Annie Langston

Annie is MIDiA’s audio analyst. Her coverage mainly focuses on the business strategies and consumption trends among podcasts, audiobooks, and radio.

Radio future vision
Build the new and transform the old

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Annie Langston

October 2023

Business Strategy

Despite extensive efforts by radio broadcasters to redress the digital shift with offerings like podcasts and streaming apps, radio’s audience continues to fall. The fundamental question is: how does radio attract younger audiences that have never been radio natives? Ultimately, radio must act, and fast.

Spotify versus Apple Podcasts: The podcast analytics race has begun

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Annie Langston

18 Oct 2023

First announced at Podcast Movement in August 2023, Spotify is now rolling out new features and analytics tools to aid podcast discovery. While Apple Podcast’s recent updates target a specific type of creator — creators with subscriptions (and therefore, established audiences) — Spotify is casting a wider creator net and focusing on empowering lesser-known creators to customise their pages.

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Tech’s failure to crack live audio could be radio’s opportunity

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Annie Langston

9 Oct 2023

Another live audio app bites the dust. A year after its launch, Amazon Amp is shutting down, being buried alongside Spotify Live and Clubhouse (at least in its original form). While Amp recruited major celebrities, like Nicki Minaj and Pusha T, to host shows, it was not immune to industry-wide layoffs that have hit other live audio divisions.

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Goodbye Google Podcasts: What’s next for YouTube Music?

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Annie Langston

5 Oct 2023

YouTube’s podcast bet just got bigger. Last week, Google announced that its standalone podcast app, Google Podcasts, will shut down in 2024. Since YouTube’s official podcast launch , this strategy was expected , as Google Podcasts began rolling back some of its podcast features while YouTube Music started offering more.

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How the creator allegations against Kast Media expose an outdated podcast metric

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Annie Langston

28 Sep 2023

Podcast creator deals are due for a major wake up call. Podcast advertising is a cornerstone of the industry, as it largely funds minimum guarantees for creators. Minimum guarantees are a set amount of money that creators earn, regardless of their show’s performance.

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Spotify’s ‘daylist’ is coming for radio… but radio still has some aces to play

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Annie Langston

20 Sep 2023

As streaming platforms evolve, radio audiences are steadily declining. Although podcasts and streaming have seemingly replaced radio, there are key differences between the formats. For instance, radio’s ability to program content throughout the day has always been a major pillar that stands out against on-demand content.

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How Clubhouse missed its Twitter, erm X, Spaces opportunity

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Annie Langston

13 Sep 2023

The gone and (almost) forgotten live audio app Clubhouse is trying for a revival. Clubhouse kicked off during the Covid-19 lockdowns, closing 2021 with a $4 billion valuation and inspiring major platforms, like Twitter, Spotify and Facebook, to start their own live audio-centric features.

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How Apple Podcasts is helping spur a new era of podcast analytics

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Annie Langston

30 Aug 2023

Podcast analytics have been more or less untouched since the format’s inception. The podcast investment boom was more about major platforms catching up with competitors by integrating traditional analytics, rather than innovating the availability of data itself.

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Alex Cooper’s new podcast network questions her future at Spotify and fuels competition for creators

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Annie Langston

16 Aug 2023

Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper has launched her own podcast network. A subsidiary of Trending , the media company Cooper launched earlier this year, The Unwell Network is targeting Gen Z audiences. In addition to producing both scripted and unscripted podcasts, the network will also explore live events.

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Music’s podcast potential
Focus on branding over discovery

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Annie Langston

August 2023

Labels

Streaming

Artists

In this hyper-fragmented entertainment consumption space, artists and labels must use every tool available to break out above the noise. Artists must diversify their content to not only promote their music, but to develop their personal brand. Podcasts are an effective vessel to target niche audiences and build a brand, both within and outside of music.

How Dua Lipa’s Service95 maintains her relevancy

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Annie Langston

August 2023

The New York Times

Read the case study …

Bauer and Audible: Radio and podcasts CAN work together

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Annie Langston

9 Aug 2023

Although podcasts are sometimes considered radio’s replacement, there are key differences between the formats – such as on demand versus live – that serve distinct audiences. In Bauer’s new partnership with Audible, presenters Fleur East (Hits Radio) and Tyler West (KISS Radio) will discuss their top podcasts and audiobooks during their Monday programs, and invite fellow hosts to share their favourite titles.

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Spotify’s Q2 podcast financials: Things may get worse before they get better

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Annie Langston

2 Aug 2023

Spotify’s Q2 earnings are a mixed bag for its podcast business. On one hand, monthly active users (MAUs) grew to 551 million, with 10 million new premium subscribers (bringing that total to 220 million), while podcast advertising revenue rose by 30% year-over-year.

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BBC Radio 1’s Giant DJ Hunt shows what radio does right

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Annie Langston

26 Jul 2023

What would happen if one of the biggest radio stations in the world shut down? BBC Radio 1 turned off midday last Friday because Radio 1 host Greg James failed Radio 1’s Giant DJ Hunt. In this scavenger hunt, James had one week to find all the missing radio DJs that were hidden in various locations across England and Europe before the Friday deadline.

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Spotify’s Call Her Daddy boosts streams for music superstars — but can podcasts do the same for smaller artists?

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Annie Langston

19 Jul 2023

Marketing Strategy

As streaming platforms become even more saturated with music and podcasts, thus fragmenting consumption, creating a hit single or superstar artist is not as simple as just dropping a new track. Artists are using every tool, including podcasts, to build engaged audiences and amplify their discoverability.

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We asked, you answered: Will Spotify renew Joe Rogan’s contract?

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Annie Langston

12 Jul 2023

Last week, MIDiA polled readers on their predictionsfor the future of Joe Rogan’s Spotify contract. Signed to Spotify in 2020 for reportedly over $200 million, Rogan helped cement the platform’s audio shift.

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Stitcher’s app closure asks – who will build the premium podcast experience?

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Annie Langston

6 Jul 2023

In August, SiriusXM plans to close its podcast platform, Stitcher. Launched in 2008 and acquired by SiriusXM in 2020 for $325 million, Stitcher offered both free podcast listening and a subscription for ad-free podcast listening.

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Radio WAUs
Blurring broadcast lines

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Annie Langston

July 2023

Spotify

Radio

iHeart

The radio industry has traditionally thought in terms of monthly audiences and reach rather than engagement. It is time for the radio industry to start thinking in terms of weekly engagement so that it can better benchmark itself against the wider picture of digital entertainment It is time for radio to think in terms of weekly active users (WAUs) As radio consumption steadily declines over time, it is imperative to understand the current userbases Globally, radio WAUs skew older, making the transition into digital platforms such as podcasting more challenging.

AI voice generation is a huge opportunity for podcasting — and a big risk

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Annie Langston

28 Jun 2023

artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is revolutionising entertainment, including podcasts. Perhaps the most contentious part of this revolution is AI voice generation, which is stoking legitimate fears from creators that their voices will be used without permission.

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How Meghan’s Spotify departure signifies the platform’s strategic shift

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Annie Langston

21 Jun 2023

In late 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ’s Archewell Studios signed a multi-year exclusive podcast deal with Spotify, reportedly worth over $20 million. Now, after one season of Markle’s podcast Archetypes , they are parting ways.

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