We have been partnering with audio companies in different territories like NJR in France and GEDI in Italy to develop, translate, distribute and monetize slates of hit podcasts that are also available to listeners in the US on the iHeartRadio App.” She says: “As it relates to new languages, as podcast audiences continue to rapidly grow in the US, the medium is beginning to grow meaningful fanbases globally. Gayle Troberman is chief marketing officer of iHeartMedia. As the industry sprints toward programmatic as the primary means of inserting ads, that means accessibility of this nature boosts the viability of podcast advertising exponentially. It would mean that advertising can be served across podcasts, authentically, to a much broader audience. Veritone, which makes the claim that it ‘ethically’ clones voices, would in theory broaden accessibility beyond the narrow confines of any one language. In order to solve that issue, iHeartMedia is attempting to use a synthetic voice tool from Veritone in order to automatically translate podcasts into other languages. That exacerbates the problem of no new hits occurring as those new potential hits can be separated by language. That presents a problem when it comes to podcast creators discovering new audiences, as it limits the audience to the cohort that initially discovered it. The majority of podcast discovery still occurs by word of mouth, with discovery on platform a distant third means of finding podcasts. As the following examples demonstrate, the bigger opportunity is around making sure podcasting is accessible to all – especially those who speak other languages.Ī number of automated solutions aim to close the gap between audio accessibility and commercial opportunities. And, most importantly, brands are continuing to shift to podcasting simply because it works: when they run an ad, the cash register rings.”īut those commercial investments are primarily around growing the existing commercial opportunities around podcasting. Advertisers love the flexibility to adjust their messaging on the fly. Consumers love listening and will integrate it into their lives wherever it fits. He says: “The big takeaway from consumer behavior pre, during and post-pandemic is that podcasting has tremendous growth ahead. Podcast advertising is forecast to exceed $2bn by the end of 2023.Įric John is vice-president of the IAB Media Centre. Much of that is predicated on the increasing commercial interest in the audio format. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed Studios has partnered with Acast to launch a new suite of audio products, for instance, and the battle for exclusivity of shows continues. Spotify in particular has been on a tear of acquisitions, particularly around companies that provide tools that prove the viability of digital audio advertising. The slow encroachment of YouTube into the space follows huge investments from Spotify and other channels into podcast advertising and distribution. Smaller grants are available to individual creators.
It follows the news that YouTube is apparently enticing podcasters to create video versions of their audio content, offering ‘grants’ of up to $300,000 to the biggest networks in the space.