Two Perspectives on Podcasting With Several Common Themes

Two days later the On Air Fest held at Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn opened with a notably more hipster audience and a completely different vibe Attendees closed their eyes to concentrate on a creative bath of sounds by audio producer Cher Vincent and producerconceptual artist James T Green The slow build of layered sounds amp8212 conversations street sounds dog barks throat clears footsteps amp8212 which emerged into a symphonic quotode to soundquot was a fitting start to an annual festival dedicated to the culture of audioSpeakers were among the most wellknown in the industry Nick Quah of industry newsletter Hot Pod took to the stage to introduce Michael Barbaro host of New York Times39 The Daily podcast with a fitting quip quotCome out and let39s see what you look likequot And Design Matters podcast host Debbie Millman recorded an intimate conversation with Serial founder and arguably the quotfather of podcastingquot Ira Glass who also demonstrated his skills in balloon animal artistrySo while both conferences covered essential aspects of the medium the On Air Fest with its interactive experiences amp8212 from Audiblesponsored listening booths to multimedia productions to DJed mixers amp8212 won the cool and fun factors Then again RAIN is called a quotbusiness summitquot and its value was clear to attendees such as Nick SouthwellKeely US director of brand partnerships and sales at AcastSouthwellKeely39s appreciation was tied to how quotencouraging it was to see just how far podcasting has come in the past few years as a platform for monetization More and more platforms are finally adopting dynamic ad insertion as a standard in the industry amp8212 a format that39s helping more and more creators get compensated for their workquotHe pointed out that there had been a great deal of hesitation around dynamic ad insertion in podcasts as well as quota reluctance to stray from bakedin hostread sponsorshipsquot Today much of the discussion is on improved measurement of all ad formats and the evermore sophisticated attribution tools in the space that are benefitting creators he addedOmer Jilani vice president of sales for Claritasowned Barometric heartily agreed quotI love the energy and enthusiasm around the podcast medium from content creators and the breadth of diverse content tech platforms and evolving measurement capabilitiesquot he said quotBut this year Attribution attribution attribution The conference seemed to be all about advertising measurement which made it very exciting for mequotStill a recent Westwood One poll found that 83 percent of ad buyers think podcast measurement is just quotfairquot or quotpoorquot That supports advice from Chartable chief executive officer Dave Zohrob who told attendees to think holistically quotFocus less on whether an ad should be placed pre or postroll and start with whether the podcast is the right fit overallquotPodcast pundit author and producer Eric Nuzum39s guidance went one step further with a push for creativity Joking about the categories that listeners consistently rank at the top he said quotWe39ll eventually run out of comedians and unsolved crimesquotEmbracing creativity seems to be good advice Chartable just released what it39s calling the industry39s first global weekly rankings charts using IAB V2certified measurement of audience size The first of its reachbased Top 200 and Trending charts shows a great deal of traction for social sciences and news with conservative talker Ben Shapiro leading the top five followed by Dateline and Rachel Maddow The findings support speakers39 recommendation to vet for context and audience compositionLate to the GameAt RAIN attendee Vernon Foster II a content manager for Acast told me that creators frequently ask quotIs it too late to get started in podcasting and have a chancequot As he said quotI think Eric Nuzum hit the nail on the head during his panel when he said that the current number of podcasts 900000 is equivalent to the number of websites on the Internet in 1997 There39s still a huge opportunity for new creators and new podcastsquotThe businessminded and the creatives alike have some overlapping motivations for diving in One is podcasting39s expediency Producer Ross Dinerstein with some 40 film credits said his most recent show The Most Dangerous Animal of All launching on FX took two years to make amp8212 versus the forthcoming Abuse of Power docupod he39s creating now over a matter of months That certainly abets increased ad inventory and speed to marketFor journalist and podcast personality Touramp233 an emcee of On Air Fest who has worked in television and magazines quotthere39s no medium like podcasting that gives you the freedom to bring what you want to people39s earsquotWork x Work agency founder and partner Scott Newman creator of On Air Fest sees that freedom as the embodiment of the makerdriven event given the low barrier to podcast production As such he said quotMajor publishing companies think of it as ad inventory and digital media But artists and storytellers and tastemakers see it as another place to tell a story from the heart And when you take an audio story as the hero and can add visuals context music and other people it takes on a more multidimensional experiencequot That was exactly what they illustrated during On Air Fest with a version of Radio Diaries complete with live narration of an episode live music and projected original animationThat diversity of storytelling was reflected in On Air Fest39s audience but not as much at RAIN A female executive producer from Mexico City who attended both conferences noted the clear dearth of multicultural attendees and panelists at RAIN As podcasting grows its international content as well as its wider uptake stateside this clearly needs to be addressedWho knows if this will be the last time for the foreseeable future when a few hundred people can safely gather for a common experience in person but for now it was wonderful amp8212 and a testament to the power of the spoken word to share knowledge and artDon39t stop now Stay in the know on audio and media industry trends with executive interviews and more from EB MossClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Two Perspectives on Podcasting With Several Common Themes

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