In August 2022, Podcast Movement returned to Dallas, the city where it all began in 2014!

AdsWizz and Simplecast joined thousands of passionate podcasters and industry professionals worldwide for the industry's biggest conference and gathering for the podcast community.

In their "Podcast Monetization 101 (It's Not Just Ads)" session, Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing at AdsWizz, and Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing at Simplecast, guided the audience through various ways podcasters monetize podcasts.

Key Takeaways

Monetization is not a one size fits all approach. It's about understanding your goals for creating a podcast and finding a monetization approach that supports those objectives. While monetization doesn't have to be the end goal, if creators plan to go this route, it is best to have around 10K downloads to monetize (with some notable niche content exceptions). There are many ways for creators to monetize, including advertising sponsorships, subscriptions/memberships, and ancillary experiences such as events, games, and books.

Subscriptions and Revenue

People who crowd-fund and facilitate subscriptions build thriving communities with niche audiences, and enthusiasts is a great way to cultivate a community and recurring revenue from subscriptions and memberships. While not everyone will make north of $160K on platforms like Patreon, it is within the realm of possibility to cover maintenance and pay oneself a salary.

Events

Costs can add up for large venues but don’t discount the value of small venues (such as a bar with a back room), which allows creators to add more content to the tank and meet with their communities. While there are a lot of upfront costs for merchandising, it isn’t worthwhile until there is the largest audience to cover this expense, and most people don’t want to buy it.

Affiliates

For creators who like products, those products have programs that give them commissions or a sale cut. Podcast listeners are also loyal, and they are more likely to buy that product than any other medium.

Host-Read or Produced

There are two common approaches to ad creation. Host-reads usually have a low entry barrier for creators and provide a smooth listening experience with a high trust factor for the podcast audience. Produced ads are typically made by a brand or agency, pre-recorded, and often feature music and high production value.

Baked-In Ads

Can be host-read or produced ads baked into the content. Dynamically inserted ads facilitate technology to determine what kind of ad gets served based on factors such as daypart, context, and geography. These can be re-sold via back catalogs. 

Ad Type

Can be host-read or produced ads baked into the content. Dynamically inserted ads facilitate technology to determine what kind of ad gets served based on factors such as daypart, context, and geography. These can be re-sold via back catalogs.

Ad Targeting

Today's robust targeting capabilities enable brands to reach the right listeners by context, device type, geo, demo, behavioral segments, and more.

Transactions 

Direct Sales

• Via the Host - a transaction happens between the content owner using an insertion order (IO) with execution parameters.
• Via the Publisher - can be host-read or dynamic ad insertion (DAI) - there is an ad ops team that is entering IO into the campaign management system, which is tied to an ad server. The campaign management system can include all targeting parameters and can match them to the ad (matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match).

Programmatic

Negotiations are made on digital platforms on private marketplaces, programmatic guarantees, and public or open marketplaces. Advertisers can buy audiences by age, gender, genre, and behavior (income, interest in cars, etc.) Advertisers can also purchase impressions on specific channels/shows. That said, audience buying opens up more potential audiences an advertiser would have missed by just a channel or a show.

Closing Remarks

"As somebody who's worked in ad tech for a very long time, often in mediums that are considered traditional and make a digital transformation, the thought of dynamic ad insertion or programmatic replacing host-read can be scary. But it's not find-and-replace-all. It's a mix-and-match for what works for you. If you get larger, you can leverage technology to automate a process that can be very manual and open up your demand sources to get you more money."

-Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing at AdsWizz

 

"Independent podcast creators, your voice is so valuable, and it's the heart and soul of this industry, so you should get paid for your actions! All of the exciting things in enterprise podcasts happened independently first: this is where innovation and real creativity occur. You are the blueprint. We don't want you to get scared or intimidated by monetization."

-Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing at Simplecast

 

Like to press rewind? Check out our content from Podcast Movement 2021!

