The Media Roundtable: Industry Edition - October 19

This week, on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling legitimacy–from partners grading their own homework to watermarking voices. You won’t want to miss it.

Hosting is Oxford Road’s very own Head of Marketing, Jennifer Laine, along with fellow Oxford Road experts Stew Redwine and Neal Lucey. And we’re welcoming special guest Bryan Barletta of Sounds Profitable, a newsletter about the business of podcasting (a must-read if you’re making or spending money on podcasts).

At the top of everyone’s mind:

• “Ads: A Netflix Original” – How Netflix builds trust in their new ad-supported tier.
• Ghosts in the Machine Learning – Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs’s creepy/cool AI chat.
• Frequency Cap Issues? – Checking the data on conventional wisdom.
• I Like Those Odds – ESPN + DraftKings = Legitimizing sports betting?

Short on time? A recap of each topic is shared below, but for industry insights, you won’t get anywhere else, hear the full episode by clicking the link below.

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Podcast Frequency Caps?

This article was brought to the panel by our own Neal Lucey as a potential topic, but unbeknownst to him, the article’s author was to be a guest on this week’s episode. Sounds Profitable analyzed the top 50 podcasts to determine if the industry has a problem with duplicate ads running the same episode of podcasts. Surprisingly, unlike CTV, where it’s common to deliver the same ad multiple times in one episode, the overall finding is that there is not a major issue in Podcast. Phew! The panel goes on to discuss the possibilities of sequential narrative ads that could tell a larger story and how that could be a unique opportunity for the medium, one that few have even tried.

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Netflix Ad Free No More

They’ve been hinting at it for months, but Netflix finally unveiled the details on their new ad-supported tier, which comes in at $6.99 per month, which is $1 less than Hulu. But for advertisers, the ad-supported tier has a wildly high $60CPM! The panel discusses how the high price tag may be worth it for some brand advertisers while questioning whether the move will change the quality of content coming from the streaming platform in the future. They go on to discuss how unlike Spotify which is an increasingly walled garden, Netflix has opted into third-party measurement which will give prospective advertisers the assurances that the ads will run where they’re supposed to and confirm ads are viewed according to industry standards. Regardless, the available impressions for streaming advertisers just got a whole lot bigger.

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Audio Gets Its Day in the Sun

ANA’s recent message to advertisers is “Audio Is A Powerhouse Medium,” and most brands under-invested in the medium. This week’s panel is full of audio lovers, so as you can imagine, this is music to their ears. As the economic headwinds gain momentum, marketers are looking where to spend their money the smart way, and the case for audio is only getting better as time goes on. Lower cost than other channels, broad reach, intimate connection, and engaged listeners makes it a smart choice. Plus, with improvements in reaching audiences in high-impact moments at scale with unprecedented accuracy due to a clearer picture of listeners over-the-air, digital audio, and podcasts consumption, audio is finally getting the credit it deserves. If you haven’t fully tested into audio – now’s the time.

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 Place Your Bets

Earlier this month, Ed Hammond and Crystal Tse of Bloomberg covered an anticipated deal between ESPN and sports-betting firm DraftKings. As a result, DraftKings’ stock rose as much as 8.8% in response to the news. This week’s guest, Bryan Barletta, had so much to say on the topic he produced a whole show about it. Business is booming for the sports betting industry, and with its geo-targeted capabilities, Podcast and Streaming Audio are perfect for brands that require geo-specific messaging. The panel talks about the growth of the sports-betting industry and the creative opportunities the emerging audio channels open up. But you don’t have to be a sportsbook marketer to imagine how localized creative could reinvigorate your campaign.

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The Rise of The Fake Interview

The Influencer covered the fake, AI-generated interview between Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs in last week’s edition, but we wanted to put it in front of our panel to get their thoughts. While the coolness of the technology is unquestionable, the panel agrees that it opens a Pandora’s box of ethical and legal questions about AI-generated content as a whole. One thing is for certain, the interview is a fascinating 30 mins.

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