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Spotify makes a billion. The latest from podnews.net with Podcastle, create, edit, publish and grow.

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Spotify has released its Q1/24 financials. The company made over $1 billion worth of

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gross profit for the first time and returned nearly $200 million of net income. Spotify's

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profit margin for Q1 increased year on year. The company laid off 2,300 people

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last year and raised prices in many territories; and ad revenue grew 18%. The company now has

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615 million monthly users. There's more details in our show notes and our newsletter at podnews.net.

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86% of branded podcasts increase a brand's affinity with their listeners, says New Data

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from Signal Hill Insights. Branded podcasts also help with brand recall. The 2024 Branded

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Podcasts benchmark report is released today. iHeartMedia has launched the Women's Sports

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Audio Network, which it calls the first ever audio platform dedicated to women's sports.

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Podcast analytics and insights platform Co-Host has announced the publication of its second

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annual State of Podcast Agencies report. The biggest issue for podcast agencies is trackable

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ROI, which impacts 33% of them. In the UK, Audiolab has been launched by AdWanted UK.

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It's claimed to be the first cross-platform digital audio measurement solution in the

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country. We covered Spotify's quiet withdrawal from the IAB on Monday. Today, we link to

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the IAB membership costs ratecard, which is based on domestic revenue in the US. We've

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worked out what Spotify's domestic revenue might be, and we've worked out that the IAB

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membership bill for Spotify could have been more than half a million dollars. We're sure

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that they didn't charge ratecard, though. In commentary about Spotify's IAB withdrawal,

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RAIN's Brad Hill calls it a "signal of extraordinary self-sufficiency." He also notes that the IAB's

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website still lists Spotify as a member of the IAB podcasting technical working group.

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We're told this is an error. Not least, the named contact, Kevin Sachs, left the company

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at the end of March. There's a new podcast studio in Brookfield in Illinois. CrimeJunkie

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is to be a 24-hour radio station. It's a 24/7 true crime radio station on SiriusXM, which

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launches on Friday morning. The Audio Drama Directory is an online resource with the goal

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of offering the most comprehensive listings of websites for audio drama enthusiasts. It's

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new to us, but it's been running since last year. Roland is to release a podcasting kit,

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Go:Podcast, gives you a USB microphone and an app that supports video and live streaming.

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The Peabody Awards has announced some nominees, including for its podcast categories, and

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Wondery has launched Wondery plus, its curated premium podcast service for UK podcast listeners.

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We're promised lots of British content, a localised and curated ad-free experience for UK audiences,

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and who knows, maybe a promise to spell the word colour correctly.

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And in podcast news, Leah's Gals, described as a low-rent, southern-fried twist on a

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literary classic, is available in full today. It's the first production from MindsEye podcasts,

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and Transit Unplugged reached episode 300 today. The show tackles issues like zero emissions,

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the bus manufacturing crisis in the US, and changing ridership patterns. Today's episode

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is a special Transit CEO round table, recorded live at the Think Transit conference, and features

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an unscripted look into the lives and careers of four leading transit CEOs, all of whom

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we hope take transit to work. Trailers for selected shows are in our podcast

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called New Podcast Trailers, and we're sponsored by Podcastle. Create, edit, publish and grow

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your podcast all in one collaborative AI-powered platform. Make your voice heard with Podcastle.

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Find a link in the show notes. And that's the latest from our newsletter to read all

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the stories and subscribe we're at podnews.net.

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