From its Podcast Perch, iHeart Continues Innovating and Experimenting

"Consumers spend one-third of their media time today with audio and podcasting -- almost more than any other medium. That has fueled growth. Listening has doubled in podcasting in the last five years,"Conal Burns, CEO of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group said at the company's 2002 IAB Podcast Upfront presentation.

In fact, Americans are streaming podcasts at record levels, with 177 million adults listening to podcasts and one-quarter tuning in monthly. With its breadth and depth, iHeart leads all publishers. According to the latest Podtrac rankings, the iHeart Podcast Network ranked as the No. 1 publisher with 632 active shows and 441.5 million global downloads and streams.

At the Upfront, Burns offered up some more impressive stats: iHeart has more downloads than the next three publishers combined, per Podtrac, and boasts top-ranked shows in all 19 of Podtrac's genre categories. What's more, 50 iHeart podcasts have tallied 100 million or more downloads, he added.

By combining its massive audience and stable of hit shows, iHeart says its ad partners can achieve reach and scale and effectively reach targeted niche audiences.

"From content distribution to cutting-edge ad technology to the best in class measurement tools you need to make your marketing truly effective, we keep it simple and we've got you totally covered,"Burns said.

To maximize its audience, the company delivers its podcasts to any platform or device available. Advertisers also benefit from this broad-tent approach, Burns noted. When brands buy ads in iHeart podcasts, their spots travel with them and run wherever the user accesses the podcast.

In today's fractured media environment, as brands hunt for engaged consumers, Burns said podcasting is highly effective. Across publishers, he said the majority of podcast users listen to podcast ads, with just 10-15% of listeners skipping forward. iHeart's skippage rate is even lower, at just 10%, he added. That means ads are being heard.

To keep fans engaged, iHeart is launching fresh content and signing big names. The company just inked podcast deals with two Hollywood heavy-hitters in Ben Silverman's Propagate and Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment. They'll join bold-faced hosts like Shonda Rhimes, Will Ferrell (and his fictional persona Ron Burgundy) and Charlemagne the God. iHeart also has partnerships with the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Bloomberg, Paramount and more. There's even a new slate of NFT podcasts in the works.

These creators "are making some of the most exciting conversations happening anywhere in media,"Burns exclaimed.

Further, iHeart is nurturing the next generation. To bring underrepresented voices and people of color to podcasting, it recently debuted the Next Up Podcast network. Toyota is the headline sponsor and, so far, the project has created eight new podcasts, with more are on the way.

Taking a page from Hollywood studios and TV networks, iHeart is striking development deals with established and newbie podcasters. With these deals, Burns said creators can develop and test new ideas, and hone their hosting skills. The best concepts will get pilot orders and, possibly, full season runs. In one deal, Will Ferrell is creating a new series, The Feed, where emerging comics can try their hand at podcasting.

iHeart is also keenly focused on advancing diversity in podcasting, which Burns called its "north star."It publishes podcasts for networks that feature BIPOC and female creators, including Black Effect Podcast Network and the Seneca Women's Network. Later this summer, Burns said iHeart will add an LGBTQ+ network.

For brands looking to advertise in all this content, iHeart is rolling out advanced solutions. It recently integrated Spreaker, a platform for indie podcast creators, into its ad sales network.

The company's biggest ad tech development is the new iHeart Audio Network, a one-stop marketplace with inventory from all of iHeart's digital audio, podcast and radio stations, as well as other premium publishers. Former Stitcher COO and digital audio veteran Sarah van Mosel is leading the new venture as executive vice president.

As part of the ad network, iHeart is creating an advanced brand safety tool, Audio Intelligence, which will launch by the end of the second quarter. Built in partnership with tech firm Sounder, Audio Intelligence uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to check content for brand safety and appropriateness. How does it work? First, content is translated from speech to text and then put through natural language filters. Each transcript is tagged at the episodic level, where it can be analyzed for brand safety.

"Audio Intelligence will be the most advanced brand safety tool in the world, addressing this critical need for the audio industry,"Burns said.

As iHeart sets its course for growth, Burns said the best is yet to come.

"We're just getting started,"he concluded. "The innovation of this medium, the way people are reinventing storytelling … it makes this new medium new and fresh every week.”

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