Happy new year and welcome back! I’m working hard to get ready for the Hot Pod Summit, and I can’t wait to show you our group next week. There is still time to enter the draw, so please let us know if you want to go.
Today is finally the day that YouTube adds RSS support. In other news, Audacy files for bankruptcy and PRX announces a new deal with Condé Nast to distribute their films. Let’s start.
YouTube now works with RSS
It’s true that YouTube will now work with RSS feeds. The company told podcasters how to connect their RSS feeds to YouTube Studio in a blog post and video that came out today. It’s a major step solidifying YouTube’s place as the top destination for podcasts.
While most other platforms simply make an RSS feed available for listeners, YouTube’s new system ingests shows from an RSS feed and turns them into YouTube videos. Podcasters can then opt in to YouTube’s ads and have access to the streamer’s sophisticated data.
The flip side for producers, though, is that it is still a very different ecosystem from the rest of podcasting. Aside from baked-in ads, you have to switch over to YouTube’s ads, where revenue is split with the site. The information coming in also won’t add to current RSS analytics, meaning you still have to put YouTube and non-YouTube listening in two separate buckets. But given consumers’ growing preference for YouTube over traditional podcast players, creators will be compelled to learn the new system, despite the drawbacks.
According to an October report by Cumulus and Signal Hill, 28 percent of weekly podcast listeners say they use YouTube the most for podcast consumption. That’s more than the next two companies — Spotify with 15 percent and Apple Podcasts with 12 percent — combined. In October 2022, YouTube and Spotify were tied for most-preferred medium.
During that gap year, YouTube got serious about podcasts. It added podcasts to YouTube Music and put out more materials instructing podcasters on how to take advantage of the site. Even longtime podcast users, who used to prefer Apple Podcasts over YouTube by a healthy margin, are converting. The Cumulus study found that 26 percent of podcast users who started listening more than four years ago use YouTube the most, compared to 19 percent for Apple.
The researchers also asked survey participants why they prefer YouTube, and it is not as easy as the fact that everything is already on YouTube, so you might as well consume podcasts on YouTube (although 16 percent did give that exact reason). They gave reasons such as a preference for video podcasts, YouTube’s recommendation system, commenting features, and autoplay feature.
Exclusive: PRX and Condé Nast cut an ad sales and distribution deal
Condé Nast has found a new audio partner. The publisher, which includes highbrow names such as The New Yorker, Vogue, and Bon Appétit, has cut a deal with PRX for its ad sales and distribution. PRX has been building out its distribution business with partnerships with names like The Paris Review, Tribeca Audio, and Normal Gossip (through its podcast network, Radiotopia).
“We’re proud to help bring listeners podcasts from across Condé Nast, distinguished by significant journalism, purposeful storytelling, and thoughtful entertainment,” said PRX’s chief of business development and content, Jason Saldanha. “From In the Dark to The Pitchfork Review, we’re thrilled to serve as a partner to each of Condé Nast’s premium shows while representing the ideals of public media and expanding its reach.”
Radio giant Audacy files for bankruptcy
Audacy, the third-largest radio company in the US and owner of podcast producers Cadence13 and Pineapple Street producers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday. The move was not entirely shocking given the company’s deteriorating financial position. The company announcement said there will be no disruption to company business during the proceedings.
The bankruptcy deal includes a proposed restructuring that would reduce Audacy’s debt from $1.9 billion to $350 million. Audacy can be viewed as another company that went too fast into podcasting, but that debt is largely the result of its $1.5 billion acquisition of CBS Radio in 2017 (the company was previously known as Entercom). The company’s stock had fallen so low, Audacy was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange in November.
“While our transformation has enhanced our competitive position, the perfect storm of sustained macroeconomic challenges over the past four years facing the traditional advertising market has led to a sharp reduction of several billion dollars in cumulative radio ad spending,” Audacy CEO and chairman David Field said in a statement. “These market factors have severely impacted our financial condition and necessitated our balance sheet restructuring.”
While this all certainly sounds bad (and is bad), it is not necessarily the end of the line. The biggest radio company in the country (and number one podcast publisher, according to Podtrac), iHeartMedia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 and has since bounced back.
That’s all for now! Insiders, I will be back Thursday with the latest radio news. For the rest of you fine folk, see you next week.