Audio Ink

Hit podcast The Hilarious World of Depression is returning for a third season, featuring new celebrity interviews and audience discussion about mental illness. Hosted by John Moe, the series brings conversation about clinical depression out of the shadows while keeping things frank and funny.

As has been widely reported over the past few days, YouTube, Facebook, Apple, and Spotify have all banned Alex Jones from their platforms. They are claiming Jones' ramblings are hate speech. Alex Jones has been using Spreaker as a secondary host provider for his podcasts. Spreaker VP and Head of partnerships Rob Greenlee tells Radio Ink Jones is coming off the Spreaker platform as well. Here's their statement...

Crossover Media Group Sales, a cross-platform content-production and advertising-sales representation firm, has added five new program lineups in the sports field to its growing roster of client shows and personalities. And the new sports betting laws have a lot to do with the new programs.

Digital Audio Ad Platform DAX (which stands for Digital Audio Exchange) has launched a sales division in the US. Ryan Rose will lead the new U.S. office. As Director of Sales & Partnership Development, Rose focus on the on-demand and podcast spaces.

On Thursday, iHeartMedia launched a new technology, powered by Artificial Intelligence, that provides an optimized digital music listening experience for listeners. The company says the new AI capabilities will create a listening experience that mimics live radio. AI will eliminate the space between songs for iHeartRadio listeners.

Hubbard Radio and its digital arm 2060 Digital, have announced an agreement to purchase an ad-delivery solution called TriggerEX Ad Delivery Technology from TiWi Digital. The TriggerEX platform offers advertisers the flexibility to change message mid-flight in a social media-like way.

WideOrbit and TagStation (owner of Dial Report) have formed a partnership to help radio deliver metrics to ad buyers on actions taken by consumers as a result of radio advertising. Here's how they plan to do it...

Award-winning author James Andrew Miller, in partnership with Cadence13, is releasing three chapters of the popular podcast series, Origins. “We see Origins as a big buffet table of our culture, with particular emphasis on television, sports, movies, music, and other elements I’ve reported on or simply love," said host Miller.

SoundExchange says it distributed $208.7 million in sound recording performance royalties in the second quarter of 2018. That's an increase of 17.5% over 2017 ($177.6 million). The company paid that money out to 28,065 performers, an increase of 9% over 2017 (25,681). So far in 2018 SoundExchange has paid out nearly $399 million in royalties.

Pandora's audio inventory is now generally available for programmatic buying. Audio joins Pandora’s existing display and video solutions available for purchase programmatically. Pandora claims it owns the largest inventory of digital audio content in the U.S., and 92% of its audience is ad-supported — more than double the size of its competition.