Last week we released the 16th edition of the Podcast Download, a joint project between Westwood One / Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights. We conduct this survey twice a year, in the spring and the fall. One powerful aspect of this cadence is the ability to track the development of trends in something closer […]
3 Major Trends Driving Change in Podcasting, and How To Manage Them Read More »
Most of us in the podcast industry are very focused on content, for good and obvious reasons. That’s the beating heart of podcasting. But a content-centric mindset can actually be a barrier to audience development. While it’s true that audiences pick shows based upon the content, the factors driving this choice are much more complex
How to Use Audience Data to Grow Your Podcast or Network Read More »
For podcasting, smart TVs are delivering on the lost promise of smart speakers. Essentially, that promise was a simple, inexpensive appliance that would let people listen to podcasts throughout their home, without being tethered to a smartphone, headphones, or computer. But, today, we’ve seen the smart TV eclipse the smart speaker for podcast consumption in
Prime Time is Podcast Time: Smart TVs and Podcasts in the UK Read More »
What does it mean to be a “hit” podcast? And is this even a useful concept? To dig into this, we’re going to attempt to rightsize our perspective of podcast audience sizes. But first, a question about the one podcast that very likely qualifies as a “hit.” Think about the podcast that has for years
Redefining what’s a “hit” podcast. But does it even matter? Read More »
“Vanity metrics are dead.” I don’t think anyone would be surprised if I said this was heard on stage at a podcasting event. But in this case these words came out of the mouth of Sara Badler, Chief Advertising Officer, North America for The Guardian, at Branded Content Days NYC 2026. The event brought together
SIGNAL HILL INSIGHTS ANNOUNCES AUDIO ON THE MOVE, CANADA’S FIRST HOLISTIC SHARE-OF-AUDIO RESEARCH STUDY TORONTO, Canada – April 15, 2026 – Signal Hill Insights, Canada’s leading audio-focused market research company, announces Audio on the Move, the nation’s first holistic study providing the growing audio industry a comprehensive view of how and when Canadians are listening.
SIGNAL HILL INSIGHTS ANNOUNCES AUDIO ON THE MOVE Read More »
The Signal Hill Insights team runs brand lift studies on a lot of ad campaigns – more and more every year. And, to be frank, not every one drives the lifts that the advertiser – and publisher – were looking for. On the one hand, you might say that’s the law of averages at work.
How Brand Lift Helps You Correct Four Under-performing Campaign Metrics Read More »
For the first time, Podcast Movement Evolutions landed alongside SXSW in Austin—an alignment that felt less like a scheduling coincidence and more like a signal (pun intended) of where the industry is headed. Our CEO, Paul Riismandel, and VP of Research, Matt Hird, were on the ground across all three days, tracking the conversations that
Podcasting’s Evolution Takes On SXSW: Six Takeaways from Podcast Movement Evolutions Read More »
After a brief period in which “video podcasts versus audio podcasts” was not the main news story in the podcast industry space, Apple has reinvigorated the discussion by introducing a new method for viewing video podcasts. The HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) method certainly sounds like an improvement over previous methods of watching video in Apple
Apple’s Video Podcast Impact: What the Audience Data Says Read More »
It’s table stakes to measure the outcome of an ad campaign. How did it shift awareness and perception of a brand? What actions, like a click or purchase, did it drive? But how do we isolate a campaign’s outcomes, with confidence? No attribution signal or metric is ever 100% deterministic. That is, while we can
Brand Lift Is the Incrementality Measure Brands Are Looking For Read More »