The Crucible of Sound: Navigating 2023's Tumultuous Audio Landscape
With 2023 almost over, it’s time for the Media Roundtable to look back at the big shifts we’ve seen in the industry. Hosting this week is Oxford Road Founder & CEO, Dan Granger, with special guest, Steven Goldstein, an internationally recognized executive leader in the audio space.
Steven is the Founder & CEO of Amplifi Media, an audio innovation firm shaping sound waves since the early days of podcast. Steven’s also behind the top branded podcast in the US, and he’s an NYU professor teaching "The Business of Podcasting”, the first of its kind course at a major university.
As we look back on a wild year, we’re going beyond the RSS feed, investigating the end of “dumb money,” and what, if anything, advertisers should do on AM/FM radio. Let’s dig in.
“The biggest impediment for radio… is that they want this to be profitable on Tuesday. And it's not going to be profitable on Tuesday. It's going to take a couple of years.”
– Steven Goldstein of Amplifi Media
Bad News/Good News ⚖️ – The audio world mirrored a lot of industries this year and was certainly not immune to layoffs (Spotify just cut another 17% of their workforce). While it’s easy to get swept up in the bad news, there’s still incredible opportunity here, companies are just trying to adjust to take advantage of it–growing too big, then pulling back. What will survive in the post-dumb money era? Look to high-value, high-awareness content, a la the “Grid of Pain".
No Toothpaste Podcasts, Please 🦷– This year, it seems every company pondered if they should do a podcast. Sometimes it’s aspirational–maybe they want to connect with their customers, but the relationship isn’t really there yet… and perhaps never will be. (We can just buy your toothpaste–it doesn’t need to be a lifestyle choice.) That said, if you have a niche that’s being underserved, there might be value there! Just don’t bet the farm on it or assume everyone will line up immediately and fall in love with your show.
Multi-Platform Mastery 🎉– The future is “any audience, anywhere.” Podcasts don’t need to be on just one platform, because podcast apps aren’t binary–72% of listeners use more than one app. Listeners might check in on YouTube but listen elsewhere. Or they might consume a clip on TikTok. In 2023, some of the most successful podcasts were the ones meeting their audience in their preferred media space.
Dive in with us and take one last look at audio in 2023 (and get ready for a look ahead to 2024 in January). For full breakdowns of these stories and a whole lot more, tune into the full episode by clicking the link below.