Top Audio Marketers Share How to Get the Most out of Your Creative; Creepy Podcasts Just in Time for Halloween; Spotify Drops Chartable; & Much More.

The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re bringing you one of our favorite panels from the CAO Summit, recorded live at Spotify’s Pod City Campus. There’s no bigger performance lever than our topic–message optimization.

Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services, Oxford Road) hosts all-star CAOs Brynn Greenelsh (Marketing Manager, Auctane–Stamps.com & ShipStation) Robbie Giles (VP, Performance & Lifecycle Marketing, MasterClass), Emily Deason, (Senior Manager, Offline Marketing, Babbel), and Cassandra LaPrairie (Performance Marketing Lead, Audio, Wise).

This all-star lineup is talking: testing the right thing, trusting hosts, cross-pollination, and more.

“Take big swings.” – Robbie Giles (VP, Performance & Lifecycle Marketing, MasterClass)

The 2 Cs of Testing – To make sure your A/B tests help performance, remember Cassandra’s 2 Cs: “Do you have confidence that you know what you’re looking to test and do you have conviction that the test you’ve proposed is going to help you measure that?”

Trust vs. Control – Want the most from your hosts? Spend more time onboarding to give context and less time trying to make hosts your sock puppet. As Brynn puts it: “Who are we to say, ‘you have to say it this way’… if that’s the way we’re going to be, then we shouldn’t be in the podcast advertising space.”

Take the Best from Other Channels – Audio doesn’t have to be a silo. You can take a sonic logo from your app or reuse your best valprops from other channels. The one thing you need: someone who understands the quirks of audio. And CAOs, if you don’t have that person internally, drop Stew a line.

Want to upgrade your messaging approach? Check out the full episode by clicking the link below.

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Listen Here: Apple

The Classifieds

You Are What You Eat

Network: The Roost Network / Monthly Downloads: 100k / Current Civility Score: 71, MEDIUM

Break out your boomsticks and welcome the ghosts: It’s spooky season here in the Influencer Classifieds. Yes siree, October has arrived once more and that means podcast listeners’ ears have become finely attuned to the whims and wails of horror. Our first classified comes from Chelsea Rebecca and YouTuber James A. Janisse. Each week the ghostly twosome run down a new morbid topic revolving around horror films. They also touch on lighter fare, like ghost hunting, film trivia, and Letterboxd community antics. Though horror fans are an extremely loyal fanbase remaining active the entire year, listenership on shows that cover horror films often rises this time of year. Dead Meat has shown consistent high performance for many longtime DR partners, especially those looking for a nerdier audience preferring curated, bespoke services and products. Beef up your current podcast buying strategy by savoring the link below.

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Dem Bones, Dem Bones Gonna Walk Around

Network: Bloody FM / Monthly Downloads: 55k / Current Civility Score: 97, HIGH

The History genre is often aligned with a specific podcast demographic: highly educated, high earners with a love for lifelong learning and self-improvement. Finding podcasts that aren’t extremely dry and repetitive in this genre can prove to be a great challenge. Luckily, our second classified item is a perfect marriage of the horrifying, the macabre, the truly grotesque, and the pursuit of knowledge. Host Haunted Chris spends every episode educating his listeners on little known stories from every corner of the US, while weaving together tales of spooky happenings. This campfire style storytelling serves as a look-alike for History options with a male skew audience, as well as narrative period piece Fiction limited series. For advertisers looking to reach internet obsessed escapists with a penchant for nostalgia, this is a solid recommendation for Q4 testing. Make sub-par performance a thing of the past by haunting the link below.

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In Case You Missed It

The Importance of Earning Attention

In a Q&A conducted by Steve Goldstein, Founder/CEO of Amplifi Media with Steve Pratt, Co-Founder of Pacific Content and now of Department of Differentiation, the importance of standing out in today’s competitive content landscape was discussed. Pratt, author of the new book, Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers, emphasized that being average is no longer enough. To earn attention, creators must offer unique value and consistently deliver quality. While much of this discussion is aimed at creators, it’s equally relevant to marketers. Key takeaway: It’s not just about grabbing attention—it’s about creating content that earns and holds consumer attention, which should be the ultimate goal

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Acast’s Case to Go Global

Acast’s Global Report for International Podcast Day, shows podcast engagement is high across emerging and established markets. Over 50% of listeners in emerging markets and nearly 40% in established markets plan to increase their podcast listening time. Around 81% of US listeners are highly engaged with podcasts, more than with streaming TV or radio. In India, over two-thirds of podcast listeners have made purchases after hearing ads. For CAOs, the report highlights podcasting’s continued growth, with opportunities for brands to reach engaged audiences through ads, social media, and live events.

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The End of the Road for Chartable

Last Friday, Spotify announced they’re sunsetting Chartable, ostensibly to consolidate all measurement tools and first-party insights, so podcasters can make more informed decisions. Chartable’s features will be integrated into Spotify’s Megaphone platform by 2025. Until then, Chartable tools will remain available to Megaphone customers, but Spotify will stop onboarding new Chartable users and discontinue all services by December 12th. Spotify also introduced enhanced sharing links in Spotify for Podcasters, allowing them to track listener conversions across social media platforms, with some tracking limitations based on link-sharing methods. Hot Take: Surprised, not surprised. If you’re looking for alternatives, there are a number of them, including Podtrac, Podchaser, Spotify podcast charts, Apple podcast charts…

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#SaveTheLiveReads

There’s Always Room for JLo (Beauty)

This week’s #STLR spotlight is on Sarah Galli, host of Andy’s Girls: A Real Housewives Podcast, as she indulges in luxurious, age defying science with Oxford Road client, JLo Beauty. Sarah delivers an enticingly satisfying ad read with a soothing tone that makes listeners feel like they’ve just received a spa treatment for their ears. Galli also humbly shares her personal interactions with Jennifer Lopez, reaffirming that JLo’s skin is truly as glowing and age defiant as it appears on the big screen. Sarah substantiates her experience further by talking about THAT BLOCKBUSTER Hydrating Cream, and how she basks in the dewy glow it gives her. When it comes to advertising a high visibility beauty line like JLo Beauty, auditory aesthetics matter too, making this live read almost as enjoyable as using the product itself.

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OXFORd In The News

Hans Gruber’s Got Nothing on Stew Redwine

Last week, Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services, Oxford Road), took the plunge to help fight homelessness in Los Angeles. The Union Rescue Mission has been fighting to end homelessness in LA for 133 years, and last week’s “Over the Edge” event was one for the ages. Dozens of donors (including our fearless Creative Leader) rappelled 25 stories down from the roof of the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City Hotel last weekend to raise money to help get one more person, family, or child off the streets for good. Unlike our friend Hans who tried a similar stunt at Nakatomi Plaza back in the winter of ‘88, Stew and the rest of the team made it to the bottom unscathed. To learn more about URM’s mission and to help, check them out HERE.

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