Podcast Sponsorships and Measurement, Part 2: An Art and a Science

Podtrac has provided measurement of the podcast space for more than 10 years claiming analysis of some seven billion unique downloads across 10000 podcasts in that timeamp160 It also reps many shows So to offer greater perceived objectivity the company simultaneously announced the separation of their measurement and sales divisions with Podtraccom housing the research and the new amp8220Authentic Showsamp8221 handling ad sales for their represented podcasts amp160A Compass to Set ScalePodcasting ad sales has relied on a mix of art and science comprised of strategic solutions salesmanship and various methods of acquiring stats The validity of those stats has become a mainstream topic as the most publicfacing version of those stats iTunes rankings were called into question in a recent New York Times story as a amp8220subject of constant speculationamp8221 As the Podtrac press release points out and as most podcast reps understand the iTunes amp8220Top Podcastamp8221 ranking is more sizzle than bankable vexing sellers by being based on amp8220recent podcast subscriptions and an influx in traffic from Twitter sometimes leading to a higher ranking in iTunes than podcasts with larger audiencesamp8221This is another example of the need for more science than art more transparency and for someone to take the measurement helm Thatamp8217s what led to a collective of public radio broadcasters coming out with suggested guidelines and the workinprogress of more coming from an IAB committeeMany believe that Podtrac stepping up to the plate with this sum of uniques is another option to help balance the amp8220salesmanshipamp8221 or good PR that some players feel outshouts the facts In other words popular individual podcasts were gaining much of the glory with shows like amp8220Start Upamp8221 and amp8220Serialamp8221 cited in almost every amp8220state of the podcast unionamp8221 story now including this one Certainly the big ones have earned their accolades and numbers but there has still been inconsistency in measuring audience levels Podtrac offers perhaps not a ruler but a compass for advertisers who are seeking basically scaleBryan Moffett GM of National Public Media expressed it this way amp8220You see the same companies mentioned everywhere but scalewise we dwarf some of them This lets us show the advertisers that there are a bunch of people you can call but this is a place to start if youamp8217re looking for scaleamp8221amp160Why Size MattersOne key value of podcasting is its ability to deliver that desirable amp8220nativeamp8221 ad style a message virtually embedded in content voiced by the trusted personality right into optin ears The 11 personal feel of customized spots often offering discount codes from seductive podcasters is a core benefit to many sponsors and the customer response rate sometimes served as a type of statSlowly brandawareness messaging has been making its way into the mix No offers just car or credit card love Those are the advertisers more mandating more proof of scale That is the information Podtrac hopes to deliver as the next step on the road to sponsor satisfactionAnd that is why NPR will sleep well tonight and the publishers of amp8220This American Lifeamp8221 and yup amp8220Serialamp8221 both of which are represented by Authentic Shows As might be expected WNYC is third in line for the scale crown but others like the podcast publishing arm of CBS and the 26 podcasts comprising This Week In Tech will also rest on the laurels of being among the Top 10 Podcast publishers in this first report for April 2016 covering 28 million unique monthly US listenersNo ShowsStill there are many surprisingly missing such as Gimlet of amp8220Start Upamp8221 fame or Bill Simmonsamp8217 Ringer network Why First the list is only the Top 10 Second some publishers may be leery of participating and of the transparency among competition And some despite it being free and easy to implement may just be taking the amp8220wait and seeamp8221 approach as the product is not without some plusses and minusesFor example the tracking includes US Unique Monthly Audience Unique Downloads Global and Number of Active Shows from each of the listed publishers One can do the math to crunch the average number of times each unique user has downloaded a show from that publisher However except in the cases of amp8220The Mothamp8221 or amp822099 Invisibleamp8221 which show up as publishers with only a single show each one wouldnamp8217t know which of say CBSamp8217s 474 shows is most downloadedBut a big plus is that Podtrac has provided a good starting point to help advertisers identify publishers with scale identifying how many unique users are requesting the file and using a common methodology that filters for example duplicates and botsamp160McCrery believes that amp8220in order for a media to mature it needs standards of measurement that help advertisers We think itamp8217s helpful to make this much more transparentamp8221 He sees these metrics as additive and thinks more will evolve likely by show down the road as well For now he says amp8220the report provides similar metrics to those comScore and Nielsen provide in their advertising planning tools for other media typesamp8221 and provides a similar level of transparency for monthly podcast audience sizes that have long been available for other types of digital media The company also offers two white papers on methodology and measurementMoffett is happy about the top ranking of NPR and feels a bit well vindicated amp8220Weamp8217ve seen a lot Fortune 500 companies coming in amp8211 and not just interested in our pitch but with sponsorship orders coming inamp8221 he says amp160But he acknowledges there is still needed data and consistency in the definition of amp8220downloadamp8221 or listen time which this ranker does not track Yet the industry will still benefit by having a metric that reveals audience sizes by publisher and amp8220its first real apples to apples comparison across all devices and apps and not all but enough of the podcasters to give you a good sense of scaleamp8221Moffett also sees it as one of the sparks that will really catapult the industry and likely very soon amp8220The podcast explosion hasnamp8217t really happened yetamp8221 he says amp8220Itamp8217s had steady growth over the past 10 years but this Podtrac story will draw a lot of attention because itamp8217s an authoritative ranker that can compare audiences of publishers and normalize it against say online video and rankersamp8221It joins another accelerant already in place The fact that platforms like Spotify Pandora and Google Play are all embracing this medium and venture capital is flowing in The final spark will be the release of the IABamp8217s suggested method for counting audience and downloads which Moffett suspects theyamp8217ll move quickly on since the advertisers and the publishers all want itamp8220Who knows if this metric from Podtrac will last as a currency but their methodology is as good as it can be for what theyamp8217re looking at and itamp8217s applied consistently to every publisheramp8221 he concludes amp8220Itamp8217s a place to startamp8221The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers Image at top by GraphicStock

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Podcast Sponsorships and Measurement, Part 2: An Art and a Science

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E.B. Moss

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Podcast Sponsorships and Measurement, Part 2: An Art and a Science

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