Today on The Download; A new article shines light on unsavory developments at Stitcher after their buyout, Chartable is shuttering SmartAds, and this year’s edition of The Infinite Dial was unveiled at Podcast Movement: Evolutions. Last Friday, Tom Webster published an installment of I Hear Things titled Podcasting’s Most Controversial Statistic . The statistic in question relates to an experiment run by Edison Research’s Podcast Consumer Tracker. The parameters of the experiment were simple: di...
Mar 25, 2022•10 min•Ep. 14
Today on the show, Bryan Barletta sits down with Brendan Kelly (director of ad quality measure) and Stacey Hultgren (senior manager of ad quality measurement) of SXM Media to break down the concepts of brand safety and suitability. How do advertisers determine what shows are brand safe and brand suitable for them? They also discuss a proposal that Brendan and Stacey recently brought to an IAB working group, focusing on how transcripts can be used to ameliorate the process of determining brand sa...
Mar 20, 2022•29 min•Ep. 19
Today on The Download from Sound Profitable; Beer gets into video podcast advertising, kids podcast business is booming, and an appeal to private marketplace deals over FAANG, and more. Production company Crooked Media has kicked off a campaign incorporating a purely visual sponsorship into Offline with Jon Favreau, and it’s from a sector not frequently seen in podcasting. Morning Brew’s Alyssa Meyers covered the story last Friday , shining light on a YouTube-focused partnership between Crooked ...
Mar 18, 2022•11 min•Ep. 13
Sorry about all the police sirens. I wasn't arrested. No, I had to record this on St. Patrick's Day. In Downtown Boston. It's like Christmas, but for alcotourists.Register for the 2022 Infinite Dial presentation here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-infinite-dial-2022-tickets-290830069567?aff=edisonnewsletter&__s=xxxxxxx Support for I Hear Things can be provided at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Tomwebster See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Mar 18, 2022•13 min•Ep. 30
Manuela Bedoya, Shreya Sharma, and Gavin Gaddis are on the show today, chatting with Bryan Barletta about our newest podcast, The Download. If this is your first time hearing about it, The Download is our weekly podcast about the business of podcasting. It started in December, and was initially hosted by Evo Terra and Bryan Barletta. We quickly decided to bring in Sharma, Bedoya, and Gaddis to the production and hosting team. In this chat, learn more about the team behind The Download and why we...
Mar 13, 2022•20 min•Ep. 18
Today on The Download from Sounds Profitable; ad tech firms are under fire for data scraping, Amazon joins the social audio market, YouTube is paying podcasters to incorporate video, and more. Morning Brew’s Ryan Barwick reports that trade groups acting on behalf of publishers from the US, UK, and Canada are accusing ad-tech firms of unfairly scraping metadata from websites Once collected, this allegedly ill-gotten data is used to create contextual advertising segments for clients without the pu...
Mar 11, 2022•10 min•Ep. 12
Register for the 2022 Infinite Dial presentation here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-infinite-dial-2022-tickets-290830069567?aff=edisonnewsletter&__s=xxxxxxx The top podcast networks, by reach: https://www.edisonresearch.com/u-s-top-podcast-networks-by-reach-q4-2021/ The difficulty of "hits" in podcasting: https://tomwebster.media/the-oversimplified-superstring-hit-incubation-theory-of-podcasting/ Support the show! Buy Walnut a treat! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Tomwebster See omnystudio...
Mar 11, 2022•11 min•Ep. 29
Caila Litman , author of Sounds Profitable's #GoodData series and longtime podcast industry professional, is on the show today. It's a special episode—sans regular host Bryan Barletta. Caila and Arielle Nissenblatt , who you usually hear at the top and bottom of each episode, discuss all things Good Data. If you've been wondering how our Good Data series came to be and what our goals are for it, this episode is for you. Listen in to learn about: How Caila finds, dissects, and evaluates data Cail...
Mar 06, 2022•23 min•Ep. 17
Today on The Download from Sounds Profitable; big names in podcasting are pulling down big numbers in ad revenue, Meta and Mozilla have teamed up to change advertising privacy, and TikTok might not be the #1 place to take short-form podcast content. https://www.morningbrew.com/marketing/stories/2022/02/25/ads-from-major-brands-are-running-on-news-sites-owned-by-or-linked-to-the-russian-government?utm_campaign=mkb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew&mid=4afb33bb7ffe284d84066...
