Megaphone & Vox Media Discuss the Surprisingly Consistent Growth of Podcasting
In this Q&A, Megaphone & Vox Media Ad Ops Manager Clay Vickers dive into programmatic ads and editorial integration in podcasting
What is your current day job like?
Clay Vickers: I am the Ad Ops Manager at Vox Media for our podcast network. In terms of day-to-day, I am responsible for setting up any ad campaigns that we are running across the podcast network, partnering with editorial to set up drafts for everything we are publishing, and working on internal materials that our sales and Solutions Planning teams use.
What gets you excited about the podcast business today?
CV: I have been a big fan of podcasts for about 10 years now. What makes podcast ads unique and stand out from display and video is that they are still the least intrusive ads that you can experience. Podcast ads do not interrupt the flow of what you're listening to, which is nice to have. You see a lot of ads being pushed in the free streaming TV services which can hurt the experience of the viewer and I think the podcast industry has done a great job of not following that path.
What do you like better, host reads or produced ads?
CV: From an operational perspective, I’m a bigger fan of the produced reads. While there can be complicated aspects to those reads in terms of advertisers wanting endorsements and going through journalists can be hard. But I also know how effective those reads can be as I have personally been sold based on a host read I listened to during a podcast.
What trends do you see evolving in podcasting this year?
CV: I think there are two main tracks that podcasting is evolving towards and both are important. First is programmatic advertising, doing produced (with voiceover talent) reads and targeting to specific segments across a lot of different publishers will eventually make up a lot of the total audio revenue. The second track is custom branded audio which could be a whole podcast that a publisher or production company makes for an advertiser. For example, it could be a bonus episode or even a mini-series within a podcast that already exists. So in terms of evolving, I think you will see an aggregation of inventory and more money towards programmatic advertising, but at the same time, you will see more examples of deeper editorial integrations for advertisers.
What keeps you up at night in this evolving medium?
CV: I think the thing you have the least control over in podcasting is growing the size of your existing audience and launching new podcasts which requires you to find a new audience to come listen to the podcast. That’s always been the most challenging thing. There is no magic formula for creating new content that brings in and grows your existing audience. Something we have seen at Vox Media over the past year is as talent grows and shows mature, it is not just launching new content but keeping content fresh especially with shows that have been around for years. So the thing that keeps me up at night is if we are able to grow the audience and get it to the size we need to hit our objectives for the overall year.
What are some of your personal favorite podcasts?
CV: I have a long list of podcasts that I have listened to for a long time. Vox Media’s "Today, Explained" and NPR’s "Up First" are my daily news sources. Some of my all-time favorites are "Fresh Air", "Culture Gabfest", KCRW’s "The Business", and "The New Yorker Fiction Podcast."
The thing I am most excited about that Vox Media recently launched is our Vox Quick Hits. This unique setup will produce short-form audio which will have shows that will pop up every week or so and bring short episodes to the feed that will cover politics, culture, and a few other areas.
What surprised you about the podcasting business?
CV: There are a couple of elements that have surprised me within the business. I am surprised how host reads have stuck around and with an industry that grows as much as podcast advertising has, you wouldn’t expect something so intimate to be such a huge part of the revenue. The other surprising element that gives me a lot of hope is how consistent the growth has been. It has stuck around in the 30-100% revenue increase range and has been improving year after year. I think it is a lot more concerning when an industry grows 1000% in a year as that growth can create operational challenges and be difficult to sustain. The podcast industry has shown it can be a sustainable industry throughout its growth.