Wednesday 26th April: News podcast listeners among most likely to tune in weekly

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News podcast listeners among most likely to tune in weekly

As if we could lead today's newsletter with anything other than a podcasting story. However, much as we'd like to link to a page that's otherwise blank but for the words 'PODCASTING IS GREAT', there's a lot in this Ofcom study to dig into. First and foremost, as the headlines suggests, news podcasts have a key role to play in encouraging audiences to reengage with a newsbrand on a weekly basis.

However! Get this: "the survey found that podcasts made by independent producers had the most loyal audiences with 58% of people who said they listened to podcasts weekly saying they listened to podcasts made by independent creators." Meanwhile roughly a third of the respondents said they listen to podcasts made by newspapers and magazines.

That's probably not too surprising, given the weight of independently-produced podcasts. Newspapers and magazines do, after all, focus on quality over quantity. The lesson here is that podcasting still largely has a low barrier to entry, and that audiences respond well to shows with distinct identities. Small wonder that many podcast platforms have launched incubators designed to grow the number of independent shows on their networks...

UK to press ahead with reform to tackle Big Tech's market power

Yesterday the UK parliament introduced new legislation designed to empower the Digital Markets Unit to oversee platforms which are deemed to have so-called strategic market status (SMS) aka Big Tech. This is relevant to Media Voices because of the soft power newspapers have to influence how this legislation is viewed - and because news publishers are desperate to see Google and Meta etc reined in from a competition point of view.

Murdoch firm paid secret phone-hacking settlement to Prince William

Fresh off the dual humiliations of settling with Dominion and dropping the libel case against Crikey, further bad news for the Murdoch clan. This time it's been revealed that Rupert Murdoch’s media business secretly paid Prince William a “very large sum of money” in 2020 to quietly settle a phone-hacking claim, according to new court filings. Talk shit, get hit (with lawsuits).

Vogue has turned down ads over inclusivity

If you want to be angry this morning but don't yet have a reason, read that standfirst. Imagine arguing that 'inclusivity equals downmarket': it's the most shortsighted and arguably racist statement you could make as an advertiser. It also perpetuates exclusion and lack of visibility across the media. I think we all know that some brands have to be browbeaten into challenging their own assumptions about diversity, but to see it laid out so starkly is infuriating.

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