Hi there once more everybody — it’s been some time! Ariel’s on trip for the subsequent week-plus, which implies I get to faucet in once more and do my finest impression of your regular host. Immediately, I chat about Clubhouse’s huge revamp, Panera including a branded sound, and PRX Productions boosting its output via a brand new partnership.
Clubhouse splits up
On Monday, I opened up Clubhouse to see if I may discover any rooms value tuning into. Proper up high, the app instructed a room referred to as “
Clubhouse, it virtually goes with out saying, has skilled a serious drop-off in curiosity since its heights in the course of the coronavirus-induced lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Downloads of the app have fallen 86 % this yr, the analytics agency Sensor Tower tells Scorching Pod. The agency says Clubhouse was downloaded 4.2 million instances between January and July of 2022, down from 29.4 million downloads throughout the identical interval in 2021. On the identical time, Twitter Areas — anecdotally, no less than — has been consuming Clubhouse’s lunch. I received’t argue that Twitter’s suggestions are that a lot better (they’re not!), however the firm was in a position to swiftly rebuild Clubhouse’s core options inside its present social community, siphoning off a whole lot of the app’s momentum.
It’s been clear for some time that Clubhouse wanted to make some huge adjustments to regain that early buzz — and now, the corporate is detailing the way it plans to evolve. Final week, Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison laid out what the subsequent period of Clubhouse will appear like: as an alternative of 1 open community containing a numerous sequence of rooms you may pop into, the app will ask individuals to prepare into teams (“homes”), and audio rooms will exist inside these teams which are solely accessible to members. Every home can have “its personal character, tradition and content material moderation guidelines,” Davison wrote on Twitter.
Public rooms will nonetheless exist, however the aim is to divide individuals up in order that it’s simpler to search out issues of curiosity. “A single neighborhood simply doesn’t work past a sure dimension,” Davison wrote.
That is an thought we’ve seen social networks return to again and again. Fb had you add too many buddies, so its Teams function began taking off; Snapchat added “streaks” to encourage buddies to message one another straight; Reddit is so vibrant partially as a result of you may create a distinct segment for almost anyone. This form of strategy is difficult to drag off — you want sufficient customers to fill these niches — however it may be actually significant when it really works.
For me, the larger excellent query is whether or not reside audio rooms are essentially a format that folks wish to use for leisure. Is the issue that Clubhouse received too huge too quick? Or is the issue that we will all see our buddies once more and produce other methods to fill our time? My suspicion is that reside audio is sticking round; it’s enjoyable and simple to spin up. However I’m not assured it’ll be on the scale of a whole app reasonably than a function inside one thing else.
Davison posted an open sign-up sheet for anybody concerned about testing the adjustments out. Clubhouse will likely be approving new homes “slowly,” the shape says. There’s no particular ETA on when it’ll launch for everybody.
Unique: PRX Productions companions with Goat Rodeo to make extra exhibits
PRX desires to make extra podcasts — so it’s teaming up with one other firm to increase what both may deal with by itself. PRX Productions introduced as we speak that it’s enlisted Goat Rodeo as a “trusted manufacturing accomplice,” permitting the division to “[increase] manufacturing capability” because it seeks new exhibits to develop.
PRX Productions launched in 2020 and works with editorial and branded accomplice corporations to develop podcasts. To this point, that’s included names starting from CBS Information to Ben & Jerry’s. As of the tip of 2021, it had labored with greater than 20 companions and produced over 600 podcast episodes, in line with PRX. Goat Rodeo does related work, having partnered with The Met, Lawfare, and iHeartMedia to make exhibits prior to now.
That is the primary time PRX Productions has shaped a partnership like this. PRX spokesperson David Cotrone tells Scorching Pod the 2 manufacturing homes are within the strategy of integrating their workflow and that “into the longer term, producers will work on initiatives finest suited with their experience and expertise.”
That each one mentioned, the 2 teams are remaining separate entities. As a part of the settlement, PRX may even distribute some authentic exhibits for Goat Rodeo, and Cotrone says the partnership will enable the 2 manufacturing teams to “[support] each other as unbiased audio organizations.”
Panera will get a brand new emblem… sound
Right here’s one I missed a few weeks in the past from Advertising and marketing Brew that simply received recirculated by Inside Radio: Panera desires to be acknowledged solely via sound, so it partnered with a “sonic branding company” referred to as Made Music Studio to develop a fast jingle to accompany its model identify on the finish of radio or podcast spots. There’s a degree on which this sounds somewhat excessive to me — they are saying the identify Panera in adverts! We all know what’s being marketed! However I’ve to confess that the sort of promoting works. I can let you know precisely what the McDonald’s jingle appears like, and I’d most likely acknowledge it even when I didn’t take note of every little thing else the advert mentioned.
So now: a Panera sound. It appears like a fast burst of shiny horns adopted by an angelic “ooo.” Actually, it’s somewhat ridiculous once you describe it. It largely simply appears like a barely annoying however very more likely to get caught in your head burst of nice tones. Right here’s Advertising and marketing Brew:
The ensuing three-second sonic emblem is half instrumental—performed by a trumpet, an alto sax, and a baritone sax, in line with [Made Music Studio president Lauren] McGuire—and half vocals. There’s additionally a one-second model, a six-second model, and a long-form model that clocks in at just below a minute, which Panera may use for conditions like “walk-up music [for] our CEO,” [Panera VP of brand building Drayton] Martin mentioned.
And right here’s a 15-second YouTube clip the place you may hear it proper on the finish. The clip has been reside since late June, so that you may need even heard it by now. Time to get a Mediterranean Veggie.
That’s all for as we speak. Insiders, I’ll see you once more on Thursday. Everybody else, catch you subsequent week!