Mar 04, 2022•10 min•Ep. 11
The full Super Listeners Study is available here: https://www.edisonresearch.com/super-listeners-2021-from-edison-research-and-ad-results-media/Support the show at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TomwebsterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 04, 2022•17 min•Ep. 28
Pierre Bouvard , Chief Insights Officer at Cumulus Media , is on the show today to speak with Bryan Barletta about what podcasting can learn from radio and other legacy media. Bouvard develops media and marketing insights to support Cumulus's 1300+ media sellers. He works with brands and agencies to craft targeting and measurement solutions. As always, Arielle Nissenblatt joins Bryan at the top of the show to introduce the conversation. She then rejoins after the chat to break it all down, givin...
Feb 27, 2022•40 min•Ep. 16
Today on The Download, Libsyn grows monetization, LinkedIn launches a podcast network, and what the new Privacy Sandbox feature for Android means for marketers. Let’s get started. Libsyn has bought another podcast representation firm , this time acquiring PAR - Podcast Ad Reps. With the acquisition LibSyn brings around 120 podcasts that were currently under representation with PAR under the LibSyn-owned AdvertiseCast banner, further building out the company’s monetization arm. According to Libsy...
Feb 25, 2022•7 min•Ep. 10
Sean Howard, founder of Flightpath and of Fable and Folly, talks with Bryan about solving for pain points in adtech, collaboration with your competitors, and how we're truly only at the beginning of podcasting. Sean Howard of Flightpath Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta of Sounds Profitable - bryan@soundsprofitable.com and Arielle Nissenblatt Audio engineering by Ian Powell Executive produced by Evo Terra of Simpler Media Special thanks to James Cridland of Podnews Podcast hosting and dynamic in...
Feb 20, 2022•36 min•Ep. 15
Today on The Download, Amazon continues their streak of signing exclusivity deals, agents are becoming more of a common site in podcasting, and Spotify buys both Podsights and Charitable. Good news for those who missed Ad Result Media and Edison Research’s big webinar on 2021 data from Super Listeners: Caila Litman live-tweeted the event ! Litman, author of Sound Profitable’s column #GoodData , posted a thread of 17 tweets containing screenshots and quotes full of juicy data. According to the th...
Feb 18, 2022•9 min•Ep. 9
Jordan Bentley, Founder of Audiohook, talks with Bryan about transparency, waterfalls, programmatic advertising, and how Podcasting still has a chance to start things the right way to lead to a better future. Jordan Bentley of Audiohook Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta of Sounds Profitable - bryan@soundsprofitable.com and Arielle Nissenblatt Audio engineering by Ian Powell Executive produced by Evo Terra of Simpler Media Special thanks to James Cridland of Podnews Podcast hosting and dynamic in...
Feb 13, 2022•28 min•Ep. 14
Today on The Download: Today: Amazon inherits a celeb-powered podcasting company, new ad revenue numbers forecast good news for podcast investment, and a new op-ed asks where has Facebook’s fervor for podcasting gone? Celebrity chat podcast Smartless, hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, recently launched production house SmartLess Media. With former Jon Stewart-era Daily Show producer Richard Korson at the reins as president, SmartLess Media is poised to add multiple new stars ...
Feb 11, 2022•7 min•Ep. 8
Claire Atkin, co-founder of the brilliant non-profit Check My Ads, talks with Bryan about disinformation, ad accountability, and the steps you should be taking to make sure your brand is being seen where you want it to. Claire Atkin of Check My Ads Link discussed in Episode: https://checkmyads.org/branded/ Credits: Hosted by Bryan Barletta of Sounds Profitable - bryan@soundsprofitable.com and Arielle Nissenblatt Audio engineering by Ian Powell Executive produced by Evo Terra of Simpler Media Spe...
Feb 06, 2022•37 min•Ep. 13
Today on The Download: is the IAB on borrowed time?, podcast ads see big gains again, Google makes misinformation less profitable, podcasts grow globally, SXM enters the identity game, and Spotify stands behind Rogan even as earnings fall. Let's get started. Neilsen spells doom for IAB In the world of TV, Nielsen measurement has been the defacto solution that deals are guaranteed against for decades. But now, according to https://digiday.com/future-of-tv/advertisers-tv-networks-plan-to-set-niels...
Feb 04, 2022•9 min•Ep. 7
Register for the Super Listeners webinar (free presentation on Feb 16) We WANT TO BE FREE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHly9UuQ-A Support the show at Buy Me A Coffee! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 04, 2022•8 min•Ep. 27
Today on The Download: is the IAB on borrowed time?, podcast ads see big gains again, Google makes misinformation less profitable, podcasts grow globally, SXM enters the identity game, and Spotify stands behind Rogan even as earnings fall. HBO Max is Hiring For Their Podcast Marketing Team Subscription streaming video service HBO Max continues to prove its serious about podcasting. Their first venture into the space dropped last summer with Batman: The Audio Adventures, an exclusive podcast that...
