PodMov Daily: Thursday, June 2

Episode 657: Your Thursday Podthoughts

White Noise Podcasts Are Making Serious Money

Some ‘white noise’ podcasts on Spotify are pulling in over $18,000 per month, reports Ashley Carman of Bloomberg. Shows with names like ‘Calming White Noise’ and ‘Best Noise Labs’ have remarkably dedicated audiences. Oddly for podcasting, she found many creators in the genre to be secretive or unresponsive.

Todd Moore released a white noise app in 2009, and 10 years later put Tmsoft’s White Noise Sleep Sounds on Spotify. It now gets about 50,000 listens per day, and Moore has a team of five. Brandon Reed also launched in 2019 with no intention of hitting it big. He just wanted something to help his son sleep. 

Today, Reed ventures out to capture custom sounds for subscription supporters. “The amount of production that goes into some of these podcasts, the production value, and then for this silly noise that plays for 12 hours to be in the top 100 feels crazy,” he said. “People are absolutely devouring it.”

*We’ve linked to BNN Bloomberg (no paywall). It’s legitimate, we promise.

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The First Summit for Podcast Business Leaders

In collaboration with Podcast Movement, Sounds Profitable will be hosting the first Business Leaders Summit on August 23 in Dallas. The all-new event is built with four sessions: the first report from Sounds Profitable’s quarterly research series and one each on measurement, video, and programmatic ads.

The research report is the only portion of the event that will be available publicly. It will be broadcast live and open to stream afterward. The rest is exclusive to companies that sponsor Sounds Profitable. (Here in the newsletter, we’ll cover as much as Bryan will let us.) Cheers to the start of something great.

That’s right – the spectacular host and co-creator of Criminal and This is Love will be joining us once more. Phoebe spoke at Podcast Movement 2015 about Criminal, then just a year old. Since then, the show has become one of the most popular in the world.

If you haven’t listened to Phoebe’s work, your editor recommends the two-part “48 Hours” from Criminal and “On the Way to Dinner” from This is Love. Enjoy!

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Here's what else is going on:

• Sneak preview: The first round of PM22 speakers will be announced next week. PM’s latest update also includes the Texas podcaster meetup tour (Houston, Austin, and Dallas) starting June 7, an upcoming PMU talk on social media for podcasters, and the best deals on PM22 registration.

• Law school: The two-part “So, You Want to Have a True Crime Podcast” begins on June 8 with an expert primer on investigative reporting. From the Black Podcasters Association powered by Afros & Audio, and led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Free registration.

• A toast: Futuro Media has received a major grant from the Mellon Foundation to support production of two podcasts: The Pulitzer Prize-winning series Suave and dual-language La Brega will continue with second seasons. Huge congratulations to Maria Hinojosa and the entire Futuro team.

• Choices, choices: How do you begin to find the right production company for your show? Matthew McLean of The Podcast Host answers key questions about the process based on your needs. He covers financial expectations, alternatives to consider, and how to spot sketchy ‘promoters.’