Australian podcast data; new head of podcasts at Spotify; audioBoom revenue up; Gimlet gets ad agency investment

Australian podcast conference OzPod kicks off Friday at 9.00am. The entire conference will be streamed on ABC Extra. James Cridland, podnews’s publisher, will be the opening keynote (after the other opening keynote).

Just before OzPod, Omny Studio announce a partnership with boutique ad agency Placard Media for podcast ad sales.

Also just before OzPod, the Australian ABC releases a slew of podcast data. 89% of Australians are aware of podcasting; 76% of 25-34 year-olds have listened to one. There is also a set of survey results.

We know of at least two platform announcements to be made at OzPod. You might want to follow #ozpod2017.

Webinar: Edison Research goes through their Share of Speech report on September 13th.

audioBoom report quarterly revenues are up 329% year-on-year. More stats: Monthly users have grown 11% quarter-on-quarter; ad impressions are up 24%; quarterly revenue is up 32%. Yesterday, we reported that they’re also killing their free accounts.

Spotify swiftly replaces their head of video and podcasts. The new guy is Courtney Holt. He was previously CEO of Maker Studios, a YouTube channel company acquired by Disney, and EVP of media and strategy at Disney. It would appear he is a) a video guy, not a podcast guy, and b) owns a very impressive beard.

Headline of the day: When podcasting and a conference collide to provide information about dental products

Midroll reports on lessons learned producing Missing Richard Simmons, with Dan Taberski who spoke at Podcast Movement. On monetisation: “I’m ready to read ads, because they’re supporting the story I’m telling.”

Ad company WPP invests US$5m in Gimlet. They become a minority shareholder. Gimlet has raised $27m so far.