Podcasting on the move - The Short Stack
Friends,
Sometimes it feels a little weird to still think of podcasting as an “emerging channel.” One obvious example: many of the most famous people ever have a podcast or appear on them regularly. Want to know the latest on how the Gates Foundation is partnering with governments to provide vaccines around the world? Hear it from Bill first-hand on an episode of Armchair Expert like I did last week.
And yet, in many circumstances, podcasting is still described as playing catch up to other media. The typical explanations as to why (measurement concerns from brands, complexities around transitioning more fully to dynamic ad insertion [DAI], etc.) are discussed endlessly. What’s great to me is to continually see evidence of forward movement.
One recent example comes from our friends at Sounds Profitable, who brought the “Sound Summit” to SXSW, the first official, dedicated podcast event for the venerable festival. Per Bryan Barletta, “We’ve spent decades as an industry justifying why podcasting deserves more of the spotlight at major events…We’ve found success at a level that might just make this the last year without an official podcast track at SXSW.”
Then there’s the steady flow of useful information at summit stalwarts like Podcast Movement, coming at you this Tuesday in LA. Take, for instance, the range of technology standards built to make programmatic advertising work more seamlessly and help level the playing field. From longstanding tech like VAST to the more up-and-coming Prebid Audio, a lot of great work continues to be done to promote industry-wide growth. But it’s still a lot to wrap your head around. We’re honored to have our own CRO Rockie Thomas at the show to help clear up the confusion (Friday the 29th at 11am).
Does the industry need to go faster to “establish” podcasting more completely? Of course. But, happily, a lot of great minds keep working hard to make it happen. Catch Rockie’s presentation on programmatic standards, and a bunch of us Stackers will otherwise see you at the show!
Best,
Mike Reznick , President & COO 
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