audio

Podcasting is still growing at a fast clip – two times faster than digital advertising overall. But it’s in the midst of a slowdown. In a sign of the podcasting pullback, Thursday’s IAB Podcast Upfront took place over one day, versus last year’s three-day event.

Trebel Music has released a ChatGPT-powered product called Trebel AI, which instantly generates personalized playlists in response to natural language queries. Advertisers on Trebel AI can target users in the moment based on their intent.

On Tuesday, Barometer announced $2.25 million in its latest fundraising round, bringing the company’s total to roughly $4.2 million since 2019.

In early March, Sperry released its first sonic logo. The boat shoe and accessories brand worked with audio research and analytics platform Veritonic to perform creative testing on six possible sonic logo variations before settling on its final choice.

Spreaker is returning to its roots by allowing small independent creators to sign up for free, the podcast platform announced Friday. The move is part of Spreaker’s strategy to become the Google AdSense of the podcasting world.

Tostitos recently implemented sonic branding and a new sonic logo into its cross-channel media campaigns and has been spending more on streaming audio channels. Audio now makes up between 30% and 40% of any given Tostitos campaign – or more, depending on the KPI.

Podcast listeners bear a striking resemblance to CTV audiences. The majority (62%) of weekly podcast listeners regularly stream ad-supported content, according to research from Acast, a podcast monetization and distribution platform.

Vibenomics announced a $12.3 million Series B round on Tuesday, led by Panoramic Ventures, bringing its total funding to just over $30 million. Vibenomics expects to grow its roster of 6,000 retail locations (just over half of which are grocery stores like Hy-Vee, QuikTrip, Kroger and GetGo) to more than 20,000 locations by the end of 2023.

The IAB’s Podcast Upfronts in May touted advancements in dynamic ad insertion, measurement and attribution and brand safety and suitability, as well as the rise of podcast networks. But ad agencies say the technology powering podcast-based marketing is not sufficiently developed to deliver what advertisers need to effectively target impressions and measure campaign effectiveness. And they believe the industry should do more to address brand safety concerns around podcast content.

Podcast ad revenue in the US cracked $1 billion for the first time last year, due in large part to the rise of dynamic ad insertion (DAI). At $1.4 billion – up 72% from roughly $840 million in 2020 – podcasting is now one of the fastest-growing digital media channels, and it’s growing twice as fast as the internet advertising market as a whole, according to a report on podcast ad revenue released by the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers on Monday.