Are Big Brands Pushing You Out of Podcast?; Are You Playing Podcast Too Safe?; Impractical Joker Hits a Homerun; Red Wine Everywhere

We’re back with an all new episode of Media Roundtable: Industry Edition!

Back on the host microphone is Oxford Road Founder & CEO, Dan Granger. Joining him are fellow Oxford Road luminaries, Neal Lucey, Julia Palermo, and Kyle Jelinek.

We’re talking big brand bucks, Bill Gates’s new AI podcast picker, podcasting from behind bars, and streaming audio–the quiet juggernaut. Let’s dig in.

The Land of Brands : A new IAB report says 61% of podcast spend now comes from brand advertisers. Partial credit goes to the massive increase in brand safety and suitability tools (now used by ~2/3rds of publishers). Are advertisers supporting a new influx of brand-worthy shows? Love to see it. But we hope the industry doesn’t shift too far away from the performance side. At the end of the day, all the ads still need to work.
Bill Picks Pix ✅: Discoverability isn’t always a Podcast’s strong suit, but that might change with Pix, a free personalized AI-powered recommendation tool from Likewise (backed by Bill Gates). Hard to say if this is a game changer or a nice occasional tool for cutting down decision paralysis, but it works for Podcasts, books, movies, and TV.
Streaming FTW : Streaming audio doesn’t always get the buzzy headlines like Podcast, but it’s been growing steadily as radio’s continued to decline. A new Edison/Amazon Ads study shows that 3/4 of US Adults have recently listened to streaming (a 74% increase over the past decade). Plus, it’s a huge advertising opportunity reaching 78% of monthly listeners with ad-supported content.

For full breakdowns of these stories and a whole lot more, tune into the full episode by clicking the link below.

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The Classifieds

Those Who Can Save, Teach

This week we’re highlighting two recent agency top performers still open to test your Q4 dollars. Our first high performer is hosted by the well-known and highly regarded Personal Finance Advisor Ramit Sethi and is sold through the 3050. Sethi gained recognition from his Netflix show How to Get Rich and he’s been amassing DR advertising partners ever since. Though his main forte is saving people beaucoup bucks (something we all need more help with) his content touches on relationships, self-improvement, and mental health.
His approach is deeply empathetic and yet solution-based, blending two media genres that don’t often cross paths. Though we generally recommend these types of programs to B2B advertisers solely, it’s also a great option to reach lifelong learners. Give a man a podcast test, he’ll see performance for a quarter. Teach a man to properly build a podcast buy and he’ll click the link below.

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Working For and On the Weekend

Meidas Touch has steadily grown its political network in 2023, thanks to a long-term strategy centered around frequent publishing and video integrations. If you’re looking for a long-term option that publishes weekly, with intense discussions on trending topics, look no further than The Weekend Show, hosted by Anthony Davis. Each week, a single pundit, politician, Beltway insider, or commentator is given the floor to dissect a complex issue that exists within the American political sphere. Recent guests have included Cyber Security Expert Jackie Singh, The Atlantic’s David Frum, and political historian Heather Cox Richardson. Though extremely specific with narrative choices, the speakers often cite historical and contextual information, narrowing the scope of conversation and keeping the content fairly civil. Though left-leaning in nature, clients of all political skew have found success in Meidas’ offerings, including in this case. There’s no red tape to cut through, just the link below for more information.

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In Case You Missed It

Stop the Music?

The Spoken Word Audio Report 2023, released by NPR and Edison Research, reveals record highs in spoken word audio listening time and audience size in the US. Nearly 135 million people ages 13+ (48%) listen to spoken word audio daily. Listening at home has significantly increased, accounting for 60% of total daily spoken word audio listening time. Podcasts now represent 36% of spoken word audio consumption. Mobile devices are the primary listening method for spoken word audio. Good news for performance marketers — the majority of spoken word content is consumed at home or at work, where it’s easier for consumers to take immediate action.

What’s Your Listening Type?

A study by Signal Hill Insights and Triton Digital examines the connection between podcast listeners’ preferences and their listening habits. Their research identifies four types of listeners; Heavy Listeners (defined in this study as listening to more than five hours per week), Sports Podcast Listeners, Music Podcast Listeners, New Podcast Listeners (across all categories). The study highlights how podcast audiences are engaged with specific consumer verticals, offering advertising opportunities for brands targeting these segments. For example, heavy listeners who like fast food (63%), are more likely to see a theater movie at least monthly (31%), and also more likely to work out in a gym at least monthly (24%). This kind of knowledge can help improve psychographic targeting and messaging for a brand.

Repeat After Us: We’re NOT the Consumer

If you’re a podcast advertiser, it may be time to loosen your restrictions a bit. In a recent study on brand safety and suitability in podcasts, common marketing assumptions were challenged. True crime and controversial podcast topics were viewed positively by listeners, providing advertisers with opportunities to connect with engaged audiences. Controversial topics also had little impact on brand purchases. Recognizing the research was commissioned by Audacy, it does highlight differences between consumers and marketers in how they perceive and view content. True crime podcasts are a good example of a massively popular genre among consumers, but it’s also where some marketers are cautious about placing advertising. If you’re concerned about brand safety in your podcast campaigns, Oxford Road has tools to help you expand your reach without putting your brand at greater risk.

“Hey Babe!” Hits It Out of the Park for quip!

“Hey Babe!” Haven’t you heard? You gotta take listen to Chris Distefano and Impractical Joker’s Sal Vulcano talk about quip. Sal kicks things off with a great setup, saying his clunky old toothbrush at home is now out of the picture as quip’s electric toothbrush provides “a massage for my teeth!” With mints, gum, top-notch toothpaste, and a perfect travel-size quip toothbrush, Chris and Sal break down all the amazing features and how they’re both using them in their daily routines (Audiolytics™ key component #4 Demonstration)! It’s a win when one host raves about a product, but to have two hosts who both use and rave about it is a home run meant for Yankee Stadium!

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OXFORd In The News

Praise for Podcast’s Only Show Focused on Audio Ads

This week we’re sharing two stories of Oxford Road making our way into the news. Both of them are connected to our wickedly talented VP of Creative Services, Stew Redwine. The first is actually an unsolicited review from a Senior Project manager at Uber on Stew’s audio-focused podcast project, Ad Infinitum. The review says Stew’s podcast is; “a great education for everyone in the audio space!” Whether you personally manage the creative side of your audio campaigns or not, this show should be part of your weekly podcast diet.

Funny How? Funny Like I’m a Clown?

Our next story is from a recent interview Stew Redwine had with the advertising and marketing publication Little Black Book, about the use of humor in advertising. Stew and a group of other creatives discuss a recent TV commercial they produced for Blinds.com, and why they decided to take a comedic approach. Stew says the reason is simple; “humor is powerful – it elevates a message by increasing its ability to persuade, in a very delightful way.” But it’s not for the faint of heart. Integrating humor into your creative can be tricky, but with professionals like those involved here, it can dramatically impact your message in a way that doesn’t distract from your core messaging. If you’d like to up your “funny”, reach out to Oxford Road for a creative jam session by clicking here.

If you’ve read this far, thank you!

The Influencer is a production from the team at Oxford Road.
If you like our sometimes sassy, mostly informed POVs on the wonderful world of audio advertising, you should see what we do for our clients.

Interested in seeing how we could help your business?
Contact us at influencer@oxfordroad.com!