Walk (run) this way into Podcast Movement - The Short Stack
Friends,
Some of you children of the ‘80’s surely remember that moment when your MTV started to look a little different. It went like this: you were sitting there watching hard rock stalwarts Aerosmith start to bang through the re-release of their ‘70’s hit “Walk this Way.” Suddenly, rap innovators Run-DMC cut into the song, and what starts as a little stylistic battle turns into a beautiful collaboration.
It was an amazing moment for several reasons. Both bands got a big bump in popularity (who needed it more at the time is oft debated) – not just because it was a hit, but because it exposed each band’s very different audiences to each other. With that, it would be very fair to say that the collaboration helped move the music industry – and culture generally – forward.
Podcasting has the same opportunity. No great mystery, the space is still pretty complex. Not to say that podcasting isn’t healthy – it is. But in a market that keeps getting more crowded – with both shows and businesses, a range of ad standards that aren’t so easy to understand, confusion around the most fruitful places to invest ad budget, and a lot more, the job of educating never stops. And collaboration is a fundamental element of that education.
It’s amazing to see the range of perspectives coming together in DC next week in the name of bringing more order – and more success as a result – to podcasting. From proponents of programmatic to direct-ad diehards, those who believe podcasting should be a pure audio domain to those who think video is always better for everything…the list goes on…we’ll all be putting our heads together and hopefully letting go of biases to help move things forward.
From our end, SoundStack CRO Rockie Thomas will be clearing up ad standards with IAB’s Katie Stroud and Matt Shapo in “Setting the standard — collaboration for growth” on 8/20 at 2:15pm. I'll join Barometer’s Tamara Zubatiy and Flightpath’s Sean Howard for “Playing Well Together: The Future of Direct Sales with Integrated Programmatic” on 8/22 at 11:30am. And CEO Jon Stephenson will be in conversation with Katz Digital’s Scott Porretti for “Podcast Advertising Plans for the Future,” on 8/21 at 3pm.
Meet us there and at the Industry Expert Talks stage, which we’ll own all week. Can’t wait to see you all!
Mike Reznick , President & COO 
Magellan AI released their Q2 Benchmark Report on podcast advertising, analyzing 101,628 episodes of popular podcasts. Among the key findings was a climb in podcast ad spending – increasing 22% year-over-year. Average ad load also increased, jumping from 6.44% in Q1 to 7.19% in Q2.
The disbanding of GARM has left a void for an authoritative voice on the widely acceptable standards for thorny brand-safety questions that will not easily be filled. Still, some elements can be improved on—like maintaining independence—as the industry finds the next iteration.
We’ve been talking a lot about HLS Interstitial as an easier and more efficient way to insert an advertisement into a live audio stream. Radio World caught up with CEO Jon Stephenson to dig in a little deeper on the topic and why it’s an important solution for issues around ad content delivery.
