539. Spotify Changes Podcast Analytics Again | Podcast News

0:05 Marc Ronick: Good morning, Today is Wednesday, june 17, 2026 and today Spotify's new analytics overhaul video podcasting's continued rise, and surprising new ad trends leave your news and comment episode as we dig into what matters most for podcasters. So, if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, top right-hand side of the screen, and share it however Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast, YouTube, etc. please share this episode with a fellow seconds, we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. The podcasting morning chat is powered by Ironick Media, helping podcasters launch, polish, and grow great shows, and by Content Creators Accountant, helping creators build real business behind their Podcasting morning show. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host, Mark Ronick.

1:27 Currently on stage with me, my co-hosts, we have Ralphie Step, DR. Fay, Sid Meadows, Alex Baelish, and BC Babbles. I think I got everybody. I'm so, so I'm still remotely broadcasting, streaming, whatever you want to call it, from my parents' house in Maryland, and I am not used to having the smaller laptop multiple places, multiple So I hope I didn't forget anybody. And shout out to Tide and Janae, who have also joined us already here on stage, and also, hello to Tim and Jessica in the clubhouse audience, already here joining us bright and early this morning. So, yes, yes, go ahead.

2:10 DR, DR: are you in your childhood home? Are there like posters of Farrah Fawcett all over the walls? And yeah, Marc Ronick: if you go to Farrah Fawcett, wow, if you check us out on the live stream at Podcasting Morning show.com/join us, or if you're watching later. Yeah, I am not. This clearly my, you know, my parents' guest room. I feel like you can kind of tell it's a guest room, and you can see all my stuff behind me, all my travel gear, and DR: Blow the dust off of those while you're there. Marc Ronick: Yeah, they left out years ago now. So, yeah, I have a lot of pictures from that, including my with stickers, and mostly anybody remembers Star DR: Wars stuff, Marc Ronick: lots of Star Wars stuff. Yes, yeah, back in the day had the Michael Jackson posters, and maybe not fair faucet, but definitely some people around that era, for sure.

3:14 I think Christina Applegate was one of my favorite posters. DR: Oh, there you go. Marc Ronick: Yes, yes. Anyway, we will get into the news, and I did. It feels a little was going to talk a little bit my experience at Camp Footprint over the past week plus, which was why I was absent from the And again, very big thank you to Ralph for leading the charge, and to all of you for showing up here each day, supporting Ralph, and ultimately supporting me and this community. So, thank you all for keeping this thing going. But yeah, so I was at Camp Footprint, and I was trying to decide what's the best way for me to share, and I think the best way I'm going to do this, I don't read from a lot of scripts the show. And since I posted about it yesterday, I figure not follows me on social, so I'll yesterday. And all right, let me see, where should I start? All right, I'm going to skip the So, Camp Footprint is a camp for kids living with Charcot-Marie tooth disease, which is also known as CMT.

4:31 It's a disease that can affect their mobility, strength, balance, their confidence, and that most people never have to if you're curious, the way it your brain and your nerves, your Because your brain is sending signals, your nerves are like wires, if you think about a computer, right, it's sending all sorts of. Signals from your brain to all sorts of areas of your body, and one of those areas being connected to your muscles and your extremities, etc. and they're their nerve endings kind of deteriorate over time.

5:16 DR: Is it a cousin to MS? Marc Ronick: No, it's kind of a cousin, it used to be a cousin to muscular dystrophy. DR: Okay, Marc Ronick: but now it's clearly two different types of diseases, because this is specifically a neurological disease, and those nerve endings simplifying, but they basically wear out, and the people affected loses feeling and mobility in their extremities, particularly wrists and fingers and hands and ankles, feet, DR: and I want to remind the same. Is it called the disease? Is it a disease or a syndrome? Okay, this is also the same disease that Alan Jackson has. Marc Ronick: Yes, correct, correct. So some of these kids come into camp carrying a lot, clearly, and what I saw: insecurities, frustrations, discouragement, and that feeling of why me?

6:15 And honestly, who can blame them? But then, when they come to camp footprint, something really special happens. They find themselves surrounded by other kids and adults. Many of the adults there also have CMT, so all of them really get it. There's a staff who creates space where they don't have to explain themselves, shrink themselves, or apologize for who they are, they get to be kids, they laugh, they dance, they sing, they make friends, they play, they take chances, you know, this is a camp that's built for abled kids, right, so there are things like zip lines and rock wall climbing, et cetera, and so many of these kids attempt these things for the first time in their lives.

