🎙️TODAY’S BRIEF

• 🔥AI Podcast Invasion: How Fake Shows Are Threatening the Future of Audio Content

• 🚨 Podcast Insight: Family Podcasts: The Untapped Goldmine for Advertisers in 2024

• 🌏 Podcast Elsewhere: Emmy Award-Winning Doctor's Podcast Reveals Link Between Gut Health and Cognitive Wellness.

👋 Hi, Podsky!

Miguel here! I'm sure you've heard about the ongoing debate surrounding this Google notebook LM. Listen Notes believes that AI tools like this are likely to result in an increase in the number of fake podcasts, which could potentially damage the trust listeners have in the content's authenticity and make it more challenging for creators to engage with their audience.

Sometimes, it's a little hard to believe that the conversation between the two hosts is actually real. While others say it's pretty amazing that we can quickly create a podcast episode in just minutes, allowing many of us to have a side gig as podcasters (if that's something you're interested in). This is a fantastic way for writers to repurpose their content and for others to engage with relatively complex topics in a fun and accessible manner.

But some of us already knew we were using AI in our podcast production. And it's so great to see even big companies are using AI too! I'd like to give you an example of how Wondercraft has integrated OpenAI's advanced voice mode into their new Director Mode feature.

I would love to chat with the lovely folks at Google who created NotebookLM about this. I listened to a recent podcast episode of Lenny and it really got me thinking. We chatted with some of our lovely community members on the NotebookLM Discord about their thoughts on the Listen Notes blog post. One of them said, "As with most anti-AI sentiments, people see a tech demo and can't imagine the purpose beyond the surface-level implications." Another one says, "I think AI could potentially be a threat to all mediums created on a digital medium or going through digital transformation techniques."

Whatever your view, we totally get it. AI are here to stay, and that's okay! We'd love to hear your thoughts on this! We'd love to know your thoughts!

As always, contact us via email, and don't forget to sign up for this newsletter here if you haven't already. Encourage a friend to subscribe as well!

Today’s issue takes 10 minutes to read.

Let’s dive in on today’s newsletter. - Miguel

⬇️Listen : A comprehensive summary of the latest developments in podcasting, based on insights from the Podwires newsletter. Powered by AI.

LISTEN NOTES
🔥AI Podcast Invasion: How Fake Shows Are Threatening the Future of Audio Content

In a surprising turn of events, some multidimensional pressure is being placed on the world of podcasting through AI-generated content, notably with tools such as Google's Notebook LM.

This innovative yet very controversial technology has opened Pandora's box, allowing any person to create fake podcasts at the click of a button. And while real human voices and AI-generated content continue to practically be indistinguishable, the core essence of podcasting-rich storytelling and human connection-is hanging in the balance.

The consequences of such rapid technological development create an impact that touches upon the listeners, creators, advertisers, and even the integrity of the whole podcasting ecosystem in terms of the authenticity of content and audience trust.

According to Listen Notes, AI tools such as Notebook LM are bound to lead to an increase in the number of fake podcasts, continuously denting the trust of listeners in the authenticity of such content and making it hard for creators to reach out to their audience. Until recently, Listen Notes had implemented an AI podcast detection tool that removed over 500 fake shows on a single weekend. This report considers responsible use of AI and transparency by developers regarding the need to preserve authenticity of the content for audience trust in podcasts.

The Key Points:

• Assess the extent of proliferation of AI-generated podcasts on major platforms.

• Understand the state of current AI detection tools in the podcast industry.

• The impact on ad revenue for legitimate podcasters as a result

• Listener engagement against AI-generated vs human-created podcasts

• Potential regulation to control AI-generated content in podcasting

Our Analogy: Picture a town filled with restaurants, owned and operated by different families, each serving something unique: a chef's specialty dish, maybe, or a warm and inviting ambiance or at least a friendly host who remembers your name. Then some company comes along and invents a machine that will crank out generic restaurants with AI-generated menus and robot servers. Then these faux restaurants begin to pop up everywhere like dandelions, making it all the more difficult to find genuine, empathetic restaurateurs-that is to say, people who put their heart and soul into the position.

Our Take: As producers of podcasts, we are really concerned with the proliferation of AI-generated content within our industry. Although AI may support human podcasters in doing work more productively, a wave of low-quality, automated podcasts risks drowning out authentic voices and degrading the quality of the entire medium.

This could eventually lead to erosion in listeners' trust and engagement, making it hard for real creators to grow and maintain their listenership base. Meanwhile, we see this as an opportunity to lean into the things that make human-created podcasts unique: authentic storytelling, honest emotion, and connecting with listeners on real levels. Emphasizing these singularly human elements lets us further differentiate our content from AI-generated content and reinforces the intrinsic value of our craft in the podcasting world.

🗞️ TL;DR - PODCAST NEWS

• Emmy Award-Winning Doctor's Podcast Reveals Link Between Gut Health and Cognitive Wellness. Dr. Partha Nandi and Kali Nandi, RN, have just released their new weekly podcast, "Heal Your Gut, Save Your Brain," which examines the critical link between gut health and brain function while giving listeners practical things they can do to boost cognitive health and prevent neurodegenerative diseases.

