Hello all,
Hope everyone seems to be recovering properly from yesterday’s Podcast Upfront.
For right this moment’s subject of Insider, I’ll go over the AI hype cycle, layoffs at PRX, and a few bulletins and offers.
AI was matter du jour in podcasts over the previous month
Synthetic intelligence has entered this 12 months’s zeitgeist. In a tweet, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek mentioned there was a 500 percent spike within the variety of day by day podcast episodes about AI over the previous 30 days. And going again to January, the variety of podcast episodes discussing AI shot up by 400 %.
“Discuss AI is in all places proper now. Simply out of curiosity — I checked out the way it’s trending on Spotify — and the expansion is fairly insane,” wrote Ek.
You possibly can hint the start of the AI hype cycle again to November 2022, when OpenAI launched the chatbot ChatGPT to the general public. The subject has been mentioned in numerous earnings calls and congressional hearings and is a critical level of competition between screenwriters and studios within the ongoing Writers Guild strike. AI-generated faux Drake songs went viral on Tiktok and different social media, a lot to the chagrin of file labels. The month of Could has been an particularly prolific month for AI. For the primary quarter of 2023, CNBC discovered that there have been extra mentions of AI within the earnings calls of S&P 500 corporations than every other level in historical past. President Joe Biden additionally invited the heads of main AI corporations like Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and others to debate the potential risks of the expertise. At Google I/O, the time period “AI” was used over 100 instances throughout the firm’s keynote presentation.
Podcast distributor PRX lays off 10 % of workers
PRX, the nonprofit podcast distributor behind Ear Hustle and The Moth Radio Hour, laid off 10 % of workers earlier this week, reported Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman in her publication. The roles have been all through the group, impacting advertising and marketing, station providers, coaching, and expertise and promoting divisions.
A have a look at the PRX workers web page now lists 63 workers. Scorching Pod reached out to PRX for extra particulars.
A spokesperson from PRX informed Carman, “Each effort was made to keep away from this state of affairs, together with a number of cost-saving measures, that’s sadly on account of decline in podcast sponsorship income felt throughout the business.”
Acast finds that 44 % of US podcast promoting goes to the highest 500 exhibits
An fascinating stat from Acast’s presentation at Podcast Upfront yesterday. The corporate discovered that whereas 44 % of US podcast promoting goes to the highest 500 exhibits, these exhibits account for less than 12 % of month-to-month attain. In different phrases, advertisers are possible lacking out on 88 % of a possible viewers.
“This results in inflated CPMs for advert patrons and better advert masses for listeners. In actual fact, podcasts within the prime 500 exhibits have a 30%(!!!!) larger advert load than exhibits within the prime 3000,” wrote Acast’s spokesperson Molly A. DeMellier in an electronic mail to Scorching Pod.
IAB’s $4 billion income estimate for 2025 could also be too optimistic
The IAB launched a report yesterday that included the estimate that podcast advert income would double by 2025 to $4 billion. The group’s projections have generally veered on the facet of optimistic — for instance, final 12 months, it estimated that podcast advert income would attain the $4 billion marker by 2024.
However based on an analyst from eMarketer/Insider Intelligence, even 2025 appears a bit too early for advert income to hit $4 billion. “We expect $4 billion within the US is a methods away, possible nearer to 2028,” wrote senior analyst Max Willens in an electronic mail to Scorching Pod.
Whereas podcast advert income (in addition to consumption) is trending in a constructive course, Willens believes the difficulty is within the advert tech itself. “Promoting in podcasts stays extra time- and labor-intensive than it’s for a lot of different advert codecs. The problems creating that dynamic will put a damper on the variety of advertisers spending within the house, in addition to the quantity these advertisers spend,” he wrote.
Lightning Spherical
Lana Condor to star in new scripted podcast Evergreen, the primary installment within the anthology collection Hidden Sign by QCode. Condor (previously of Netflix’s To All of the Boys I’ve Ever Liked) shall be becoming a member of actors Alan Cumming and Abigail Spencer in lending her vocal abilities to the collection, reported Deadline.
Hanna Rosin would be the everlasting host of The Atlantic’s Radio Atlantic podcast. Yesterday, the journal introduced that Rosin will host its flagship podcast. Rosin’s first episode will debut on Could twenty fifth. You possibly can take heed to the trailer right here.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sony Music Leisure are partnering for a brand new podcast, Dinner’s On Me. The interview present shall be hosted by the Fashionable Household alum as he talks to completely different friends from the world of leisure, politics, sports activities, and extra. Every episode shall be taped at a unique restaurant in both Los Angeles or New York Metropolis. The present will premiere on Could twenty third.
Blavity founder Morgan DeBaun launched a brand new podcast yesterday known as The Journey. The YouTube interview podcast will characteristic completely different friends from the worlds of leisure, sports activities, magnificence, and enterprise. You possibly can watch the primary two episodes right here.
Former Market journalist Molly Wooden launched a local weather change podcast this week known as All people within the Pool. The present will focus on sensible options for the present local weather change disaster. Wooden will speak to leaders of local weather tech startups, lawmakers, shoppers and others. You possibly can take heed to an intro trailer for the present right here.
Yesterday, Wondery and Bloomberg introduced a brand new podcast about crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried shall be hosted by Bloomberg tech reporter Hannah Miller. The present debuts on Could twenty second.