 

On Tuesday, August 23 - Thursday, August 26, 2022, Podcast Movement returned to the city where it all began in 2014: Dallas! AdsWizz and Simplecast joined the SXM Media team and thousands of passionate podcasters and industry professionals from around the world under one roof to learn, grow professionally, and, most importantly, evolve and improve the podcast community. Our presence included a lounge on the main floor, programming throughout the conference, and numerous networking events.

Simplecast Midday Meetup

Produced in partnership with the BIPOC Podcast Creators, this meetup included light bites, coffee, tea, and other beverages and a knowledge-sharing/Q&A session with special guests answering questions from the attendees.

Simplecast Creator Connect Happy Hour

On the last day of the conference, Simplecast hosted its signature Creator Connection Happy Hour with an open bar, passed apps, a photo booth, and more–plus exciting new features from Simplecast! (But mostly: good vibes with fellow creators!)

AdsWizz and SXM Media Hosted Content Sessions

Podcast Monetization 101 (It's Not Just Ads.)

Simplecast and AdsWizz guided the audience through a variety of ways they can create income from their podcasts and a primer for advanced advertising within podcasts, as monetization is not a one size fits all approach. Justine and Caitlin steered the audience through numerous ways they could generate income from their podcasts and a primer for advanced advertising within podcasts. Click here for the full recap.

 

 

 

Featured Speakers:

• Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing, AdsWizz
• Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing, Simplecast

 

 

 

 

 

Hosted by Monica Robles, Director of Strategic Accounts at SXM Media, SXM Media, Simplecast, and AdsWizz highlighted the audio fempire and brought not one but a two-panel conversation to the stage at Podcast Movement 2022. 

Emerging Creators Tap Into the Wisdom of Podcast Vanguards

The panel dove deep into the minds and experiences of accomplished creators to learn about the moments that fortified their path, what they would do with a time machine, and the best advice they ever received or wanted to give. 

 

Featured Panel:

• Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing, Simplecast (M)
• Jordan Cobb, Lead Writer & Director, No Such Thing Productions
• Delia D’Ambra, Creator & Host, Counter Clock, and Park Predators, Audiochuck
• Hala Taha, Creator, Young and Profiting Podcast, YAP Media Network

Elevating Diverse Female Voices in Podcasting

In this panel, inspirational women in the audio industry shared their career-defining moments and actionable ways to champion professional passions and achieve success. Throughout the event, the panel also “passed the mic” to the audience and encouraged them to share their stories, ask questions, and get their voices heard.

 

Featured Panel:

• Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing, AdsWizz (M)
• Tiffany Ashitey, Creator Network Director for the US, Acast
• Marla Isackson, Founder & CEO, Ossa Collective Academy
• Naomi Shah, Founder, and CEO, Meet Cute

 

Like to press rewind? Check out our content from Podcast Movement 2021!

 

AdsWizz Gets Loud on the French Riviera

AdsWizz was back at Cannes 2022 to reunite with the best minds in media and audio to share how we’re innovating the future of the industry. If you missed the event, you can relive our sessions below.

A Look Into the Shifts Shaping Programmatic Advertising (with Women in Programmatic Network)

The programmatic space is shifting like never before—are your digital strategies keeping up with the needs of modern consumers? In this session, we heard from leading industry experts about the growth and trajectory of digital advertising channels, emerging verticals, and how to be on the frontline of developing opportunities.

Ellie Edwards-Scott (M)
Co-Founder, The Advisory Collective

Anne Frisbie
SVP, Commercial Partnerships & Business Development, AdsWizz

Elli Dimitroulakos
Head of Automation, Americas, Acast

Kathryn Spaeth
Global Chief Transformation Officer, Wavemaker

Michal Nissenson
Director Of Customer Marketing, Geoedge

 

 

"In the audio space, the consumers' experiences are so personal and powerful that there is a much higher bar to ensure that the advertising experience matches the listener experience appropriately. And you see this in many ways in how audio advertising functions. Increasingly, we're going to think about that experience, not just from brand suitability and brand safety, but from publishers and creators enhancing their content experiences and those relationships they bring to the advertiser. That result is in the power of audio. It puts a much different spin on everything we do and brings us back to the power of content and how we leverage it to ensure the advertising works."

