Editor’s Note: This article was filed on Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Today was the first day of #PM22 in Dallas, and what better way to start than with the Sounds Profitable Business Leaders Summit? Today’s sessions were invite-only, so I’m limited in what I can share. However, here are some key musings inspired by today’s thoughtful panels:

Everyone is very concerned about what to do with podcasts on YouTube, but no one seems 100% sure on the answer (yet)

• I sense that the reason is that every podcast requires a very different approach to YouTube– the appropriate way to put your podcast on YouTube depends on key factors like your show’s format, target audience, length and talent.
• There is still a lot of room for experimentation in video podcasts–and a lot of room for failure.
• My prediction is that we will see a lot of people throwing a lot of resources at experimenting with video, and very few will figure out how to turn those resources into value

Our conceptualization of “brand safety” is evolving

• My favourite panel by far today was a large conversation about programmatic advertising– a topic that feels nearly antithetical to the work being done by Pacific Content, but still, a conversation where I saw some surprising overlap and opportunities with the work we do
• Tamara Zubatiy, CEO of Barometer, stood out specifically for her incredibly interesting work using AI to analyze podcast transcripts for brand safety. This conversation led me to wonder– will brands start to re-evaluate what “brand safety” means? And to take that a step further, perhaps content that traditionally has been seen as “unsafe” for brands may actually be extremely effective with listeners

The relationship between podcast hosts and listeners is so strong, that the host doesn’t even need to be the one mentioning the brand to increase brand affinity

• Casual, ad-libbed host-read ads are still most effective, but simply having an announcer read an ad in an episode is still very effective for dedicated listeners
• This demonstrates the intimate relationship between podcast listeners and podcasts — listeners feel an affinity towards the brands that make the content they love possible, regardless of whether that brand is explicitly endorsed by the host or not

Don’t believe the people that say podcast advertising isn’t measurable

• There are lots of ways to track the effectiveness of brand marketing with podcasts, and the approach you take depends largely on the goals of your marketing campaign
• Top-of-funnel marketing approaches can be really effectively measured using brand lift studies; pixel-based attribution is an effective way to measure lower-in-the-funnel conversions
• The technology we are using for measurement is getting better every day– and that progress needs to continue if we want to see the industry continue to grow; marketers have measurement expectations, and we need to aim for transparency wherever possible to reassure marketers of the power of podcast marketing