Price is Right Star Hits The Podcast Circuit

We’re more than halfway through May, and things are not looking great for the state of the world. Inflation is soaring, the war in Ukraine continues to rage, and yesterday a senseless shooting took twenty-one innocent lives. Amidst this chaos and tragedy, speaking to marketing news and random advertising tidbits can feel trite, but we will do our best to keep our readers informed on the industry, and perhaps find some respite from the world around us.

As for Audio… the biggest news of the week is that SXM made a significant play to purchase Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco production company for a reported $150m. This massive purchase seems to harken back to the moves SXM and others were making a year or two ago and may be the last of such plays for a time. But the addition of Conan’s production company into the SXM Media fold will provide advertisers a unique opportunity to integrate sponsorships, not only on the podcasts they produce but on a new SXM Conan channel, live events, and social media. While this acquisition may be amongst the last of this wave, The Influencer anticipates additional moves as things settle and previous acquisitions are upended.

In other news, an Oxford Road VP was interviewed on a marketing podcast about how Oxford Road is leveraging the recent interest in Podcast to increase performance for our clients while making sure the medium is safe for brands.

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The Classifieds

Middle School Experts Give Adolescents Some Ease

Penn Badgley may play a predator on Netflix’s You, but in this newest podcast from Midroll, he’s an absolute peach. Co-hosted by former middle school teachers Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari, this recently launched podcast includes cringeworthy tales of our collective middle school years, interviews with Badgley’s celebrity friends, and conversations about mental health and processing emotional trauma. Their first episode featured a stimulating discussion with fellow Gossip Girl alum Leighton Meester, and upcoming drops will include Tati Gabrielle, Rainn Wilson, and Victoria Pedretti. The show is a mix of society and culture and education and is highly recommended for those interested in millennial and Gen Z female skew audiences. Click below for more information on this opportunity. Signing off, XOXO, Classified Writer.

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Stand-up’s Show Finally Goes Simulcast

This isn’t a gag: Pete Holmes’ iconic interviews will now be simulcast for the first time ever, and future episodes will now feature spots in the mid-roll position. Holmes gained recent recognition for creating and starring in the HBO show Crashing, centering on the lives of stand-up comedians in New York City. In the same spirit, Holmes started this podcast to interview fellow funny people such as Mitch Hurwitz, Rhys Darby, and Tim Heidecker. This newest development is great news for advertisers looking for video integrated spots on a celeb-hosted podcast, especially one that is currently doing great for other direct response advertisers. This is recommended for clients that perform well on comedy podcasts catered toward an older male audience. Riffing isn’t discouraged, but you’re safer clicking the link below for more details.

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In Case You Missed It

Hot Coco News

In a surprising move that harkens back to the podcast acquisitions of 2020, SXM announced the purchase of Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco podcast network Monday for a reported $150m. In addition to the flagship show, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend; the deal includes other popular shows on the network, including Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer and Literally! With Rob Lowe, plus a new, exclusive Team Coco channel on SiriusXM. The deal also gives SXM Media exclusive rights to sell ads for Team Coco’s digital video, social media, and live events, which will provide advertisers with unprecedented 360-degree sponsorship opportunities on a show that, according to Edison Research, is the 26th largest in the space.

Call Girls & Wild Turkey

Spotify’s mission to automate the entire audio sphere does come with challenges. This week Podnews.net shared not one, but two scandalous missteps that have had advertisers and users alike scratching their heads. First was a flood of over 500 “podcasts” that were advertisements for call girls that used the streaming companies’ lack of monitoring content to promote the world’s oldest profession. Secondly, a server error placed the Wild Turkey whiskey brand onto several podcasts, including SoberCast, the Unofficial AA podcast, with an “order here” call to action. While these challenges raise trust issues for both podcasters and brands, Spotify’s momentum shows no sign of slowing down, and the performance for the advertisers we’re running on the platform is promising. Brand Safety Tool, anyone?

Cookie Monster is Sad

The ultimate death of the cookie is fast approaching and like Y2K there is a lot of fear and speculation as to exactly what will happen. A recent article from Media Post attempts to separate fact from fiction and breaks down what marketers can do to prepare.

Busy Loving Her Theragun

Busy Phillips wants you to know how she feels about one of her best friends, her Theragun>, in an ad read that’s nothing short of a love letter. If her impromptu jingle doesn’t get you, she goes deeper—almost as deep as the percussive therapy device does when releasing muscle tension—to demonstrate its many uses. Her creative partner Caissie St. Onge helps to make this endorsement sing by relating it to the topic of the show, giving the ad an organic feel. This is just one example of many where the Busy Phillips is Doing Her Best podcast crushes an endorsement. When expressing true love for a brand, these are your gals.

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OXFORd In The News

James Ingrassia – Marketing Champion

Each week, DailyAdBrief.com shares the Marketing Champions podcast, where they interview marketing experts from across the country. Last week, Oxford Road’s EVP, Client Service, James Ingrassia, joined Howard Wolpoff on the show to discuss the state of the podcast industry and what Oxford Road is doing to make the most out of the growing medium for our clients, specifically within the areas of ad buying and brand safety.

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.

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