Auddia Announces New 3.5M Financing

Auddia Inc, (“Auddia” or the “Company”), developer of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts that is reinventing how consumers engage with audio, announced that it has closed on $3.5M of new financing by selling 1.3M common shares from its previously announced equity line.

“We have a number of product enhancements to faidr that are in our pipeline in addition to the innovative Seamless Play and Forward+ capabilities we announced as part of our Enhanced Podcasts suite last week,” said Theo Romeo, Chief Product Marketing Officer for Auddia. “This financing allows us to lock these products into our roadmap in an ongoing effort to improve the user experience and performance metrics.”

Management believes that by strengthening the balance sheet and improving on the premium listening experience available on faidr, which includes commercial free AM/FM listening with the ability to skip content and the enhanced podcast listening experiences facilitated by Seamless Play and Forward+, that the Company is better positioned to execute on its M&A strategy.

“One of the key synergies that makes our M&A strategy so attractive is upselling premium subscriptions to consumers already listening to standard AM/FM streams and podcasts,” said Michael Lawless, Auddia CEO. “We expect that everything we do to enhance the premium experience on faidr will translate directly to increased subscriptions not only from our own user base but from the user bases we are able to acquire and those we are able to reach through our upcoming SAAS offerings.”

Following the equity line activity described above, the Company has 2,150,337 common shares outstanding as of March 15, 2024.

About Auddia Inc.

Auddia, through its proprietary AI platforms for audio is reinventing how consumers engage with AM/FM radio, podcasts, music, and other audio content. Auddia’s flagship audio superapp, called faidr, brings three industry firsts to the audio-streaming landscape: subscription-based, ad-free listening on any AM/FM radio station; podcasts with interactive digital feeds that support deeper stories and create new revenue streams for podcasters; and a proprietary chat interface for music. faidr also delivers exclusive content and playlists, and showcases exciting new artists, hand-picked by curator and DJs. All differentiated offerings address large and rapidly growing audiences.

Veritonic Integrates With Adjust For Enhanced Audio Attribution On Mobile Devices

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio research and analytics platform, announced an integration with leading measurement company Adjust. Through this integration, Veritonic’s premier audio attribution solution will receive automated data about in-app conversion actions on mobile devices including installs, purchases, subscriptions, and more. This integration allows Veritonic to elevate the holistic, cross-channel audio campaign performance data they provide to clients around the world.

“We take pride in our collaborations with visionary leaders, amplifying the impact of our solutions and elevating the value delivered to our clients,” said Scott Simonelli, CEO and Founder of Veritonic. “This seamless integration empowers us to furnish our clients with even more comprehensive, insightful and actionable data. It equips them to finely tune their audio campaigns, ensuring optimal results while instilling confidence in the allocation of their advertising budget across channels.”

“We are proud to integrate with Veritonic, as they share our passion for credible, independent, and actionable data,” said Reggie Singh, Director of Partnerships, Americas at Adjust. “We look forward to our data supporting Veritonic in the ongoing provision of full-funnel audio campaign measurement insights.”

Veritonic’s Attribution solution enables users to glean actionable insights from top-of-the-funnel branding initiatives through bottom-of-the-funnel conversions and transactions. Through an intuitive and interactive dashboard, brands can determine which publisher and specific ads had the highest impact and use that data to optimize ad performance.

If you are interested in learning more about Veritonic’s Audio Attribution solution or to get started, visit www.veritonic.com or contact sales@veritonic.com.

Triton Digital Partners With ID5 To Enhance Audio Targeting

Triton Digital, the global technology and services leader to the digital audio, podcast, and broadcast radio industries, announced its partnership with ID5, the market-leading identity provider for digital advertising targeting and addressability in the audio space while complying with privacy regulations globally.

Through its new product, Identity Enrichment, Triton Digital customers will be able to leverage the identifiers provided by ID5 to enrich audio listener profiles with more detailed and accurate information. ID5’s next-generation universal identifier leverages a variety of consented signals provided by media owners to securely identify users without compromising privacy and data protection. By making audio publishers’ inventory addressable, advertisers can better engage with their audiences within this channel that currently operates without a universal currency.

