Tag: SPAN

Spotify’s New Publishing Tool Makes It Easy To Turn Broadcasts Into Podcasts

April 13, 2023

At the end of 2021, Spotify announced the acquisition of Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform that let radio broadcasters turn their existing audio content into on-demand podcast content. Today, we are excited to share that this technology is now available for any publisher with a Megaphone account. Megaphone is our podcasting platform for enterprise publishers and professional podcasters, and it offers a comprehensive set of tools that helps them publish, measure, and monetize their podcast businesses.

This technology, which we are calling broadcast-to-podcast (B2P), gives broadcast publishers—whether they’re already in the podcast game or new to the medium—an easy-to-use tool that allows them to leverage existing content to reach new, younger audiences and extend their revenue potential.

For the Record spoke to Emma Vaughn, Global Head of Advertising Business Development & Partnerships at Spotify, to learn more about this technology and what it means for broadcast creators.

First, can you share how radio listening habits are changing?

Radio listening has been gradually shifting from over-the-air to streaming as consumers increasingly choose to listen through their digital devices. In fact, the time people spent listening to broadcast radio online in the U.S. grew by 50% from 2019 to 2022. 

Similar to TV, busy consumers want to listen to their favorite audio content on their own schedule. This partly explains the tremendous growth of the podcast industry—creators, publishers, and platforms are responding to the demand from audiences. At the same time, there are more ways for people to listen thanks to a high adoption of devices like smart speakers, smartwatches, and more. 

Does this new B2P tool require extra effort or technical knowledge to use?

No! The ease of use and automation are major benefits to this product. After a simple, one-time setup process in Megaphone, broadcast-to-podcast will automatically create new podcast episodes from previously broadcasted content, making it easier than ever for broadcast publishers to reach new audiences with their content. It’s honestly so cool.  

It typically takes publishing teams approximately 30 to 60 minutes to manually convert each individual broadcast episode to a podcast. This includes downloading the episode off the radio platform, removing the ad spots, placing ad markers, and uploading the episode to a podcast platform. 

This amount of friction does not work at scale when converting hundreds of episodes per day across a network. B2P helps automate this entire process for publishers.

Five Fast Facts About Podcast Creator Monetization on Spotify

March 8, 2023

We know that many podcasters are able to establish their creative business on Patreon. But until now, there wasn’t an easy way for fans to listen to Patreon podcasts on Spotify. So today at Stream On, we were excited to announce that podcasters will be able to deliver patron content to their listeners on Spotify, and fans can easily listen to all their favorite episodes.

But the money talk went well beyond Patreon. Since launching in 2021, the Spotify Audience Network has grown by leaps and bounds as we’ve worked to connect advertisers with leading podcast publishers looking to monetize their shows. Also around that time, we acquired Megaphone, which has since become Spotify’s hosting, insights, and monetization solution for enterprise publishers like The Wall Street Journal, Paramount, and ESPN. Together, these tools give creators the ability to choose how to monetize, and we had plenty to discuss around both. 

Here are the five takeaways you need to know:

  1. The number of podcasters taking part in the Spotify Audience Network has grown eightfold in the last two years. And since we launched the Spotify Audience Network in 2021, monthly payout to opted-in publishers has grown by nearly 50% while advertiser participation has increased by 500%. So as we continue to scale the Spotify Audience Network, our intent is to make this kind of growth available to all creators.
  2. We’re pleased to welcome NPR to the Spotify Audience Network marketplace. 
  3. Recent additions to Megaphone’s roster of publishers include Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media. 
  4. In the future, Megaphone will be uniquely integrated into Spotify for Podcasters. And as of today, all Megaphone publishers have everything they need to create a successful podcast business across the new Spotify for Podcasters and Megaphone.
  5. Through our partnership with Patreon, powered by Spotify Open Access, podcasters will be able to publish patron-only content on Spotify. Patrons will be able to link their Patreon account to their Spotify account to access their Patreon-exclusive podcasts right where they’re already listening to all their audio content.

We’ll continue to explore new monetization models so that you continue to have options for how to build your business.

Keep It Light Media Joins Megaphone, and ‘Parenting Hell’ Becomes a Spotify Exclusive

November 8, 2022

a photo of the parenting hell hosts sitting against a wall with toys thrown about

Since 2015, Megaphone has been at the forefront of innovation as one of the world’s leading podcast publishing platforms. Now, Spotify’s Megaphone is expanding with the addition of podcast network Keep it Light Media. 