7:04 A lot of their.. I'm going off script here. A lot of the parents also tend to think, make these assumptions and in a lot of cases they're probably right, but they don't give these, a lot of these kids, the opportunity to try, because they just assume, oh, the disease isn't going to allow you camp, they get this encouraged to try these things, among other responsibilities. I also got to play the role as the camp's candy man. Actually, I'll get into that in a second, but these kids, they realize that they're not alone when they come to this camp, and maybe most importantly, they start to see what everyone around them already sees, that they are some of the most resilient, capable, powerful young people on the planet, they definitely helped me recognize that a lot of the challenges that I have, if they can get through their challenges, there's no reason why I can't get through mine.

8:13 And, like I said, I got to play this, among a lot of other responsibilities, this role of Candy Man. At least once a day, I drive around the camp in a golf cart, and the back of the cart had a big utility section, so I would just load up these bins of candy, different types of candy, and drive around, stopping much like the ice cream man stopping at the different just pull up, and it was so the kids at their activity, and I'd see they're all looking at me, you know, I'm wearing my looking at me, and most of them, and four, they know what I'm anything, they just kind of out, and I just yell, Who wants some candy, and they all come flooding over and cheering, and it's just such a warm, wonderful feeling going through that experience, but the real gift was watching these campers be reminded of what's still possible for them, going their experiences at Camp So, a huge shout out, huge love to the campers, the counselors, the staff, and to my best friend Jonah, who many of you have met here on the show. He's joined us before, he joined into making this place what it is, and it's so special for me to get to watch it. I'm also, I'm already feeling

9:45 a little choked up here, and because every time I watched him do his thing, I got choked up, because we grew up together. We grew up in a camp together, an able-bodied camp, and his father ran. That camp, and watching him and on top of that, leading a the same disease as he does. having a hard time spitting out the words, but it was a truly special, really special magical place, and a magical experience that I am so grateful for. And I will share, I'm going back. They do it twice a summer, and last year I did it in August on the East Coast.

10:35 This year I did it in June, obviously here, and I did it on the West Coast, that was in outside of Portland, Oregon. First time there. What an amazing, beautiful place that is. But in August, I'm going back. It's outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, going for the week, actually, of my birthday, the week of august 7, august 8, something like that, leads into a weekend, and then that following week. So more to come on that. But thank you for allowing me to share. Happy to answer any questions. If anybody has any questions, let me open up near my clubhouse to make sure. Did anyone have any questions? Okay. Well, yeah, so that was my experience. If you're interested in supporting Camp Footprint and these amazing kids, just go to CMTA use CMTA usa.org or just Google CMTA, you'll find it. You'll find all different ways you can support that organization, and some of those donations do, in fact, go toward Camp Footprint.

11:36 The camp had about, just in case you want some context, had about 80 plus kids, 40 plus counselors. Every two to three kids has a specific counselor assigned to them to really support them and their needs, etc. Mentally and physically. Ralph Estep Jr.: Marc, I just want to throw something in there, dude. It sounds like that camp, the impact on the kids, it was, it was more of an impact on you. So, great work, dude. I really commend you for doing That's amazing. Marc Ronick: Thank you, thank you. And yeah, it had a huge impact on me both last year and this year. And yeah, although I will say I think it impacts them a heck of a lot more, and it feels selfish, you know.

12:17 A lot of people commend me, thank me for doing this work and putting some good into the world, and I'm not discounting that. I recognize that this is putting good into the world, and it's making a difference to a lot of kids. But selfishly, I get so much out of this, both the rewarding part of helping these kids, but it also brings me back to being a kid. I went, like I said, I went to camp. I went to camp, sleep away camp a little later in my life as a kid than most kids do. I went, I think I was 1314, years old, but still getting to go there, be a counselor, be a kid again. Selfishly, I get a ton out of it, and sometimes I feel guilty when people are saying, hey, great job, thanks for doing what you do, because I'm secretly getting so much out of the experience being able to be a kid again. Okay, so with that, man, I don't even know. Let me see if I have the right button here. Yes, nice. so let's dive in.

