Canadian broadcasters drawn by ‘ton of momentum’ in podcasting

In early May, the Liberal government faced questions in the House of Commons about a Canadian citizen who had returned to the country after participating in the ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq on the side of the Islamic State. The line of questioning was prompted by a series of podcast episodes produced by the New York Times, called Caliphate — one of many such initiatives that are making a mark as podcast content explodes in popularity. It’s a trend that hasn’t escaped major Canadian broadcasters, who all told The Wire Report they are increasing their involvement in podcasts. “There's a ton of momentum behind podcasts right now, because you're starting to see major players in media and elsewhere both get into podcasts but also to cover podcasts, to pay attention to what people who have podcasts are saying,” Jordan Heath-Rawlings, host of The Big Story, a new daily podcast produced by Rogers Communications Inc., told The Wire Report in a phone interview. Given they can leverage their media properties, experts say Canada’s broadcasting companies are well-positioned to play a role in the future of podcasting, but that road may not be straightforward. Last week, Rogers and Corus Entertainment Inc. each announced moves in the podcast market. Rogers marked the launch of The Big Story, a daily culture and news show, and Corus CEO Doug Murphy told investors about “CURIOUS,” its upcoming podcast network. A podcast network is a collection of podcasts distributed by the same publisher. Although they’re not entirely new (Apple Inc.’s initial support started in 2005), these downloadable audio shows available on services like iTunes, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Play Music and TuneIn Inc. have re-emerged as a key format of on-demand content. While Canadian media companies like Rogers, Quebecor Inc., Corus, and BCE Inc. already produce content that fit in the podcast definition, when asked, each said they wanted to create more. Bell Media spokesman Scott Henderson said in an email that “podcasts are core to Bell Media’s strategy,” and that Bell will be announcing more podcast support in the coming months. Bell currently creates podcasts from TSN hosts as well as CTV’s The Launch and political shows. Quebecor’s vice-president of digital content Mathieu Turbide told The Wire Report in an email the Montreal-based company has previously experimented with the format, with the “Sac de chips” series from Le Journal de Montréal, but it’s now interesting in expanding its footprint. “We are very interested in podcasting. We are working on many podcast and audio projects, not experimental and much more serious this time,” said Turbide. Katie Jensen, co-founder of independent shop Vocal Fry Studios in Toronto who has been producing podcasts since 2009, said she sees the influx of financial backing as the root of the format’s new era. “Podcasts are seeing a resurgence because we're finally putting money behind them, and consequently, the quality of the average podcast is a lot higher than it was in 2009. The days of muffled audio recorded in an echoey kitchen are gone,” she told The Wire Report over email. Heath-Rawlings credited big name series of podcasts, like New York Times’ ‘The Daily’ in 2017 and This American Life’s ‘Serial’ in 2016, as kicking off the demand for quality audio storytelling back into high gear. According to an October 2017 study, conducted by The Globe and Mail, 34 per cent of adult Canadians reported they’ve listened to a podcast in the last year. That’s up from 25 per cent, as reported by a 2016 CBC/Radio-Canada Media Technology Monitor study. Jenson also sees a high ceiling for the growth of the format. “The number of active podcasts is still fairly low — earlier in the month, Apple estimated that there are 550,000 active podcasts in iTunes, which, when you compare it to any other media format, is conservative,” she said. She pointed out that just in 2015, a count from podcaster Josh Morgan was around 60,000, “which indicates a huge spike in growth,” said Jenson. “The numbers really kind of bear out that there's a ton of room for growth,” Heath-Rawlings told The Wire Report, adding that Rogers is a good position to introduce Canadians to the medium through its radio, magazine and digital outlets. While the broadcasters were eager to speak about their plans for more podcasts, they were less forthcoming about the financial motives behind this move, beyond responding to shifting audience habits. And experts warn there are obstacles to breaking even. Don’t expect the format to drive huge revenue numbers to start, said Nordicity’s Kristian Roberts in email to The Wire Report. He pointed out that for larger media brands like Rogers and Corus, podcast offerings will definitely add to engagement overall, but