Oxford Road Predictions Beat Nostradamus; Programmatic Failure -Spotify Advertises Mature Ad on Children’s Content; Planning for a Cookieless 2023

This time of year every blog worth its salt will attempt to predict what the coming year will bring. What you almost never see is those same blogs going back and commenting on how accurate their predictions actually were.

In an exercise of transparency, but mostly because as performance marketers we are compelled to assign a grade to everything we do, this week we’ll review our 2021 predictions to test the trustworthiness of our crystal ball and share what it means to advertisers as we head into 2022.

Read more to find out if Podcast actually hit the $1B revenue mark last year, what the future holds for Radio, and whether or not pixel-tracking on Podcast is truly the gold standard in attribution. Next week, we’ll share our official list of challenges the industry faces in the coming 12 months and provide ideas on how you should prepare.

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The Classifieds

Unlike the Disney Vault, these Shows Are Here to Stay

Cadence 13 has acquired the podcast network Vault Studios, which boasts both an extensive back catalog of limited true crime series and new investigative shows. Some high-profile cases covered include the kidnapping of Jayme Closs, the Austin Bombing Investigation, and the murder of Selena Quintanilla-Perez. Current shows include The Daily Crime, a mesh of daily news reporting and investigative journalism. Every episode, hosts Will Johnson and Reed Redmond interview local reporters and journalists, who relay the details of their criminally undervalued investigative work; the basis of all true crime podcasts’ success. The same hosts work on True Crime Chronicles which releases weekly and focuses on a single unsolved case. These shows are highly recommended for those interested in testing true crime with options to vertically integrate within a network. Click below for details.

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Follow the Carefully Laid Path to the Classified Below

Success can mean a lot of different things in today’s world. Host and CEO Scott Savlov uses his interviews with his celebrity guests to understand and define how they became successful within their particular field. Guests run the gamut, from musicians like Matt Nathanson and Darius Rucker to retired speed skater Dan Jansen, and even 1-800-FLOWERS Chairman Jim McCann. Savlov’s friendly and confident demeanor mines powerful gems relating to inspiration, hard work, and luck, with guests who are often his friends or contemporaries. If you’re looking to target an older male audience, especially those interested in business or society and culture, this is definitely a show worth testing. You don’t need a yellow brick road to lead you to find the details below.

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In Case You Missed It

Podcast’s Programmatic Problem

HotPod’s Ashley Carman posted an article yesterday on The Verge to discuss the challenges that have arisen as the Podcast industry moves more and more into programmatic advertising. One misstep the article highlights is one in which an advertisement for the salacious HBO TV show, The Sex Lives of College Girls, found its way onto a podcast made for children. Carmen goes on to share other examples of ads that made their way onto shows that they shouldn’t have, and begs the question, is Programmatic good for Podcast? From an advertiser’s perspective, these missteps may just be the tip of the iceberg. Miscategorization and sometimes vague show classifications may have your advertisements airing places you would never willingly sponsor, and with the number of podcasts increasing every day, it’s virtually impossible for the ad servers to govern 100%. While programmatic advertising does have its place in Podcast, it’s best to tread lightly. In our experience, it’s much more effective (and brand-safe) to let the humans help determine which content your ad airs.

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The Cookie Crumbles

Google’s announcement last year to delay the death of tracking cookies until 2023 gave the collective marketing world a sigh of relief, yet according to a recent article in Forbes, this relief may come back to hurt advertisers, publishers and, the very consumers whose privacy the changes aim to protect. The article, written by Hersh Patel, Founder, and CEO of, Hindsight argues that brands should shift spending away from cookies as soon as possible while seeking alternatives. While Patel’s assessment is a bit self-serving due to the fact that his company offers one such solution, it begs the question of what is your business planning to do when the cookie is a thing of the past? We’re already seeing brands shift dollars out of digital and social media and into video and audio alternatives, perhaps 2022 is the year you learn as much as possible before the cookie is gone for good.

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The Geek Squad Of The Ad World

According to Business Wire, everyone’s favorite electronic store (at least the last one standing), Best Buy is turning its in-house advertising unit into a business designed to help consumer goods makers, even outside its current electronics partners, find customers. President, Keith Bryan, said in a statement yesterday, “with Best Buy Ads, we’re able to tap into the unique relationships only Best Buy has with its customers.” This move mirrors what retailers like Target and Walmart have already done by leveraging their good name to third-party retailers. For marketers, BestBuy’s move offers an opportunity to align with the mega-retailer without jumping through the hoops generally required to get distribution in their stores.

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This Week in Great Podcast Reads

Health, Prosperity, and Headspace in 2022

Looking for the answer to living a more stress-free life in 2022? Just Ask Ronna…and Bryan. In a recent ad read on their podcast Ask Ronna, comedy duo Ronna Glickman and Bryan Safi recommend the mediation app Headspace, as the solution to happier and healthier living in the new year. You can always count on a superteam, with a great dynamic such as this one, to set up a clear problem and opportunity in your ad, then come in strong with the value proposition. Have a listen for yourself, and maybe you’ll decide to start the year off by creating more room upstairs with Headspace.

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