13:23 I'm waiting for the music to finish up, because it's really loud. That's the old music, too, I think. So, I may have you, Ralph, on the queue here to play the right music moving forward. I Ralph Estep Jr.: can do that, my friend. I'm ready to go when you are Marc Ronick: right, right on. So, thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about Camp Footprint. Now, as we do here on the show, we get into some statistics to kick things off. This is some podcast data for like to share about the active Business Podcast Business explaining it. They say a helpful number to understand is the amount of podcasts that are being created. It's that total number of quote unquote active podcasts. These are podcasts that are still being updated and themselves. So, if you're making podcast episodes, you might consider the numbers I'm going to share with you to be your competition, rather than that big overall number that we often hear of 4.6 million podcasts that are exist out there today. So, the total podcast episodes posted recently, by the way, I've been reporting on updated podcasts lately. When I do this, I'm specifically now talking about podcast episodes that have been published recently. Okay, so over the last week,

14:54 539,249 episodes were published, and that's down four point. 6% from the previous week, and then if we want to zoom out a little bit, over the last 30 days, 2.2 million plus episodes were published, which is down almost 6% from the previous month, and it looks like summer is upon us based on how those numbers have dropped pretty considerably, as I said, almost 6% over the past month. Speaking of which, the contribute to those summer Pay attention, because as of next week, I've decided that we're going to move to our new summer schedule.

15:40 We did this last year, and it worked fine for us. I'm adjusting it, though, because last year we did it. I think it was Tuesday through Friday. This year we're going to do it every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday all summer long, and again, that's of next week. Technically, somewhat, it kind were off this past Monday for a travel day for yours truly, and this Friday we're taking off to recognize National Holiday, Juneteenth. So, it's kind of happening naturally this way, but as of next week, officially it's a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule, and I'll remind you of that tomorrow as well. Also, I wanted to share one more stat before Dr. gets into the top fives that we always do. Pod News was reporting today on Triton Digital's fourth annual Canadian Podcast Report, and the big headline is that podcasts in Canada are reaching more people than ever, and I know we have a pretty strong Canada base here.

16:48 to share. Monthly podcast listening jumped to 46% of Canadians, which Triton says is the biggest single year increase they've seen among English-speaking Canadians, that number climbs to 49% Also, in other statistics, here along these lines, YouTube is now the most used podcast platform in that country, while Apple Podcast remains the top RSS-based app, pulling in 49% of accounts for about 3% putting it in perspective for you. And here's where it gets interesting for creators.

17:29 The report breaks down platform, with Apple Podcast to earn over $100,000 a year Canadians are also listening to more shows overall, averaging 4.1 podcasts in 2025 compared to podcasting in Canada is growing, it's getting more platform specific, more competitive, and a lot more interesting for creators trying to figure out where their audience actually lives. All right, DR. Let's get into your top fives for this week. DR: Number five is Ill Advised by Bill Nye. This is not Bill Nye, the science guy. I already researched it.

18:21 It's not him. Marc Ronick: Interesting, somebody would have that name too. I know DR: it's spelled differently, spelled differently. Okay. Number four is astral. Okay, hold on. Astro Loti, Astroloti with Azale Eliza Kelly and horoscopes and astrology, don't ask me to repeat that. Words are hard the morning, I got thing I hate words in the morning. Jingle: Words are hard in the morning. Did I say that out loud? DR: Okay. Number three is Betwixt the Sheets, a history of sex, scandal, and society. I gotta write that down for later.

19:02 Number two is call me back. Marc Ronick: Number DR: two is call me back with Don Sensor, and number one is On Being with Krista Tibbett. Marc Ronick: Thank you, DR. And what's your other top five? DR: The other top five list is science, because you know I mentioned Bill Nye, the science guy. Marc Ronick: Where is the science list coming from? DR: Spotify. So, number five is Astrom Space, number four is Radiolab. We all know that one.

19:42 Ally Ward number two is Hidden podcast is Science Versus. Marc Ronick: Thank you, DR. There are your top fives, and I believe.. wait, let me look. Oh, I gotta do.. Ralph, we hit the news music just for a little. events, and then we'll get into the content creators business bite. So, first, as many of you know, Empowered Podcasting three is coming back in 2026 and don't because I got something to share with you specifically about this, and if you're an indie podcaster, creator, coach, or an entrepreneur who wants more than another full room of surface level panels and awkward networking, this is the one to watch. EPC is built around real community, and in fact, built here at the Podcasting Morning It's also built on practical growth and honest conversations about how creators can build shows, brands, and businesses that actually move the needle.

