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June 2024 – Sport Social Podcast Network

Discover Why Sport Podcast Advertising is a GAME CHANGER for Brands During Major Events

Our comprehensive white paper combines industry insights and listener behaviour with campaign data from past sporting events.

Inside, you’ll discover:

  • Spending trends: Discover why there is a growing appetite for brands tapping into podcast advertising during major sporting events, as we analyse podcast download increases with campaign spending data from Magellan AI.
  • Fan engagement: Understand how passionate sport fans are about their audio content.
  • Behavioural shifts: Explore how podcast listener behaviour changes during key sporting events
  • Brand benefits: Find out how your brand can reap the rewards on these insights.

Our white paper demonstrates why incorporating podcast advertising into your marketing strategy can be the game-changer brands and advertisers during major sporting events.

Click here to download our white paper now!

Team Talk: June Newsletter

Welcome to the latest edition of Team Talk with all the latest news from the Sport Social Podcast Network.  

It’s been an eventful few weeks, with the team exhibiting at the Podcast Show in London and speaking at Radiocentre’s Tuning In North event in Manchester. We also have some exciting new additions to the network to announce!

If you’d like to book a meeting to see what Sport Social can offer you, please email podcast@sport-social.co.uk  

The Podcast Show 2024

The Sport Social team had an incredible time at the Podcast Show in London at the end of May. It was great to catch up with some of the podcasters we already work with, and speak to potential new shows about joining Europe’s biggest dedicated sport podcast network.

Didn’t manage to speak to us at the event? Want to find out more about how we can grow the audiences and revenues of your podcast? Email the team at podcast@sport-social.co.uk today to arrange a chat. 

Podcast Consumption is Undercounted due to Co-Listening

Your podcast audience could be bigger than you think! A new report from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill has found that podcast listening numbers may be under-estimated as many people listen with friends, family and children (which currently go un-uncounted). You can read the full report and delve into the state on listening habits here.

Sport Social Announces Partnership with Goalhanger Podcasts

We are delighted to announce a partnership with Goalhanger Podcasts that will see Football Cliches, The Spanish Football Podcast and Football Ruined My Life hosted on Sport Social! 

Football Clichés sees Adam Hurrey explore the glorious and unique language of football: the words, the phrases, the mannerisms and, above all, the clichés. 

The Spanish Football Podcast is the award-winning LaLiga show from Phil Kitromilides, Sid Lowe and Alex Kirkland. Since 2013, they’ve been the only pod in Spain sharing their love of Spanish football with listeners every week.

Football Ruined My Life is the new podcast about old football. Colin Shindler, author of the best selling Manchester United Ruined My Life, joins with the distinguished football journalist Patrick Barclay and the Super Agent Jon Holmes (think Gary Lineker, Peter Shilton, Tony Woodcock etc.) to talk about football as it used to be in the days before the invention of the Premier League.

New to Sport Social

Wisden Women’s Cricket Weekly 

Since 2022, we have been working with Wisden on their Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast. We are delighted to announce that we are now also the hosts of Wisden’s new women’s edition of the podcast! Join Lauren Winfield-Hill, Yas Rana and Katya Witney discussing the biggest stories from the women’s game each week.

Let’s Be Having You: The 00s Football Podcast  

Attention noughties football fans! Join Quickly Kevin’s Chris Scull and Alex Brooker (of Last Leg, Soccer Aid and Masked Singer fame) and sports producer Nick Lustig, to embark on a series of 00s based football adventures. Get ready for a dynamic lineup of footballers, broadcasters, and comedians as they delve into that thrilling decade of football.

That’s all for this month, we’ll be back next month with more headlines from Europe’s biggest sport podcast network!

Sport Social Podcast Network Named Media Partner For 2024 Audio Production Awards

The Sport Social Podcast Network is delighted to be partnering with the Audio Production Awards for the second year running, as Media Partner. The awards are to be once again held at the BFI in London on 20th November and celebrate some of the leading talents in the world of audio and tickets are available now.

Submit your entry now for the Audio Production Awards 2024

The Audio Production Awards, sponsored by Audible, return for their fourteenth year in 2024. Celebrating the people both behind the scenes and in front of the mic, the awards celebrate audio right across the board – from podcasts to radio, audiobooks to sound design, production to presenting. 

