During this year’s Sound Summit at SXSW, Nick Witters and John Allen from Ballen Studios joined audiochuck’s Brittany Bigelow and Kylie Low of Dark Downeast to share insights on the creative process, audience development, and challenges of producing true crime. Two themes persisted throughout the panel: consistency, and connection. Committing to a regular cadence creates a reliability audiences will resonate with, and true crime operates best with compassion and care at the forefront. [Source]

Adelicious CEO Andrew Goldsmith gives a quick explainer on a unique challenge faced by podcasts in the UK: the pre-election period. Whenever a general election is held, a pre-election period of political neutrality kicks in, restricting what content government-funded advertising will run on. A general election has to happen in 2024, but the prime minister has yet to formally pick a date. Goldsmith suggests UK podcasting keep on the straight and narrow. If a topical show isn’t inherently political, ensure it remains as non-partisan as possible. It would be viable to pitch projects before the pre-election cycle that could be worked on during the pre-election blackout with intent to publish just after things return to normal. [Source]

The upcoming Sports Audio Report is built from surveys of over 3,500 Americans aged 13 and up who self-identify as sports fans (scoring themselves four or higher on a ten-point scale). 89% of sports fans say they frequently or occasionally watch sports content, while 64% listen to it. 86% of those listeners do it to stay connected to their favorite team or sport, while 58% do it to be part of a community of fans. 46% of respondents say they would be more likely to buy a product or service advertised by an athlete they like. For respondents who specifically listen to sports podcasts, that jumper jumps to 68%. Over three in four sports fans have taken action after hearing an ad on a sports podcast or sports-focused audio program, and over half report having purchased a product or service as a result. [Source]

In a new edition of Campaign’s Audio Trends series, IAB UK CMO James Chandler shares his views on why advertisers should include podcasting in their media plans this year. As Chandler said at last year’s Podcast Upfront, podcasting is no longer an “emerging” medium. Advertisers have moved past the test-and-learn phase of running on podcasts. And the medium is inherently future-proofed for the post-cookie world. Podcast advertising largely has operated off first-party data since the beginning, and audiences are paying attention. According to a Guardian survey, 65% of UK listeners paid attention to podcast ads, compared to respondent’s 39% success rate with TV. [Source]

…as for the rest of the news:

• YouTube has launched the ability for advertisers to buy ads between YouTube Shorts specifically for particular content categories. 

• Educational video series Crash Course, which has been producing courses since 2011, has announced their first podcast, an 11 part series starring Crash Course co-creator John Green and astrophysicist Katie Mack. 

• Creative Artists Agency is partnering with AI companies to facilitate scans of client bodies, faces, and voices to create digital likenesses that the client owns. CAA’s chief legal officer Hilary Krane is of the opinion that new digital likeness legislation should imitate established consumer product counterfeit laws, as digital likenesses still trade on the original person’s public image.

Research Database Snapshot

What it says: The latest ranking of top podcasts by average weekly downloads according to Triton Digital

What it means: Triton’s Podcast Metrics service measures participating publishers and is certified by the IAB Tech Lab

Why it’s cool: The top three shows with positive rank improvement this March include contenders from Audioboom, Audacy, and SiriusXM Podcast network

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