“At ARN, our partnership with Triton Digital and ID5 signifies a pivotal moment in audio advertising. This collaboration enhances our targeting precision and compliance with privacy regulations, allowing us to create richer listener profiles,” said Farad Tohme, Chief Digital Officer at ARN. “We’re excited about the possibilities this brings, making audio an even more compelling avenue for advertisers to connect with their audiences. Being a partner in the proof-of-concept phase allowed us to convert 60% of our un-addressable audience to addressable, greatly benefiting our advertisers and trading partners.”

“ID5’s ID technology is transforming how the advertising world operates through the creation of listener profiles and its privacy-first approach,” said Benjamin Masse, Chief Product Officer at Triton Digital. “Providing access to these listener profiles, supported by rich data, will enhance the value of the inventory available in the Triton Digital Audio Marketplace. We are encouraged by the promising results we have witnessed so far and are excited to be partnering with ID5 to bring this technology to more advertisers.”

The Triton Audio Marketplace offers access to one of the largest single pools of audio audiences, with billions of audio ad impressions, allowing marketers and agencies to transact on all forms of audio inventory. The availability of listener profiles and improved inventory addressability will help advertisers build more meaningful connections and reach more audiences. In doing so, audio becomes even more of a compelling path to invest in, on par or surpassing other forms of media.

“Audio is an appealing new channel that lacks a unique identifier to effectively monetize publishers’ audiences. By leveraging the power of identity, ID5 and Triton are maturing this channel and effectively enabling media owners to maximize revenue opportunities,” said Catilin Borgmann, ID5’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We are excited to bring our privacy first technology together with Triton’s vast auto audience pool, experience, and expertise to enhance audio addressability.”

About Triton Digital

Triton Digital is the global technology and services leader to the digital audio, podcast, and broadcast radio industries. Operating in more than 80 countries, Triton provides innovative technology that enables broadcasters, podcasters, and online music service to build their audience, maximize revenue, and streamline their day-to-day operations. In addition, Triton power the global online audio industry with Webcast Metrics, the leading streaming audio measurement service and Podcast Metrics, one of the first IAB certified podcast measurement services in the industry.

About ID5

ID5 was created to improve online advertising for consumers, media owners, and advertisers, with the ultimate goal of helping publishers grow sustainable revenue. ID5 provides the advertising ecosystem with a transparent, scalable, and privacy-compliant identity infrastructure. It’s solutions enable user recognition across media owners to better monetize their audiences, advertisers to run effective and measurable campaigns, and platforms to maximize the value of data and inventory for their customers. Created in 2017 by seasoned ad tech professionals, ID5 services clients globally.

Ausha Unveils Exclusive Study About Apple Podcast Algorithm

Ausha, a pioneer in Podcast Marketing, has concluded a groundbreaking study powered by its latest innovation, the PSI (Podcast Search Optimization) Control Panel.

This research reveals actionable tactics for influencing Apple Podcasts Search Results, providing podcasters with unparalleled insights on climbing the ranks of this highly competitive platform.

Until now, the mechanics of Apple Podcasts’ algorithm have been guided by Apple’s official guidelines, which highlight three critical factors that greatly influence search engine result rankings: Metadata, Listener Behavior and Popularity.

With this knowledge, Ausha analyzed over 1,000 keywords and more than 7 million search results to uncover what concretely affects a podcasts ranking on Apple Podcasts. Aisha’s study provides podcasters with detailed insights to boost the visibility of their podcast:

97% of Top 10 podcasts effectively use their main keyword into their metadata.

65% of these top performers also feature the searched keyword prominently in their show title.

Incorporating your primary keyword into the show name can elevate your podcast by an average of 5 positions in search results.

Using your keyword at least 5 times in episode titles can lead to an average gain of 7 positions in search results

Adding your keyword at least 6 times in episode descriptions can also increase your standing by an average of 7 positions in search results.

