It’s Friday. I’ve acquired meatballs to make 
Ted Cruz’s podcast is a success, however his cope with iHeart could possibly be in violation of ethics legal guidelines
Marketing campaign Authorized Heart, a authorities watchdog group, has filed an ethics criticism towards Sen. Ted Cruz over his podcast cope with audio big iHeartMedia. Though Cruz doesn’t receives a commission by iHeart to host the present, the corporate’s bankrolling of manufacturing and advertising could trigger an issue for Cruz, as iHeart can also be a registered lobbyist. The criticism argues that such funding qualifies as a present and is in violation of the Trustworthy Management and Open Authorities Act.
It’s not uncommon for a sitting politician to host a podcast — Congressman Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Angus King each have podcasts (as does DC shadow senator Michael Brown, whose present has some really unbelievable title artwork). However Verdict with Ted Cruz is much and away essentially the most profitable, rating at no. 27 within the information class on Apple Podcasts and no. 32 within the information part of Spotify’s podcast chart. The present has been operating because the starting of the Biden administration however solely lately partnered with iHeart to develop to 3 reveals every week.
“Though Senator Cruz is just not the one member of Congress to host a podcast, he’s the one member who is seemingly violating federal legislation as a result of there’s substantial proof that an unlawful supply funds the podcast,” the criticism reads. “Furthermore, iHeart lobbies on media trade payments earlier than Senator Cruz’s committee whereas the podcast boasts that iHeart will ‘fund manufacturing [and] dump an entire bunch of cash into advertising’ Senator Cruz’s present.”
Cruz sits on the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In accordance with CLC, the committee is contemplating two payments for which iHeart lobbied. Moreover, iHeart’s PAC contributed $2,000 to Cruz’s marketing campaign in 2018.
The criticism urged the committee chair and vice chair, Senators Chris Coons and James Lankford, respectively, to research the matter. Cruz’s workplace insists that the senator did nothing out of the peculiar in his cope with iHeart. iHeart didn’t present remark.
“Senator Cruz receives no monetary profit from Verdict,” reads a press release from Cruz’s workplace despatched to Sizzling Pod. “There isn’t a distinction between Sen. Cruz showing on a community tv present, a cable information present, or a podcast airing on iHeartMedia.”
Extra from Wrapped: a take a look at how Spotify’s podcast enterprise has grown
Spotify has seen a 50 % improve in podcast consumption, in accordance with new information the corporate launched at present. To date, Spotify has added greater than one million reveals to the platform in 2022, from 3.6 million in 2021 to 4.7 million as of the tip of September (although that quantity is prone to be greater when the corporate reviews its end-of-year earnings). The US stays the corporate’s greatest marketplace for podcast creation, adopted by Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and India.
Spotify additionally owns Anchor, the most important podcast creation and distribution device available in the market. However the writer is shedding some floor. In accordance with new information from Livewire, Anchor has a 21.6 % market share, down from a excessive of 25.8 % in April. However Megaphone, a podcast host additionally owned by Spotify that’s usually used for bigger publishers (like Vox Media), is rising its market share. In November, 3.5 % of recent podcast episodes have been printed by means of Megaphone, up from 2.5 % in April.
Podcasts have gotten much less of a dude factor
In accordance with The Girls’s 2022 Podcast Report from SiriusXM and Edison Analysis, the US podcast viewers is turning into extra gender-balanced. 5 years in the past, the podcast listening viewers (age 18+) was solely 44 % feminine. Now, it’s 48 %. Hooray for nearly equality!
A couple of-third of ladies within the US have listened to a podcast up to now month, which is a 67 % improve since 2017. How do you get that quantity to go up? Make extra podcasts by and for girls listeners. A majority of respondents stated that they’d hearken to extra podcasts in the event that they featured tales about ladies and / or from feminine hosts.
Edison and SiriusXM will current extra findings from the report at a webinar on December 14th.
I’m out. Have an excellent weekend!
