Podcast Listening Rebounds, Joe Rogan to Spotify, and Call Her Daddy Drama

Three big stories in podcasting this week...

The folks at Podtrac say that for the 4th and 5th weeks, podcast download and audience growth is up for the 4th and 5th straight weeks, respectively. This seems to be driven by both folks settling in to the (overused cliche alert) "New Normal" but also some states opening back up and commuting on the rise. https://analytics.podtrac.com/blog/2020/5/18/weekly-podcast-data-amid-the-coronavirus-crisis-update-through-may-17-2020?utm_source=podnews.net&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=podnews.net:2020-05-19

The biggest podcasting story this week, is Joe Rogan's new deal to go to Spotify exclusively for audio and video. The deal is worth over $100 million, and it raises lots of questions. Many industry experts say it's no longer a podcast if it's not on an open RSS feed available anywhere. But will other successful shows follow the same exclusivity path? Joe's the biggest fish out there - who's next? One thing that's not in question, Spotify has deep pockets, and they are heavily investing in becoming the industry leader in podcasting. Meanwhile fat and lazy Apple is adding audio to Apple News, but not as a podcast? And slow-moving Google finally discontinued podcasting on Google Play. Yay. Spotify's stock up 7.7%. More on the Rogan story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/business/media/joe-rogan-spotify-contract.html

The other story big enough to make the New York Times was the saga of Barstool sports and their show "Call Her Daddy," hosted by Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn. Barstool picked up the show, promoted it, and it grew from 12,000 to 2 million downloads. As part of the deal, the hosts agreed to a salary, with hefty bonuses. In exchange they gave Barstool the right to the intellectual property. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/19/style/call-her-daddy-podcast.html

Edison Research's webinar Thursday on Podcasting: Connection and Community During Quarantine left me with two big takeaways.

As always, if you need help creating or improving your podcast, feel free to reach out to me.

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