- From Los Angeles, the latest from podnews.net with CoHost's Tracking Links. Spotify announced a set of new features for creators at its now playing event in Los Angeles with Gustav Söderström announcing its podcast and video hosting platform has been renamed to Spotify for Creators.
Eligible creators in the US, UK, Canada and Australia are able to join the brand new Spotify Partner Program which earns money from podcast audio ads both on and off the platform and from early next year, revenue based on how much your video podcast is streamed by premium users. The videos will appear uninterrupted and ad free for those users too.
We've more details about eligibility for the Spotify Partner Program and how it compares with YouTube in our show notes and our newsletter at podnews.net. Spotify also announced that it's now possible to upload video clips and video thumbnails for every episode. The event happened in Spotify's Los Angeles studios in front of about 150 creators, including Steven Bartlett, Meghan Trainor, Jay Shetty, Emma Chamberlain and Don Lemon.
Halsey played an acoustic set and there were a number of sessions as well. In one of those, when asked what his favorite thing about podcasting was, Jeff Chow, head of podcast studios at The Ringer, said that it was that podcasts are open. Admittedly also saying that his favorite thing about podcasting was Bill Simmons. I was here as a guest of Spotify. On Tuesday, Spotify announced its Q3/24 financials.
The company reported record income, record gross margin of 31.1% and revenue up by 21% year on year. It made $32 million profit in the quarter and is on course to post a yearly profit for the first time. Spotify is now used by 640 million active users every month. Now ad supported revenue, including advertising in podcasts grew 6% year on year, but yield appears to be an issue.
The company noted that podcast advertising was driven by growth in impressions sold, partially offset by softness in pricing. In other news, Edison Research revealed the top 50 podcasts in the US by total audience for Q3/24. Our list includes links to listen. 21 of the top 50 are hosted by Spotify's Megaphone. iHeartMedia is laying off up to 500 people. A large number of radio people affected have been documented by Radio Insight.
We understand there've been cuts in some of the company's podcast businesses too. Blog Talk Radio is to close on January the 31st, one of the earliest podcast and live streaming hosts. It launched in January 2006, merging with Spreaker in August 2017, Voxnest bought Spreaker in 2018, iHeart bought Voxnest in 2020, and most recently it's been part of Triton Digital. In August this year, it hosted 3,293 podcasts.
Samsung Podcasts has emailed licensing partners to reveal that it is to close on December the 1st. The service was latterly known as the Listen tab on Samsung Free or Samsung Zero. Who knows, who cares? It launched in March 2021. The Locked On Podcast Network has added the Locked On NBA Fast channel, a sixth fast TV channel on YouTube, Local Now, and Zeam. With Amazon Fire to come shortly, the channel carries daily episodes from Locked On NBA video podcasts.
The company as a whole saw a record listens and views figure in October of 37.5 million, which is almost 10% higher than September. Acast now represents the TED Audio Collective for ad sales, hosting, and distribution. TED Talks Daily, the flagship show of the network, is currently a top 40 podcast in the US. TED moves from PRX and Soundrise. The deal covers everywhere outside Australia and New Zealand, where ARN's iHeart is currently partner.
New US podcast consumption data from Analytics IQ suggests that YouTube is the most popular place for podcasts listening, with 59% of people saying they'd listened to a podcast on it in the past three months. Comedy is the number one podcast category. 23% say they've bought products because of a podcast ad. Not given in the report, the survey was undertaken in quarter one, 2024, which probably explains why 16% of listeners say they were using Google Podcasts, which closed in March.
And the Podcasting Marketing Academy released its Podcast Marketing Trends report for 2024. It contains a load of data to allow you to compare your podcast with others. It's the latest report to make note of the disruption caused by Apple's iOS 17 changes last year. And in podcast news, Permission to Shine, the show dedicated to highlighting humble, inspiring people, has reached episode number 50.
What does a day in the life of Austin, Texas sound like to make 24 Hours in Austin, which launches today? 20 audio producers spent 24 hours in different Austin locations. The show kicks off today, spending 24 hours in Sixth Street. At least one third of residents in the Navajo Nation, the largest indigenous tribe in the United States, needs to travel miles to get water for drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning.
New from ABC audio this week, Reclaimed the Lifeblood of the Navajo Nation, chronicles the Navajo Nation's generations-long fight for water rights. Redacted, Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana is new this week from Ballen Studios and Wondery. Each week, the show pulls back the curtain on what was once classified information, exposing the secrets and lies behind the world's most powerful institutions. Say it ain't so.
The last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior is a co-production of the Australian ABC and RNZ, exploring the Greenpeace ship's last voyage before it was bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbor. And after three years, host Nikiesha McLeod and producer Jeremiah Lee McVay are producing the second season of When We See Each Other, their podcast that features mainly BIPOC, trans, queer, and non-binary artists talking about their work, their creative processes, their identities, and their lives.
The show originally ran during the pandemic. This podcast is sponsored by CoHost. Discover what drives podcast downloads with CoHost's tracking links, a chartable smart link alternative trusted by leading creators, brands, and agencies. Sign up today for a free seven-day trial. You'll find the link in our show notes. And that's the latest from our newsletter. To read all the stories and subscribe, we're at podnews.net.