This study was made possible by Ausha’s latest innovation: The PSO Control Panel, a cutting-edge tool designed to help podcasters hit the top search results in podcast apps by tracking podcast visibility for specific keywords.

The PSO Control Panel, available to Ausha users and to non-hosted users within Ausha PRO offers, has significantly enhanced the visibility of podcasts like those hosted by Amy and Sandra:

Amy, host of the What Fresh Hell podcast, has experienced significant growth utilizing the PSO Control Panel. The podcast climbed to number 15 on Spotify for the keyword “Parenting” and made a notable debut in the rankings for “Moms” – moving to position 26 on Apple and 14 on Spotify, where it was previously invisible.

Moreover, Sandra’s French podcast “Naissance d’une maman” enjoyed a surge of 23% in downloads in 1 week only after applying metadata optimizations based on Aisha’s insightful studies.

New Podcast Data From Acast Founders Reveal Appetite For Alternative Media Monetisation

Sesamy, the Stockholm-headquartered platform for monetising digital content from the founders of Acast, reveals new data findings from its initial partnerships in the podcasting industry across Sweden, the UK, and Italy.

Podcasts are now a major part of the media landscape. Whereas traditional media outlets may have, in the past, considered a podcast as an addition to supplement more traditional content types, the skyrocketing popularity of podcasts has necessitated that publishers take them more seriously, and direct more efforts into creating a high-quality podcast offering.

Following the industry-changing innovations like Acast and Spotify growing out of the region, the Nordics are now seeing experimentation in how digital content is monetised, especially in light of dwindling ad revenues and consumers facing ‘subscription fatigue.’

Partnership with Kvartal: partially locked podcast episodes driving subscriptions

Sesamy has partnered with leading Swedish independent media publication, Kvartal, to transform the magazine’s podcast model. Kvartal’s existing podcasts continue to be free to access, but the change was implemented by making a segment of certain podcast episodes available to subscribers only. This adaptation of the model of the model led to a jump in subscribers, proving that a publications’ podcast listeners are potential digital subscribers.

Non-subscribers, when reaching the locked part of the episode, are directed to a dedicated page offering them a subscription. Kvartal data reveals that 15.8% of new subscribers came through this gateway over just five weeks at the beginning of 2024, proving the significance of podcasts as a funnel for gaining new subscribers. This compares to a conversion rate of only 6.8% via podcasts previously (October 2022 – December 2023).

Ludde Hellberg, CEO of Kvartal comments, “We have strong reason to believe that our premium podcasts are a far bigger driver of conversation to subscription than even these numbers indicate.

With regards to retention, practically all our paying subscribers become active and continuous listeners to our premium podcast feed, that is only available to subscribers, and that we’ve created in collaboration with Sesamy.”

Data findings from alternative podcast monetisation models:

* Beyond its partnership with Kvartal, Sesamy’s collaborations across Sweden, the UK, and Italy show that there are more options than simply relying on ad funding, or completely locking a podcast behind a paywall.

* Data collected over 30 podcast shows utilizing Seamsy, over a period of 8 months, reveals that:

* The average rate for paid single podcast episode purchasers to convert to subscribers is 10.1%

* Interestingly the conversion rate is higher for female-hosted podcasts (12.8%) compared to male-hosted podcasts (8.1%)

* 85% of subscribers choose to pay for an entire season in a single transaction in advance; the remaining 15% choose to pay for an entire season by monthly installments

* The median preferred payment methods are: Swish (Venmo) 69%; Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit card payment 31%

* Early morning is the best time of day to release a podcast episode.

The data shows the benefits of diversifying podcast monetisation, rather than relying on the outdated ad-funded model which does not adequately renmunerate podcasters, as it is reliant on receiving thousands of listens in order to gain profit. Sesamy’s technology allows consumers a single-purchase option, should they wish to access ‘special’ paywalled episodes, as well as option to buy ‘bundles’ of episodes, or – when it is best value for money for them – subscriptions.

