Video, Audio, or Both? - Shaping the Future of Podcast with James Cridland

The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re taking a deep dive into the future of podcasts – our dreams, fears, and the unknown.

Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road & Veritone One) hosts fellow audio experts Spencer Semonson (Media Supervisor, Oxford Road), Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services, Oxford Road), Ricardo Martinez (VP Client Services, Oxford Road), and James Cridland (editor of Podnews and Podcast Business Journal).

The team is talking: research gems, Spotify’s video push, podcast’s identity crisis and more. Let’s dive in.

“For me, it's like being on the Titanic, and somebody’s saying, ‘Oh, look, that iceberg looks nice. Let's go over there.”

Listen and Type ⌨️ - First, some good news for CAOs with attribution anxiety. New Veritonic research shows 57% of podcast ad listeners visit a brand’s website after hearing a podcast ad. So even when listeners aren’t following the exact instructions (Vanity URL? Skip.) the podcast’s effectiveness means the message is still getting through.

Spotify’s Big Moves 👀 - ICYMI, Spotify announced some big changes prioritizing video in podcasts, hoping to pull video podcast subscribers from YouTube. It’s hard to know all the effects these shifts could have right now, but James believes podcasts are “something for your ears when your eyes are busy.” Giving up the audio advantage of podcasting doesn’t sound like a great future.

Podscribe’s New Research 💎 - Podscribe just released a new benchmark report filled with insights, and our team loved sifting through it. Some highlights: Podcast ads increase brand lift over streaming music ads by almost 2x. Smaller brands see higher benefits, with a 62% brand lift compared to 16% for megabrands. Midroll ads and episodic buys outperform other formats. Host-read and longer ads convert best. For these nuggets of wisdom and more, view highlights of the new report here.


For a deeper dive into the future of podcast with some of the wisest audio minds in the industry, tune into the full episode below.

Bianca Gorodinsky