PodMov Daily: Thursday, May 26

Episode 653: Your Thursday Podthoughts

Will Spotify Mix Political Ads and CTA Cards?

Spotify is slowly bringing back political ads in the U.S. after suspending them in 2020, reports Issie Lapowsky of Protocol. They’ll appear “across thousands of podcasts on and off Spotify,” the company told potential partners. “Known” candidates, political parties, PACs, and elected officials will be eligible.

The company’s political sales team has tripled in size in the last two years. Spotify promises political advertisers the ability to target niche audiences through contextual targeting, allowing them to place ads in relevant conversations. Podcasters will have the option of turning off political ads. 

Spotify is also expanding its clickable ‘Call to Action cards’ to advertisers in Australia, Canada, and the U.K. The interactive ads rolled out in the U.S. in early January. These CTA cards appear as the podcast plays and then resurface later with “eye-catching visuals, customisable text, and clickable options.” 

Fellow Americans, imagine “eye-catching” political ads that follow podcast listeners. Spotify has found a twofold increase in site visits with CTA cards, a likely selling point for PACs with millions of dollars to burn. Exercise your right to vote, and perhaps exercise your right to opt out of political ads on your show.

There are just five days left to rack up those referrals! Through the rest of May, every referral earns a ‘raffle ticket’ for a $200 Amazon card. One lucky reader will be randomly selected on the 31st.

Your unique sharing link is at the bottom of your email. Step 1: Surprise your podcast people with something they’ll actually want to read. Step 2: Cross your fingers. Thank you all for subscribing!

Here's what else is going on:

• Nailed it: It’s easy to start your own true crime podcast and solve a murder, writes humorist Laura Berlinsky-Schine. Just keep it simple. “Think about who in your small town is the shadiest. Do they seem capable of murder? If you can honestly answer, ‘Sure, why not?’ then you’ve got your perp.”

• The trimmings: “The Art of Dialogue Editing” from Radio Boot Camp is coming up on June 5. Peabody Award-winning engineer and producer Michael Raphael will help podcasters sharpen their ears and learn to decide with confidence what to cut and what to keep. $100 registration.

• Quick draw: Sometimes a ‘minimum effective’ approach to editing is the answer to burnout. Colin Gray of The Podcast Host explains how to “take as little time as you can to get out a decent product, and you can keep doing it, week after week, growing your audience exponentially as you go.”

• Take notes: To stand out in a packed field, competitor analysis is essential market research for podcasters. Spreaker explains step-by-step how to identify what your competitors are doing (and how well they’re doing it). Here’s how to learn from others’ content, marketing, reach, and reviews.