Podsights

Podsights Reports ARN’s iHeartMedia Australia Outperforms Global Benchmarks

~ jen

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.”

Spotify Acquires Podsights and Chartable

~ jen

Spotify announced that they have acquired two podcast technology companies: Podsights and Chartable.

Podsights is a leading podcast advertisement measurement service that help advertisers better measure and scale their podcast advertising. Chartable is a podcast analytics platform that enables publishers to know and grow their podcast audiences through promotional attributions and insight tools.

Here’s what these acquisitions will mean for advertisers and publishers:

Upleveling Measurement for Podcast Advertising

In short, with the acquisition of Podsights, Spotify will be able to help advertisers understand how podcast ads drive actions that matter to their businesses. Over time, Spotify plans to extend these measurement capabilities beyond podcasts to the full scope of the Spotify platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.

Helping Publishers Grow Their Businesses with Robust Insights & Promotional Tools

Over the past year, we’ve been strengthening Megaphone’s already robust offering – most recently with the acquisition of Whooshkaa and its broadcast-to-podcast technology – to ensure its the best place for podcast publishers to create, monetize, and measure their podcast business.

And now with the acquisition of Chartable, we will be further enhancing Megaphone’s suite of tools with the integration of Chartable’s audience insights and cutting-edge promotional tools, SmartLinks and SmartPromos. These tools will make it easier for publishers to turn audience insights into action and expand their listenership while ultimately growing their businesses.

The Future of Digital Audio

Spotify believes the opportunity for digital audio and podcast remains significant. With these acquisitions, Spotify says they are taking a big step in unleveling digital audio measurement and insights to help the entire industry scale to new heights.

The Verge reported: This deal is particularly critical for the company as it tries to make its ad platform the best and most powerful in audio. If it wants everyone to purchase ads through its marketplace, then it needs technology to better figure out who’s listening to those ads and what they’re doing after hearing them.

At the same time, marketing analytics are critical for show creators who want to ensure they’re spending their budgets well. This deal helps both creators and advertisers, two groups Spotify needs and wants to court.

Podsights has Acquired Pod.Link

~ jen

Podsights announced that it has acquired the podcast link-sharing platform pod.link, and its founder, Nathan Gathright, has joined the Podsights team. Podsights will continue to invest in the pod.link platform, and Podsights have rebuilt it from the ground up to allow any podcaster to customize and promote their podcast.

Pod.link creates simple, memorable podcast links that make it easy for listeners to subscribe to shows with their favorite podcast app. For more than two years, pod.link has helped independent podcasters and networks like Vox Media and Complex reach new listeners. With a straightforward domain, a built-in player, and support for the most popular podcast apps, pod.link has created a memorable experience that users trust to simplify the process of discovering new shows.

The paid version of pod.link allowed podcasters to customize their URL and remove ads. Podsights wants to expand on what Nathan had built by reducing the friction for independent podcasters, i.e., money.

What was pod.link premium is now available to all podcasters for free. Podsights is excited to add the ability for podcasters to customize the colors of their page to match their brand. They are big believers in visual identity, and wants your pod.link to represent your identity – not Podsight’s identity.

Lastly, Podsights has added the ability for you to add your own Google Analytics ID with IP anonymization. They want podcasters to grow their audience, and you can’t improve what you aren’t measuring. They do not include the Podsights pixel on pod.link by default. WThey will add it if a publisher chooses to use their marketing tools with pod.link, but it will be clearly marked in the URL like UTM parameters.

Podsights Announced New Features, a Rebrand, and Funding

~ jen

Podsights announced some changes to their logo and the products that they offer. Their new logo is a delightful, cartoon, kazoo – which should make them stand out from all the other companies that provide services to podcasters and advertisers.

Podsights today looks a little different than yesterday, and we have adopted a new mascot, the loyal and elegant kazoo. If you are unfamiliar, a kazoo is a precise musical instrument played by only the finest musicians worldwide. It’s also heavily featured at children’s parties.

You all ruined logos with headphones, microphones, sound waves, speakers, and really everything to do with sound. We are forging our own path, one that delights and doesn’t take itself to seriously.

Podsights will be adding a feature that gives brands the ability to contact publishers directly through research. If a publisher opts in, Podsights will show a “contact publisher” button on research. Brands can answer a few questions, and Podsights will shoot their information to the publisher. Podsights will not take a commission from this process.

Other improvements include:

Agency Views: Agencies can manage all their brands through one dashboard.

Sell-Side Agency Views: If you represent multiple podcasters, Podsights lets you run a campaign on their behalf, while the podcaster retains ownership of their podcast.

Reporting Only Campaigns: Attribution may not be the primary KPI of a campaign. Podsights lets you run impression only campaigns to centralize your podcasting efforts.

In addition, Podsights raised $1.5 million from Greycroft, Betaworks, BDMI, Rooks Nest and “a host of angels”, including Howard Lindzon (Social Leverage), Michael Kassan (Founder MediaLink), and Ilia Papas (Founder Blue Apron). These funds will help Podsights reach their goals.