New Study Finds Personalized AI-Generated Ads Are 22% More Effective At Increasing Brand Favor

Instreamatic, whose advanced voice and audio marketing solutions empower brands to better engage with consumers, announced the results of third-party research that analyzed the performance of both generic and personalized AI-generated audio ads compared to a control group exposed to neither. The study was performed by audio research and analytics platform, Veritonic, on a campaign run by dentsu for Intel.

The audio ad campaign focused on the high-performance Intel Evo Edition laptop brand and measured brand awareness, brand favorability, purchase intent, and memorability. The study surveyed three audiences: one exposed to listener-personalized AI-generated audio ads, one exposed to generic AI-generated audio ads, and a control group not exposed to ads. Ads were inserted into streaming radio and podcast listening environments, and the same audience hearing those ads were recontacted and surveyed 48 hours later to measure key brand metrics.

Veritonic’s study results indicate a consumer readiness for AI-generated audio ads, with both generic and personalized AI ad variations outperforming the control group. Audio ads with personalized, context-driven creative also decisively outperformed those with generic creative.

Among the quantitive conclusions from the study:

* Personalized ads increased brand favorability by a staggering 18-22 percentage points. While Generic AI-generated creative increased brand favorability by 9% over those not exposed to the campaign, personalized AI-generated creative across all platforms drove significant brand favorability lifts as high as 22 percentage points. Additionally, 62% of those exposed to personalized ads reported they were likelier to think favorably of a brand that personalizes its message.

* Personalized ads boosted purchase intent by 15-18 percentage points. By comparison, generic AI creative drove a 3% increase. Additionally, 60% of those exposed to the personalized AI campaign reported being more likely to consider purchasing from a brand offering personalized ads.

* Listening to personalized ads increased brand awareness by 6-12 percentage points. Additionally, 73% of those hearing personalized AI-generated ads reported being more likely to pay attention to ads personalized just for them.

Instreamatic’s AI-fueled audio ad technology provides voice AI capabilities that allow agencies and brands to generate entire campaigns — including thousands of personalized and creative ad variations — from a single original voice sample and script. Instreamatic’s platform identifies parameters unique to each listener’s current environment, enabling contextual audio ads to include hyper-personalized details. For example, ads can mention the listeners location, the time of day, their current activity (such as listening to a podcast), and the app or platform they use for that activity. Personalized AI-generated can also include the nearest store and address where the listener can redeem an offer, promo codes for performance tracking, and more.

The study shows how AI can be strategically used to generate better campaign results with a fraction of the time and cost expenditures required by traditional audio ads. Where a single traditional audio platform can prepare that same ad in three minutes. Where recording thousands of ad versions personalized and contextualized to each listener would require months of voice work and be virtually impossible to execute, Instreamatic can prepare entire campaigns in just hours.

Wondery Strikes Global First Look Deal With Campside Media For A Multi-Project Slate

Podcast studio Wondery announced an audio first-look deal with Campsite Media, a leading podcast production company known for its award-winning and critically acclaimed journalistic storytelling. Under the multi-project commitment, Wondery and Campside will produce Limited Series podcasts, including non-English language titles, to be distributed by Wondery globally.

Building further on the relationship, Wondery and Campside have collaborated previously, including three seasons of Suspect with the fourth season coming later this year, Sports Explains The World from Wondery and Meadowlark, and Campside Co-founder Matt Shaer reporting and hosting Wondery’s Over My Dead Body. Campside and Wondery both strategically align in creating compelling podcasts that serve as the building blocks for television and film adaptations. Currently, Suspect is being developed as a TV series at Amazon MGM Studios with Wondery and Campside Media producing.

“We have worked with Campside on several projects, including Suspect, and I’m honored we’re expanding our collaboration with them,” said Marshall Lewy, Chief Content Officer, Wondery. “Their instinct for fascinating stories and excellence in journalism fits perfectly with Wonder’s commitment to delivering captivating narratives to audiences worldwide. I am particularly thrilled that this partnership includes global investigative series, and it marks a big milestone as we continue to bring the most bingeable, groundbreaking and thought-provoking series we can to our listeners.”

