PodMov Daily: Tuesday, May 26

Episode 212: Testing, One Two-sday

Bloomberg: Audible “Looking to Spend Big in Podcast Land”

Audible has recently “been meeting with talent agencies and producers to discuss acquiring potential new podcast projects,” reports Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg. Given Spotify’s single-minded power plays, it’s unsurprising that the Amazon service is offering “more than every competitor except Spotify Technology SA.”

At “a few hundred thousand dollars to a few million dollars per show,” these acquisitions “are part of a new, multimillion-dollar shopping spree,” Shaw asserts. It’s “designed to establish Audible as a more enticing destination for podcast fans and to fend off growing audio-storytelling competition.”

Amazon Music will also be ramping up its investment in podcasts, a telling but unfocused move that has confused some producers and networks. As Donald Albright of the boutique podcasting company Tenderfoot.TV tells Shaw, “People aren't listening to podcasts on Audible, and Amazon wants them to.”

Dear Media: $8 Million Funding to Promote Women's Voices

Founded in 2018, Dear Media grew from a gap in the market and recently landed $8 million in Series A funding. “It was the investment heard round the podcasting world,” writes Karin Eldor of Forbes, profiling the company’s history and future plans with co-founder and CEO Michael Bosstick.

Bosstick and his wife Lauryn Evarts began their podcast The Skinny Confidential in 2016. With an “90 to 95 percent female” audience, they identified a “huge void” of content in the male-dominated space. Now the network has 40+ shows “by top female voices” and over 150 million downloads.

What’s first for the funding? “We’re focusing on adding more diversity, not only in the types of women we represent, but also the type of content,” Bosstick says. He insists that as long as one has a dedicated, audience-first mentality, “it’s okay to launch without perfection and to build as you go.”

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Here's what else is going on:

• Game face: According to strategy researcher Nathan Baschez, the exclusivity deal between Spotify and Joe Rogan portends the collapse of the RSS-based ecosystem. For the open podcast world to survive, “It’s time to compete. Not complain.”

• Biggie Smalls: Podnews editor James Cridland disagrees with the above sentiment, arguing that “we don’t have an open ecosystem to defend.” With its 9.5% market share, Spotify's influence is dwarfed by Apple’s 15 years of industry dominance.

• Past lives: Dan Carlin’s acclaimed longform podcast Hardcore History has been adapted into a WWI-themed virtual reality experience. Charlie Hall of Polygon calls the cinematic War Remains “truly magical” but surprisingly brief at just 10 minutes.

• Clean receipt: In light of the recent S-Town lawsuit, broadcast attorney David Oxenford reminds podcasters to obtain releases from interview subjects. Rights of publicity and privacy are serious business, and violating them can result in costly contention.