Sounds Profitable

This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I’m Bryan Barletta.And I'm Evo Terra. Today; a creative way to reward podcasters and get press, a look at good news and good data for 2022, how full-funnel marketing helps podcast, and two more stories you don't want to miss. Let's get started.

Audio and Ad Tech were hot industries in 2021, according to the highly respected adtech investment group Luma Partners annual report. The report highlights an incredibly active year, with 18 companies going public and an increase of 82% in the number of mergers and acquisitions when compared to 2020. Digital Audio and Podcasting received significant attention in the report, with iHeart, Spotify, SiriusXM, Amazon, Global, and Audacy all highlighted for their prominent purchases. In a year where concerns were high around data and privacy, amid a pandemic, a report like this showing record breaking growth is encouraging for podcasting.Social audio service Racket and creator financial studio Stir have teamed up to launch Podca$h, a program that awards sponsorships to small, independent podcasters and people who have a cool podcast idea they want to bring to life.Quoting from the podcash.com website:We love audio. We want to support small, independent podcasts. And, we want to support people with cool podcast ideas.So we’re awarding between $250 and $5000 in sponsorship to hundreds of podcasters and podcasters-to-be.Y’all deserve more love, and we’re here to give it to you. All you need is an interesting idea.The idea of business providing seed money to podcasters to help grow the space is an interesting one. And, clearly, a great way to generate press and goodwill for your own business.Leah Nylen of Politico reports that “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai personally approved a secret deal that gave the social network a leg up in the search giant’s online advertising auctions, attorneys for Texas and other states alleged in newly unsealed court filings.”In a Twitter thread, Leah simplifies Google’s Project Bernanke, which charged advertisers for a second price auciton and paid publishers as a third price auction. What that means is, if three bids came in for an impression at $19, $18, and $9, the $19 would win all three, but depending on the auction type they’d paid different amounts. First-price would be at $19, second price would be at $18, and third price would be at $9. In this scenario, Google charged the advertiser $18, paid the publisher $9, and used the rest to “secretly raise bids by advertisers using its tools to ensure they would always win out over advertisers using non-Google tools.”As podcast advertising continues to explore programmatic opportunities, it’s important we demand full transparency from all parties involved. We’re dipping our toes into a space that is being rightfully scrutinized. Podcasting wins by doing it right from the start.
In what may seem like self-serving news, Caila Litman has made her debut as a writer for Sounds Profitable with a rundown of 2022's most important “Good Data” points of interest to those in the business of podcasting. Every month, Caila will give a breakdown of a report or study that’s making the rounds. Why is she doing that, and why are we choosing to have that as a part of Sounds Profitable?Quoting from her article:“My experience evangelizing audio within multi-channel, portfolio publishers has required lots of sifting through the latest podcast landscape reports to make compelling business cases. After countless SVPs have replied to my seven-paragraph emails with “k”, I know that one or two strong data points have the power to quickly convey even the most complex stories.”Be sure to subscribe to Sounds Profitable’s articles to never miss an upate.According to Kimeko McCoy of Digiday, we’ve reach the point of the pandemic where the low hanging fruit of direct response marketing may be running out. The article highlights brands and marketers that have shifted their focus to full-funnel marketing.Claire Russell, head of media at Fitzco agency was quoted as saying “It made sense during the early onset of the pandemic, but if companies want to build the brand over time, brand awareness and storytelling channels are key. For performance marketers, CTV and OTT seem promising, given the technology has allowed programmatic buys, marrying creative with targeting and measurement.”Podcasting offer those same advantages as CTV, with far smaller creative budgets, making them a perfect step for brands expanding their marketing presence.And finally today, you probably didn't miss the news that Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for a jaw-dropping $69 billion dollars. But neither company is known for its presence in podcasting. Or are they?According to Magellan AI, Candy Crush Saga, the flagship mobile phone game that started life on Facebook and is now owned by Activision Blizzard, spent $992,000 in podcast ads in December of 2021. That's up from a spend of ZERO dollars in Novmeber, propelling the game maker to the top of Magellan's Mover's and Shakers list.If that campaign performs well, and with pockets freshly lined with Microsoft money, we may see more of those funds flowing to podcasting. Not just for ad campaigns, but perhaps in other avenues, adding Microsoft to the list of big companies planting their flag in the podcasting world.


And that was The Download, from Sounds Profitable! I know we went through these fast, so be sure to check out the links to every article mentioned, right in your podcast listening app. And thanks for sticking with us on this grand experiment to give you the best stories you might have missed from this week. I'm Bryan Barletta.I'm Evo Terra. Thanks for joining us. Robot?
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