“Marshal Lewy and George Lavender, now Wondery’s Head of Creative Production, were my introduction to audio — the helped teach me how to make a successful narrative podcast,” Matt Shaer, Co-Founder of Campside Media said. “This deal feels like a genuine full circle moment: From those early days of the medium, to collaborating on the Suspect franchise, and now working in partnership on a broad new range of shows. As a creator, I can’t think of a better home for Campside’s work than Wondery.”

Renowned for their compelling journalism-first approach and creator-driven content, Campside Media was recently recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2023, producing over 40 limited series podcasts, with 20 television and film adaptation projects in development. Wondery is an industry leader in transitioning podcasts into television shows and to date has produced 6 prestige limited TV series.

Introducing Blubrry Podcast AI Assistant – Blubrry PAI

Blubrry Podcast AI makes your podcast process as easy as pie

Big news — we’ve just rolled out our much anticipated Podcast AI service to power up your podcast production and promotion. Meet the Blubrry Podcast AI Assistant  (Blubrry PAI), your new best friend on your podcasting path.

Blubrry has always had its finger on the pulse of the needs of podcast creators. Our podcast AI was born from many months of extensive research and development aimed at tackling the everyday hurdles podcasters face. We are introducing an integrated podcast AI tool that will help yo increate better content while providing your audience with a richer experience and providing search engines with unparalleled metadata.

Whether you’re brainstorming your next big topic or trying to get the word out on social media, Blubrry PAI promises to make the process smoother, brighter, and more fun.

What’s the Buzz About Blubrry PAI?

AI-Planning

We’ve all hit creative blocks or struggled to align content with the audience’s desires. Blubrry PAI uses AI-driven insights from your episode goals and description, guest bio, and source material to help you choose episode topics, guest questions, and scripts for your episodes. It’s like having a content strategist in your pocket, ensuring your podcast resonates with listeners every single time.

AI-Production

Say goodbye to the hassle of juggling multiple external tools. Blubrry PAI brings it all under one dashboard, offering transcript creation with speaker analysis, title suggestions, complete show summaries, bullet points, episode art generation, and chapter file creation. Integrated with episode publishing, Blubrry PAI provides an editable draft ready for publishing with all elements married to your chosen AI outputs. The best part is that no extra service or special skills are needed.

AI-Clip & Email Creator

We all know the drill: If you want your podcast to thrive, you’ve got to shout it from the digital rooftops. Blubrry PAI’s automated social clip creator for all major social platforms creates custom clips for each episode. The AI also creates a unique promotional email for each episode with all of the contact, social, and follow/subscribe links you designate. Designed to play nice with each social platform’s unique vibe, it ensures your episodes get the spotlight they deserve.

AI-Media Clipping, Coming Soon

Promotional video clips tailored to the unique characteristic of each social media platform for maximum reach and listener engagement.

A Word From the Top

Todd Cochrane, CEO of Blubrry: “I have been using a wide range of tools to accomplish what we have created for you now as an integrated solution within our ever-growing Thrive Bundle. 

All Blubrry hosting customers can test the platform sufficiently to see what elements work best. The production tools have been life-changing, saving me time and giving my listeners a better experience. Blubrry’s mission has always been democratizing podcasting, making it accessible and fruitful for everyone. Blubrry PAI embodies that mission, offering unmatched support for planning, promotion, and social engagement.”

Get Started with Blubrry PAI

Get ready to take your podcasting game to the next level. Blubrry PAI is now available for all Blubrry hosting podcasters via a trial on the Podcaster Dashboard. See AI in the dashboard. Dive into all the details here from some insider tips and tricks. And, of course, the Blubrry support team is just a click away from any questions you might have. 

In a world where everyone’s starting a podcast, Blubrry PAI gives you the edge to not only join the conversation but lead it. Whether you’re crafting your first episode or looking to scale your podcasting empire, Blubrry PAI is your go-to for making every step of the journey seamless and impactful. Let’s start podcasting the smart way!

