At the Sport Social Podcast Network, we take pride in our ability to help take the guess work out of booking campaigns and deliver exceptional results for our clients, using a leading tracking and measurability platform.
With the help of our trusted partner, Veritonic, we have been able to provide our clients with real-time insights and transparent data on their podcast advertising campaigns. By leveraging cutting-edge tracking technology, we can measure key metrics such as downloads, engagement rates, and conversions, allowing our clients to make informed decisions and optimise their marketing strategies. Brands who are seeing success include; My Diesel Claim, Travis Perkins and Bet Victor. Brands who are seeing success include; My Diesel Claim, Travis Perkins and BetVictor.
Recently, we reviewed four different audio spot ad campaigns directly related to car sales and/or leasing that ran in 2023. The conversion rate for these campaigns delivered by Sport Social was based on driving unique users to the participating brands’ websites and ranged between 3 and 18% (expressed as a percentage of reach). This means that not only have Sport Social podcasts outperformed the average benchmark of 1.32% and 1.92% motor category benchmark – according to the Podsight Q1 2023 Report – but our results show that even the lowest performing campaign was delivering ahead of benchmark.
According to Veritonic, Sport Social campaigns had an average conversion rate of 7.1%, based on reach of campaigns and driving web traffic to client sites.
We will work with you to achieve your marketing goals using data-driven success metrics.
A new 24/7 radio station has launched in the UK providing live sports betting content. Betting Radio is a unique blend of classic & contemporary indie & rock paired with expert betting tips and insights.
The Best Music, The Best Tips
Betting Radio is looking for sports podcasters to get involved by sending in clips of their pre or post match content from their show. Any content that is played out on air will receive a full credit and also link back to the specific podcast.
The content doesn’t need to be bespoke or made especially for the station, and it doesn’t need to feature loads of prices and bets either. The station is most interested in starting some great partnerships with some creators of great content.
There a few ground rules for anyone looking to work with the station:
• All persons involved with the podcast must be over 25 years old.
• There cannot be any live ad reads in the content, but mentions for sponsors of podcasts is permitted.
• Content should be suitable for broadcast.
If you’re interested in getting involved, please email Naz Premji – naz@sportsbroadcastmedia.co.uk and have a listen to www.bettingrad.io
The world of sports podcasting is in for a thrilling ride as we gear up for the 2024 Sports Podcast Awards. With the event just around the corner and entries now open, we are excited to announce we are the headline sponsor for this year’s awards!
The Sports Podcast Awards have always been a platform to celebrate the outstanding work of sports podcasters. By committing to this headline sponsorship, we’re taking that celebration to new heights. Its commitment to excellence mirrors our own, and together, we aim to recognize and honour the best in the business.
Anthony Cooper, Head of Content at Sport Industry Group, on behalf of the Sports Podcast Awards, had this to say:
“Sport Social Podcast Network’s involvement as the headline sponsor for the 2024 Sports Podcast Awards is a commitment to the ever growing industry of sports podcasts. Their dedication to distributing, growing and monetising high-quality sports content aligns perfectly with our mission to honour excellence in sports podcasting. We are thrilled to have them on board and look forward to an incredible celebration of the sports podcasting community.”
Stefan Doyle, Head of Sport Social, added:
“The Sports Podcast Awards continues to go from strength to strength and we are delighted to be the headline sponsor for 2024. This partnership embodies our shared vision for shining a light on sports podcasting and recognising the best creators and shows. Sport connects people all around the world and the production of excellent sport audio is on the rise globally. We’re excited to give the awards a platform to reach even more people.”
With Sport Social as our headline sponsor, the 2024 Sports Podcast Awards promise to be a spectacle like no other with the team an integral part of the action.
This partnership is a testament to the growing influence and importance of sports podcasting in the world of sports media. It’s not just about broadcasting games; it’s about telling stories, analysing plays, and giving voice to the passions of sports fans worldwide.
Entry Requirements
Here are the entry requirements for the 2024 Sports Podcast Awards! Your main entry will be a minimum of one and a maximum of three samples from your podcast. These should each be 5 minutes or less. You will also provide your podcast artwork, podcast description, and a few sentences as to why you should win. Please note, if your show makes the official shortlist, all information will be publicly available unless otherwise noted.