The Awards are organised by AudioUK, which provides business support and growth to people who make podcasts, radio and audiobooks.

There are 23 categories ranging from Best Producer in Comedy, Factual, Drama & Fiction, Arts, Music, Entertainment, Lifestyle & Society, Audiobooks, Sound Design and more, plus a variety of on-mic and emerging talent awards, Best Ensemble Cast, and the special AudioUK award – last year awarded to Reform Radio.

This year welcomes a new category, Little Ears Producer, which celebrates the explosion of audio being created for younger audiences. Winners from the 2023 awards included Anishka Sharma who took the coveted Producer of the Year award, Overcoat Media were named Production Company of the Year, Kwesia AKA City Girl in Nature took home Best New Voice and Betty Glover, Christian Hewgill and Greg James were voted Best Ensemble.

As usual, there are awards for Production Company of the Year, Publisher or Network of the Year, as well as the continuation of last year’s addition of Producer of the Year and The Sustainability & Climate Award.

Once again, the Grassroots Production category will celebrate producers, teams and/or organisations working close to their communities, and this category will be free to enter, recognising the particular challenges faced in that part of the sector.

The Awards are opening for entry earlier this year so applicants will have 12 weeks to enter instead of 9 as in previous years. Voting is open now and closes on Wednesday, September 11th at 2pm.

I am delighted that the APAs now sit alongside an ever increasing number of audio awards ceremonies – testament to the thriving popularity of audio. The APAs have really stood the test of time, as this year marks their 14th year. What started as a small ceremony is now a yearly staple at the BFI in London. There is always an enormous effort that goes into bringing the awards to life from the APAs team, and I am very grateful to them for their work. 

It is really important to have an opportunity to celebrate audio across the industry, as well as an opportunity to really shine the light on producers, who are so central to the audio industry and to AudioUK as an organisation. Once again Audible are supporting us as the lead sponsor, for which we are extremely grateful – enabling us to celebrate the many excellent people who make up the audio industry.

We’re committed to there not being any barriers to entry, so if you can’t afford to enter the awards, please take advantage of the Pay What You Can scheme, which we run in partnership with Amazon Music & Wondery, or if you face other barriers to entry, please get in touch with the team.

What started as something that was focussed purely on the independent sector retains that independent spirit, but has now been opened up to the whole audio industry. So get your best audio ready to battle it out across the categories.”

Chloe Straw, Managing Director of Audio UK

Early Bird entry fee is frozen at 2018’s prices of £35+VAT for AudioUK Members and £45+VAT for non-members, and will run for 5 weeks until Wednesday 31st July at 9am. From then on, the standard entry fee will be £50+VAT for AudioUK Members and £60+VAT for non-members until the final deadline on Wednesday 11th September at 2pm (please note: there will be no late extension to the entry deadline).

With the excellent support from Amazon Music and Wondery, AudioUK will be running the Pay What You Can scheme for a third year, offering discounted entry rates and tickets for those under financial constraints, who would otherwise be unable to enter and attend the Awards. Please email katie@audioproductionawards.co.uk to access the scheme.

Navigating Podcast Advertising: 5 Key lessons from ‘Podcasting – The Balancing Act’ at the Podcast Show 2024.

Podcasting has traditionally been described as an “emerging media”. But, with a marketplace showing 23% year-on-year growth* (and worth an estimated value of £84million in the UK alone in 2023) it’s probably time it was recognized as an established medium that’s competing with other media channels for advertising spend.

With maturity however, comes increased responsibility. 

Bigger brands and advertisers are entering the podcast space all the time and with those big names comes big expectations. How can podcasting cash in on the increased interest in the medium, provide evidence of ROI for advertisers and maintain the authenticity and effectiveness that has made it such an attractive prospect in the first place? 

At this years Podcast Show at the Islington Design Centre in London, Sport Social Managing Director Sophie Hind hosted a panel discussion looking at the opportunities and challenges of advertising in the podcasting space and managing that delicate balance. 

She was joined by Thomas Balaam, Trading Director at Mindshare UK who has been selling audio to brands and advertisers for 20 years. Jake Storer, Influencer Marketing Director Podcasts at NordVPN, who use podcasting with great effect to market their products and Jack Milligan, Global Entertainment Director at Essence Mediacom who have used audio and podcasting as a key part of their media strategy activation.  