This partnership means that the podcast network, home to popular shows like Alan Carr’s ‘Life’s A Beach’ and Wolf and Owl, will have its podcasts hosted on Megaphone, and distributed on and off Spotify. Its shows will become part of the Spotify Audience Network, our audio-first advertising marketplace that allows advertisers of all sizes to connect with listeners across a broad range of content on and off Spotify using audience-based targeting tools.

“We are delighted that Keep It Light Media has chosen Megaphone by Spotify as its podcast platform of choice,” shared Chelsea Bradbury, Head of U.K. Publisher Partnerships for Megaphone. “With our differentiated offering for podcast publishers, we’re more than excited to be able to work with Keep It Light Media and its incredible podcast catalog to help grow its business and unlock more advertiser demand.”

Along with this new partnership, Spotify is excited to announce that the Keep It Light Media podcast Parenting Hell, from comedians Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe, will become exclusive to Spotify. The show has resonated with listeners, amassing more than 55 million downloads since its launch in 2020. Episodes find Rob and Josh offering funny, relatable takes on their misadventures in parenting. “The best thing about podcasts for comedy is that it’s far more personal and far more immediate than television or radio or all these other things,” explained Josh. “And that’s because you’re actively deciding to put it on, and it feels like a personal experience with the people [hosting].” 

With this new partnership, Parenting Hell will be shared with the millions of listeners who come to Spotify for their podcasts. “Spotify has studios we can use in town, which is really helpful, rather than rickety offices that we do in other jobs,” said Rob. “So it’s enabled us to prioritize it and make sure that it comes out every Friday, every Tuesday, without fail. Plus, it’s free and there’s no paywall. So that really excited us about joining up.”

Check out the latest episode of Parenting Hell below. 

Khurrum Malik, Head of Advertising Business Marketing, Explains Why Publishers Should Embrace Podcasts

April 8, 2022

Over the past few years, Spotify has unveiled more and more tools for enterprise publishers to embark on a new endeavor: audio content. When wading into new content formats such as audio, these companies are looking for two main things: to engage and grow their audiences and to expand their monetization strategies. Spotify’s podcast-hosting platform Megaphone enables publishers to create, monetize, measure, and grow their podcast businesses. Megaphone also powers the Spotify Audience Network, connecting advertisers with immersed listeners.

As we’ve increased these offerings, the number of publishers taking advantage of them has increased as well. Recently at Evolutions by Podcast Movement, Khurrum Malik, Spotify’s Head of Advertising Business Marketing, moderated a panel called “How Innovative Publishers Are Making Space for Audio.” It featured representatives from Vox Media, Paramount Global, and Sony Music, all of which are Megaphone publishers. Each one spoke about how they built podcasts into their content strategies, what they were seeing in terms of audience engagement, and how they looked to the future. 

Spotify’s Khurrum Malik moderating “How Innovative Publishers Are Making Space for Audio”

“I was there to facilitate conversation around how these leaders are innovating and engaging new audiences through podcast content,” Khurrum explained to For the Record. “How are the trends that they’re seeing serving their listeners? How can they work with other pieces of content and IP [intellectual property] at their company? Are they making podcast-first content and then expanding that into a potential video show? Are they taking video shows and making podcasts from them? That’s what I was there to help them explore.”

Read on for more insights from the panel and Spotify’s work with publishers from Khurrum himself. 

At Spotify, we’ve been thinking about the importance and impact of audio for content creators for a long time. What has adoption been like among enterprise publishers?

Vox Media, Sony Music, and Paramount Global are major global publisher brands that have been leaders in the space when it comes to audio content investment and innovation. For them, IP—often in the form of television or video content—has been key to their strategies. As they turn some of that IP into podcasts as well, it’s now easier than ever before to expand their podcast monetization with Megaphone and the Spotify Audience Network.

This stacks up to the numbers we unveiled during 2021 Wrapped: Our listeners spent 78% more time listening to podcasts in 2021 than in 2020. And when it comes to shows hosted on Megaphone (like the ones these publishers are creating), there’s been a 67% increase in the number of shows added. Recently, we’ve seen the addition of enterprise publishers like FOX Audio Network and Bababam join the ranks as well. 

What are some of the ways Vox Media, Sony Music, and Paramount Global are integrating or thinking about integrating audio into their suites of offerings?

For CBS, now Paramount Global, it was interesting to hear how they are thinking about their existing television IP like The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as potential for podcasts. It was interesting to hear about how they’re translating TV content to this audio-only format. 

