Our Top 5 Most Read Posts of the Year

Yes, it’s time to say goodbye 2020. While it has been a miserable year for most sectors, companies that make plexiglass shields and podcasters seem to have done well.

Here are the five most read posts of this year:

Chartapalooza: Why Every podcast chart is so different (9/20)

What is the most popular podcast? Is it Joe Rogan? The Daily? Michelle Obama? And who is the number one podcaster? is it NPR? Or maybe iHeart? The answers depend upon where you look and that can be confusing and maybe even misleading.

5 Things That Derail Podcast Success (7/20)

In our work we have found 5 key things that determine whether a podcast stands a chance of making it out in the cruel world. It starts with having a fresh take and a “high definition” plan.

Why Sonic Identity is Becoming so Important (7/20)

One of our favorite interviews was with Scott Simonelli the founder and CEO of Veritonic which measures the effectiveness of different sounds and ads. What works well? Here’s a clue, “nobody hums the copy.” We run through some of the most successful ads and sounds.

Music finally Meets Podcasts (10/20)

Spotify figured out what record companies could not; how to integrate music into podcasts. Watch out radio.

The host-read ad dominates podcasting, but ad tech is rapidly changing that (9/20)

Host reads are the hallmark of podcast ads, but programmatic insertion, geo-targeting, lift studies, pixels and attribution are all new to the lexicon and it is moving fast. We spoke with Bryan Barletta of Sounds Profitable for a look into how podcast ad-tech is rapidly evolving.

Our favorite cartoon of the year, reminding us of all of the heartwarming ads at the start of the Covid time (4/20):

One last thing: I am proud to report this blog has seen a sharp rise in readership over the past year. Anecdotally, it ends up as part of the podcast conversation shared in Slack channels, forwarded around and quoted. That feels pretty terrific. In addition to my own observations and commentaries I enjoy reaching out to smart people and having conversations that require some thought and perspective. I have included a few here, but there are more at Blogstein. I will continue to do more of this in the new year as the podcast business grows, changes and matures. There is plenty to talk about.

Happy holidays. Here is to 2021 … please.