NAME & ARTWORK
Provide the name of your show and the podcast artwork.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
What is your podcast about?
AUDIO SAMPLES
Upload up to 3, 5-minute audio samples.
ONE FULL EPISODE
A link to a full episode of your show in case there is interest to hear more than your samples.
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES
Send in all your handles to facilitate connecting with others in this community.
WHY YOU SHOULD WIN
Your opportunity to tell the judges why your podcast should win.
Important Entry Information
Entry is free for independent podcasts.
Creators who independently produce and manage their own podcast, without the management or ownership from major networks or corporations.
Cost of entry for others = $99 / £80.
You can enter multiple categories. Capped at $297 / £240.
The nominations for this year’s Football Content Awards have been announced and we’re so pleased to see so many creators from the Sport Social Podcast Network recognised for the brilliant work they produce.
We’ve put together a list of everyone on Sport Social who have been nominated. They now need your help to bring home the gold!
Like many podcast listeners, I received an email this week to tell me that Google Podcasts was about to breathe its last breath.
Whilst the news was not a complete surprise (the app has been on life support for some time) and disruption to podcast listening will be minimal (Google never really managed to claim much market share). It does pose the questions as to why Google failed to dominate the podcast market with under 1% of listening via their app when they seemed so well set up to succeed and what happens next in terms of Google’s play in the audio space.
Firstly, we need to decide whether the closure of Google Podcasts is a failure or if it’s a tactical repositioning. Whilst Google Podcasts is closing its doors the tech giant isn’t abandoning podcasting altogether. Instead, it is focusing its attention on YouTube as a podcasting platform which, depending on your definition of “podcasting”, is where many already find their podcast content.
“Over the coming months, podcasts in YouTube Music will be made available globally and we will start rolling out tools that will enable you to transfer your podcast show subscriptions from Google Podcasts.” – Google.
Why should we believe, however, that Google is any better equipped to make podcasting work on YouTube when they have failed to make it work as a Google product?
With 90%+ of global search traffic, you would have thought Google had all the tools it needed to drive traffic to its podcasting platform. Comparing that market dominance to the 1% of podcast listening via Google tells a different story and highlights their failure in this area.
In truth, the user journey was never there.
Google never introduced a Podcast tab within their search engine that would allow people to find audio-related search results easily and separately. They never introduced embed audio in search results meaning listeners always needed multiple clicks even when clearly searching for podcast or audio content.
On the face of it, YouTube is a far better home for podcasts. Largely because it’s already a source for this content for many. 2022 research from Luminate found that YouTube was already the most used podcast platform on the market and whilst podcast purists and producers (amongst which I count myself) may gnash their teeth and bemoan what is and isn’t a podcast, as Matt Deegan, on a recent episode of Voiceworks: Sound Business pointed out, what “we” think doesn’t really matter.
“We have to be focused on what consumers want and sometimes that differs from what producers want. If you are 15-24 you are so super YouTube native that it’s a big part of the way you consume Audio. The challenge for podcasters is that the audio environment and the video environment are very different. Podcasters may need to play content as a YouTuber rather than a podcaster.” – Matt Deegan
What this move does do is further blur the lines between video and audio podcasting. The latter, to date, performs very poorly on the platform and we will only learn how successful audio-only podcasting can be on YouTube once we see the full extent of the rollout. One thing that will put many audio-minded folks at ease though is the platform’s ability to ingest RSS.
There were some concerns that YouTube had no intention to support RSS, the traditional form of podcast distribution, instead opting for their own hosting mechanism and a “walled garden” approach to podcasting. It was announced at this year’s Podcast Movement (as reported in Podnews Weekly Review) that that would not be the case and both public and private feeds would be supported.
That doesn’t mean that video won’t still play a key part in the podcast experience via YouTube however with plans very much focused on both experiences:
“We’ve seen creators and artists embrace Podcasts on YouTube, and its incredible potential to boost audience growth across audio and video formats. Looking forward to 2024, we’ll be increasing our investment in the podcast experience on YouTube Music — making it a better overall destination for fans and podcasters alike with YouTube-only capabilities across community, discovery, and audio/visual switching.” – YouTube
Google has all the tools to make podcasting work on its platform but its inability to make it work within its Google eco-system and harness the power of that search engine does raise questions as to whether they have the required understanding and knowledge of the podcasting space to make it work on the (equally well positioned) YouTube platform.
