podcast you have to “claim” it as the owner. Doing so does not allow you to remove your podcast. I think it’s there to annoy podcasters in the hopes they will give up trying to remove their podcast from Podchaser.

One option is to allow Podchaser to access your Twitter account and let you log in that way. I highly recommend you DO NOT allow it to access to any of your social media accounts.

The image above says: Authorize Podchaser to access your account?

This application will be able to:

  • See Tweets from your timeline (including protected Tweets) as well as your Lists and collections.
  • See your Twitter profile information and account settings
  • See accounts you follow, mute, and block
  • Follow and unfollow accounts for you
  • Update your profile and account settings
  • Post and delete Tweets for you. and engage with Tweets posted by others (Like, un-like, or reply to a retweet, etc.) for you.
  • Create, manage and delete Lists and collections for you
  • Mute, block, and report accounts for you

I found this to be incredibly troubling! It sounds like if you give Podchaser access to your Twitter account – you pretty much lose control of your Twitter. There’s another thing like this if you want to give Podchaser access to your Facebook account.

I ended up making an account on Podchaser, in the hopes doing so would make it easier for them to hear me. It doesn’t. Instead, I got sent emails about their latest updates, etc, – which is not at all what I want.

When this didn’t work, and days of waiting for a response from Podchaser, my husband Shawn (editor of Shattered Soulstone), had to create his own Podchaser account, claim the show, and then fill out another form requesting that Shattered Soulstone to be removed. There is a spot on the form that asks: “Why do you want your podcast removed?” He wrote: “Don’t want to contribute to your data harvesting business.”

That was on July 30th. We are still waiting to have the show removed from Podcaster. There has been no follow up at all, for either of us. Podchaser may have originally added Shattered Soulstone from a public API. But, they should honor requests to have shows removed.

Podchaser Acquired Podcharts and Podrover

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaster is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Podcharts and Podrover. Podchaser is continuing its mission to power podcast discovery and empower podcast creators with the tools they need to succeed all in one place. Podcharts and Podrover were originally created by Cesare Rocci of Studio Magnolia.

Podcharts is a service that allows you to track podcast charts and rankings across popular apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Charts are broken down across categories, location, and platform with historical data available to view trends across time. Users can track specific podcasts and receive updates on their movements in each chart.

Podrover is the app and service that helps podcasters track, organize, and share their podcast reviews across multiple platforms including Podchaser, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher. Podcasters never miss a review as Podrover automatically brings in reviews and sends notifications when you get a review. Via Podrover’s app and website, podcasters can easily organize and view all of their reviews in one spot.

What’s next?

Aside from a new Podchaser-branded outfit, Podcharts and Podrover will continue as standalone services with new improvements coming soon! You’ll also be seeing Podchaser implemented reviews, charts data, historical trends, and more into its discovery platform, creator tools, and professional services. Stay tuned!

Podcast Database Startup Podchaser Raises $4M

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaser, the “IMDb for podcasts”, announced $4M in funding led by Greycroft, with additional investors including Advancit Capital, LightShed Ventures, Powerhouse Capital, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and Popular Ventures. Participating angels include founder and former President of TrendKite A.J. Bruno, CEO of Ad Results Media Marshall Williams, and partner of Shamrock Capital Mike LaSalle.

The funding will continue to support Podchaser’s mission of enriching podcast data via the crowd, creating community for podcast listeners, and building tools for professionals in the space – podcasters, agencies, and brands alike.

“Our goal is to convert the firehose of podcast data into a drinking fountain of insights that power discovery and decision-making throughout the industry,” said Bradly Davis, CEO of Podchaser.

“Even in the face of a pandemic, the podcast market continues to grow at a breakneck pace. The demand from consumers and brands is insatiable,” said Alan Patricof, Co-Founder and Chairman of Greycroft. “Podchaser’s data and discovery tools are crucial to taking podcasting to new heights.”

Through crowdsourcing features such as credits, lists, and ratings/reviews, Podchaser has built the most comprehensive podcast database and a community of avid podcast listeners and podcasters that continues to grow — tripling in size over the past year and contributing over 8.5 million creator and guest credits.

With this new funding, Podchaser aims to create a new class of podcast tastemakers with the introduction of a gamification and discussion system that fosters connection between listeners and podcasters.

Podchaser Introduced Podchaser Pro

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaser announced the release of its new powerful service for podcast professionals, Podchaser Pro, which brings radical efficiency to the process of discovering, qualifying, and contacting podcasts.