20:55 The weekend's designed to help podcasters connect with the right people, sharpen their strategy and walk away with the ideas they can actually use, not just a tote bag full of stickers and good intention. And what I wanted to share with you is, I want you to stay tuned to the podcasting morning show, because soon we're going to be sharing details on the new Empowered Podcasting Affiliate Program, and let's, let's just say that this ain't your typical 5% 10% commission offer. And if you're really curious to know more, because I can't quite say yet, I was hoping it'd be ready this morning, but it'll probably be ready this afternoon. If you're really curious about this, send an email to Empowered Podcasting conference@gmail.com I know that's a long a mark. Yeah, Alex: Mark, I heard there's a rumor that one of the prizes for this is you get to take over some of Dr. AppSumo fees for a month.

21:58 Marc Ronick: Wow, Alex: so that's just what I DR: sees, oh yeah, it Alex: can't. It has to exceed at least $100,000 so you go spend $100,000 when you win this prize. But we just wanted to throw that out there, because they know the listeners, especially the indie listeners, are really looking forward to that. Marc Ronick: Thank you, Alex Appreciate that little comment on DR: my, on my addiction. Marc Ronick: Yes, but you know, in case for some reason you don't know an affiliate program, is, is that if you help us sell tickets to the event, you're going to earn a commission for So, and I know that we're going to be talking about this here in just a second, ways to monetize for a content creator. I know that as podcasters we're always looking for ways to add revenue streams, and I think this could be a really big opportunity for a lot of podcasters. So again, if you're interested in more information on this Empowered Podcasting conference@gmail.com or stay tuned to the Podcasting Morning Show. I should be able to give you a lot more details tomorrow, so stay tuned on that.

23:11 And by the way, if you want to Conference tickets, just go to other events, Pod Summit returns the Grand in Calgary. Figured I had to share some kind of Canadian event after speaking about how popular podcasting has become there. And this is for the next chapter of Canada's podcasting event. It's built on community and driven by the craft of audio and video storytelling, Pod Summit brings together Canada's leading voices and emerging creators for two days of conversation, learning, and collaboration. For more info, go to Pod summit.com Also, we haven't really talked a lot about this yet, but one of the biggest events of the year is Podcast Movement 2026 biggest because I'm referring to the size of the event, and they're bringing together creators, producers, networks, platforms, and podcast pros for two days, focusing on sharpening your connecting with broader coordinators say it's designed seriously, whether they're audio already building something So, for more information on podcast movement, go to 2026 dot podcast movement.com and Ralph hit the jingle.

24:45 Quick tip, smart move. Content creators business bite. Today's content creators business bite is brought to you by, yep, that guy Ralph E. Estep Jr. of content. Creators accountant.com Ralph is over 30 years of experience helping creators navigate taxes, bookkeeping, and the money side of their business with more clarity and a whole lot less stress. He's also my accountant, and I'm happy to recommend Ralph. You can learn more at Content Creators accountant.com with that, Ralph. What are we diving into today? Ralph Estep Jr.: Well, good Let me ask you something. You're already doing the hard work of building an audience, you're spending hours on your content, you're editing, you're showing up consistently, but if the sponsorship deals aren't flowing yet and the ad revenue feels more like a trickle than a use a side career to fund your Now, this is going to be a I found this article from five flexible online side momentum in 2026 And here's the best part for content creators: most of them are skills you build really quickly, and the Americans already run a side considering it turning it into They're doing what's called side stacking, and basically what that means is they're diversifying their income, and

26:15 it's becoming their new financial baseline. So, let's take a look at exactly what's working and how creators can plug in. Because when I talked to Mark yesterday about this idea, what I'm noticing as I'm working with content creators is it's hard at first. You're having a hard time that ad revenue. So this is a way to subsidize that while you're building it. The first one, number one, number one side career is a virtual assistants. The VA market is a multi billion dollar industry, and it's been growing 25% a year. The workforce is projected to hit 8.4 million, that's with an M in 2028 Here's the best part: people are making anywhere from 13 to 16 $67 an hour, depending upon your skill level.

26:59 Do the math, that's 32 to $36,000 a year. So, here's my creator angle. You already know the tools, Notion, Google Workspace, scheduling apps, social media. You could do this 510, hours a week and scale around your content schedule income on your terms. Here's number two, another great idea: print on demand. Now, you, you already do this. You create stuff, you design stuff, you upload it, and handles the manufacturing, the This industry is projected to hit 57 point 5 billion with a B by 2033 Average monthly earnings, ready for this one, $4,965 Top performers are making over $10,000 a month.

