Practically each different day of the 12 months, I’m proud of my option to be an Apple Music subscriber. (The audio high quality is best! I’ve my priorities.) However Wrapped day actually does make fixed information assortment enjoyable, and I really feel neglected! No one desires to see my Apple Replay, together with me.
As we speak, new podcast information from Spotify Wrapped, a hiring freeze at NPR, and a listing of the most-downloaded new exhibits of 2022.
Wrapped 2022: Spotify’s prime podcasts are… Spotify’s
Yesterday was Spotify Wrapped day, and whereas a lot of the marketing campaign was devoted to listeners sharing their prime songs and artists (or memes), Spotify additionally supplied information on prime podcasts throughout the complete platform. Notably, 4 of the 5 prime exhibits of the 12 months are Spotify’s.
The highest 5 podcasts globally this 12 months had been (so as): The Joe Rogan Expertise; Name Her Daddy; Something Goes with Emma Chamberlain; Caso 63 (in all languages); and Crime Junkie. Crime Junkie is the one non-Spotify present to make the record. (And Chamberlain’s present will begin being solely licensed by Spotify early subsequent 12 months.) It is a fairly large shift from final 12 months’s prime 5, wherein solely two had been Spotify properties and exhibits like The Every day and Ted Talks Every day had been capable of crack the record.
Whereas Spotify’s record of prime music artists — Unhealthy Bunny, Taylor Swift, BTS — is reflective of wider music consumption, the podcast record is much less so because of market fragmentation (induced partially by Spotify’s personal decisions). JRE and CHD are prime performers, little doubt, and that’s the reason Spotify went after these exhibits within the first place. However they overperform on Spotify as a result of it’s the solely place to listen to them, whereas The Every day‘s listenership is cut up throughout each podcast platform on earth. Crime Junkie, which Edison reported is the No. 2 podcast within the nation after JRE, is sufficiently big that, even whereas being fractured amongst a number of platforms, it outperforms a lot of Spotify’s exclusives.
The oddballs on the record are Caso 63 and Something Goes. Caso 63 and its English adaptation, Case 63, had been scripted hits for Spotify — and never with out a main promotional push from the corporate. The platform neatly leveraged its international viewers to make the present a worldwide occasion, however solely on platform. Wouldn’t it have the identical affect if it had been unfold throughout a number of platforms? I doubt it. And Something Goes could also be an everyday on Spotify’s development chart, however it didn’t crack the highest 50 exhibits within the US within the second quarter of this 12 months, in keeping with Edison. It does are likely to chart increased on Spotify than on Apple Podcasts, so maybe the present has discovered an viewers amongst Spotify’s young-skewing person base.
The record, due to this fact, tells us extra about Spotify’s technique than it does concerning the total market. The corporate has neatly gone after splashy hosts Joe Rogan and Alexandra Cooper and consolidated their large audiences, put advertising may behind its originals (Caso 63), and has a watch for exhibits which will uniquely cater to its customers (Something Goes). As for Crime Junkie, it’s simply too large to disregard.
NPR institutes hiring freeze as company sponsors tighten their belts
The economic system has not been type to media companies, and NPR is not going to be spared. In a letter to staffers, NPR CEO John Lansing mentioned that the community wants to chop its finances by $10 million, or 3 p.c of the annual finances. Whereas layoffs are usually not but a part of the plan, community leaders are imposing “near a complete hiring freeze.”
The finances crunch is being brought on by a projected $20 million decline in sponsorships. Firms have much less cash sloshing round, and sponsorships shall be among the many first bills to go. NPR introduced in about $277 million in income within the 2020 fiscal 12 months, in keeping with monetary filings, in order that $20 million represents a big chunk of earnings.
Even when NPR can keep away from layoffs for now, workers are going to bear the burden of the shortfall. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik studies that about 11 p.c of positions on the community are vacant — together with the chief content material officer function (sort of an essential job!) — and can stay so in the interim. “For these working lengthy and irritating hours, that’s not excellent news. However it’s a actuality we are able to’t keep away from if we’re to save lots of jobs,” Lansing advised workers.
Pleased holidays, you get to work two jobs for a similar wage! In case you are at NPR and are feeling the squeeze from the hiring freeze, be at liberty to hit me up.
The Trojan Horse Affair and Rachel Maddow Presents: Extremely are the highest new exhibits of 2022
Podtrac has issued a listing of prime exhibits that debuted in 2022, and I’m very into this chart. New blood!
The New York Occasions and Serial took the highest spot with The Trojan Horse Affair, and Rachel Maddow’s new podcast for MSNBC, Extremely, got here in second. (My father-in-law flagged me about Maddow’s new present making waves the opposite day. Steven retains me hip!) Wondery has seven exhibits on the record, together with Twin Flames and Will Be Wild.
Whereas the record is generally, to my chagrin, true crime, there are a number of exceptions. All There Is with Anderson Cooper, an especially private present about grief, took the ninth spot. The Official Recreation of Thrones Podcast: Home of the Dragon is No. 19, which is fairly nice for a companion podcast that’s, at its coronary heart, a bit of selling. And Bought a Story, an investigation from American Public Media about how faculties fail to show youngsters the way to learn, got here in at No. 24.
That’s all for right this moment. See you tomorrow!