The trio joined Sophie to discuss their experiences of working and selling in the podcasting space. These are our five big takeaways from the discussion:

1. Finding the right podcast for the right brand is important

    The power of podcasting is still very much in the relationship between listener and host or show. 

    Whilst podcasting can offer large-scale awareness campaigns via spot advertising it’s “Secret Power” remains in its ability to speak to audiences in a way that most forms of mass communication cannot. 

    The ‘trusted voice’ of a podcast host when promoting a product or service is hard to beat. Listeners have a personal connection towards podcast hosts which enables personal endorsements and reads to be delivered in an authentic and impactful way. 

    With that in mind finding a synergy between brand/product and show/host is at the front of an advertiser mind when looking at which titles to work with. 

    We always find it so important that the host is fully on board with our product. Because I feel with their audiences, they’ll instantly know just by listening to them and how they speak that if they’ve just been given a scripted read it feels ingenuous. We want it to feel like a personal recommendation from a friend.

    Jake Storer, NordVPN

    2. You need a clear objective

      Understanding what you want to achieve with the campaign will help you develop the right podcast strategy. It offers a very different environment to most other mediums. 

      Do you want to educate about a service? Do you want to raise awareness of a brand? Are you trying to drive a response – visits to your website or purchase? Podcasting can offer everything from reach-based marketing campaigns to super-targeted brand messaging – so understanding your campaign objective is essential. 

      A question we get most of the time is; “What can I do in podcasting?”. It’s not too dissimilar to how you’d approach radio in terms of a strategic standpoint. But you’ve got to understand really what is it you’re trying to achieve because it’s so versatile.

      Jack Milligan, Essence Mediacom

      3. Podcasting is finding hard-to-reach audiences

      To paraphrase another famous advertising campaign: Podcasting reaches the places that other mediums cannot. 

      The ability for podcasting to target specific groups has not gone unnoticed. Be it by setting parameters around the delivery of audio inventory, (age, sex, location etc.) or by working with shows that have very specific and targeted audiences, brands and advertisers and using the medium to zero in on their desired target demographic. 

      This ability to find focused, hard-to-reach has bought more clients, brands and advertisers into the audio space who may not have considered audio previously. 

      I’ve seen brands that would work with me over the years that previously had not bought space on commercial radio because they didn’t feel that was their right audience. When it comes to the podcast space, we can actually go out and find that audience because there’s so much content out there that we know that can work for them

      Tom Balaam, MindshareUK

      4. Attribution has changed the game

      As podcasting has matured so have the methods for measuring success. 

      Traditional tools for campaign measurement such as voucher codes or unique vanity URLs have been replaced with full attribution tools that can track audience behaviour across digital media after hearing a podcast advertisement. 

      This development in technology is not only giving advertisers more confidence in the medium, it’s also giving us greater insight into audience behaviour and allowing podcasters to optimise plans based on that information.

      I think attribution is incredibly valuable if we want to keep advertisers coming back. The challenge for us has sometimes been, how we quantify what we’ve done within that host read or campaign.  

      The technology is getting better and better. We’re now starting to gather information on how long should we run the host reads for before we make a change? Or how long does it take for someone to actually take action after hearing the ad? How many times?

      Tom Balaam, MindshareUK

      5. PODCASTING ISN’T JUST AUDIO

      One of the big takeaways from the Podcast Show was the message that podcasting isn’t JUST audio. 

      The most successful podcasts use their show as a “content engine” around which other elements can orbit. The podcast is the IP but Live shows, paid channels, video content and much more are now all part of many the regular output. 

      This not only provides the opportunity to reach bigger audiences but also creates a whole new catalogue of content which can attract sponsors.

      There is a whole ecosystem of stuff around the audio. Podcasts are becoming brands. We don’t just think “Let’s just do something with the audio”. We work with all the other things that are going on around that.  

      Audiences don’t see in format style, they just see the brand and how they consume it and we have to think like that too

      Jake Milligan, Essence Mediacom

      If you’d like to understand more about how podcasting advertising could work for you or discuss ideas on how you could use the medium for your next campaign then our team of experts are happy to chat. 

      Get in touch: sales@sport-social.co.uk 

      *IAB ‘Surge in CTV & Podcast Spend’