27:43 The profit margin here, 20 to 40% purely passive income after your initial upload. And think about this: as a content creator, your audience already trusts your brand. A t-shirt, a mug, a notebook tied to your show is a natural extension, and it runs while you sleep. That's the best part. Here's number three: freelance translation. This one was one I hadn't thought about. Despite some great AI tools, businesses still rely on human linguistics for accuracy and cultural nuance. The highest demand right now, if you speak one of these languages, you are in the driver's speed. Japanese, Mandarin, or German. Unfortunately, I don't speak any translation income between 24 And if you are in the legal or anywhere from 63 to $106 an So, if you're multilingual, this skill pays you twice.

28:37 Freelance income now, and global audience reach later. Let's look at number four: selling digital products. Package your specialized knowledge into ebooks or templates, online courses, toolkit. Actually, met with a book editor yesterday. I'm going to be launching my fourth book. I'm doing exactly this. This works in areas of fitness, personal finance, if you like to cook, maybe you're good with skin care business, any niche, and you don't need a massive following to do this. Your sales could be driven through targeted search, email marketing, and tight-knit communities. Top creator quarterly earnings, here, ready for this 150? $4,000 a quarter. Full-time digital entrepreneurs are making between 53 and $90,000 a year.

29:20 Here's the best part: you're already creating content. A digital product is just that content packaged in a way people will pay for directly. Here's number five. I know I'm a little long today, but these are really good ones. Number five is evergreen background video. Now, when I first read this, I'm like, what in the world is evergreen background video? Here's what it is: it's that long form ambient content, you know, when you see a fireplace loop or rain sounds, lo-fi music, white noise. Platforms like YouTube and Spotify are loving this. Best part is, you record it once, upload it once, and it earns for years. Listen to this one: Fireplace video generated $1.2 million in income. The top lo-fi creators over $30,000 a month, and the best part, we already understand audio quality. This is a low effort add to your Here's what I want you to hear from this: your podcast or your content brand doesn't have to pay all your bills right now for it to be worth building. These five side careers: virtual assistants, print on demand, freelance translation, digital products, and ambient videos are all flexible.

30:27 They work around your content schedule, and they have the potential to do something They have the potential to buy you time. So take time to keep showing up, time to keep building your audience, and time to let the long game play, the long game, play out. You don't have to choose between your dream and your income, you just have to get smart about how you fund both. And I'm Ralph Eastep, and that's my business bite for this Marc Ronick: Thank you, Ralph, I And I have lots of thoughts here and questions for the room, but before I do, I think, BC did you have something I saw in the chat you wanted to say something. Yeah, I actually recently digital products, on which can page. It's for real estate agents who want some great modern luxury templates, pre-made for their social media, pushing their inventory for any of their properties. So, and here's the thing, that my thoughts on digital products.

31:22 If you're on TikTok a lot, you'll see a lot of people pushing courses for digital product development and whatnot. And as good as those look, I want to just let people know you don't have to go through a course to develop those things, like if, like Ralph said, if you're doing these things already, especially as content creators, you have Don't look for a course that costs like 500 bucks just to get in, and who knows how much more to get the accelerated courses or the more exclusive classes to really hammer out the specifics. Like, try it out yourself. You likely have all you need in your skill set, so don't be fooled by all those courses on TikTok. Yeah, and digital products feels progressions for a podcaster, shared, right, because we can can promote it on our Substacks, newsletters, et cetera, so like that feels like to me the easiest way to jump into those a better term, Ralph Estep Jr.: and Marc, I think the problem is a lot of people don't think about that, and as a content creator, that's the thing you need to do, you need to change your mindset and start thinking about what are some creative ways that I can start to bring some revenue dollars in, so do you can support this career that you're trying to build?

32:42 I think that's the key takeaway for me. Marc Ronick: Yeah, so one here is, would you rather make or use your podcast as a income streams, much like what I I'm curious, what everybody thinks about that. Anyone want to share? Ralph Estep Jr.: I'll jump in there and say one thing, Marc. As we're getting more people to comment, is I think you can do both, but I think that, and this I'm a believer that most people show is a marketing arm of a product or service they're selling. I think that is the way to be I think there is a place sometimes for a show that just appeals to an audience, but I think that's really the race for the bottom of CPM. And guess what, with this amp change, where they're saying a play is now 30 seconds, that bottom is going to get even deeper, because the number of plays is going to skyrocket. I think we're going to talk about Spotify doing that later in the show today.

