Non-Cancelable: Megyn Kelly Puts All Her Cards on The Media Roundtable; Google’s 4th Podcast Try; Don’t Believe Your Ears–Deep Voice Fakes Are Here

There are plenty of talking heads on radio, cable news, and podcasts. But how many became part of the news cycle themselves, over and over again, on the largest stories of the last century? Enter former corporate-attorney-turned-journalist, Megyn Kelly.

Kelly is an enigma. As an early contributor to Fox News, she was handpicked and groomed for success by none other than Fox founder, Roger Ailes. She made waves in 2016 for challenging Donald Trump on sexist comments at a live debate, only to be dragged through the mud for nine months as many far-right conservatives found her challenges unacceptable. Months later, she would come forward as a victim of harassment during Ailes’ downfall, in what Charlize Theron (who plays Kelly in the movie, Bombshell), as the origin story for the “MeToo” movement.

After a brief stint with Megyn Kelly Today on NBC, she is back in action with her own media production company, Devil May Care, where her show runs on YouTube, Podcasts, and live Mon-Fri on SiriusXM.

Throughout her journey, she has adhered to a strict code of personal ethics and journalistic integrity. If you follow her coverage or how she speaks about people who have tormented her personally and professionally, you’ll hear that she is intellectually honest to her core, as well as a wildly intelligent and talented journalist. She does make enemies from time to time, but it is the opinion of this newsletter that she is worth the risk and that our world would be more balanced, better informed, and less polarized if there were more Megyn Kelly’s in the world.

In this episode, we’ll cover the major milestones, good, bad, and ugly of her career. Kelly also shares her perspective on which advertisers are and are not a good fit to sponsor her content, and how she goes the extra mile to make live reads her own… music to the ears of any advertiser.

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The Classifieds

Curiosity Killed The Cat, But Drives Performance

Data suggests listeners seem to be more actively engaged with shows that explain ‘why’ something happened or ‘how’ something is made, which is why Podcasts that strike the curiosity nerve tend to become top performers for many of our clients. This month, CBS News launched Unsung Science with David Pogue to fit this bill. From the father of the cellphone and the creator of CAPTCHAS to the linguist who created the languages for Game of Thrones, NY Times best-selling author, TED speaker, six-time Emmy Winner, PBS NOVA science special host, and CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue seeks to satisfy curious (nerdy) minds. Unsung Science tells the behind-the-scenes creation stories of mind-blowing achievements in science and tech, revealing the inspiration and roadblocks encountered while bringing these breakthroughs to the public. So, if you’re looking to reach curiosity seekers, reach out for more details!

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A Podcast Within A Podcast, Inside a Streaming Service

Spotify is known for two things: Streaming Music & Podcasts. Well, the clever minds at the Swedish Streaming Giant have launched not 1 but 2 new podcasts that talk about their podcast & streaming music services. Kind of like a streaming version of Inception. First up is Spotify: Mic Check, which contains intimate conversations with musicians and podcasters from around the world as well as exclusive recordings and more. Next up is Spotify: Discover This, which promises fresh insights on music, podcasts, cultural moments, and social trends. Neither of these should be confused with their existing Spotify: For the Record, which highlights business updates from the company. Getting client performance to work on Spotify’s network has been an interesting road, to say the least, due to their high barrier of entry. However, based on the performance of “behind the scenes” shows, we recommend adding these titles to the list while testing other shows across their network. Trouble navigating the Spotify landscape, we can help. Click below to learn more.

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In Case You Missed It

Political Activism – Your Brand’s New Purpose?

A recent commentary piece from MediaPost’s Joe Mandese argues that “brand purpose” will, and needs to be, “brand activism,” including the explicitly political kind. Mandese cites a poll by Digital.com that showed that nearly half (47%) of consumers said they are “unlikely to buy products or services from companies not aligned with their political views.” As a regular reader of The Influencer, you know that this is something we’ve seen coming for quite a while, and while navigating this terrain can be treacherous and full of potential pitfalls, we have a map; and you can trust us because as Mandese claimed in another recent article, advertising is no longer the least-trusted profession. Reach out to learn more.

Podcasts Talking Back?

Go ahead, pull on that podcast, I dare you. As reported by The Verge, the podcast industry is exploring yet another dimension of an already lean-in medium, true interactivity. Recently, the hosts of Beyond the Screenplay used Spotify’s polling feature to find out what movie series their audience wanted to hear discussed on the show; Back to The Future or Godfather? Listeners were able to easily share their feelings on the subject within the app they were already using (The Godfather won). But live polling the audience is just the beginning. This technology will undoubtedly open an array of unique sponsorship opportunities too, and we’re excited about the possibilities. We’re digging into this one like Indiana Jones.

Is There Still Room in The Podcast Sandbox?

With the growth of the podcast segment, tech companies across the globe have been investing more into the development of their podcast platforms, which reduces reliance on intermediaries, as well as offers a host of data and advertising advantages. The New York Times and Google are both trying to figure out how to carve out their piece of the Podcast pie with new platforms that will compete with Spotify and Apple. Google has tried to make Podcasts a thing three times before but hopes that their fourth attempt, YouTube Podcasts strikes a chord with listeners. Not to be outdone, NYT is set to launch their newest experiment, an app called New York Times Audio which will host all of the audio products under The Times’ banner, including podcasts, read-aloud journalism, Audm-produced pieces, and more. While details are sparse for these two new endeavors, the trend towards exclusive content does not bode well for advertisers in the space–higher rates, more restrictions.

The Rise of Deep Voice

Are AI-thentic host “read” ads on the horizon? With AI-Voice Cloning technology getting better every day, it sure looks that way. A recent article in Forbes highlighted how AI-Voice Cloning recently helped tech-savvy crooks pull off a $35 Million bank heist, and researchers are finding that humans are fooled half the time by the current technology (and Alexa two-thirds of the time). This tech is only going to get better, and we envision a near-future where the authentic host reads you’ve been paying for are something you can simply type into a platform and plug into your programmatic buy. In the meantime, we’ve spoken to a few of the companies in the space, and for only five figures, you can literally fake anyone’s voice! Want Howard Cosell to voice your commercial? It’s possible. Maybe you want to make unlimited versions of your founder voicing your ads without having to drag them into a recording studio. Contact us if you want to be on the bleeding edge of voice-tech in advertising and unleash the first AI-Founder campaign in the world.

Sustainable Success

We spoke in his week’s issue about how it can be hard to align your brand with hosts who believe in your company’s mission. This effort becomes a lot easier when your mission is to save the planet. In addition to providing eco-friendly home essentials, our client, Grove Collaborative is working to eliminate plastic waste. On a recent episode of Dear Shandy, hosts Sharleen and her husband Andy go on for over three minutes to talk about the Grove products they like the most and how they love the fact that the company has made a declaration to be 100% plastic-free by 2025. With authentic, honest reads like this, it’s no wonder Dear Shandy is such a solid performer for many advertisers.

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If you’ve read this far, thank you!

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