-Anne Frisbie, SVP, Commercial Partnerships & Business Development, AdsWizz

 

Striking the Perfect Balance of Content + Cultural Zeitgeist

Connecting advertisers with today’s hottest up-and-coming creators—something SoundCloud and AdsWizz have perfected. In this session, we hear how the world’s largest open audio platform and the leading global technology provider for digital audio advertising solutions partnered to create one of the unique offerings in the marketplace for prominent international brands.

Kelli Hurley (M)
VP, Global Head of Revenue Partnerships, SiriusXm

Shauna Alexander
VP Global Partnerships, SoundCloud

Zac Pinkham
VP of Demand Europe, AdsWizz

Adam Puchalsky
Global Head of Content, Wavemaker

 

 

"If you think about time spent in digital audio vs. where the revenue is spent right now, we're still in a big gap, so I think we're at that early stage of that hockey stick. There needs to be a huge education around digital audio, especially on the streaming side. For example, buyers need to understand how to shift their budgets into digital and need to see those results. We've got a great narrative in the digital audio and programmatic worlds when we talk about data and addressability. Fundamentally, it is proving the value and efficacy of the advertising."

-Zac Pinkam, VP of Demand Europe, AdsWizz

 

Want to see more content featuring AdsWizz at Cannes 2022? Check out these panels sponsored by Say It Now.

 

Podcast Movement Returns to the City Where It All Began

Tuesday, August 23 - Thursday, August 26, 2022
Sheraton Dallas Hotel | 2400 North Olive Street Dallas, Texas 75201

Here we come, Dallas! Come hang out with the AdsWizz, Simplecast, and SXM Media teams, where we’ll be joining thousands of passionate podcasters and industry professionals from around the world under one roof to learn, grow professionally, and, most importantly, evolve and improve the podcast community.

Our presence will include a lounge on the main floor, programming throughout the conference, and numerous networking events. We’re even able to take private meetings.

For private meetings, please drop a note to podcast@www.adswizz.com.

 

Don't miss our Networking events!

Simplecast Creator Connect Happy Hour

Thursday, August 25, 2022
On the last day of the conference, Simplecast will host its signature Creator Connection Happy Hour with an open bar, passed apps, a photo booth, and more–plus exciting new features from Simplecast! (But mostly: good vibes with fellow creators!)

 

Simplecast Midday Meetup

Friday, August 26, 2022
Produced in partnership with the BIPOC Podcast Creators, this meetup will include light bites, coffee, tea, and other beverages and a knowledge-sharing/Q&A session with special guests answering questions from the attendees.

And don’t forget to catch our programming!

Podcast Monetization 101 (It's Not Just Ads.)

Wednesday, August 24 | 9:45 am - 10:30 am (America/Chicago)
Lone Star A3/A4, Breakout Session
Speakers: Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing at AdsWizz, and Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing at Simplecast

Monetization takes many shapes and forms. Ever wonder what method has the lowest barrier of entry for making money off your podcast? Want to know what DAI means, but at this point, are too afraid to ask? If you said yes to any of these, join Simplecast and AdsWizz as they take you through myriad ways you can create income from your podcast and a primer for advanced advertising within podcasts (that's that DAI thing we talked about). Monetization is not a one size fits all approach. It's about understanding your goals for creating a podcast and finding a monetization approach that supports those goals.

