Kamal Ahmed’s Post

Happy Friday! This week's BASE Line is now LIVE, featuring a roundup of the week's news, insights and innovation from across the category, with this week's special Big Question coming from Carina Guarnieri, Senior Account Manager at OC. Read now: https://lnkd.in/eGCfbpKj We asked Carina - BASE recently released a new podcast series called 'The BASE Roundtables', what's your favourite entertainment podcast and why? She said "One of my favourite current podcasts is 'The Rest is Entertainment', a relatively new podcast hosted by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde. They delve into topical industry themes, discussing upcoming series (like the new series 'One Day', which was utterly brilliant - I'd highly recommend it), TV shows, and industry news. They give their opinions on topics such as AI and the future of linear radio and answer listener questions. It provides good behind-the-scenes insight from their own experiences as they answer the questions we were all thinking, and it's a great way of keeping up with all things entertainment!" Elsewhere, we shared the news that BBC Studios has paid £255M ($322M) to acquire ITV‘s shareholding in their joint venture streamer, BritBox International — the biggest ever single transaction for the BBC’s commercial wing. BritBox UK, in which ITV owns 100% of the shares, is unaffected by the deal. BBC Studios content will remain on that service as part of separate long-term agreements. Please click the link below to subscribe if you haven't already, and get our curated weekly roundup of industry news, insights and resources each Friday morning: https://bit.ly/3Oh36gK

Few observations from the data point below. 1. Video formats eat all other formats. Not only on YouTube but on Spotify as well, videos of podcasts deliver more time spent vs audio only. 2. As a creator, it's not just about finding a content niche but also committing to a format and specializing further. 3. YouTube's versatility in handling the diversity of formats is likely its biggest strength. E.g., IG gave up on long form fully to embrace Reels. While YouTube is not just adding shorts but also winning on podcasts and sustaining the more traditional formats. (h/t Lenny's twitter post and Cumulus Media).

And with that, #economics (hello interest rates!) have caught up with #content and we can forever say goodbye to the notion of "peak content," which, honestly, perhaps isn't a bad thing. Too much content sinks a lot of ships. And content. (See, the ships are overloaded with containers stuffed with content...) Big video (but not YouTube). Podcasts. Print happened a long long long time ago. (and in our galaxy, not one far away). RIP: "Everything is content." What does this mean? YOUR stuff is more important than ever. Quality will pay off. Relevancy. Empathy. Don't create garbage. Don't create stuff for the sake of creating stuff. Purpose. Meaning. And, yes, this goes for #entertainment as well. But in a different way. #contentmarketing

What are the odds on good Pods changing our business? It's a question for all Factual TV Content creators. Will producing Podcasts, with a relatively small outlay but for an unknown return, pay off? For us at at FirstLook the answer has to be yes - one way or another - hence our launch of a Podcast a week for the rest of the year on all platforms - my own choice is YouTube or Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eYnGXdJd It can be argued that Pods really took off with True Crime when 'Serial' swept the world; so as True Crime Producers it seems a natural fit - but it will pay off as much as anything because of the creative flexibility it offers. We can run interviews longer, offer different insights to our stories and support the social aims of our series. Monetisation is only a part of our motivation. We are storytellers - so we want as many ways as telling our stories as possible. So FirstLookTV’s move into commercial podcasting as one of the first of our direct-to-consumer platform activities is an obvious choice. The genre is still in the ascendancy, being the fastest growth segment within podcasts, growing over 100% in 2022 alone. There are sound commercial reasons, too. Advertisers can stay relevant with timely, contemporary ads no matter how far a listener goes back in the archives.  This makes evergreen content, like True Crime, more valuable as it generates advertising revenue for longer. Podcasts as a whole are growing enormously.  In the UK alone there were 21.2m podcast listeners in one recent year, an increase of 36% on the year before. Global listenership is expected to reach 465m in 2023/24, up from 274m in 2019 - with revenue expected to exceed $2billion. The market size is currently $18.6bn and is expected to grow. It's a space we feel we cannot ignore and there's a bonus - they make for a great listen. Check us out on Youtube or Spotify - or wherever your Pod platform of choice might be.

Interested in learning about the power of audio advertising for political candidates? Check out what podcast consumers across the US had to say in this infographic https://hubs.la/Q02bVS8R0 #politicaladvertising #podcastadvertising #electionads

Do you know a business owner who needs a facelift on their phone messaging? Or perhaps you ARE a business owner and you're thinking of taking that next step and advertising online, on the radio, podcasts, or TV. Contact me today and we'll work together to deliver an effective message that reaches YOUR audience. #voiceoverartist #voiceoverwork #audioproduction #womeninbusiness #audio #IVRmessaging #IVR #phonemessaging #videonarration #narration #commericalaudioproduction

When I see someone who used to be nervous about speaking into a microphone now have the confidence to play it like the instrument it is... that's one of those special moments. It's an odd thing to talk into a mic. It's not natural. There's no immediate reaction from your audience in a studio, or a remote recording. It's understandable to be a bit hesitant; but I haven't been bitten by one yet. (Knocked my head on a few over the years, mind...) But when someone leans into the mic whilst they're talking, softens their voice, and shares a little aside with just you, the listener, that's a beautiful thing. Or when someone pulls back because they're laughing out loud... or shouts off to one side for comedy effect... or is connected enough to be comfortable with breathing room and pauses... or just opens up and talks with the warmth and openness of natural conversation... Learning to love a microphone opens up a whole world of connection. I've been very fortunate to coach or produce people who have gone from that initial "this feels very silly" to not only knowing how to use one, but to thoroughly love what can come from connecting with it. There are podcasts I listen to where I hear hosts do that and it makes me feel all warm inside. And there are podcast hosts who may be new and aren't there yet... … but you'll get there. And when you do, you won't remember how it felt before... but you'll love how it feels now. I hope you've had a brilliant weekend. ------------------------------------------------------ 🎤 That's it. There's no pitch. No message. I just wanted to share someone I love about broadcasting, and I now see when I'm working with new podcast hosts. It's just an appreciation post. 💕 And these are some hearts because the world is a good place when you focus on the good things.

Had an amazing time speaking with Patrick and Norbert about a lot of things, mostly advertising related. Some of what I said could be wrong. Some of what I said could be right. Some of what I said you might find interesting. Some of what I said could be nothing you care about at all. But if you want to hear some of the things I had to say, check the link below. #truefiction #podcast #exploring #creativity #thankful #bigcom Big Com Raven Public Relations

Do you know what the first video-sharing platform was called? Totally addicted to the Toast podcast (spin off from Sliced Bread) which examines why some of the biggest brand names failed. A great listen for anyone running a business - plus a bit of nostalgia in lots of cases! Who had a Commodore 64.....? Check it out...starting with this episode about Vine the home of the 6secs video! #podcast #businesslearning #vine #video #toast