Podcasting? Radio? It’s all one big opportunity for iHeartMedia digital CEO Conal Byrne

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2023

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We taped this episode live at Hot Pod Summit. That’s our conference for the podcast industry. We have a whole newsletter for podcasters. It’s called Hot Pod, written by our very own Ariel Shapiro. Hot Pod Summit is where we bring that community—of creators, trendsetters and decision makers—together to explore the latest developments in podcasting, audiobooks and more. It was a packed house and a great time. We ended the day by recording our first ever live Decoder with Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia’s digital audio group. Conal oversees podcasting at a giant radio company, and his group accounts for a quarter of iHeart’s revenue, which was a billion dollars last quarter alone. His team makes some of the biggest podcasts around with huge talent like Will Ferrell, Shonda Rhimes, and Charlamagne Tha God who you’ll hear Conal talk about quite a lot. Conal and iHeart digital earned that success by doing some unconventional things. Whereas other big podcasting players like Spotify and Apple have tried to boost revenue through subscriptions or platform exclusivity, Conal shunned those approaches and said he’s going for big audience reach, made possible in part by his ability to run ads and even shows on iHeart’s huge network of traditional radio stations. But, that maverick approach has included some controversial steps as well. Last year, Verge alumni and Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman reported that iHeart worked with a firm called Jun Group to essentially buy podcast downloads through video games. To many in the industry, that seemed pretty disingenuous. So of course I asked Connell about that and lots more. He was a great guest, super game to answer the questions, especially in front of a live audience. Links: iHeartMedia Buys Stuff Media for $55 Million - WSJ Podcasters Are Buying Millions of Listeners Through Mobile-Game Ads Cost Per Thousand (CPM) Definition and Its Role in Marketing Spotify reportedly paid $200 million for Joe Rogan’s podcast - The Verge Chris Dixon thinks web3 is the future of the internet — is it? - Decoder, The Verge Decoder with Nilay Patel (@decoderpod) Official | TikTok Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23381445 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	With Chevrolet, it's easier than ever to drive electric.
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0:22.4	the country.
0:23.4	Chevy, giving you the confidence to go electric.
0:26.6	Visit Chevrolet.com slash electric to learn more.
0:35.0	Hello and welcome to Decoder.
0:36.0	I'm Neilipa Tell Editor in Chief of the Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and
0:40.4	other problems.
0:41.4	This week I'm talking to Connell Bern, CEO of I Heart Media Digital.
0:45.7	And it's a pretty special episode.
0:47.0	We taped it live at Hot Pod Summit, that's our conference for the podcast industry.
0:50.8	If you don't know, we have a whole newsletter for podcasters.
0:53.4	It's called Hot Pod, written by our very own Ariel Shapiro.
0:56.5	And Hot Pod Summit is where we bring that community together.
1:00.0	This year we gathered creators, trendsetters, and decision makers to explore the latest developments
1:04.2	in podcasting, audiobooks, and war.
1:06.4	It was a packed house, it was a great time.
1:09.0	We ended the day by doing a live Decoder interview with Connell, who oversees podcasting at I Heart
1:13.8	Media, which is a gigantic radio company that did almost a billion dollars of revenue
	...

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