Video podcasts are the next big field

Amazon The second high -level field to advertisers this week presented an appearance by the champion brothers of the NFL Jason and Travis Kelce. They were not there for live football rights.

While Amazon's Prime holds media rights on the NFL “Thursday evening” matches – and the streamer presented a large part of his sports portfolio, including the next NBA season, during the annual media presentations – the Kelce Brothers were invited on stage due to the success of their video podcast, “New Heights”, by Amazon's Wonderry.

Live sports in general have emerged in recent years like the darling of Upfront. The category was a large part of the presentations by Fox Corp.,, Comcast Nbcuniversal, Disney And Discovery Warner Bros. this week.

Sports content should remain the dominant force in the guarantee of advertisers' commitments during the increases this year, despite increasing economic uncertainty.

But the change of viewers to social media on their phones and television screens has increasingly attracted the eyes to the video format of the podcasts, and now influencers, television stars and athletes report several million dollars and win millions of followers. The quality of podcast video production has also increased.

The growing accent on podcasts during upfronts helps to consolidate the format as added value in the media landscape. It is this gravitation of consumers to social media, technology and streaming platforms that have led advertisers to spend more on these digital platforms than traditional television in recent years.

Now they are turning their attention more and more to podcasting.

“We are constantly examining all the different types of content and content creators. The lines between the podcast and the talk-shows become quite vague,” said Ted Sarandos, Co-PDG of NetflixDuring a call for results in April in which he declared that the podcasts could soon join the platform. “We want to work with a kind of great creators in all kinds of media that consumers love. Podcasts … have become much more video.”

The change in the preferred podcast format of listening to the visualization of signals Another opportunity for media companies in the running for advertising dollars.

Video podcasts have increased popularity on Google YouTube, which is a dominant force in the media landscape and on television screens.

Consumer preference was obvious with popular podcasts like “Call Her Daddy” by Alex Cooper, which has nearly 1.3 million subscribers on Youtube. Kelces' new summits “has nearly 2.6 million followers on YouTube. The interview with Joe Rogan last year with the candidate of the time, Donald Trump, has 58 million views on Youtube and counts.

According to Nielsen Data, the most watched television show on linear has seen 8.2 million viewers. These data measure an audience sitting to watch a program scheduled at the same time, compared to the youtube audience which can accumulate over time.

“One of the most relevant formats of culture conduct – podcasts – is booming on YouTube,” said the CEO of YouTube, Neal Mohan, in a recent article, specifically highlighting Rogan's interview with Trump. He also cited a report by Edison Podcast Metrics, which appointed YouTube as an essential platform for podcasts.

YouTube will hold his presentation to advertisers on Wednesday evening.

While Podcast companies can generate income from the sponsorships integrated into emissions, YouTube is generally in charge of traditional advertising spots during breaks. However, Wondery, who is also known for podcasts like “Dr. Death”, was an early “favorite partner” with Youtube, allowing him to sell his own advertising inventory, said Angie More, advertising manager at Wondery.

Amazon acquired Wondery in 2020, putting the podcast manufacturer in the Amazon advertising ecosystem. Amazon also uses video podcasts to create free and supported streaming channels – or in industry jargon, fast channels. This means that Amazon can also sell advertising for these channels for videos outside YouTube.

Having a visual component of traditional audio content also opens up more advertising opportunities.

“You can have a more linear television spot, or you can make a complete integration with the host, so that you can really be talked about and have a visual aspect with product placement,” said more in an interview. “If it is Coca-Cola, You can really show them to drink the real product or have banners around them, behind them. There are a lot of different ways to do it, which is good. “”

While the conversation around video podcasts resumes during the upfronts, a large part of the excitement is in particular by sport.

Owner of the broadcasting station Sincelair Centered its initial presentation earlier in May around its content as an increasing podcast, especially in sports.

During the event in New York, the leaders talked a lot about how brands and sponsors are integrated into the conversation between Podcast hosts, such as the staging of a Nissan Armada on site or engaging in the icy treats of Wendy.

Sinclair announced the sports video podcasts to come after successes with “The Triple Option” and “Throwbacks”, which both include former NFL players.

Podcasts related to sport, whether they discuss the game itself or simply led by former athletes, were popular with consumers and have led to much appreciated partnerships.

Kelce Brothers' agreement with Wondery has been estimated at more than $ 100 million and would occur for three years.

This year, Wondery also announced that it had concluded a multi -year agreement for the series “Mind The Game” with the superstar of the NBA LeBron James and the former NBA Steve Nash star. This video podcast is one of the first to be made available on the main Amazon platform, as well as external sites like YouTube.

“We come to the point where the Word Podcast means something almost different from years ago. It is really a series of digital content, for lack of a better term, and it is first of all these days,” said Matt Schwimmer, CEO of the collective Better HQ. The company manufactures sports podcasts like “Cloatmates”, which counts Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart of the New York Knicks among its co-hosts.

Conversations between media societies and podcast creators occur more frequently and become “more significant,” said Schwimmer.

“Many of them really start to launch the tires by unionizing this content of Podcast companies, and not necessarily to make them,” said Schwimmer, noting discussions with traditional television networks, leagues and others.

“I would not say that budgets are not yet to spend, but I think there are a lot and that the budgets will come,” he added.

Disclosure: NBCUNIVERSAL DE COMCAST is the parent company of CNBC.