 

Elevating Diverse Female Voices in Podcasting
Wednesday, August 24 | 11:30am - 12:30pm (America/Chicago)
Lone Star B, 2nd Level

Join SXM Media for a panel moderated by Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing at AdsWizz, featuring accomplished, diverse podcast creators and business leaders discussing their "game-changing" and transformative career experiences. Using this platform to inspire the next generation of female leaders, the panel will also "pass the mic" to the audience to encourage them to share their stories, ask questions, and let their voices be heard. 

 

 

Like to press rewind? Check out our content from Podcast Movement 2021!

 

Audio tech innovators, Say It Now, hosted AdsWizz at the 2022 Cannes Lions for some compelling panels in partnership with A Million Ads, Octave Audio, Tremor Video, and The 7 Stars. Watch below for videos featuring Justine Benjamin, Vice President, Global Marketing, and Zac Pinkham, Vice President, Demand.

The View From The Supply Side

 

AdsWizz - Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing

Say It Now - Charlie Cadbury, CEO 

Octave Audio - Charlie Brookes, CRO 

A Million Ads - Richard Williams, Commercial Director

Advertisers are finally getting to the place where they cannot ignore audio. Still, audio tech providers must continually innovate to help brands make actionable and personalized steps to reach audiences. Challenges include the nascency of the technology and brands and publishers still not using it to its maximum potential. Tech companies in the audio space must more effectively educate the business about the value of its available capabilities. That said, organizations (especially legacy businesses) must be open-minded and agile in discovering new technologies.

Justine Benjamin: "Audio has the advantage of having context as well as data, and then when the cookie crumbled, everyone went scrambling, not knowing what to do, and audio said: (hold my drink) we got this. With a podcast, there has never been a mobile ID. It's almost like going back to the roots of what advertising is about and what targeting is about. It's about context and content."

The View From The Buy Side

 

AdsWizz - Zac Pinkham, Vice President, Demand

Say It Now - Maria Cadbury, Global Strategic Partnerships Director  

The 7 Stars - Michelle Sarpong Head of Display & Audio Activation

A Million Ads - Kim Aspeling, Director of Creative Production

Digital audio is becoming more and more influential in today's media ecosystem. Publishers are experimenting, and brands take the 1:1 relationship with audiences seriously. High-quality content and advanced technology with attribution capabilities will enable continual evolution and a launchpad for further advancement.

Zac Pinkham: "When something resonates with the audience - the engagement rate will be far higher and the campaigns more successful and relevant. And you don't mind listening to these audio ads, which will continue to build on the market."

 

AdsWizz & Simplecast

Pump Up the Volume at Podcast Show UK 2022

 

At this year’s Podcast Show UK 2022 in London, independent podcast creators, established industry professionals, and business leaders came together to motivate, influence, and support critical visions of unprecedented growth and change in the podcast industry. AdsWizz and Simplecast were front and center as the sponsor of the Podbar at this two-day gathering, where we also produced four fireside chats, further establishing us as a leading voice and authority in podcast monetization and creation. Read on for our session overviews, highlights, videos, and more!

 

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Podcast Monetization 101

Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing at Simplecast, and Justine Benjamin, Head of Marketing at AdsWizz give an overview of how brands can monetize their content.

Recap

• While monetization doesn't have to be the end goal, if creators plan to go this route, it is best to have around 10K downloads to monetize (with some notable niche content exceptions). 
• There are many ways for creators to monetize, including advertising sponsorships, subscriptions/memberships, and ancillary experiences such as events, games, and books. Content creation requires more time and resources to ensure a consistent and enjoyable audience experience. 
• Two commonly used approaches for ad creative: host-read or produced. The hosts produce and promote host-read ads (go figure), with a little-to-no barrier to entry for creators. The benefit is a seamless, native listening experience that builds a high trust factor with the brand and podcast audience. On the other hand, produced ads tend to have a higher production value, especially if assembled by a brand or an agency. 
• Baked-in ads consist of host-read and produced ads stitched into the content as one file. Dynamically inserted ads enable technology to determine what kind of ad gets served. Determining factors are based on day, time, listening context, geography, and download frequency. These ads can be re-sold via back catalogs.
• Podcast ads transact in three ways:
  • Direct Sales (via a host) - executed through digital documents via the content owner (or accompanying ad ops team). The transaction enables an insertion order that defines the terms and conditions.
  • Direct Sales via a Publisher - leverages digital docs incorporating terms and conditions like direct sales. It also includes an Insertion Order (IO) plugged into a campaign management system to ensure the IO executes via automated technology. Sometimes this is monitored by a person.
  • Programmatic - negotiation is executed on a digital platform, not a traditional IO, through either private or public marketplaces. Ads can target audiences by many attributes (i.e., age and gender), not just by the shows themselves.

