This is The Download from Sounds Profitable. The most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I'm Manuela Kareya. And I'm Shriasharmo. The download is brought to you by Podscribe. Find out more at Podscribe.com. This week, IAB Tech Lab publishes new podcast measurement guidelines, Tom Lobster posts a grab bag of useful podcast research, Magellan AI's Q1 benchmarks for podcast advertising,
and Spring has sprung for sports advertising. Let's get started. This Tuesday from the IAB Tech Lab. The latest podcast's technical measurement guidelines from the Tech Lab finished up their public comment period on March 23rd. Now, the full version 2.2 with alterations made to incorporate feedback from that public comment period has
been published. Changes include new language requiring podcast measurement companies to document how they solve for anomalous activities, such as sudden download spikes from a single IP address. This week from Magellan AI, advertising trends from March 2024, as well as the entirety of Q1. Starting with just the month's data, March held a relatively steady with the ad
revenue of February, despite spending increases from Super Bowl Sunday. In total, the podcast advertisers tracked by Magellan AI only spent about $100,000 less in March than in February. Unsurprisingly, those sports remains the most popular top genre for atspend, taking the lead with 9 of the 15 advertisers. March's movers and shakers include a 424% increase in
spend from meta, up to just over $2 million. The biggest percentage increase, though, comes from Canva, with a 14,806% increase, going from 2,800 in February, to just over $400,000 in March. Moving on to the total Q1 findings. After analyzing 109,000 episodes of popular podcasts in Q1 of this year, Magellan AI finds that podcast atspend is up 39% year over year. Six of the top 10 spenders in Q1 were also in the top of the Q4 2023 list.
About 1500 new brands have started advertising and podcasting for the first time since January. The share of 30 second ad spots grew 42% this past quarter. This Thursday from Tom Webster. In preparation for a recent presentation at the brand podcast virtual summit, Tom assembled a slide deck that he builds as a greatest hits of sounds profitables advertising related podcasts research. A grabback of data designed to help people
make the case for podcasting to any audience of prospective buyers. Here's a quote from Tom. Is a partner supported trade association for the podcast industry? Sounds profitable has published an incredible body of work over the past two years. 10 studies to be exact. Our goal is to make careers in podcasting possible so that one day if your children express interest in becoming podcasters, it's a viable and sustainable career path. All of our research
supports this mission. And quote, key findings include three audience-driven reasons why podcast work. The podcast landscape learned Americans find podcasts entertaining, interesting, and informative. The career of podcasters is viewed as respectable, valuable, and scaled. Podcast audiences are becoming more exclusive as the field attracts a younger, more positive
audience than broadcast media counterparts. And those younger audience members are more positive about brands and more receptive to advertising in general when compared to older Americans. And finally, podcast assistants are less likely to hear a lot of ads as they report hearing fewer ads in podcasts than in other media channels. Podcast consumers are the most likely group of media consumers to subscribe to one or more ad-free music
platforms and ad-free streaming TV services. Meaning consumers who actively pay money to avoid advertisements still find podcast ads compelling. The studies sound you can see found YouTube premium subscribers who pay to skip YouTube ads, enjoy and appreciate the ads read by podcast hosts, with 87% of the subscribers said they either like or don't mind ads in the podcast they consume. Last Friday from Sam Bradley at Digidae, the Union of European Football Association's
Euro 2024 is fast approaching. One of the largest regular sporting events in the world that will then be followed by the Olympics kicking off in Paris. Suffice it to say advertisers have a lot going on in the world of sports over the next few weeks. Meanwhile in the US, brands are also keyed in to perennial sports moments. Also from last Friday, Ad Weeks Jason Knot covers the various brands popping up in places near the ongoing
NFL draft. Various campaigns are running concurrently in hopes of capturing the tuned in sports fandom drawn to the yearly player draft. Brands like Nationwide, Rocket Mortgage and even Snickers are getting in on promotional deals featuring previous and upcoming NFL stars. And podcasts are proving to be a good avenue for brands to reach passionate fans outside the usual TV ad campaigns. From the same Magellan AI data mentioned earlier, nine of the top 15 advertisers and podcasting
favor the sports genre. According to Bradley's coverage, SkyBet has announced a five-month partnership with the sports social podcast networks starting this month. A partnership SkyBet says allows a partnership SkyBet says allows for flexibility as messaging can be changed on the fly based on developments both during matches and in between games. Well, hello, it's a surprise appearance from producer Gavin Gattis. I thought I'd hop
in and take over the last section. So it's time for our quick hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's main stories, but are still worth including any weekend reading first up spotify is ready to compete for video advertising by Mark Stanberg. The company made its first ever appearance at newsfronts touting 500,000 video podcast uploads audible tests lower price plan and possible response to Spotify by Ashley
Carmen. The new standard plan being tested in Australia costs half the price of the previous cheapest audible plan. CityCast finds traction in radio model by Mark Stanberg. The company has found success in making hyper local podcasts and newsletters for metropolitan areas. How to measure success for an influencer marketing campaign by Phoebe Crainfas. A guide to the strategies and expectations necessary to get the most out of influencer marketing.
And an alternate take on series XM Q1 earnings report by Chris Peterson. While coverage of SXM's earnings report has largely focused on the decrease in satellite subscribers, Peterson points to the growth of SXM's podcasting arm. And that was the download brought to you by Sounds Profitable. I know we went through today's stories fast, so be sure to check out the links to every article mentioned. Write in
your podcast, sustaining app or on SoundsProphetable.com slash podcast. And thank you for sticking with us as we're bringing you the top stories you might have missed from the past week. I'm Manuela Curriya. And I'm Shriya Sharma. Our producers are Brian Barlett, Gavin Gattas and Tom Webster. Special thanks to Speaker for hosting the download. And as always, thank you to you for joining us. Robot.