It’s lights out on a new Formula 1 season as Max Verstappen drove to victory in the first race of the season in Bahrain. Elsewhere, Tommy Fury secured a split decision win over Jake Paul in arguably the most anticipated contest between two novices in boxing history. And in cricket, England became only the fourth team in history to lose after enforcing the follow on in their nail-biting test with New Zealand.
Wherever you look there has been plenty of great sporting action this month and it’s reflected in the downloads across the Sport Social Podcast Network. For the first time, we achieved combined monthly downloads of over 5 million! Thank you for your efforts in making this happen. Remember, we’re here to support the great work you do. For any assistance, or for other enquiries, please email here.
Testing begins on new app and website for Sport Social
Last month we announced a new Sport Social website and app that will solidify us as the destination to find the best sport podcasts. This development will provide listeners with a fresh and easy-to-navigate place to listen to great sport content, and provide podcasters with the ability to stream live and offer subscription services through the Sport Social app.
We will be getting in touch with those who have signed up for Beta testing shortly. If you want an early look at the app and help shape its development please email podcast@sport-social.co.ukand one of the team will be in touch.
Get 10% off The Podcast Show in May
The countdown is on to The Podcast Show at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. The two day showpiece is taking place on the 24th- 25th of May and is the international event for podcasting.
The Sport Social team will have a stand on both days and we would love to see you there. For 10% off 1 & 2 Day tickets to the event, just enter “VOICEWORKS” when you checkout.
Sound Business Podcast: Everything you need to know about podcast SEO
In our latest episode of Voiceworks: Sound Business, we have a go at unpicking the “dark art” of Podcast SEO. Getting your podcast heard by more people is one of the most challenging problems that content creators can face and in this chat with Castos CEO Craig Hewitt, our Director of Sport, Jim Salveson, drills down into the Do’s and Do Not’s of Podcast SEO. The pair identify some key tips and tricks that you can adopt today to get your podcast heard by more people.
Fresh from victory in the Scottish League Cup Final at the end of February, we are excited to welcome A Celtic State Of Mind to Sport Social.
The award-winning podcast offers a tantalising instalment of topical Celtic discussion, debate and insight. Hosted by author and documentary-maker, Paul John Dykes, ACSOM delves into the culture of Celtic Football Club and its fans. The podcast’s mix of football and music chat will strike a chord with Celtic fans, as will the big interviews with individuals who possess A Celtic State of Mind.
Welcome to the February edition of Team Talk with all the latest news from the Sport Social Podcast Network.
It’s been a big start to the year already in the world of sport. We’ve had all the drama of the transfer window and the FA Cup. Novak Djokovic picked up his 22 grand slam title at the Australian Open and in snooker Judd Trump won the Masters for a second time. Plus, the Six Nations gets underway this weekend. Will France be able to repeat their grand slam heroics of 2022 or will another country be victorious?
It’s been a strong start to the year for The Sport Social Podcast Network too. We are now home to nearly 250 podcasts and combined monthly downloads of over 4.5 million. This is brilliant news as we look to secure exciting commercial deals across our verticals in 2023. Make sure you are placing your ad markers in your podcasts, so that we can continue to help you make the most of your inventory. For any assistance with this, or for other enquiries, please contact the team here. Link to podcast@sport-social.co.uk email.
New website and app launch coming this Spring
We are very excited to announce that we will be releasing a new website and app this Spring that will solidify Sport Social as the destination to find the best sport podcasts.
As well as providing listeners with a fresh and easy to navigate place to listen to great sport content, this latest update will also provide podcasters with the ability to stream live and offer subscription services through the Sport Social app. More information to follow in the coming months!
If you would like to help us by getting involved with Beta testing, please email podcast@sport-social.co.uk and one of the team will be in touch.
Autosport F1 & Motorsport podcast joins Sport Social
We are delighted to announce we will be working with Motorsport Network for 2023.
