Podcasters adding video for extra reach
Podcasting has for years been seen as a business with great potential but lately, there have been signs that the prospects for podcasting are being downgraded. There is a growing trend to add video to the podcast to get extra reach via for instance YouTube. Podcasts seem to be a less important source for news than many have anticipated. A new survey from Pew Research Centre shows only 7% of US adults say they often get news via podcasts.
Spotify has after years of impressive investments in podcasts recently fired hundreds of staffers at is its podcast business and cancelled expensive agreements with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to podcast for the company. The company has just announced it is raising the price of its single-account premium plan for the first time since 2011.
“Podcasting may not yet be a mass market medium, but its audience profile is extremely interesting to publishers and to advertisers. Listeners tend to be richer, better educated, and crucially much younger”, Reuters Institute says in its annual report on digital news..
No more than 15% of top podcasts focus on news but crime is podcasters’ favourite subject, a US survey by Pew Research Center shows confirming earlier studies showing that true crime is the most common subject in several countries.
After years of steady, double-digit percentage growth for podcasting, listenership is starting to slow, a report from market research firm Insider Intelligence shows.
Listeners in key markets like the US and UK will increase but growth was no more than 5% and 4.7% in 2022, respectively, the report says.
Podcast advertising is still growing at double-digit rates, Insider Intelligence says. Key findings from the Insider Intelligence report:
- Penetration is highest in North America, where it will reach 40.8% this year and rise to 46.3% by 2026. There’s still a hefty chunk of the population left to adopt podcasts, but slow growth shows that the core user base has been established.
- But mainstream success means greater advertising interest. US podcast advertising spending will jump from USD 1.3 billion in 2021 to USD 1.7 billion in 2022 and yet again to USD 2.2 billion in 2023, per Insider Intelligence April forecast.
- Listeners will grow in the double digits this year in China, Argentina, France, and Germany. China and Argentina are expected to keep up double-digit growth throughout the next two years.
- 2022 was a fraught year for advertising, with historic channels like TV losing their throne, digital addressability falling to shambles, and regulation upending regular business. But podcasting (and audio channels like radio) remained relatively safe bets for advertisers during a tricky time.
“Podcast advertising has struggled to keep up with the format’s mainstream success. While the wide variety of topics in podcasting makes delivering relevant ads easier, uneven ad frequencies and fraud issues leave question marks, as do issues with young listeners”, Insider Intelligence says.
A study from Pew Research shows news-focused podcasts in the US can be about any topic, though most are about politics and government (49%) or sports (29%). Many have their roots in talk radio.
Across topics, the most common format among news-focused podcasts is commentary (49%), while smaller shares – 22% each – are centered around deep reporting (podcasts that do in-depth examinations or analyses of a topic or story) or interviews.
Just 6% are news summaries. Commentary is especially dominant among sports podcasts (82%).
Overall consumption of news podcasts is highest in the United States (19%), but lower in many European countries such as France (9%) and the United Kingdom (8%), Reuters Institute says.
Across countries, Reuters Institute finds that personality-led ‘extended chat’ programmes like The Joe Rogan Experience are mentioned most often, along with ‘deep dives’ such as The Daily from the New York Times. Short news rounds-ups like Tagesschau’s News in 100 Seconds from German public service broadcaster (PSB) ARD or 5 Things from CNN are also popular, often forming part of morning routines.
By contrast, longer documentary series such as the investigation by ITV News into lockdown parties in Downing Street (Partygate: The Inside Story) are mentioned more rarely.
“Spotify may be pulling back from some of its eyewatering investments in content3 but has already established itself as the dominant platform in most countries but not in the United States, where YouTube is number one”, Reuters Institute says.
“This reflects the growing importance of video podcasts – partly due to the extra reach and revenue that YouTube provides, though also because video promotion tends to be more effective in attracting attention via social media. In the United States, cable talk shows are routinely repackaged as podcasts, while the BBC’s Newscast is now filmed for television and digital distribution.”
Reuters Institute says that in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Nordic countries, most consumption is of high-quality ‘native’ podcasts, while elsewhere, repackaged radio output tends to dominate and there is much less investment in original content.
In most countries, public or commercial broadcasters continue to lead the way, but their market share is challenged by legacy print organisations, digital-born outlets, alternative media, former comedians (e.g. Joe Rogan) and academics (e.g. Jordan Peterson).
Low barriers to entry in podcasting have also enabled younger voices to be heard, bringing a fresh, more informal tone, and often adding video to the mix, Reuters Institute says.
News-focused podcasts can be about any topic, though most are about politics and government (49%) or sports (29%). Many have their roots in talk radio, Pew Research has found.
“Across topics, the most common format among news-focused podcasts is commentary (49%), while smaller shares – 22% each – are centered around deep reporting (podcasts that do in-depth examinations or analyses of a topic or story) or interviews.”
“Just 6% are news summaries. Commentary is especially dominant among sports podcasts (82%).”
Most of the top-ranked podcasts studied are available on four major listing sites – Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Stitcher – and roughly three-quarters have a website.
Some of these podcasts also experiment with other ways to engage their audiences. About half of top podcasts (51%) produce a video to accompany most episodes.
“Many of these videos show the podcast being recorded, providing a more engaging experience for viewers. And 8% have a discussion forum or Discord server, to directly engage with their fans or allow fans to connect with each other”, the Pew says.
A Statista Global Consumer Survey shows Sweden, Ireland and Brazil report more than 40% listening to podcasts.
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