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As Amplifi Media CEO, and former radio executive with Saga Communications, Steve Goldstein gears up to speak at The Barrett Sports Media Conference in Los Angeles this week, he had an opportunity to speak with ESPN’s Traug Keller about podcasting.
ESPN has been in the podcasting space since 2005 when it launched a show called ESPN Radio Daily, a collection of the top content from ESPN each day. In 2018, ESPN’s podcast library saw downloads cross the 400 million mark, an increase of 43% over 2017. The most downloaded show was The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, with more than 91 million IAB Certified downloads.
Goldstein asked Keller to explain the difference between a podcast listener and a broadcast listener. “Podcast listeners skew significantly younger, certainly younger than ESPN Radio, in fact, younger than any other platform at ESPN. The ESPN podcast listener is on average 33, and 60% of our podcast listeners are 18 to 34. That’s 13 years younger than our radio listeners.”
One of the issues Keller wants the podcasting industry to fix is measurement. While the industry works with the IAB on measurement guidelines, and NPR promotes its new RAD technology, there is still a perception that downloads and listens, what podcasts are measured by, is not enough to bring the truckloads of revenue podcasters want into the space. Of course that argument makes long-time podcasters angry. They believe downloads and listens have served the industry well, and argue that it’s a better form of measurement than what Nielsen provides radio. Keller told Goldstein, “Better measurement remains an important thing that the industry has got to solve.”
And, according to Keller, the podcast listener is very loyal and that means the money will eventually come in. “The loyalty of the listener to a podcast is remarkable. it’s a real value for advertisers. We’re letting advertisers in on a relationship that is unique, I think in all of media. You can walk into a potential advertiser with a fresh story for a podcast that you couldn’t necessarily have just with broadcast radio.”
Read the full Goldstein interview with Keller HERE.