🔮 POD FUTURE - January 15, 2019
📰 TOP STORIES
On January 8th, Barstool introduced a paid membership product. Already, there are “more than 10,000 paid subscribers to…Barstool Gold, with 81 percent signing up for the $100 annual subscription.” That’s roughly $1M in new ARR. Not too shabby. It’s a testament to the brand affinity Barstool has cultivated in its community. Unfortunately, that community has earned a rep for harassment, cyberbullying, and pretty much every other bad online thing. On Thursday, the site shut down its notoriously vile comments section, citing an inability to moderate the constant stream of misogyny and hate speech there. Not a great look for a business that relies on ad dollars for a big chunk of its revenue. The community takes its cues from controversial Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, whose foul exploits were laid bare in a Daily Beast exposé last September. Is this new membership product compensation for dollars lost to advertiser flight in the wake of Barstool’s many controversies, or is it just a natural next step for a media biz in 2019? Probably some combination of both, but the comments section elimination implies that a reckoning might be underway internally. Barstool owes much of its success to the community that formed in the site’s comments section, so this removal of comments from the product is a pretty drastic shift. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some downward pressure coming from parent company Chernin, which has designs on growing Barstool into something of a next-gen ESPN, something that won’t happen with human brand safety violation Portnoy at the helm. Why not just show him the door, then? It’s not that simple. In many ways, Portnoy is Barstool. His cult of personality is so strong that users would revolt if he got bounced. For Chernin, it’s a complicated problem: Barstool’s biggest liability holds all the cards. It should be fun to watch this story play out in 2019. // Digiday
Dan Runcie of Trapital surveys the hip-hop podcast landscape through the lens of platform distribution. Platforms are throwing big money at creators for exclusivity, but does the short money from exclusive deals compensate for the opportunity cost of limited distribution? Joe Budden went exclusive with Spotify effective 9/12/18. After a 48 hour window, episodes are syndicated to his popular YouTube channel, which was previously updated in real time. Does this two day window make sense for a show that relies so heavily on an ever-accelerating news cycle? Social Blade shows a steep drop-off in YouTube views for Budden’s channel immediately following the window implementation (see below). Coincidence? // Trapital
Indian paper The Economic Times reports on the fitful growth of the podcast industry in India. A lack of native language content is one inhibiting factor, but Google is on the case. “Google Podcasts too is focusing on Indian languages through its Creators Program, where it helps train content creators. ‘Via the program, we are committed to removing barriers to create content in Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and more, as well as languages that are spoken but not necessarily written, Marwari, for example,’ says Dipti Mehra, Google’s global communications and public affairs manager.” // The Economic Times
Spotify signs former SportsCenter anchor and current Atlantic senior staff writer Jemele Hill (CAA, Exit 39, and Jackoway Tyerman) to an exclusive deal. Her forthcoming biweekly show, “Unbothered,” will cover race, politics, and culture. “Spotify has been focused on creating a rich universe of podcasts, first by assembling some of the most popular shows in one place, and better integrating it into Spotify’s listening experience. Now, it’s adding exclusive content, like Hill’s podcast, to further distinguish its program offerings.” What big exclusive deals will we see next? // Deadline
Spotify shares its 2019 podcast ambitions at CES. // TechCrunch
NiemanLab forecasts news biz model trends for 2019. // NiemanLab
Facebook launches a new podcast on entrepreneurship. // USA Today
Lifehacker compares and ranks eight podcast apps. Pocket Casts comes out on top, but why wasn’t Google Podcasts in the mix? // Lifehacker
ESPN touts 43% YOY growth in downloads. // ESPN
Podnews reports 8x revenue growth for Patreon’s podcasting biz. // Podnews
Columbia Journalism Review reports on Audm, a newish YC-backed app that adapts longform journalism to audio using professional voice actors. I love this idea. // CJR
Fortune editor Adam Lashinsky talks to Wondery CEO Hernan Lopez at CES. “Wondery turned profitable on a cash-flow basis last quarter, has ‘8-figure’ revenues that have doubled for two consecutive years, and has raised all of $5 million in venture capital.” // Fortune
Rolling Stone interviews Jon Ronson and Lina Misitzis about their new Audible exclusive “The Last Days of August,” which investigates the 2017 suicide of adult star August Ames. “August” is a followup to Ronson and Misitzis’ excellent 2017 Audible original “The Butterfly Effect,” which likewise explores the seedy world of porn. // Rolling Stone
Alex Hannaford talks to GQ UK about the process of bringing his Audioboom series “Dead Man Talking” to life. // GQ UK
Ad Age names its “Audio/Podcast A-List.” Usual suspects Crooked Media, The New York Times, The Ringer, and The New Yorker make the list. // Ad Age
💼 COOL JOBS
Cal Sunday/Pop-Up Mag is hiring a story producer.
The Takeaway is looking for its next EP. Huge job!
Stitcher/Earwolf needs a senior producer manager.
Neon Hum wants a senior producer.
Spotify needs a creative producer for RapCaviar.
UC Berkeley is getting into the podcast biz and needs a manager.
👽 GREETINGS
podfuturenews@gmail.com