33:44 I think that's going to be a race for the bottom. So, I think it makes the most sense to build your brand and use your content as a way to generate people having interest in you. That's my take. Marc Ronick: Thank you, Ralph. in the chat on Clubhouse is her answer to my question. Would you rather make money directly from your podcast or use your podcast as that visibility engine for other income streams? Yvonne says both. So, and I invited her up on stage if she wants to elaborate on that, because I'd love to hear more on that. BC, you had something else. Yeah, I agree with Ralph there. about on my end of the creator today's market is so much lot of companies, just outside reevaluate their systems and trust before pushing any kind of conversions, and so the same creators, a lot of, especially you're using podcasting as a going to be based on your with your audience first, and probably not going to see a Of conversions at all, and you might yourself at some point going bankrupt, so, or what's where, yeah, bankrupt, but yeah, I think it's definitely going to be something all forms of business in the future, if not already, need to lean

35:15 on to ensure any kind of positive future revenue. Yep. Thank you, BC. And I see Tide in the chat, says me personally, I use my podcast for visibility to my programs, but eventually I know that sponsorship will come. Cindy Harrison says I'm in the camp of podcasts, are a visit our visibility engines for businesses, but there's value in both, and Yvonne has joined us on stage, and I know Yvonne also said both to that question. Yvonne, you want to elaborate? And good morning to you. Yvonne: Yeah, I mean, I started off my podcast as a passion project, and as time has gone how to, how to monetize around have a membership community, so that's small, and we at this point, and I'm also taking my how big do I want that to grow?

36:14 Even I mean, the latest thing I'm offering is a play shop, which I feel great about. I'm very excited to see where that goes, and in the meantime, you know, I've had some people approach me for, you know, a brand deal here or there, and I'm really picky. I have, because it's that trust factor that BC was talking about. If I'm gonna have somebody be a sponsor on my podcast, it has to be a product I really believe and if it doesn't fit that, then stuff. Yeah, so that's where I'm at with it. Marc Ronick: Awesome, thank you for that explanation. I appreciate that.

36:55 And I feel like there was somebody else who wanted to chime in. Oh, I wanted to ask Junaid. I saw Junaid in the chat, says I use my podcast for a totally different reason, and then he said his answer was, but both. But so, Junaid, do you want to share with you? What's the different reason? Junaid: Slowly, so I've been using my podcast. First of all, good morning, everyone. Really awesome conversation. I've been using my podcast for something that nobody's hardly actively think about it, and that's to build relationship with the people, because there's no other place that you spend one hour uninterrupted time with somebody else learning their story. This is the start of a relationship, so I'm looking at it as relationship builder, and it's been absolutely amazing.

37:40 Marc Ronick: I love that, and I agree. Yvonne: Sorry to interrupt, but I'm 100% with you, Junaid. That's that's been the number is the relationships I've made that have come of it. Sorry, Marc Ronick: by the way, no, don't, please don't apologize. By the way, Junaid also has a podcasters called Pod Glue, and if you want to learn more about Pod Glue, he created this it an operating system for learn more about it, pay Eastern, if you go to Podcasting Junaid is joining me, Jason executive team of the Empowered Podcasting Conference, joining us for our now weekly afternoon live stream on Wednesdays at 1pm We're going to hear all about it.

38:44 If you are feeling overwhelmed managing your podcast, Junaid has an amazing tool to help you with that, and at the same time build those deep relationships that he's talking about for his podcast. This is a way to do it for yours Marc, you're welcome. Podcasting Morning show.com/epc Live. Ralph Estep Jr.: Hey, Marc, Sid had a comment. Also, don't forget about Sid. Marc Ronick: Thank you. All right, let's go to Sid. Before we take jump into the rest of the news, go ahead, Sid. Sid Meadows: Well, good morning everybody. Marc Ronick: Morning. Sid Meadows: I actually wanted I could jump the line. Marc Ronick: Sure, sure.

39:28 Sid Meadows: So you know I'm in the camp of both, right on that conversation, but I'm gonna just There's a podcaster in our, in my industry that I had met a year ago, been listening to her show, and I honestly stopped listening to her. No, the reason I stopped listening to her show is because I felt like I was listening to a stop talking about all the things, all the services she offers this event and. Ad event, and I'm like, why am I listening to a 45 minute ad? So I just say that as you're thinking about promoting on your show or using your show as a promotion tool, just be cautious about not doing it too much and turning the episode into a full fledged commercial, because that will drive people away.

40:15 And then the other thing that I wanted to say was, if it weren't for the relationships that my podcast has created for me, I'm not sure how successful my business would actually be, because it's really brought in a lot of amazing people into my ecosystem, into my network. You can build really strong virtual, and sometimes not in me, not even knowing you can build a really strong relationship with your listeners for them, providing answers to that nature. So, thanks for letting me share, Marc. Marc Ronick: Yeah, thank you. And I'm glad that Ralph called that out. Then we did get to you. Thank you. I think those are both important points.