• Ari Marin Hosts New Season of 'In Good Companies' Exploring Tomorrow's Business Trends. This fall, the popular Cadence Bank podcast, "In Good Companies," is entering its sixth season, on October 15, with host Ari Marin. The "Future of Business" season puts a spotlight on emerging trends, AI, entrepreneurship, and ESG investing, offering the insights mid-sized businesses need to meet the future head-on and stay competitive in the changing landscape.

• Wondery Announces 'The Best Idea Yet': A New Podcast Exploring Cult Product Origin. Wondery has partnered with Jack Crivici-Kramer and Nick Martell, hosts of "The Best One Yet," to launch a new weekly podcast called "The Best Idea Yet," which will explore the unknown stories behind popular cult products while providing business insights, debuting on October 8th for Wondery+ subscribers and October 15th across all podcast platforms.

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Family Podcasts: The Untapped Goldmine for Advertisers in 2024

Kids & Family podcasts are attracting everyone's favorite household brands and tech companies alike with their unique blend of an engaged audience and lucrative demographics. This Summer, 2024, the 'Family Podcasts Listener Study' highlights a trend in intimate co-listening environments in cars where children and parents tune into shows together. This gives brands access to wealthy households in a trusted environment, free of distractions, and forms a relationship with the listeners.

As such, a survey of 700 Kids & Family podcast listeners this Summer 2024 in the 'Family Podcasts Listener Study' indicated co-listening, particularly in cars, to be one of the defining traits of how podcasts are being consumed. The study further established that 45% of those who listened were from households that had more than $100,000, proving an important market for valuable advertisers.

The Key points:

• The methodology and sample size of the 'Family Podcasts Listener Study'

• Determine the specific percent of listeners whose household income is over $100,000

• Examine what podcast listeners report they usually use to discover new podcasts according to the study

• Examine the frequency and time length families spend listening to podcasts in cars

• Compare the level of car-based listeners' engagement to that of other listening environments

Our Analog: Kids & Family podcasts, provides a safe haven and consistent environment where advertisers can reach out to families, while allowing great intimacy with their targeted customer segment. These podcasts feature friendly storytellers who entertain the family while exposing them to helpful products and services. These are great tools that introduce an advertiser to their targeted audience.

Our View: It is our view that podcast creators should capitalize on the oncoming co-listening in cars by developing engaging, family-friendly content that kids and adults alike will find nothing short of phenomenal, meeting their full potential. This involves developing innovative ad formats integrating seamlessly with the content to ring home with the upscale audience without disrupting the listening experience. The topnotch quality of the content and building up strong listener relationships would ensure the stickiness of the prevailing listeners, in addition to giving a fillip to word-of-mouth referrals, ensuring further listener growth, and attracting more and varied advertisers in this domain of Kids & Family podcasts.

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• Niche Targeting and Creator Integrations Drive Podcast Ad Trends. Brand building, niche targeting, and deeper integrations with podcast creators across multiple channels are changing podcast advertising beyond performance marketing.

• Long-Form Podcasts Thrive Despite Short-Form Content Trend, Study Shows. Listeners, advertisers, and creators prefer long-form podcasts over short-form content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram because they offer deeper connections, better monetization, and a break from "micro-content overload" of modern media.

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• October 23  - Think Like A Podcast Advertiser - What You Need To Know (virtual)

• October 18- 20 : Afros & Audio Podcast Festival - Baltimore, MD

• January 16 -18 : Podfest Expo - Orlando, USA

• January 14 - 15th : Brand Podcast Summit - Virtual

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Wondercraft Integrates OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode in New 'Director Mode' Feature. Wondercraft's 'Director Mode' integrates OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode and sets a new standard for audio production creative control by letting users control AI voices with natural language commands.

NotebookLM's New Audio Overviews Feature: AI-Powered Podcasts from Text. While Google's NotebookLM has only very recently introduced the use of AI in the form of a new feature called "Audio Overviews," which turns written content into engaging podcast-style conversations, offering a more novel way to consume complex information, there are many advantages and limitations it presents in its current form.

AI Audio Marketing Breakthrough: Claritas and AudioStack Announce Strategic Partnership. In this strategic partnership, Claritas joins its data-driven marketing acumen with AudioStack's AI audio production to cause a dramatic shift in the audio marketing landscape: increased audience targeting, creative optimization, and personalization of delivered content.

Acast and Initium Media Collaborate to Boost Chinese-Language Podcast Monetization. It has joined hands with Initium Media, a leading digital media outlet for global Chinese-speaking communities, in an effort to further expand its move into the podcast markets of China-speaking hubs and to unlock new monetization opportunities for Chinese-language podcasts.

• 📢 Zencastr is an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how.

• 🎙️Rode - is an Australian-based audio technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of microphones, headphones, audio interfaces, and audio software.

• 🎧 Epidemic Sound - is a company that provides content producers with access to a sizable library of royalty-free music.

• 📼 Tubebuddy - is a complete tool for YouTube channel management and growth.

• 🪀 Swell AI turns podcasts or videos into transcripts, clips, show notes, articles, summaries, titles, newsletters, social posts, and more.

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