3 things to know in podcasting today: Friday, December 20
Paltry smart speaker numbers, diversity at NPR, and a Podtrac follow-up
Podcast listening on smart speakers is less than 1%, but things are looking up
Via Blogstein:
Right now, less than 1% of podcast listening occurs on smart speakers. That’s 200 million speakers worldwide that podcasts are not being listened to on…. Podcasters must put promotional muscle behind [pushing smart speaker listening]. We have seen this in our work with other applications and platforms. Clarity of user benefit is at the core of all behavioral change. Nothing happens until a clear case is made, defining in just a few words the pain point being solved, why it is better and ease of use. That definition must be followed by extensive awareness and education and critically important, teaching prospective users “how to.”
~ My hot take ~
This 1% figure took me by surprise. Edison Research puts the number at 10% (see slide 19 in the link) and Voicebot puts it at 11%.
There’s no link in the article, but in an email, Blogstein writer Steven Goldstein told me that he sourced it from this episode of Libsyn’s podcast. Around 58:05, Rob Walch, VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn, mentions a figure of 0.2% for downloads on Libsyn from smart speakers (he calls them “voice attendants and set-top boxes” in the episode) for the month of October.
Walch told me in an email that October was the last time Libsyn ran the smart speaker numbers, which were "exactly the same as previous 6 months.”
“0.2% is where we see smart speakers for all shows combined on Libsyn,” Walch wrote to me. “The 10% number thrown out is no where close to reality.”
So what accounts for the difference? As of publishing, I hadn’t reached out to Edison or Voicebot, but Goldstein explained in an email: “Edison is perceptual research — and the gold standard. Love them. But in this instance Libsyn is actual listening data. Other platforms report similar numbers.”
To clarify Goldstein’s answer, Edison pulls data from a selection of 1,500 random phone calls of people above 12 years old. (See slide 3 here.) Platforms draw from their analytics dashboards.
There’s a big difference between 0.2% and 11% — enough of a difference that it would totally change the way that I — and I’m sure others — would think about audio strategy for whatever brand I’m consulting for. At 0.2%, it’s probably hard to convince a client that it’s worth investing in smart speaker content. But at 10% or 11%, we’re at a strong and growing slice of podcast-listening pie that we probably would want to capture.
Recent announcements of podcast integration in smart speaker listening from Apple and Spotify, and (as discussed in the newsletter yesterday) Luminary should help. I’m hopeful that many other podcasts will follow The Daily and build their own smart speaker apps. Though at these numbers, I don’t even know anymore.
More research is needed, but in any case, I think Goldstein’s larger point remains, and I particularly like the section that I highlighted above. We need to do better and lean into smart speakers.
New On-Air Source Diversity Data For NPR Show Much Work Ahead
Via NPR:
Compared with when we last examined newsmagazine source diversity four years ago (looking at NPR's data from fiscal year 2015), the percentage of white voices on All Things Considered and Morning Edition has gone up noticeably, and the percentage of female sources has gone up modestly. The results vary by program, but they show that the numerous internal efforts in recent years to diversify the sources heard on NPR have had little effect on NPR's numbers overall, even as some of those internal efforts have led to improved source diversity on the weekend shows, in particular (more on that below).
~ My hot take ~
NPR continues to struggle with diversity. This is coming off the heels of a November, 2019 newsroom staff diversity report, which showed the newsroom makeup as “just over 28% people of color and just under 71% white.” Compare that with an estimated (as linked to in the post) 60.5% of the US population identifying as white. There is positive movement — 48% of hires in 2019 identified as people of color, and five years ago 77.6% of newsroom staff identified as white. But there’s more work to be done.
Podtrac Fail — Again
You may recall, back in January, Podtrac also had issues with credibility when unique streams and downloads were not included in their numbers. That lead to a revision in their numbers to include those two metrics…. One of the major problems with Podtrac is their lack of transparency and refusal to respond to any questions or inquires about their charts. That will continue to be a problem for the industry as podcasting continues to grow and advertisers look for a reliable charting source. We’d show you their revised November chart but we cannot guarantee their accuracy.
~ My hot take ~
Podcast Business Journal is certainly not mincing its words here.
For context: In yesterday’s newsletter, I covered the PodNews story Is Hot Hollywood really the #5 podcast in Podtrac? Earlier that day, Podtrac wrote a blog post saying that they revised their rankings due to PodNews’ editor James Cridland’s “heroic testing” (their words). They also indicated that they’ve made changes that would prevent the error in the future.
I have nothing more to add; I just hope that Podtrac can regain the trust that it seems to have lost — at least with Podcast Business Journal.
A bonus tweet from @katchow ↓
diversity at a news org in 2019:
*makes a couple top POC editors compete for a job to stay at company*
*struggles publicly with issues of race*
*hires a white guy for previously mentioned job*
*wonders what to do about lack of diverse staffing or sourcing*
***repeat forever***
(Twitter)
3 things to know in podcasting today is a daily newsletter from Alex Kapelman. Follow me on Twitter, subscribe to my *original* Podcast Love newsletter, or hire me to consult for you.