Australia’s radio industry has launched a national podcast ranker at today’s Radio Alive conference in Brisbane.
The top ten commercial radio podcasts in the first rankings results are:
- Hamish & Andy PodcastOne Australia
- Kate, Tim & Marty Nova Entertainment
- The Rub Triple M SCA
- Whateley SEN / Crocmedia
- SEN Breakfast SEN / Crocmedia
- The Kyle & Jackie O Show Australian Radio Network
- Rush Hour Melbourne Triple M SCA
- The Matty Johns podcast News Corp / Nova Entertainment
- Life and Crimes with Andrew Rule News Corp / Nova Entertainment
- Triple M Rocks Footy NRL Triple M SCA
Rankings will be released monthly, listing Australia’s top 100 most downloaded and listened to podcasts, filtered to exclude bots and duplication (see the technical details below).
The first rankings results do not include the ABC, which will join the system in the next few months.
These podcasts accounted for 10 million downloads in Australia during the four week reporting period.
The ranker has started with a foundation group of podcast publishers including News Corp Australia, PodcastOne Australia, NOVA Entertainment, Southern Cross Austereo, Australian Radio Network, Macquarie Media and SEN/Crocmedia.
The first ranker lists the most popular podcasts across the launch group of publishers that can be both heard in Australia, and into which advertising can be sold in Australia.
A number of additional publishers, including the ABC, will join the ranker in the next couple of months, and all podcast producers with Australian and international content are invited to participate.
IAB Tech Lab-certified global audio technology services provider Triton Digital has been appointed to provide measuring and reporting services for the ranker following an extensive global tender process. The ranker is compliant with IAB Tech Lab’s version 2.0 podcast measurement guidelines and will be independently audited.
CRA Chief Executive Joan Warner told the conference: “We’re excited to work with current and future partners across the podcast sector and with Triton Digital to create a reliable, agreed and regular reporting tool for the podcast industry. One of the main objectives of the Australian Podcast Ranker is to increase awareness for consumers and therefore grow podcast consumption, while also creating a framework and guide to assist advertisers to understand opportunities within the podcasting space.
“This work was initiated by the radio industry because of the significant investment made by radio broadcasters in the podcast space, not only into catch-up radio podcasts but into original content outside of the radio offering.
“Radio is one part of podcasting and now that we are up and running, we extend the invitation to all podcast publishers to join us and help shape this work and grow the sector into the future. As the list of participating publishers expands each month, we are confident the value to advertisers of being able to access a credible, independent ranker will be clear.”
The ranker will develop over time to include specific data on publisher and program performance.
Up until this development, there has been no collective podcast ranking chart published regularly that shows Australian consumption, making it challenging for advertisers to understand performance across publishers and podcasts. The world leading development has cross industry support.
Jo Dick, Head of Partnerships, Outdoor and Audio, Omnicom Media Group and a member of the Podcast Committee, said: “This is a major initiative for podcasting in this country. I fully support this work as I see it as a first step to allowing advertisers to have confidence in an agreed reporting approach around this new area of investment. I look forward to continuing to develop this tool in collaboration with the foundation and new members of the group in the coming months.”
News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman Michael Miller said: “News Corp Australia is pleased to be a foundation partner with Commercial Radio Australia and many fellow podcast publishers in the launch of a consistent and overarching ranker to grow podcasting in this country.
“As one of Australia’s largest podcast producers at the forefront of driving new podcasting content, we understand the importance of taking part in an initiative that will increase consumer awareness and drive more revenue into the space.”
ABC Managing Director David Anderson said: “The ABC has confirmed our future involvement in the industry podcast ranker, which we believe will provide clarity to an industry which is in a period of growth and development. The ABC is a major podcast creator and has been for many years. We believe ABC being included in the ranker will contextualise the space overall and provide good insights for our stakeholders into ABC’s work in this area. We are pleased to work once again with CRA on a project to enhance the audio space.”
Commercial radio broadcasters established the Podcast Committee, including the ABC and SBS, in late 2018 and sought agency involvement and advice, to develop and promote podcasting in Australia.
Last year Warner put national standardised podcast measurement on the agenda at the Radio Alive conference, and this year it has begun.
Chair of the Podcast Committee, Nova’s chief executive officer Cathy O’Connor said: “The Australian Podcast Ranker is the first significant project to be derived from the Podcast Committee and will set the stage for future data driven conversations in the podcasting space.”
John Rosso, president of market development at Triton Digital is “thrilled to have been appointed as the provider of measuring and reporting services for the Australian Podcast Ranker. We have been working closely with CRA and the publishers involved in the group to ensure that the ranker is compliant with IAB Tech Lab’s podcast measurement guidelines and best positioned to accurately report on the podcasting space in Australia. We look forward to being part of the continued and collaborative development of the ranker.”
The GfK Australian Share of Audio research released today shows that time spent listening to podcasts has doubled over the previous year, and has overtaken owned music for the first time, accounting for 7.3% of total daily listening.
The first ranker, with Australia’s top 100 podcasts is below. The reporting period was weeks 36-39 (2 September – 29 September 2019). Click to enlarge.
- Participating publishers as at September 2019 include Nova, Southern Cross Austereo, Australian Radio Network, SEN/Crocmedia, Macquarie Media, News Corp Australia
- Results analysed and reported by Triton Digital’s Podcast Metrics measurement service
- Triton Digital’s Podcast Metrics is IAB Certified, adhering to v2.0 Podcast Measurement Guidelines
POWERED BY PODCAST METRICS
Triton Digital’s Podcast Metrics measurement service is certified by the IAB Tech Lab as complying with Version 2.0 of the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines.
ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN PODCAST RANKER
The first monthly Australian Podcast Ranker for September 2019 lists the Top 100 Australian podcasts consumed by listeners who are located in Australia. There is potential to add further data by publisher and program in the future.
ABOUT THE METHODOLOGY
The Australian Podcast Ranker is based on a 4-week reporting period. The entities listed are ranked by Average Weekly Downloads (Monday to Sunday) in accordance with the latest IAB Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines.
Downloads are defined as unique file requests that were downloaded. This includes complete file downloads, progressive downloads, as well as partial downloads in accordance with the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines v2.0 filtering rules (i.e. spiders and bots, data centers, one-minute of content minimum download, etc.). “Unique” filters multiple requests from the same IP address, user agent, episode, and date.
For more details, Contact [email protected]
For additional information about Podcast Metrics, visit www.tritondigital.com