"Back catalogs are incredibly valuable, especially if you produce True Crime or Fiction, because listeners start at the first episode. If you've been podcasting for a long time, it's worthwhile to see what monetization opportunities there are, especially for 'entryway' or popular episodes. You should make sure those ads are fresh and that you are still getting paid for them!"

- Caitlin Van Horn

 

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Decoding Podcast Advertising for Brands

Lou Nylander, influential marketing thought leader and founder of Wildflowers of London, moderates a fireside chat with AdsWizz Business Development Director, the UK and Ireland, Ella Kerr-McCutcheon, and Lucy Barbor, Chief Strategy Officer at PHD UK. They discuss how brands can leverage agile thinking, human capital, data, and technology to engage the rapidly growing podcast listening audience.

Recap

• Brands should take advantage of the disproportionately longer dwell time audiences engage with podcasts, even before they decide to stick with them. Podcasts allow brands more runway than other mediums to communicate their story and vast opportunities to expand the messages they are trying to communicate. 
• On measurement - brands and agencies still need education on how their investment tracks back to sales. AdsWizz's Audio Attribution Solution enables advertisers to see which conversions they can attribute to their audio ads. Audio pixels connect to a brand's website at the most impactful conversion areas (such as a shopping cart checkout).
• To achieve success, measurement needs to align with the business objective and a comprehensive strategy. Additionally, brands need to creatively tap into the right communities for their target audiences without being interruptive. It's about deep engagement and understanding of passionate communities that coalesce around particular subjects. For example, suppose you are an auto brand and looking to reach auto enthusiasts or potential buyers. In that case, plenty of podcasts talk about cars, a great environment to find audiences, and are essential from a brand safety perspective.
• Brands and agencies need to champion a more inclusive and diverse pool of creators to enable more exciting narratives and impactful insights to understand further what audiences want from us.

"It's about asking brands what they are trying to achieve. Marketers need to be mindful of the nature of the medium; it's very intimate, and it has to be relevant, not intrusive. It can be a rich experience, but brands need to leverage the available contextual tools to have the most impact to ensure that their ad is in the right environment.

- Ella Kerr-McCutcheon

 

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Moving Up: From Indie Production to Working With IP

Ella Watts, co-creator, Doctor Who: Redacted, and James Robinson, executive producer with BBC Sounds, joins Caitlin Van Horn, Head of Marketing at Simplecast to discuss their transition from independent creator to working with some of the most prominent players in podcasting–as well as advice for anyone looking to do the same.

Recap

• Sometimes, there can be a wall between large enterprise organizations and the indie podcast community. One of Ella's assets to the BBC was her access to the indie podcast community and bridging this gap between these two worlds. On the flip side: when James and Ella got together, James ran RadioDrama 1. Ella and her team leveraged James's experience with the BBC and his success in producing radio dramas to help balance the group with "established" industry experience. 
• How one might be able to work in IP and write a Dr. Who audio drama - it helps if you start as a fan! Ella was hired on Dr. Who and other IP projects because of her expertise in audio drama and deep intellectual property (IP) knowledge. 
• In 2019, when BBC Sound told Ella that the Dr. Who brand wanted a podcast, they had particular conditions of what that podcast could be. With IP, the screen content must be broadcast first, so the audio version must be adapted and rewritten to align with the primary IP.
• Ella and her team wanted to ensure that one of the main characters was a woman of color that reflected real-world issues and social dynamics.
• The most valuable attributes James admires about independent creators are their passion, fresh ideas, and the speed at which they work. 

