I know I say that Normal gossip is a must-listen podcast is a room-temperature recording, but if you haven’t tuned in yet, I implore you to listen to his most recent episode. I won’t spoil it any further than the fact that niche pocket watch community drama is spicier than I ever imagined.
On to the news! Anchor users around the world can now upload video podcasts, Acast has a neat new tool for advertisers, and Edison has some promising new research on the growth of podcast listening.
Anchor users around the world can now publish video podcasts to Spotify
As YouTube becomes a bigger player in the podcasting industry, Spotify is expanding its video podcasting capabilities to creators around the world. Anchor users in 180 markets can now publish video versions of their podcasts to Spotify. Previously, that only benefited users in a dozen countries, including the US, Australia, and Brazil.
Despite all the talk about video podcasts, they are still the exception rather than the rule. The Joe Rogan experience and Call her daddy As an aside, Spotify’s charts are dominated by audio-only shows. That doesn’t mean it won’t catch on – the more people do it, the more others will follow. But making a video podcast requires more equipment and editing (and you can’t look like a garbage monkey while recording, which is one of the benefits of podcasting in the first place). It’s not for everyone!
Additionally, YouTube’s advantage over audio streamers may not be (entirely) its video capabilities. In spring, Cumulus found that 45 percent of people who used podcasts on YouTube didn’t even watch the video; they just listened with the video minimized. I guess the real advantage of YouTube is that… it’s Google. You google a podcast, and there it is. The search is undeniably easier, and even I find myself defaulting to the YouTube version of podcasts when doing research for work.
Anyway, now that Anchor has launched the feature in the Spotify markets, I’m curious to see if video adoption is on the rise.
The number of daily podcast listeners is growing
That may still pale in comparison to those who watch TV or listen to music every day, for example, but it’s a lot more than it used to be. Edison’s new data, collected in the third quarter of this year, shows that 18 percent of people in the U.S. aged 13 and older listen to a podcast every day, compared to 15 percent in the same period last year. That figure of 18 percent is also double the rate in 2018.
“There have been some quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in podcast reach as we saw the start and end of quarantine restrictions, but this graph showing the increase in podcast reach should be encouraging to the podcast community,” the company said. . blog post is reading.
Acast launches new feature that allows advertisers to target podcasts based on keywords
The industry is (rightly) obsessed with improving podcast advertising, and Acast has introduced a new feature that tries to do just that. The Swedish podcasting company now allows advertisers using its marketplace to choose programs based on topic keywords.
It’s another way that cookieless advertisers can place spots on podcasts where they think their target audience is. It can also allow them to select specific episodes that might be about a topic relevant to their product (even if the show as a whole isn’t).
Advertising tools like these might not make for the most compelling news (or press releases, trust me), but they’re really essential to making podcasting a sustainable business. Even as podcast listening is on the rise, the cloudiness surrounding podcast data makes it difficult for advertisers to spend money on audio campaigns. If they think they won’t get results, they will put their money elsewhere. The hope is that podcasting will be a $4 billion industry by 2024, trickling down to creators who can hopefully make a living off their work. But that won’t happen without some serious improvement in audio advertising technology.
Why are podcasts not eligible for Grammys?
Okay, that might be a stupid question, but hear me out. The Grammys already have a few spoken word categories, which includes Best Comedy Album, Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, and in what is probably the closest thing to podcasting, Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording. Especially since audiobooks and podcasts are becoming more and more similar and occupying the same platforms, why not? There are clearly separate award shows for podcasts, but they get little (if any) attention outside of the audio industry.
I won’t be the guy to petition for a podcast category at the Grammys, but it seems inevitable that someone will be.
Note: I’m away next week, so you’ll hear from Uncle Jake. Have a great Thanksgiving, and I say this with love, please don’t email me.