My Highlights From Podcast Movement 2021

This transcription has been edited.

[00:00:29] Heather Osgood: Hello and welcome to the Podcast Advertising Playbook. I'm your host, Heather Osgood. And today, on the show, I'm going to be recapping my experience at Podcast Movement. 

[00:00:39] Podcast Movement took place the first week in August in Nashville, just a couple of weeks ago, and it was wonderful to go to the event and to be able to see everyone face to face. Unfortunately, there were certainly several people who decided to cancel at the last minute. So the event wasn't all that it could have been if everyone had been there, but it was a great [00:01:00] event. And I was so pleased to get to go and really connect with people face to face and, in some cases, mask to mask, but it was really just a terrific event.

[00:01:10] And I wanted to give you a little recap of some of the things that I learned and encountered while I was at the event. 

[00:01:17] So if you are unfamiliar with Podcast Movement, it is an event that has been taking place for, I want to say, about seven years now. The event travels around the country, so they select different cities each year to host the event in.

[00:01:32] And it's a terrific event because it's a great cross-section of the industry. So you have a ton of podcasters at the event. You've got a lot of industry folks. You've got agencies that are there, and you also have all of the vendors. Everyone that's providing a service to the podcaster is at Podcast Movement.

[00:01:51] So it's just a really great collection of people that really are movers and shakers in the industry. So I would [00:02:00] say that if you have not ever attended a podcast movement, I know that they had a virtual, um, in 2020, of course, they had virtual and in-person this year. Still, I would highly recommend checking the event out because it is such a great variety of different people.

[00:02:15] Now, one of the things that I encountered this year at Podcast Movement is conversations with podcasters. And I would say this is at Podcast Movement and just in conversations that I have with people, you know, podcasters on my week to week basis. 

[00:02:32] Is that audience growth has become increasingly challenging. It is more difficult; I would say, to grow an audience now than it has been maybe ever in the podcast space. Many times, folks who had started a podcast, you know, five, 10 years ago, their audience growth efforts, number one, they've been podcasting for a long time, but there was a lot less competition in this space.

[00:02:57] And so it is harder now, I think to grow an [00:03:00] audience than it has ever been. But of course, it's just as important to grow an audience because if you're looking to try and monetize your show, through advertising, or even just through products and services that you're selling yourself, making sure that you're reaching enough people is very critical to your success.

[00:03:16] So, I do think audience growth has become more challenging. One of the other phenomenons that I've experienced, though, is that if your content is really hitting a sweet spot, your audience might grow like crazy. So I certainly have talked to people who started. , you know, a few months ago, and they're already at 20,000 downloads, which of course, I'm always shocked about, but it does happen.

[00:03:39] So, depending on the type of content that you're creating, audience growth might not be as challenging. But I would say overall audience growth is more challenging now than it probably has ever been. 

[00:03:50] The next thing that I experienced at Podcast Movement (I was very pleased to see) was the number of panels and the talks about diversity.

[00:03:59] Now, [00:04:00] one that I went to was a panel about women in tech, and it was moderated by Twila Dang, who we've had, um, here on the show before. And it was really just a great conversation in the panel about women in tech and the diversity that is being taken place. We, of course, love the podcast industry, and we love all of the individuals who have been contributing to the space for many years.

[00:04:25] But it is so nice to see more diversity coming into play. And in particular, it was nice to hear the different suggestions that these women were sharing on the panel about how to become more inclusive in terms of our hiring practices, but also in the way that we're approaching women in tech. And they gave a great list of different movers and shakers in the podcast space that we should all really connect with.

[00:04:54] And I thought that was really just a great touch because we need to be connecting. We need to be [00:05:00] networking with other women in the industry if we want to continue to grow and have more women and just diversity in general within this space. So I really thought that was terrific. 

[00:05:10] One of the things that stood out to me most at Podcast Movement was the talk about how many brands are advertising in this space.

[00:05:17] So we definitely are seeing more brands enter this space, and they're spending a lot, in some cases, quite a bit more than direct response advertisers. Now, of course, at True Native Media, we are seeing more brand advertisers enter the space. Still, it was terrific to hear firsthand about the different experiences that different agencies, advertisers, and representation firms saw in terms of the number of brand advertisers entering this space.

[00:05:46] So, that is very exciting to me to think about trying to take the industry to the next level and how we can really capitalize on more of those brand advertisers. 

[00:05:56] The other thing that took place at Podcast Movement [00:06:00] was Mark Cuban unveiled his Fireside product. Now, in my opinion, and I think the opinion of many people in the industry who were there, it felt like a 30-minute infomercial for Fireside. 

[00:06:12] So that was a bit disappointing. It was also really disappointing that Mark got up and essentially said that we have been lying to our advertisers for years. And that's the only way we get them to advertise is by making things up, which of course, is entirely incorrect. And it was fascinating, in my opinion, to hear him say this.

[00:06:31] So that was, I would say, kind of a disappointment, but also really solidified; I think for everyone there that we do have the data, we do have the metrics. We are obviously attracting great advertisers into the space, and we're not lying to anyone. 

[00:06:48] Attribution tracking is more important than it probably has ever been because we know that we can lean on this data to be accurate, to be correct. And it's really great to see [00:07:00] how much more data we have with Nielsen coming into this space and working with companies like Podsights and Megaphone. So the data is there, and it's just getting richer, and it's really going to help continue to bring those brand advertisers into this space. 

[00:07:15] That is my wrap-up on Podcast Movement. If you have not attended the event, I would highly recommend that you attend. It was wonderful on many levels for me because I just really enjoyed seeing so many people face to face. I got to see all of my members of True Native Media. Minus one who couldn't make it. But it was great to see my team face to face. And, of course, it was wonderful to see so many industry professionals there as well. 

[00:07:40] So I highly recommend that you think about attending in the future. I know I will be in LA and Dallas next year, and I hope you join me. 

[00:07:48] If you have listened to this far into the episode, I know today was a bit of a short one, but that means that you definitely are getting value out of the show.

[00:07:56] And I would ask that you would please share this podcast [00:08:00] with one other person that you think would benefit from learning about podcast advertising. Thank you for being here. I appreciate you listening, and I'll talk to you again on our next episode.