40:55 Ralph Estep Jr.: And Marc, I just said. I think what Sid talks about is the disconnect. The disconnect is people don't want to get sold something, they want you to help them find a solution. So, if you can provide solutions to your audience, figure out the pain points, that is not selling them a product, that is selling them a solution or providing a solution. But when you go into it with the idea of who is my audience, what are their pain points, and what expert skill or what service or product do I offer to solve that problem for them? You're not selling them something, you're giving them hope, and you're giving them a reason to want to come back and build that relationship. Marc Ronick: Yep. Thank you, Ralph.

41:36 I appreciate that. All right, so, DR. I am going to I'll give you the story number for when you're up, but I am going to skip because I want to make sure we get to some of the headlines that we teased at the top of the show. So I want to share because this is news and community news for that matter. Stampede Social, co-founded by Podcasting Morning Show community member Jeff Dwoskin, who I think is here. I know he was earlier, and I'm not looking at my screen right now. They've announced three new designed to connect Instagram podcast listening and sponsor The platform now lets podcasters create RSS-powered DM campaigns where a listener can comment or message a keyword, such as podcast, and automatically receive the latest Hosts can also assign unique keywords to specific episodes, making it easier to send followers directly to a new release or back catalog episode.

42:49 Stampede social is also introducing host read ad attribution, where listeners can DM a sponsor keyword and receive tied to a specific episode and air date, the company says the tools work with any podcast RSS feed, refresh hourly, and are available now. So, go to Stampede Social, and Jeff has joined us. Let me pull up that URL right now. I want to make, oh, good Jeff, and that's Stampede dot social, and Jeff, do you want to share any more about this? Jeff Dwoskin: Oh, thank you so much, that was very kind of you. Yeah, if you guys, if you want to test it out, you can go to my Instagram, Jeff Towaskin Show, and you can see it. We've been trying to focus on ways to help the podcast community, and we kind of fine-tuned some cool stuff, so leveraging the RSS feed that, hey, we all have hanging around, so why not?

43:49 Why not make it work a little harder for us? So, Marc Ronick: thank you, Jeff. Yeah, so go Stampede dot social, there's many more tools available there for you to help you really automate your social media campaigns and posts, so go check them out. I am a user of Stampede Social. Jeff always is encouraging me to use it, and I appreciate that, because it is a very helpful tool. So go check that out again, Stampede dot social. Congratulations on those Jeff, appreciate you. Jeff Dwoskin: Thank you. Marc Ronick: You're welcome. All right, DR. Let's jump to story number seven. Spotify is rolling out a new standard for podcast plays, and this one's all about cleaning up someone listens to or watches an episode for at least 30 seconds, that's 30 seconds. Spotify says that Threshold helps filter out accidental taps and low intent activity, giving creators a clearer picture of real audience and.

44:59 Engagement now, for the indie and DIY podcasters, this could make your analytics a little more honest and maybe a little more humbling. Spotify is also updating Spotify for creators with new tools that show first-time listeners return returning fans episode performance comparisons, engagement trends, and historical data going all the way back to your first day on the platform. Yeah, and I'll jump in here, DR. And just share. Yeah, because I do use Spotify for creators for this very show. I've started digging into it.

45:40 It's certainly esthetically looks much better now over at Spotify for creators, as far as those analytics are concerned, and they are a little more detailed and make a little more sense now. So I do appreciate that. I think the 32nd play standard is interesting, particularly because I guess that's really a drop, because it used to be 60 seconds, so if someone hits play that then counts as a quote Ralph Estep Jr.: Well, the IAB recently said that it's one YouTube has never said what their belief is. The thing that I think about this whole thing, is if the industry will take this as a standard and say, okay, a play is 30 seconds. Now, you got to understand that download and a play are two As I understand what you're talking about here, I think they intentionally set this for the advertisers, because if somebody has a 32nd pre-roll ad, this is going to mean they're going to at least hear that. I think what it's going to do, honestly, is it's going to make everybody's numbers go up, which is going to cost people ad revenue, because the advertising companies are going to say, yeah, but those numbers are inflated now, that's my opinion, Marc Ronick: yeah, or if the advertisers aren't as hip to these changes, then they may invest more money, and maybe that's not good for them, right, like they're going to, if they see those inflated numbers now, and they get excited about it, and we can charge them more for it, that could hurt in the long run, because it's not real that

47:13 right? That it just means that they listen for 30 seconds, so they may never even hear the advertisements that are playing on that show in the first place, you might get a little bit of money out of them initially, but I think that's the reason that they're involved in this amp group, Marc Ronick: I mean, I think in some ways it could be helpful for the independent, the DIY podcaster, because again the numbers, like Ralph said, we're predicting your download numbers are going to go up, because originally it was 60 seconds on Spotify and Apple, for that matter, and now it's 30 seconds on Spotify, BC, and then we're going to go to Sid.