Podchaser Pro builds upon Podchaser’s best-in-class data set to provide access to reach, contacts, demographics and more across 1.4+ million podcasts. The new platform helps pull back the curtain and bring transparency to podcasting, empowering marketing agencies, PR firms, publicists, and networks to create the most effective podcast campaigns.

“Podcasting is a secret weapon for marketers and communications professionals. What other medium lets you target and engage your niche for multiple hours?” said Bradley Davis, Podchaser co-founder and CEO. ”With nearly 100,000 new podcasts being released each month on top of the massive number of existing shows, the opportunities are overwhelming. Discovering, qualifying, and contacting these podcasts is the tough part, requiring way too many browser tabs, wild guesses, and headaches. Podchaser brings the whole process together in one place, saving you time and bringing more wins to clients.”

Podchaser’s Power Score Drives Smart Discovery

Podchaser Pro makes it easy to find the most influential podcasts within niches using Podchaser’s brand new “Power Score” metric. Podchaser Pro users can browse, search, and sort podcasts by their Power Score – a unique score of a podcast’s influence based on over 30 different data points including audience size, social influence, and more.

Vet Podcast Opportunities with Audience Reach, Demographics, and More

The days of reading tea leaves and trusting self-reported data is over. Podchaser Pro users can quickly browse estimated reach, demographics, social numbers, and more, allowing them to make the right decision for their campaign. Detailed insights let users take the win back to the client

Contacts and Planning Tools Let You Get Right to Work

Podchaser Pro gives users the tools to start planning and executing campaigns immediately with the world’s largest database of podcast contacts and on-site tools like notes and pitch lists. Each user also gets a personal concierge to provide advice and support at the drop of a hat.

Podchaser Pro Elevates Any Podcast Campaign

Whether you’re an advertiser, publicist, network, or PR firm, Podchaser Pro provides the insights and tools needed to efficiently navigate podcasting and unleash its full potential.

Apply to The Podcast Academy Through Podchaser

~ Jen Thorpe

Podchaser announced that podcasters can now use their Podchaser creator profile to apply for membership in The Podcast Academy.

In order to join The Podcast Academy, podcasters will need to meet membership criteria depending on their role, including a minimum number of podcast credits and run time. Luckily, The Podcast Academy makes this super easy by allowing you to link to your Podchaser creator profile to verify your podcast credits.

Podchaser has provided instructions that will walk podcasters who have a Podchaser account through the process of applying for The Podcast Academy. The first step is to make sure your Podchaser creator profile is up-to-date with your latest credits.

The Podcast Academy began accepting members in June of 2020. Those that are interested in becoming a member must pay a membership fee. Those who sign up before September 30, 2020, can get 50% off their initial annual membership (meaning their membership fee will be $50). If you buy a membership after October 1, 2020, the price will be $100.

The Podcast Academy was formed to foster excellence and recognize outstanding creative achievement in podcasting.  To do this they will confer annual awards of merit upon those deemed to be most worthy by their industry peers. This awards program will bring the industry together, drive creativity, quality and excellence, and elevate the status of podcasts as an entertainment medium. The first awards ceremony will be held in 2021.

Spreaker has a Partnership with Podchaser

~ Jen Thorpe

Spreaker announced that they kicked off 2020 with their partnership with Podchaser.

Spreaker describes Podchaser as “like the IMDb of podcasting with a social layer”. Podchaser boasts a wide range of features including podcasts and episode reviews, user-curated lists, custom categories, over four million creator and guest credits, the ability to follow friends, podcasts, and creators, and much more. With their recent activity feed feature, users can see all of this engagement in real-time, leading to more discovery.

Unique Podchaser Benefits include:

Get Discovered and Get Feedback: Once you’ve claimed your podcast on Podchaser, you’ll receive notifications of new ratings and reviews for your podcast, gathering valuable listener feedback. Accumulate ratings to see your podcast rise in the ranks of Podchaser’s trending podcasts and episodes for discoverability. This activity will also be shown to other users via the activity feed, exposing your podcast to new audiences.

Grow Your Personal Brand: As the mastermind behind your podcast, creating a profile on Podchaser allows you to showcase all of your work, including any time you’ve helped produce another podcast or appeared as a guest on another podcast! Other users on Podchaser will easily be able to find and engage with you based on your interests and passions.

Find Guests and Partners: In the same way that creating a profile on Podchaser allows you to be found by others, its an incredible search tool for you to find other hosts, guests, producers, editors, voice actors, or just about any kind of collaboration you’re looking for!

Plus, you can harness the power of those guests by adding guest credits to your episodes. That way, anyone who follows your guest will receive a notification that they were on your podcast.