At Vox Media they’re mimicking some of their long-form editorial as podcasts. One show, Pivot, featuring NYU professor Scott Gallaway and reporter Kara Swisher, became a dual podcast that’s really starting to grow. And the big thing for Vox Media is always building content franchises. So in this instance, they’re thinking about the quality of the podcast, how much breadth they can get with it, how to scale it. And they’ve started to take that podcast and expand it into events. So the Pivot podcast has leadership events, for example, and a community that Vox Media is using to connect with people in the technology space. 

What jumped out for Sony Music was how their global footprint of music is going to allow them to move into podcasts that are regional-specific. They haven’t taken the opportunity to do that yet, but Emily said she could see how Sony could create podcasts with artists as hosts and build communities around those. She kept talking about doing more internationally, because the footprint globally is so big.

The Latest Spotify Audience Network Innovations for Advertisers and Anchor Creators

October 6, 2021

This past February at Stream On, we announced the Spotify Audience Network, our first-of-its-kind audio advertising marketplace that enables advertisers to connect with listeners enjoying a broad range of music and podcast content. Since then, we’ve launched the network in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada with Spotify Originals & Exclusives and third-party podcasts from Megaphone publishers like The Wall Street Journal and ViacomCBS. What’s more, since launch, the number of podcasts in our network has grown by more than 50%—with even more on the way.

While the Spotify Audience Network is still in its early days, we’re pleased with the impact we’ve already seen from this new, audience-centric approach to podcast buying. The result? Greater reach for advertisers and higher earnings for opted-in Megaphone publishers. 

Introducing Anchor to the Spotify Audience Network

Behind the scenes, we’ve continued to develop new ways for podcast creators to earn from their work, including the launch of subscriptions and evolving Anchor’s monetization suite. And today, following a successful test period, we are officially opening up the Spotify Audience Network to Anchor creators in the U.S. 

Advertiser enthusiasm for the podcast industry has skyrocketed over the last year and with this launch, top Anchor creators will be able to take advantage of this growing demand while having yet another way to monetize their content. 

And for advertisers, the introduction of Anchor into the Spotify Audience Network will enable them to connect with even more immersed listeners as they stream some of the fastest growing, most dynamic podcasts in the world, such as Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry, How Long Gone, and Office Hours live with Tim Heidecker. Anchor powers 70% of Spotify’s podcast catalog, so this new capacity rapidly scales the breadth of advertisers’ reach.

“I’m really excited to be part of the Spotify Audience Network as an Anchor creator,” says the creator of rSlash. “Anchor’s been an amazing platform and has helped my podcast grow to where it is now. Based on the success Anchor and Spotify have driven for me so far, I have full confidence that the new monetization models they’re offering will help creators like me expand our businesses further.”

Podcast ads for all

But wait: there’s more. 

Advertisers of all sizes have been vying to take advantage of the benefits of podcasts, but it hasn’t been so simple. Until now, advertisers had to have a direct relationship with the Spotify team and a sizable budget to advertise in our podcast network. Now though, we’re leveling the playing field and soon, all types of advertisers—universities, independent artists, app developers, and more—will be able to realize the value of podcast ads. In the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing podcast ad buying to Spotify Ad Studio, our easy-to-use, self-serve channel. We’re starting in the U.S. with plans to expand to more markets in the future.

Giving advertisers more confidence and control while enforcing a brand-safe environment

Today, we’re also announcing that we’re joining the Global Alliance of Responsible Media (GARM) as the first audio platform among its ranks. As a member, we will help set brand safety standards in audio for the industry while ensuring we’re aligning to their already-established guidelines.

“This year, consumers called Spotify the most-trusted ad platform,” says Lee Brown, VP, Global Head of Advertising Business. “Maintaining that trust—both from our listeners and our partners—is of the utmost importance to us. We already do that through our content and brand safety policies, which utilize a combination of people and technology to moderate what’s appropriate. But there’s always more to do. GARM cements our commitment to this by adhering to a set of industry guidelines.”

What’s more, we are launching the ability to exclude sensitive topics, offering advertisers more confidence and control over where their message is heard across the network. We’re also supercharging our contextual targeting tools, enabling new controls to allow advertisers to target their messages against relevant podcast topics (think: an animal shelter reaching listeners while they enjoy a show about pets).

The time is now

Interested in learning more about these launches, including how to get started? Advertisers can find more details over at Ads.Spotify.com. And Anchor podcasters can learn more about the Spotify Audience Network and the full suite of monetization offerings over at Anchor’s blog.