Growing Canadian podcast industry soaks up new insights

It’s been a very busy fall for the Canadian podcast industry. Festivals and conferences are attracting thousands of professionals and fans, and new podcast research is getting into the hands of publishers, agencies, aspiring pros and hobbyists.

October kicked things off with the 2nd annual RAIN digital audio conference in Toronto, supported by TPX. Hundreds of participants attended from across the country and beyond. There were some great discussions about what’s working with podcast advertising, and what we can do to remove barriers and continue to grow ad revenue in the space.

The RAIN conference also marked the release of the newest research from the Canadian Podcast Listener survey. The presentation was conducted by Jeff Vidler of Signal Hill Insights, and yours truly, Jeff Ulster (I co-publish the research, and The Podcast Exchange is a primary sponsor). The session proved to be very popular last year, and continued to be well received this year, too.

This is the third year of the Canadian Podcast Listener survey. Some of the insights presented this year came as a result of the work of the Client Advisory Council - a group of buyers and sellers brought together to ensure the study addresses market needs and initiatives to help grow the industry.

Each year, the study expands to answer new questions facing the industry in Canada. We also continue to advance our methodology and tools. This year, we’re proud to launch a new product - The Canadian Podcast Chart.

The Canadian Podcast Chart is the first of its kind in Canada, maybe even anywhere. It’s an online dashboard that can aggregate and report on the most popular (and favourite) podcasts named by Canadian listeners who took part in the survey. Subscribers can generate a list of top podcasts by listener demo, genre and publisher, among other things. With more than 2,400 podcasts named by more than 1,500 listeners, there’s plenty of useful info to mine through - with the caveat that the survey was conducted in June, 2019, and is therefore largely a reflection of listening habits in that month.

Since the release of the report, Jeff Vidler and team have been publishing blog posts highlighting some of the more fascinating stories we learned this year. Examples include:

• Power Listeners, Rather than Charts, Key to Maximizing Podcast Discovery

• Time Spent with Podcasts is not a Zero-Sum Game

• Podcasts Open the Door for Advertisers to Reach an On-Demand Audience

You can check out more posts, along with a free summary report and info about subscribing, on the Canadian Podcast Listener website.

Another big ticket this fall was the Hot Docs Podcast Festival, held in Toronto. In just a few short years, the festival has gone from being largely a live performance showcase, to an almost week-long industry event that brings together a wide variety of podcast enthusiasts and professionals.

I was excited to be able to present the latest research at this year’s festival, as well as moderate an informative conversation with Sarah van Mosel, Stitcher's Chief Revenue Officer, about how podcasters can attract advertising revenue.

On the west coast, Vancouverites held their own podcast festival, called VanPodFest. Its goal is to support new podcast creation in BC and Canada, with a particular focus on "audio documentary and its potential for education and community building.”

From coast to coast, the buzz about podcasts continues to grow.

To close, a personal note: In presenting this research over the years, it’s been amazing to see the transformation in the engagement level of attendees. Whether it’s at podcast festivals, advertising agencies, or with brands, publishers and government policy makers - the size of the groups, the degree of interest, the specificity of the questions and the number of attendees who are regular podcast listeners just keeps getting bigger. It’s exciting to be part of it all.

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