During the lead-up to Podcast Movement’s Evolutions conference in Los Angeles, Bryan Barletta dropped by the Headgum studios for an impromptu Deepdive video with Marty Michael, CEO of Gumball about the company’s Campaign Builder. The new feature uses AI technology to streamline the podcast advertising process. Now advertisers can log into Gumball’s dashboard and input parameters (brand details, URL, budget parameters, target dates), and the Campaign Builder will automatically filter to show the podcasts in Gumball’s systems that fit the criteria. Michael’s 10 minute discussion with Bryan is available on Sounds Profitable with a full text transcript. [Source]

As of today, Substack users can distribute both free and gated content to subscribers using an integration built to work with the Spotify Open Access API. When Substack creators enable the feature, all current and future content will be made available on Spotify for subscribers who enable account sync. According to Spotify, from December 2022 to December 2023 they saw a 265% increase in Spotify listeners subscribing via Open Access shows, signaling the power of opening podcasting up to more distribution channels. [Source]

This year’s Radiodays North America is slated for June 2 through 4 in Toronto. Last year’s event brought in attendees from at least 23 countries, and audio professionals anticipate big discussions this year. Media Results Inc. CEO and veteran Canadian radio programmer Dave Charles tells Inside Radio this year’s RDNA features a special podcast summit as a separate, lower-price ticket  to serve the podcast and those relatively new to the business. The “Podcast Power Up” aims to provide case studies, expert advice, and networking opportunities. [Source]

YouTubers interviewed by The Information report a marked decrease in ad revenue from channels that heavily focus on YouTube Shorts over longform regular YouTube video content. One business with multiple channels reported $41,000 in revenue from a billion views in Shorts, compared to $1.1 million from two billion views on normal YouTube videos. Another creator reported 12 cent CPM (cost per thousand impressions) while their regular videos received CPM of $4.30. A core issue stems from video advertisers still getting used to advertising against shortform content, despite the boom in shortform video content across most major social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram/Facebook, and TikTok. [Source]

According to data from SiriusXM, audiochuck’s Crime Junkie, a consistent True Crime chart-topper for years, has the largest female weekly reach of any podcast in the U.S.. SXM Associate Director of Podcast Sales Marketing Sophie Anderson attributes True Crime’s fanbase consisting predominantly of women to the amount of representation, as a good portion of top true crime podcasts have women hosts, if not entirely female-led productions. And according to a recent SiriusXM survey, true crime listeners report positive feelings for brands that support true crime podcasts (re-affirming findings from 2023’s The Medium Moves the Message). For more on Audiochuck and true crime, check out the Sound Summit SXSW panel Audiochuck x MrBallen: The Business of True Crime. [Source]

Research Database Snapshot

What it says: The percentage of True Crime podcast listeners in Australia who consume each type of media

What it means: True Crime listeners are generally heavier users of most forms of media than the Australian population

Why it’s cool: Want to advertise a new true crime podcast? Try streaming music services!

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