Questions Remain After the 2nd Annual Podcast Upfront

On the one hand one agency representative said she gained a sense of the content and appreciated meeting executives from companies since she plans CPG campaigns but had not yet included podcastsOn the other hand Collin Willardson Marketing Manager for brand advertiser Mack Weldon felt it was more show than tell and for the most part felt a lacking in specific metrics and audience descriptions amp8220I get frustrated because a lot of people offer me a show with someone well knownamp8221 he told me amp8220But Iamp8217m not buying the host Iamp8217m buying how the host connects with the audience It can feel like snake oil if you brag about the host but canamp8217t tell me more about the audienceamp8221Willardson and others acknowledge they are impressed by podcastingamp8217s growth track and agree things are on the right track for measurement in light of that dayamp8217s release of the anticipated IAB Ad Metrics GuidelinesHernan Lopez CEO of eightmonthold Wondery and fresh from the video world of Fox International had one of the most illustrative presentations of the day using few visuals Lopez leveraged the power of production quality and compelling content by asking audience members to don blinders and well just plain listenamp160 The earlystage companyamp8217s aggregated download numbers are seemingly impressive assuming agreement on five million apples to five million apples in place but what impressed even Willardson was the content itself amp8220I would say I learned from Lopez what could be happening bringing back a form of audio book or like when kids listened to Little Orphan Annieamp8221 he saidamp160 amp8220It was a good glimpse of the future We knew this kind of storytelling existed but they took it from first gear to fourthamp8221HowStuffWorks seems to have conjured the recipe to drive downloads Chief Content Officer Jason Hoch told their impressive numbers story of a 3x increase in past yearoveryear downloads hitting 650 million since launch He feels confident in those numbers as all shows are currently selfhosted for full data accessibility but also sourced Podtracamp8217s top 5 ranking of their network However Hoch tapping his own tenure in television believes their multiplatform play sets them apart amp8220The three tenets of success are text audio and video and weamp8217ve been able to do those for a long timeamp8221 he reflectedIn addition to their heavily trafficked eponymous web site and seven million social media followers they brokeamp160new ground in theamp160podcastmultiplatform game with Stuff You Should Know the first audio show to have been made into a television series a few years back on Science And after 340 episodes the podvideo Forward Thinking powered by Toyota is one of the grandfathers of custom content putting recent press from Gimlet and their eBaybranded podcast into perspectiveOthers telling the multiplatform story were expectedly Time Inc which claims that itsamp160amp8220overall properties reach 1 in 2 mobile usersamp8221 and ESPN The sports brand which claimed 50 million overall podcast downloads apples for August incubates podcasts out of longform features like PinKings and promotes their listening app across assets reaching a world of 96 million weekly fans amp160Pushing the final frontier of podcasting into the Virtual Reality realm Podcast One had an experiential display available to move listeners from mentally picturing Adam Carollaamp8217s studio to seeing it 360oWhile AdLargeamp8217s funnyman Jim Breuer and Midrollamp8217s ubiquitous Marc Marron pledged allegiance to promoting sponsorships to loyal listeners newly named Midroll Chief Revenue Officer Lex Friedman was one of the few to also provide a specific advertising example using a clip from Bill Simmons weaving TMobile into the content to illustrate one of the hallmarks of podcasting amp8220nativeamp8221 advertisingOther key calling cards of podcasting audience engagement and star power were clear in the Upfrontamp8217samp160 amp8220live versionamp8221 of WNYCNPRamp8217s amp8220Ask Me Anotheramp8221 pitting MediaVillageamp8217s own Jack Myers against Omnicom legend Steve Katelman More traditional stars from Katie Couric to Michael Rapaport were present by the truckload with standouts like Guy Raz who also announced his own next new podcast amp8220How I Built Thisamp8221 with NPRAs a big consumer of podcasts himself Charlie Fiordalis Chief Digital Officer of Media Storm said amp8220Iamp8217m interested to see where the time is coming from In my case it was a shift from streaming radio to podcastsamp8221 He was also eager to learn about planning tools and research but feels heamp8217ll have to be proactive amp8220I realize that the purpose of the meeting was to review new content but I think we should have spent at least thirty minutes on where measurement is at and where it needs to goamp8221 he said amp8220In the interim Media Storm is authoring podcast guidelines that include the new IAB definitions around downloads but weamp8217ll augment with mandates for additional data as part of our buysamp8221The moratorium on networks touting numbers was rumored to have been requested by the IAB which reserved the wowfactor for Larry Rosin of Edison Research who provided impressive and thoughtprovoking stats 65 of listeners say podcast ads increase their purchase intent and 45 percent have visited a sponsor web site after hearing after hearing an adamp160Those are good numbers to know as the clamor for metrics continues Or as Norm Pattiz of Podcast One summed it up to the remaining audience at the close of the day amp8220If you donamp8217t know the value of podcasts by now amp8221The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet management or associated bloggersamp160

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Questions Remain After the 2nd Annual Podcast Upfront

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E.B. Moss

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Questions Remain After the 2nd Annual Podcast Upfront

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