Jan 28, 2022•8 min•Ep. 6
Chase Miller, EVP of Strategy and Corporate Development at Claritas, joins us for our latest product deepdive. We talk about device graphs, legacy, "The Barletta Household", and why having good data is so incredibly important. Think of the product deepdives like the final meeting your company would have with an adtech vendor, fully running through what the product actually is and how it’s used. No power points, press releases, or marketing presentations here. It’s time for some detailed product ...
Jan 23, 2022•43 min•Ep. 47
The "podcasting isn't creating new hits" article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-01-09/podcasting-hasn-t-produced-a-new-hit-in-years 2021 Top Movies: https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/box-office/highest-grossing-movies-of-2021/#2-shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings 2020-21 Top TV Shows: https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/most-popular-tv-shows-highest-rated-2020-2021-season-1234980743/ Larry Rosin's article: https://radioink.com/2022/01/11/music-radio-a-kingdom-of-gold/?vg...
Jan 21, 2022•24 min•Ep. 26
This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta.And I'm Evo Terra. Today; Audible moves away from daily news digests, Audioboom's profit soars, how podcast advertising needs to write its own future, and two more pieces you don't want to miss. Let's get started. In GeekWire, Todd Bishop reports that Audible will stop making and distributing their audio digest versions of The New York Times , a service they had been pro...
Jan 14, 2022•6 min•Ep. 5
I'd love it if you would subscribe to the newsletter version of I Hear Things, at https://tomwebster.media. You can find all of the data cited in this week's episode there in the article with the same title (The Best Schnitzel in Detroit.) You can also support the show at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TomwebsterThe "Who Doesn't Like Pizza" piece: https://tomwebster.media/no-one-likes-pizza/The best schnitzel I've had: https://www.gasthaus-reinthaler.atSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...
Jan 07, 2022•23 min•Ep. 25
This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta.And I'm Evo Terra. Today, The New York Times Bets half a billion on sports, NPR doubles down on paid subscriptions, Spotify goes all-in on in-app digital ads, and I'm clearly making too many gambling references. Let's get started.NYT buys The Athletic The New York Times has agreed to purchase the sports news company, the Athletic, for $550m . The six-year-old company, wh...
Jan 07, 2022•6 min•Ep. 4
Hey it's me. I know this is an odd day for an episode, but that's because it's not an episode of Sounds Profitable the Podcast. Instead it's an episode of another podcast you should be listening to: Podcast Pontifications, by Evo Terra. It's cool, he's cool, and if you like it, search for Podcast Pontifications in your podcast app, and give it a follow. And I'm excited to share with you the next episode of Sounds Profitable the Podcast on Sunday, and the next episode of The Download on Friday. S...
Jan 06, 2022•8 min•Ep. 47
This is The Download, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta. And I'm Evo Terra. Today, why premium content won't kill advertising-supported podcasts, Facebook podcast activity is over-inflated, Section 230 under fire, and why the "average" podcast consumer is a myth you need to move away from. Let's get started. With Coca-Cola picking WPP to handle their nearly $4 billion in yearly ad spend, https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-advertising-accounts-...
Dec 31, 2021•9 min•Ep. 3
We got such good feedback a few days ago that we decided to test the waters again with another pilot (co-pilot?) episode of The Download. Just in time for Christmas! If you love it, send us a note! Matt Deegan examines Global's acquisition of podcast hosting platform Captivate . In particular, he notes how Captiave's hosting solution fills a much-needed gap in Global's offering, and how their audio advertising business—DAX—should integrate nicely, giving the company "full-stack" capabilities., c...
Dec 24, 2021•6 min•Ep. 367
You can support my increasingly bad coffee habit at Buy Me A Coffee, here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TomwebsterPacific Content's annual Predictions article(s): https://blog.pacific-content.com/in-the-year-2022-part-two-92c22c1c44b0 https://blog.pacific-content.com/in-the-year-2022-320f4c175f6f See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Dec 23, 2021•15 min•Ep. 24
Hosted and Produced by Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra Audio Engineering by Ian Powell This is The Download, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta. And I'm Evo Terra. Today we're covering the entirety of the podcast acquisition and funding that happened in 2021. Let's get started. Libsyn, the public podcast hosting platform founded in 2004 had an incredibly active year. They started by raising 25 million dollars and they definitely put it to work, buying ...
Dec 21, 2021•9 min•Ep. 1