 

WGA Members At Spotify Studios And The Ringer Reach Tentative Agreement With Spotify

Writers Guild of America East members at Spotify Studios (formerly Gimlet Media and Parcast) and The Ringer have both reached tentative agreements with Spotify on new collective bargaining agreements.

Two of the first podcast production companies to unionize with the WGAE, both bargaining units made important gains in wages and achieved first-of-their-kind protections against Artificial Intelligence (AI) during negotiations for their second union contracts.

The tentative agreement will now go to the Spotify Studios Union, The Ringer Union and the WGAE Council for ratification votes. Details of each collective bargaining agreement will be made public upon ratification.

The Spotify Studios Union shared:

“After more than two months of bargaining, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve agreed to a new contract with Spotify. Thanks to the solidarity and strength of our union, we secured pay increases that are on average an inflation-beating 5.7% across the unit. We also made gains on severance, won new protections for employees who are on visas, and secured groundbreaking AI safeguards. To win these gains, 100% of Gimlet Union employees signed a strike pledge and were prepared to walk. 100% of Parcast Union employees signed this strike pledge in solidarity.

This contract also marks a new chapter: beginning with the ratification of this agreement, the Gimlet and Parcast Unions will join together to become The Spotify Studios Union.

Our joint unit went into these negotiations battered by brutal rounds of layoffs. So many of our talented colleagues were cast aside in a restructuring ghat was only necessary because of decisions made by Spotify leadership. Still, during the course of negotiations, Spotify Studio Union members came together and found a unified voice to defend our rights as workers.”

The Ringer Union bargaining committee said:

“The Ringer Union bargaining committee is proud to recommend a contract that includes necessary wage increased for lower-paid members of our unit, severance and layoff protections in an industry that’s been hit so hard, and key safeguards against the creep of Artificial Intelligence into our work. We could not have won this hard-fought contract without the solidarity of our members and our fellow WGAE shop unions at Gimlet and Parcast. Our union remains united in the face of the industry changes and we look forward to continuing to build solidarity through the life of this contract.”

Based in New York, Gimlet has produced such popular shows as The Journal, Science Vs, Every Little Thing, Reply All, Crime Show and many more. The Ringer has proceeded popular shows as The Bill Simmons Podcast, NFL Show, NBA Show, Bandsplain, The Rewatchables, and many more.

KS&R Report: Podcasts Are Replacing Traditional Media Consumption

KS&R, an industry-leading strategic consultancy and marketing research firm, announced the release of its research report, “Podcast Frenzy: Riding the Wive of Ever-Increasing Popularity”.

This report found that podcasts are replacing traditional media consumption across all generations. Additionally, a significant portion of Gen Z (more than a quarter) and Millennials (more than a third) listen to podcasts on a daily basis. In fact, since they began listening to podcasts, listeners reported that 28% of them watch less TV, and 24% browse social media less often. Even one-third of Gen Z listeners said they now spend less time playing video games.

There are generational gaps in the types of podcasts to which aficionados listen, however:

Gen Z prefers comedy (47%) followed by pop culture (34%)

Millennials also prefer comedy (45%) followed by true crime (35%)

Gen X prefers news (33%) followed by comedy (32%)

Baby Boomers also prefer news (37%) followed by politics (36%)

Video podcasting is popular, particularly via Youtube (45%) which is especially popular among men. Looking ahead, K&R expects augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and other interactive features to become increasingly common, elevating podcasting experience with more interactive and immersive content

“In this podcasting landscape, we’re witnessing a profound shift, particularly in the loyalty and influence of ‘super listeners,’” said Jennifer Longo, KS&R Telecom, Entertainment and Content Specialist. “It’s an exciting time for podcasting, with boundless possibilities on the horizon.”

Findings are from KS&R’s Entercom & Recreation Landscape Survey. 5,000 online surveys were completed March-April 2023, among consumers ages 13-76, contacted through a nationwide online panel, representative of the US Census population.

Read the full report here.