Media Roundtable: Industry Edition - July 27

Media Roundtable’s “Insider Edition” Returns to discuss the hot topics of the day, including more on how the advertising industry is responding to the economic downturn, the future of podcast discoverability and how advertisers may be ruining America’s pastime, and much more.

This week, Jennifer Laine (Head of Marketing) hosts the show alongside fellow Oxford “Roadies,” Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services), Charisse Miller (Senior Account Lead Director), and Kyle Jelinek (Senior Account Lead Director) as they discuss the most critical topics in the world of marketing from an insider’s perspective.

For readers short on time, a recap of each topic is shared below, but to hear the team’s whole hot take, listen to the entire episode by clicking the link below.

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Is Heavier Frequency Killing Podcast Conversion?

This week’s podcast launches with the team discussing a recent article from Westwood One that hypothesizes the downward trend in conversion rate on podcasts (as reported by Podsights) is due to heavier frequency on the medium. To combat this, the article recommends: buying ad space on more than shows that are “obvious fits,” matching product categories with product genres, and spreading impressions to more than just top-ranking podcasts. Our take is that this is a bunch of malarkey–a misunderstanding of the true problem. Increased ad loads require more frequency and reduce the saliency of the message. The problem is that with the number of ads in each show increasing and DAI taking over the majority of podcast ad units, the industry is diluting the medium. It’s not that we’re reaching listeners too many times. Regardless of the cause, marketers need to know how the changes in the Podcast medium are affecting performance and how to counteract them. WWO is on the right track on solving the problem, and if the problem was purely frequency, they provided some solid solutions, it’s just that the root cause of the issue they’re solving may be based on an incorrect assumption.

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 Economy’s Impact on Marketing Round 2

In what will, unfortunately, become a regular theme over the coming months, the team shifted focus to the economy’s effect on advertising, citing an article from eMarketer’s Insider Intelligence newsletter.  The article reports a recent report stating that one in five marketers have cut their spending due to economic uncertainty. Budgets decreased by an average of 16%. Upper-funnel campaigns have seen the most significant cuts, with 47% of marketers surveyed suspending connected TV (CTV), 44% halting digital video, and 42% pausing linear TV. While this is bad news for networks, agencies, and brands, the silver lining is within the opportunity for the performance side of the business. As brands shift focus from lofty branding initiatives in favor of performance-based KPIs, trackable platforms and tactics employed by performance marketers will help brands weather this storm while proving their worth.

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The Future of Podcast Discoverability

We love podcast-focused podcasts, specifically Podcast Pontifications, where host Evo Terra discusses how to improve podcasting. In a recent episode, Evo shared his future vision of podcast discoverability. With so many podcasts available for consumption, discovering new shows is becoming a challenge–the paradox of choice. But Evo mentions the need for an independent platform that would allow listeners to do a deep search to discover new podcasts that they enjoy based on much more sophisticated algorithms than currently available. Some are already here. Last month The Influencer shared info on, Fathom, the first-of-its-kind podcast streaming platform that uses AI to comprehend entire podcasts and give recommendations based on specific areas of interest. Regardless of how we get there, the industry needs to up its discoverability game, which will help podcast fans and content creators.

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Is Congress Killing Targeted Advertising?

We’ve already seen it in other parts of the world, but the US is about to get a lot more strict on privacy laws. Currently, in the bill phase, The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADAPPA) will only allow companies to collect user data if necessary for one of 17 permitted purposes —authenticating users, preventing fraud, and completing transactions. Everything else is prohibited. The bill is getting bi-partisan support and looks like it will become a reality, so what do marketers do now? Self-imposed privacy laws have already significantly impacted many digital and social platforms’ ability to run targeted ad campaigns – will this be the end of the era? If the folks up in Silicon Valley are good at anything, it’s finding a way, but it will be a challenge. In the meantime, Podcast, Streaming Audio, and Radio look more attractive by the minute.

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And The Ultimate Influencer is… Logan Paul?

The WWE has nicknamed Logan Paul “The Ultimate Influencer.” Love him or hate him, with 23.5m YouTube subscribers, an acclaimed podcast, and success in acting and boxing Logan Paul is one of the most successful social media influencers in history. Like Paul, many YouTube/Podcast hosts are crossing over into other channels, and brands can get creative with integrations wherever they’re reaching their audience, but is this a smart move? The answer is maybe. You need to dig deeper. When podcast networks offer 360° packages with their influencers, they rarely work out from a performance standpoint. But, if the host has a proven track record of success with your brand and you want to take the relationship to the next level, it can make sense, but proceed with caution.

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Marketers Ruining America’s Pastime?

The MLB sold out. Beginning next year, baseball teams will be allowed to sell logo sponsorship onto their uniforms for the first time. The San Diego Padres were the first to announce a partnership with Motorola, but other deals are in the works. Is this the natural progression of things or the greedy hand of capitalism slapping America’s past time in the face? Our take? Go for it, baseball! Logos have been plastered over every square inch of NASCAR racers and their cars for decades, and pro golfers make more on their sponsorship deals than they do winning tournaments.

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