"Don't make stuff you think people want to hear. Make stuff you want to make!”

- James Robinson

“It is crucial to familiarize oneself with the era of the IP run the brand is currently vested in. Additionally, immerse yourself with the medium and the formats whenever you are working in a storytelling medium. If you want to make an audio drama, listen to audio drama. Familiarize yourself with historical radio and current podcast drama and understand those differences”

- Ella Kerr-McCutcheon

 

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The Innovation Ingredient - How Publishers Can Build Sustainable Advertising Revenue

AdsWizz's Podcast Business Development Director, Ollie Chadwick, joined Acast's Global Head of Automation, Michael Bayston, and Lou Nylander, influential marketing thought leader and founder of Wildflowers of London, to discuss the evolution of podcast advertising and how innovation in AdTech enables podcasters to build sustainable advertising revenue.

Recap

• With so much M&A activity from large organizations, it is validation from the audio industry that many prominent players are investing so heavily in this space. This investment has helped to spur our sector.
• Screen fatigue was prominent for people in countries with lockdowns during Covid. Podcasting was an ideal medium during the few chances each day people ventured outside. It is a 1:1 relationship between the creators and the listeners, which can be an opportunity for advertisers to engage those audiences. Even as lockdowns loosened, growth continued.
• Now, every aspect of the industry is growing: the listeners, the content creators, and the advertisers. This growth is reflected in our recent 2022 Podcast Trends Report:
  • SXM Media podcast audience grew 123% in the past year
  • 110% increase in podcast shows YoY 
  • 157% increase in ad spend by impressions in 2021.
• Benefits of programmatic audio - automated ads are delivered at a pre-agreed price and pre-agreed volume using computerized pipes for the transaction between the DSP and the SSP. When Acast started testing programmatic in 2017, they wanted to avoid common mistakes and harmful practices from the traditional programmatic buying system across websites and apps, such as low-quality ads, which follow users everywhere. The programmatic software offered by AdsWizz allowed the Acast sales teams to work faster by automating operational efficiencies with programmatic direct.
• On the challenges in podcast advertising - digital buying into podcasts is different because of the unique challenges with data, which is still a work in progress for the industry. For example, if you don't own the listening platform, there can be little in the way of data authentication. Today's advertisers heavily lean on data but also need to think about data through a different lens (or signal). Targeting should be through more contextual solutions, which goes hand-in-hand with brand safety. Contextual solutions enable brands to target appropriate and avoid inappropriate content, which is a net positive for DSPs and agencies because they are familiar with contextual targeting for brand safety.

"Due to the very nature of podcasting (1:1 relationship between the listener and podcast), it's a much less intrusive experience from an advertising perspective. With podcasting, you're getting served one ad at a time (host-read or sponsorship), but we're seeing increased pre-recorded spot ads delivered, which is not a disruptive listener experience. From a monetization and programmatic perspective, if you think about display advertising, it's based upon high bid density with multiple SSPs (supply-side platforms) plugged in with a header bidder solution. It's more straightforward with podcasting: one publisher has one SSP, with one ad delivered. And it's provided, not through an open auction; it's through PMPs, be that preferred deals, private deals, or increasingly, from the programmatic guarantee."

- Ollie Chadwick

In Conclusion

The Podcast Show 2022 coalesced the most critical players in the podcast space around the most salient trends—from creation and monetization to advertising and the ways listeners engage with their favorite podcast content. AdsWizz and Simplecast’s presence further raised the company’s profile in the podcasting space. It informed creators, podcasters, and advertisers to make more meaningful use of technology and data that would position them to generate more impactful ROI and, most importantly, build audiences and monetize.