PodMov Daily: Wednesday, August 14

Episode 22: Your Midweek Podspeak

Questions for Brad Mielke, Host of ABC's Start Here

This Wednesday, our guest feature is an exclusive Q&A with Brad Mielke, host of ABC’s Start Here podcast. The show is a straightforward, detailed look at each day’s top headlines in 20 minutes. Winner of the 2019 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation, Start Here is a feat to behold.

In this special feature, Brad kindly answers our questions about podcasting, broadcast news, and his personal favorite shows. We find out how on earth the Start Here team creates the show and how the podcast medium benefits journalism. “The truth is that every story is often more complicated than a headline would suggest,” he answers. “Podcasting is a great format to explore the complicated.”

PM19: On Thursday, August 15, stop by for coffee and conversation with Brad at the Start Here breakfast, 8:15am-10:15am in the Gatlin B foyer.

His keynote, “Goodbye to Sleep: The Art of Making a Daily News Podcast,” will be held later that day on the Live Stage (Gatlin B) from 12:15pm-1:15pm.

Detailed User Data: Spotify Podcasters Dashboard Out of Beta

Spotify announced today that its Podcasters dashboard is out of beta. This gives podcasters a chance to see data like their listeners’ “music taste, age, gender, location, and how long they listened to a particular episode.” On its dashboard page, Spotify lays out what the feature has to offer:

“a powerful snapshot of who your listeners are, what episodes they’re streaming the most, and even the music they love — insights that will help you plan future episodes or get sponsors.

Apple offers some analytics, but this move will offer podcasters more detailed information on their audiences than ever before. “It’s still really the beginning,” says Charlie Hellman, head of Spotify’s creator marketplace. “This is the part of the conversation where we’re continuing to get feedback and trying to iterate the product.”

Because listening to podcasts on Spotify requires an account, listeners have already provided basic demographic data about themselves. This detailed background information will give podcasters an edge when selling ads, especially to niche markets.

New Coleman Study Reveals Low-Range Podcast Awareness

New research from Coleman Insights reveals that TED Talks Daily has the highest Aided Awareness of the 20 most-listened-to podcasts as ranked by Podtrac in March 2019. Yet, only 43% of monthly podcast listeners are familiar with the TED Talks Daily podcast. The study of 1,000 18- to 64-year-old monthly podcast listeners, conducted in May, asked respondents to review the Top 20 list and indicate their familiarity with each.

The TED brand occupied two of the top three spots, with The Daily coming in second at 35% and the TED Radio Hour at 32%. “Our findings reaffirm the idea that despite podcasting’s growth, the medium still has a long way to go with brand development,” says Coleman Insights President Warren Kurtzman. “Even with the most-listened-to shows, most active podcast users aren’t familiar with them. The ones they are familiar with are big, cross-platform brands with strong marketing behind them.” The bar graph below, courtesy of Coleman, illustrates the findings.

PM19: A Friendly Face & Outer Space

Podcast Movement Day 2 is in full swing! Whatever you do and whichever planet you come from, we’re glad you’re here. Check out these sweet NASA stickers and excellent attitude from Katie Atkinson.

Tag us during the event for a chance to be featured as our Tweet of the day!

Love,

Team PM

Here's what else is going on:

• Keynote high note: The San Francisco Chronicle features an excellent profile of Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, the creators of Ear Hustle. The commuting of Woods’ sentence, “one of the biggest changes imaginable in podcasting,” hasn’t changed their mission of honest, humanizing storytelling.
• BLOOM, there it is: Spreaker has announced BLOOM, a podcast content development program. It supports “creative, independent podcasters” in “content curation, technology, and promotion.” Flatrock: A Cold Case Podcast is the first to premiere. Applications open later this year.
• Latinx pod-maven: Forbes interviews Jack Hobbs, president of ReVOLVER Podcasts, about how he pitches “the power of Hispanic podcasting.” Hobbs discusses leading the shift to digital for Latinx audiences and how he helped “modernize the landscape” in terms of “language, content, and accessibility.”
• Listen to the market: The Drum makes a strong case for why the marketing industry needs to take audio more seriously. Podcasts, audiobooks, and voice assistants use sound as “a crucial dimension of branding.” Should tailored algorithms play to what we want to hear?