they don’t make sense as an independent business case. “While they might make some ad revenue, it’s more about an addition to the overall package than a discrete revenue-generating opportunity,” Roberts wrote. That’s a gap the podcast experts at The Podcast Exchange are looking to bridge. The Toronto-based company aims to help producers monetize their podcasts and part of its work is to make the ads people hear on podcasts more relevant to Canadian audiences. In a press release last week, Corus announced its move to partner with TPX to market its podcasts to advertisers in the U.S. and Canada. Hiring a director of podcast and streaming earlier this year in Chris Duncombe, as well as a podcast manager just last month, Corus hosts what it says is one of the most listened to music podcasts in Canada, The Ongoing History of New Music with Alan Cross. Duncombe said in a follow-up email the move to partner with TPX would allow Corus to “effectively monetize” its new podcast network. “There are hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on podcast advertising in the US now,” said Jeff Ulster, chief content and technology officer at TPX said in a telephone call. “Now if we could look there, and do the math, and figure out what's gonna happen in Canada, it's very exciting.” One of the issues Canadian podcast listeners face is that many of the ads or promo codes included in podcast ads don’t work in Canada, while for podcast creators, Canada’s too much of a disparate landscape to interact with advertisers one-on-one. TPX hopes to solve both those problems by offering a single point of contact for creators and advertisers. Ulster said it’s challenging for an advertiser to “have a direct relationship with craft publisher … because they're not going to get scale.” His company aims to provide that scale to advertisers and leverage new technology for podcast creators. Two advertising technologies have emerged as useful in the podcast space, according to Ulster. Increased understanding of listener data has allowed for targeted advertising down to location and demographics, while dynamically inserted ads have meant advertising in archived episodes of podcasts remains fresh and relevant for audiences. “The difference is now the content sits on a server without any advertising in it at all,” said Ulster. He explained that the podcast file would have digital markers to tell an advertising service to slot in relevant promos in specific spots in the episode. “When someone makes a request for the file, depending on the parameters that you set, it will say, 'Oh you're in Canada, okay. So I'm going to insert a different set of ads for you in Canada,'” While confirming that exploring techniques like dynamically-inserted ads is of interest to Rogers too, Heath-Rawlings was mum on additional details about advertising plans. As well, Henderson and Turbide both said that more news would be coming from their companies on innovative advertising and audience development. One of the challenges new podcast makers face, according to Jensen, is keeping listeners’ attention. She warns new players in the industry to keep an eye on the length of shows. According to Wired.com, podcast producer Panoply Media LLC’s chief technical officer Jason Cox said people make it through 80 to 90 per cent of their podcasts. In other words, “if a big company like that still has listeners tuning out, smaller podcasters should be working hard for their listeners' attention,” said Jensen. That is done in a couple of ways. Roberts said much of a podcast’s popularity hinges on its host and personalities. “The association between brand and podcast needs to be done very carefully. Listeners develop (quasi-)personal relationships with the podcasters and ads that seem inauthentic to that relationship won’t fly,” he said in an email. Roberts said he foresees challenges around branded podcasts in Canada being able to recreate the success of Serial. “If happen on a particular personality that resonates with the audience (in the same way as the most successful podcasts), it’ll work. If they try to replicate the generic news format in a podcast setting, it will be much more difficult to succeed,” he said. Expect podcasting to have a future with major Canadian media players, says Jensen, but it may not be a direct route to success. “It's a natural progression for terrestrial radio stations and legacy media brands to transition to podcasting, but they must ensure they're providing audiences with something they can't get anywhere else,” said Jensen. — With reporting by Bryson Masse at bmasse@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Canadian broadcasters drawn by ‘ton of momentum’ in podcasting

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Canadian broadcasters drawn by ‘ton of momentum’ in podcasting

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