The Autosport podcast is the official podcast of Autosport, the world’s leading authority on motorsport. If you’re a fan of Formula 1, Formula E, Sportscars, Touring Cars and Rally then this is one for you. Listen now and find out more here – press release article on the website? Listen now player?
TikTok testing podcaster feature
With Insider Intelligence predicting podcast advertising spend estimated to hit $2.25 billion in 2023 (link to https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/podcast-advertising-5-charts), it’s no surprise that the social media giant is experimenting with podcasting on it’s platform. The new feature would allow users to listen to a video’s audio while using another app on their device. Time will tell if it is rolled out to all users.
Wondering what your strategy should be with Tik Tok? Voiceworks Director of Sport, Jim Salveson, has 5 tips to get you started.
Sound Business – What does 2023 hold for podcasting and digital audio
In case you missed it, over the last few weeks the Voiceworks Team have been busy predicting what might be coming down the line in 2023 for the podcasting and audio industry. They covered everything from advertising and revenue, content and audiences and the podcast industry as a whole.
Six Nations grand slam winner Sam Warbuton joins Sport Social
Ahead of this year’s Six Nations getting underway this weekend, former Wales and British & Irish Lions rugby captain Sam Warburton has teamed up with our friends at the Crowd Network to launch his new podcast, ‘Captains’.
Join Sam as he gives listeners the inside story of how the most successful teams come together, grow and ultimately – win. Listen now to the latest episodes on the Sport Social Podcast Network
Many have tried, and many have failed. Now it looks like TikTok might be able to pick up the challenge of integrating podcasting into a social media platform.
For some reason, to date, audio has been too much of a challenge for the social spaces biggest players… Facebook have reversed out of their audio strategy, Twitter seem reluctant to develop some promising plans around Podcasting and Greenroom seems to have faded away after a promising start, but are TikTok in a position to buck that trend?
The buzziest of all social platforms is currently testing a new “podcast” feature that allows its users to continue listening to audio from within the app once they have navigated away to other destinations.
As it stands, there has been no official word from TikTok on plans for podcasting, but rather the “hidden” feature was discovered by blogger Emily Skvarc who unwittingly stumbled across what appeared to be testing of the new feature.
The lack of official word from TikTok means we can only speculate as to what the platform’s plans might be, however given the prominence it gives to audio and music, you can see how it might be in a more advantageous position to take advantage than some of its social competitors.
My (purely speculative) view is that we are unlikely to see any kind of full podcast integration into the app, such as the ability to ingest RSS feeds. Instead, we will see TikTok introducing longer video content which can be tagged as “Podcasts”, allowing users to consume the audio part of that content with or without the video accompaniment. As a result, this will blur the lines between video and podcasting even further, and produce a similar podcasting proposition to YouTube.
One advantage TikTok does have in this space is there seems to be a strong synergy between its user base and that audience’s interest in podcasts, with the platform proving a very effective marketing tool for shows looking to reach their 3.5 billion users!
If you are looking to leverage TikTok to market your podcast audience, here are my top 5 tips:
1. Share highlights… but not just highlights
Show highlights are great for promoting your content (after all, it’s what you do best) but mix up the content. Provide behind-the-scenes insight on your show or additional content that’s not discoverable anywhere else. This is your opportunity to build a brand and personality around your podcast.
2. No camera, no problem
Filming podcasts is becoming more and more the norm, but not having access to a camera, or just feeling reluctant to get in front of one, needn’t be a barrier to utilising TikTok as a platform. Apps like Headliner can help you optimise audio content for video platforms such as TikTok and help you publish content without your face.
3. Know your niche
TikTok has come a long way from its lip syncing days and is now establishing itself as an endless source of information sought by people who want to know more about a myriad of topics (just see the sucess of BookTok). If your podcast focuses on a specific niche, then own that niche. Share your skills, knowledge, tips, and experience in your specialist area to build your own niche-specific TikTok audience… and make sure you use the right hashtags so people can find it too. #PodcastTip.
4. Be a tease
Anyone who has ever worked in (podcasting’s big brother) radio will know the value of a tease. You needn’t give away all your content on TikTok to get those views. A sneak peek at something that’s coming? The end of a great story? The answer to a brilliant question? Think about what content you can post on the platform to entice the audience to search for your podcast elsewhere.
