Apple's Podcast Transcripts Live, PRX Helps Radio Fundraising, & More

With the release of iOS 17.4, the previously announced Apple Podcast transcription feature is now available. Moving forward, all new podcasts will auto generate transcripts and appear shortly after publication. Podcast backlogs are expected to be transcribed over time as the system catches up. Podcasters have the ability to substitute in their own hand-made transcripts and replace the Apple auto-generated one. Users also have the ability to search for words and phrases in a given episode’s transcript. An important note on the Apple Podcast update, especially relevant to the business side of podcasting: Apple has confirmed that no matter which option a podcast uses (be it Apple’s auto-generated version or self-uploaded transcripts), the system is intended to hold space for DAI ads. It will not transcribe the ad, but the goal is to automatically adjust timecodes from the beginning of a DAI insertion marker to the end so that timing remains consistent with the episode. [Source]

Analyzing podcast advertisements is a tricky proposition, as methodology commonly used in other mediums cannot be directly grafted to podcasting. Variables like ad length, embedded versus dynamic placement, episode drop dates, creative liberties in host-read ads, and the time-shifted nature of podcasts being downloaded for later consumption can all wreak havoc on metrics originally intended to measure standard Digital advertising. Right Side Up’s analysis took data from seven advertisers across a diverse spread of industries in Q2 of 2023 totaling a media spend of $3 million. Then Magellan AI episode-level data and transcripts were used to break the podcasts advertised down to look at variables like ad placement, length, location, and placement type. Findings include midrolls outperforming both pre-rolls and post-rolls for placement. A quiet value-add for host-read contracts is hosts tend to go over their contracted ad length. Right Side Up found the sweet spot for “60 second” host-read ad performance was host-read creatives that landed between one to three minutes. [Source]

The public media organization has announced a suite of new digital resources for terrestrial radio stations. Sean Nesbitt, Senior Director of Industry Partnerships at PRX, says the new resources are in line with PRX’s intention to forge connections between popular programs and stations, expanding public media further. Public radio stations airing PRX-distributed programs will now have access to digital tools like custom fundraising emails from the hosts of shows like This American Life, Latino USA, and Milk Street Radio. Stations that stream their programming on-demand online can now access pre-roll fundraising messages, also by show hosts in the PRX network. The reverse is also possible, with several PRX distributed podcasts coordinating with radio stations to run a midroll promotion for that station’s pledge week. Resources like this bolster both PRX’s relationship with affiliate stations, and re-affirms the symbiotic relationship between public radio and podcasting as a medium. [Source]

A new report from Morning Consult compares a survey from 2020 to data collected this February. Both surveys are built from representative samples of roughly 2,200 U.S. adults. 63% of respondents say they have either “a lot” or “some” trust in radio, up three percent from 2020. Social media had a 12% increase, up to 45% of respondents expressing at least some trust in the medium. Podcasting experienced a more significant jump, going from 27% in 2020 to 45% this year. Morning Consult attributes the growth of podcasting to the growth of social media, as podcasts are commonly discovered via clips shared on platforms like TikTok. [Source]

…as for the rest of the news:

• Podroll has announced a new Dynamic Feed Drop feature that enable podcasts to do the classic episode feed drop promotional technique at scale

• and Price Brothers announce the launch of their Contextual Advertising service, which includes the ability to use AI voice clones of podcast hosts to generate contextual “host-read” ads.

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