47:58 BC Babbles: Couple things, so Ralph mentioned. I wonder if a solution would be, and I'm kind of surprised this isn't already happening, because back in the day before, when Spotify creators was Anchor, at that time you could pre-upload and keep your commercial spots in your profile, then add them in for each new episode as you produced it. At least for today, though, I'm surprised that I wonder, and I wonder if the solution would be as you upload a fully produced episode with doesn't, doesn't identify meet, and then say okay of the that's a listen, as opposed to who might have an opening rule of the way than hopping into the meat, that's a term I didn't make it rare today, noun not a verb, noun not a verb, yeah, and let's check in.

49:00 Thank you, BC. Let's check in with Sid. Go ahead, Sid. Sid Meadows: I haven't seen this at it and check it out. But somebody just said something annual furniture show that I attend every year, and I got to see in person six of my eight sponsors, one of them I missed, and one of them wasn't there, but I intentionally made sure that I sought them all out, one of them we just couldn't connect gonna do a post about thanking them, right, and but I asked them, you know, how they thought the show was going, and you know, just wanted.. I think first thing I did was thank them for, you know, self-sponsoring the shows.

49:47 First time I've got to see them in person since the sponsorships, and so I want to And whether I realized it or not, years ago I started building relationships with these people, and that's why I have eight sponsors, because I have a real. Relationship with them, but what I learned in talking to them at Neocon was they didn't ask me about downloads, they didn't ask typical what you might think CPM advertisers want to know, they talked to me about the impact my show and their sponsorship has had on their business and thanked me like one, the my one naysayer, who was not in favor of sponsoring the podcast. I, she stopped me.

50:28 I didn't wreck, I'd never met her. She stopped me. She's a marketing director, and she stopped me in a showroom And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, it's so great to see you. And she said, "Sid, I want you to know that the show is going really well for us. We have gotten multiple leads from sponsoring your show, and another guy tell me that when I was talking to him and thanking him, he goes, 'It's been an unbelievable experience, and you know, we didn't really know what to expect when we went into it, but it's been an unbelievable experience for us, and we are going to do it again next year, so sign us up for next year. And I haven't even started thinking about next year sponsorships, right? And so I say all this to say is that when you provide value, and something Ralph said a few minutes ago, when you know problems, and you know how your content solves their problems, and you attract sponsors that problems, then they take action, happier, and so what I gave them a media asset, right, but I think the key for me is I'm intentionally continuing to people that go beyond being a believe that's one of the things back next year. Marc Ronick: Thank you for sharing that, Sid. And, yeah, as Todd said in the chat, you've really created something unique here, and maybe not, maybe unique isn't the best word, but I'll say special, because I think that what you've done can be replicated

52:01 successfully from with any podcaster, but and I think one important point to mention here is after hearing what Sid has shared, and he's shared this on this show before, is Sid doesn't have a show with 1000s of listeners, he has a few 100 listeners to each episode, and yet he's got these very happy sponsors of his show, and that are telling him that he's made a difference, and that it's made a difference on their business. Go ahead. Sid Meadows: No, thank you for that, Marc. And I'll just put a plug in here to say that if you're really interested in learning about monetization, be sure that you attend EPC three, where I will be on Friday doing a workshop to show you exactly how to create a sponsorship package for you and your podcast based on what I created. Marc Ronick: I love it.

52:53 Go to Empowered podcasting.com so you don't miss Sid's workshop, which I will absolutely be attending. Well, I guess we all will if because those workshops is an of thing. So, yes, go to Empowered podcasting.com Thank you, Sid, for that. And look, gang, we are running out of time, so join us tomorrow, because I believe some of these stories that we have left over for today, we will have a lot to discuss tomorrow, so as of right now, that's my plan, is to bring you a couple of these other as podcasters. So come join us then, and remember you can join us in all sorts of different ways at Podcasting Morning show.com/join us.

53:38 So until tomorrow, make it a great day, everybody. Take care.