Podcast Movement Round-up: 4 Key Takeaways from #PM2022

8/29/2022

Podcast Movement 2022 took to the streets of Dallas, TX for 4 days of in-person, but virtually accessible, programming. From August 23rd – 26th, the world’s largest podcast conference with 413 speakers and over 80 exhibitors, came roaring back with pre-pandemic energy – completely unfazed by the August Texas heat.

This event is a must-see for those in the podcasting business or those aspiring to start building their audio empire. The topics covered appealed to the creative community of hosts and producers as well as brands and advertisers.

There was no shortage of compelling, no holds barred discussions and we are attempting to summarize our top takeaways from this year’s event.

DAI. Hot or Not?

If we were to pick one of the most hotly discussed topics, featured on multiple panels, it would definitely be Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI). While most brand marketers agreed that they would never walk away from baked-in advertising, there were a number of panelists that all agreed – DAI has some real potential to transform the way brands buy podcast media. Panels such as Demystifying the Stigma Around Dynamic Podcast Ads on Day 1 and Can You Make More Money With Baked in Ads or DAI? on Day 2 had well balanced discussions that included advice for both podcasters as well as advertisers. While 85% of all ads last year were delivered using DAI, most everyone agrees we could be doing it better.

Top Tips for Podcasters

• Baked-in and DAI ads can happily co-exist
• Make sure you select a hosting partner that supports DAI
• Make sure you deliver the ad with care even though it won’t be there forever
• Don’t exaggerate your stats – having engaged listeners is more important than volume
• Make sure that you drive urgency when working with performance advertisers with promo codes or limited time offer
• Smooth and deliberate editing is critical to ensure the audience continues to listen
• You can attract a longer tail of advertisers, like small businesses, through DAI

Key Advice for Brands

• You have more control over audience targeting with DAI – especially with programmatic
• You can still have host reads with DAI, hosts will record personal endorsements
• Budgeting and flighting can be challenging but down the road there is great opportunity for more control
• Replicate exactly what a baked-in ad is with DAI – just be deliberate about it
• Publishers are open to executing how the advertiser wants to – ask for flexibility
• Utilize frequency capping to provide better listening experience
• Remember to ask for fresh ads each time – you don’t need to run the same creative

YouTube Continues to Be the Next Big Thing

Kai Chuk, Head of Podcasting, YouTube and A.J. Feliciano, Head of the Roost Podcast Network discussed, at length, the benefits of using YouTube to distribute your podcast as well as some secrets to success during their presentation Finding Success on YouTube: A Conversation with YouTube and The Roost Podcast Network.

Feliciano talked at length about his experience with the Rooster Podcast Network including the strategic role that YouTube plays in reaching a younger audience because “Millennials and Gen Z are conditioned to consume content on YouTube”. These younger generations are utilizing YouTube more and more often to discover new shows and creators while older audiences are utilizing Spotify and Apple Podcasts. YouTube is the second-most visited website with an astounding 22.8 billion monthly visits. By including YouTube in your posting packages, you are reaching more unique viewers when cross posting your podcast there.

To ensure your success, they recommend maximizing your use of all the various features on YouTube:

• End Cards
• Ecommerce integrations
• YouTube Shorts with original content
• Live streaming
• Visual Lower 3rds with product integrations
• SEO

Grow Your Audience with Paid Promotion

One of the top trends shared during the panel entitled, "2022 Top Trends from Chartable" is that “83% of podcasters say growing their audience is a challenge”. This should not come as much of a surprise, as growing your audience is key to growing your revenue. Fortunately both David Zohorb, Co-Founder, Chartable and Eric Sandler, Director, Audience Development, Pushkin Industries provided some tangible guidance on how to grow your audience using paid promotion.

While they say that making something great is the first rule of audience growth, the second rule is definitely smart promotion. There are really two big channels of growth – web advertising (ads, email, social) and audio ads but they have found that social platforms drive the most traffic. Facebook and Instagram top the list of the most efficient platforms for driving growth and a lot of that has to do with their remarketing pixels. They have seen conversion rates as high as 50% for hosts that utilize remarketing pixels and lookalike audiences.

Promoting your show on another show is also a great way to build your audience – but you need to give it time to work! Even though promoting your show on other shows should be a mainstay of your promotional mix, Eric Sandler does suggest to continue to think of new ways and platforms to promote your show. “If audio is the front door, what are the side doors” and optimize against those new touchpoints.

Consider New Technology to Take Your Show to the Next Level

While there were countless new technologies discussed at this year’s Podcast Movement, we believe the Spooler CMS had the potential to fundamentally change show creation and monetization.

During the Podcasts and the Future of News panel on Friday, the panelists discussed one of the fundamental challenges with creating a news podcast, the finite nature of a podcast vs the dynamic nature of news. One of the key solutions they discussed during this panel is the Spooler CMS, that is a solution for not only the news vertical but really any type of podcast that would benefit from seamlessly adding additional content or discussion to a previously recorded show. The expanded use of these types of tools could drive additional back catalog listening and support expanded storytelling.

“Spooler technology is built on the creation of individual digital story modules that can be updated and effortlessly packaged together in a way that is seamless and adaptive, resulting in a finished product that sounds as polished as highly-produced podcasts which can take many hours to create and edit.”

It was a jam-packed 4 days and we enjoyed every minute of it! There was way too much content to cover in a single recap but make sure to tune into the Ad Results Media podcast On The Mic to hear more discussion about the future of our industry.