The Interactive Promoting Bureau (IAB) held their 2024 Podcast Upfront in New York on Thursday, Could 9. IAB gathered manufacturers, companies and media consumers to offer an unique glimpse into upcoming podcast programing.
The occasion, of which The Hollywood Reporter was a media sponsor, included displays from Wondery, iHeartPodcasts, Acast, NPR, SiriusXM Media, Libsyn Advertisements, Paramount Audio, Seekr, WNYC Studios, POD Digital Media, Cumulus Media, Higher Collective, The Day by day Wire, Claritas, Sonoro, YAP Media Community and ESPN Podcasts.
The day was hosted by YAP Media Community podcast hosts Jenna Kutcher of The Aim Digger podcast and Rachel Rodgers of Hiya Seven. Throughout the panels, it was shared that, in keeping with Edison Analysis, 135 million folks hearken to a podcast month-to-month and that 60 % of adults hearken to podcasts month-to-month. In the meantime, in keeping with Acast, 36 % of adults have by no means listened to a podcast and there may be nonetheless untapped potential to develop audiences.
In creating the day’s agenda, IAB aimed to be reflective of the “urgent and present themes” within the podcasting house, from anticipated development in income to evolving promoting methods to video podcasts.
“You’re speaking about an {industry} that’s been on a extremely spectacular sizzling streak, each from an advertiser curiosity perspective, from a listener curiosity perspective, from a income perspective,” Matt Shapo, IAB’s director of digital audio and video, tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“What we did this 12 months, as we have been making ready thematically, was occupied with ways in which we might proceed to, from an editorial perspective, spotlight the strengths of the medium for listeners and advertisers alike,” he provides.
Unsurprisingly, many networks unveiled a number of new reveals, together with Jon Stewart‘s The Weekly Present, teased by way of a show-stealing video message aired throughout the Paramount Audio presentation.
The previous and present weekly Day by day Present host joked by way of the video about what sort of promoting he’d be open to (snacks and outerwear) and why he couldn’t make the occasion (“Once they advised me about it, I didn’t consider there was an upfront for podcasts”).
SiriusXM showcased an upcoming Cheers podcast, The place Everyone Is aware of Your Title with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (Generally), co-hosted by present alums Danson and Harrelson. The present is ready to premiere in simply over a month on June 12.
Different notable bulletins included The Offensive Line hosted by social media star Annie Agar for Wondery and ESPN’s upcoming podcast Trying to find Hobey Baker, the latter a narrative concerning the faculty hockey participant and World Warfare I fighter pilot. The podcast can be launched in June, tied particularly to Delight Month, because the present plans to “re-contextualize the hockey legend by way of the lens of his lesser recognized struggles as a queer man within the early twentieth century,” in keeping with a launch.
General, for IAB, podcasting is a particular medium for advertisers and shoppers because of the distinctive nature of the connection between hosts and audiences. “You might be particularly deciding on one-on-one time with that content material in contrast to you’re doing with some other kind of content material,” says Chris Bruderle, IAB’s vp of {industry} insights and content material technique.
Wanting again at this 12 months’s upfront, IAB discovered just a few key takeaways. “Podcast is now a multi-platform medium,” Bruderle notes. “It isn’t simply an audio medium. It’s a video medium, and additionally it is an occasions medium.”
Bruderle famous that advert income development for the 12 months was 5 %. For a mixture of causes, video and occasions being one among them, that quantity is projected to extend, Bruderle says, with IAB projecting a 12 % improve.
Wanting ahead from Thursday’s upfront, IAB sees industry-wide traits which can be prone to evolve over the 12 months. One factor that was on the prime of thoughts, in keeping with IAB executives, is an actual shift in angle of which podcasts advertisers will need to purchase into. Shapo famous that advertisers are starting to see that a few of the simplest promoting could be achieved on smaller reveals with extremely engaged audiences.
“We’re lastly starting to have a mindset shift, the place consumers don’t essentially suppose they need to solely purchase the highest 10, 50, 100 reveals that they’ve heard of,” Shapo observes, including, “You may get extra gross sales out of a 7,000 downloads-a-month present, then you definitely get out of a 100,000 downloads-a-month present, as a result of it’s simply the proper atmosphere through which to share that message.”