News Corp launches new platform to buy podcast ads

Former Editor & Content Director

News Corp is seeking to further monetise its podcast offering by launching AirTime – allowing brands and agencies to buy across audience segments and genres.

The organisation’s podcasts within its NewsCast network include From The Newsroom, The Matty Johns Podcast, The Lighthouse, The Men Who Raised Us and Healthy-Ish, which leverage talent and content from across News Corp’s assets including its papers, digital publications, FOX Sports and Sky News. It now has over 30 active podcasts across news, sport, true crime and lifestyle.

In a pitch to potential advertisers at its DECODED event yesterday, the network said it offered unrivalled integration opportunities across its portfolio, with host-read in-show integration which News Corp said had low skip rates and strong completion rates.

It also revealed its new AirTime offering.

“In an effort to offer you more ways to trade, we’re launching AirTime, which gives you the opportunity to purchase inventory in our podcast network by audience and genre,” said Ainslee O’Brien, general manager of commercial networks, said.

“This new way of trading will give you greater flexibility and audience focus in your buying options.”

O’Brien speaking (virtually) to potential advertisers yesterday 

Asked for more information, O’Brien told Radio Today the initiative was in response to advertiser demand for greater flexibility.

“AirTime is an opportunity for advertisers to buy on a CPM basis horizontally across the NewsCast network, giving them an audience and genre-based buy. We have always intended to launch new ways to buy into our podcast network and AirtTime is in response to advertiser demand, they are looking for increased flexibility. The podcast market is buoyant and we are seeing a lot of demand.”

In addition, O’Brien told brands the podcast network was launching extended integrated reads – “a new storytelling brand format that allows an advertiser to deeply integrate their brand ambassador or expert within our podcast”.

“This new, longer format involves the host and the brand ambassador engaging in a discussion about the brand, making it feel like a natural extension of the content. It’s a really fantastic way for our customers to leverage the relationship our hosts have with our listeners,” she said.

NewsCast bills itself as “Australia’s leading, premium original content podcast network” and boasts over 5 million downloads per month.

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