5. Engage
The key to all social media is interaction. TikTok, like other platforms, is not linear. It is best when you engage with those who engage with your content. To really make TikTok work for you, you need to become a part of the community. Reply to users in your comment section, reach out to creators making similar content, generally explore and have fun. It will help your organic growth.
There has been a lot of techy talk in podcasting land over the past week about “Dalvik”, and some podcasting hosts announcing that they are not recognising some downloads. It’s not the easiest to understand how this affects you as a podcaster or podcast advertiser so we wanted to give you a step by step guide on what it is all about.
Podcast Listening
We all listen to our podcasts using different podcast players; the big hitters are Apple Podcasts and Spotify, but there are many more out there.
One of those alternatives is a content aggregator from Samsung called “Samsung Free”. It groups together interesting videos, tv, news and podcasts on the Android home screen of newer Samsung phones. It uses a standard piece of Android software called Dalvik to download audio like podcasts. Other Android phones and software (such as Google Pixel) also use Dalvik.
When we look at podcaster stats and see where the listener traffic to podcasts have come from, there has always been traffic from Dalvik based players, but it’s never accounted for much of the audience.
From November 1st to November 18th, Dalvik downloads on the Sport Social Podcast Network accounted for 2% of the network downloads. From the 25th to the 29th, that rose to 44%.
On the around 19th of November, the Samsung Free app was updated by Samsung. In the new update, the Listen tab opened a player automatically. If not stopped within three seconds, the player would auto-play segments of featured podcast episodes and it also pre-downloaded other episodes for instant play. This resulted in a lot of downloads that weren’t initialised by listeners or where the pre-downloads never played.
Here is part of a chart that shows all the devices that have used Dalvik on the Sport Social Podcast Network. All the “SM” device codes are different Samsung phone models, which accounts for the bulk of the Dalvik downloads, but you can see a small number attributed to other players, like a Google Pixel phone.
How does the Auto play feature in Samsung Free affect download numbers?
All good podcast hosts, including Megaphone which we use for the Sport Social Podcast Network, are IAB certified – an external 3rd party who set standards on what is counted as a download and an impression of an advert.
Normally, this auto-play feature In Samsung Free wouldn’t be a problem; other podcasting apps have similar features, downloading a smaller amount of the podcast e.g. 15 or 30 seconds.
IABv2 standards say that a download is counted if 60 seconds of audio is consumed by a unique listener within 24 hours. If a listener was just flicking through podcasts that auto-played, hearing just a few seconds of each, then these downloads would be automatically filtered out of any IABv2 podcasting hosts data.
As the Samsung Free app was downloading for more than 90 seconds, this “passed’ the IABv2 criteria and shows as a certified download on many posting hosts. This also means that there are advertiser impressions that are also passing the IABv2 criteria as being delivered, but they haven’t been heard by human ears.
How is the podcast industry reacting to the Dalvik issue?
Some podcasting hosts and podcast tracking companies have taken the decision to discount all of the Dalvik downloads for the month – regardless of the type of device that is downloading the podcast – including the downloads from legitimate Dalvik sources, such as the Google Pixel phones we see on our data.
Megaphone are waiting for IAB guidance before making any decisions and the Dalvik downloads are currently (12th Dec) still showing in the download figures for the podcasts that they host.
What are Voiceworks doing about the Dalvik issue?
We at Sport Social have decided to identify the Dalvik downloads and impressions delivered on the 19th of November when the app was launched and then between the 25th and the 30th of December when we can see the bulk of the downloads. From these, the downloads and impressions that were delivered on only Samsung devices will be discounted.
This is the fairest way available to us to adjust for what we know hasn’t been listened to, but keep in as many downloads and impressions from other devices and on other dates where the Samsung auto-play feature wasn’t having an impact.
Some of our podcasters on the Sport Social Podcast network might see a different number of downloads on their statements for November 2022 compared to what they see on Megaphone – the Dalvik download issue hasn’t affected all our titles.
Our advertising clients may have seen that we have over delivered on impressions and/or extended campaigns to make up for the impressions that were affected by the Dalvik downloads.
Click here to listen to Andrea discuss the Dalvik issue on our podcast.
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