jason phipps – the new wave in podcasting
TRANSCRIPT
The Power of Podcasts
The Guardian’s adventure in sound
“But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?”
Ben Hammersly 12 Feb 2004 - The Guardian
In 2006 Ricky Gervais, Merchant and Pilkinton take a very new world record - the most downloaded podcast ever!
hosted by The Guardian
Podcast Growth
The global anglo audience is growing
US growth
● 21% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month
● That’s 57m Americans, 35m listen to one weekly(Edison 2016)
Guardian growth
50% of Guardian users surveyed in 2016 listen to podcasts, up 9% from 2015
Guardian podcast listeners are “Super loyal” (65% vs 43% readers)
UK growth
● 11% of UK radio consumers have listened to podcasts
● In 2015 UK listeners downloaded 10 million podcasts a week(Acast 2015)
The finale of Game of Thrones was watched by 8.1m people in the US
The industry is starting to formulate a standard metric - Podtrac launches May 2016
Podtrac measures 7.5 million listens across NPR’s podcasts in June 2016
“We’re seeing some very encouraging signs that younger people are coming into NPR that previously haven’t listened. They get excited about a podcast and then start
listening.”
NPR Chief Jarl Mohn
Audience
MillennialsA key demographic for the
Guardian, and they are podcast fanatics
• The headphone generation, 4G, screen fatigue = boom in pods
• A natural extension of streaming services - Spotify now includes “podcasts” in their app, Guardian podcasts soon to be available in Spotify
• Excellent way to reach young women, for example in April this year, Forbes announces 10 new podcasts focused on millennial women
• Podcasts have an informal, raw and relevant sound not on mainstream radio in the UK
Drivers for this growth
Mobile & 4GYou see a phone I see a
radio for a generation who will never buy a radio
• Direct correlation between podcast growth and mobile phone growth in the US
• iTunes still the biggest player although it’s podcast app and general UX has stalled for years
• Google Play Music launches a podcast platform (behind paywall)
• PRX in the US announces a break out business, a new audio app dev RadioPublic
Revenue
MONEYA real business model is
emerging
• Gimlet Media estimated to have brought in $2m in 2015 and growing
• NYT launches new Podcast Studio switching from video investment to audio investment - clear target at potential revenue
• Slate’s Panoply network growing - Slate pods estimated to earn 15% of total digital revenue
• Radiotopia growing to 8m monthly listens, Knight Foundation funding of $1m
• Buzzfeed’s head of podcasts Jenna Weiss-Berman leaves to launch Pineapple Street Media
• NPR’s earbud platform helps pod revenues double
Guardian podcasting revenues grow by more than 100% since 2012
“We’re probably looking at 85 to 100m [ad spend] last year, this year it’s on fire” Sarah Van Mosel CCO of Acast
Challenges?
Challenges for growth in the UK Challenge 1
Discoverability & DataThe UX around audio has stalled for a decade
iTunes is not evolving for producers and consumers
Google’s slow start
Challenge 2
No real investmentTiny UK advertising market compared to US
BBC’s role unclear, potentially crucial but so far cooling on growth
Challenge 3
UK impact in the USCan we translate strong radio tradition into podcasts impact?
Legacy media brands growing podcasts
Universities?
I’ve not even mentioned the real revolution in podcasting!
The car
