RAIN To Present Podcast Business Summit

With spending on podcast advertising exceeding projections and now estimated to reach $659M by 2020, RAIN, the leading knowledge and networking organization for the online audio industry, announces the 2019 RAIN Podcast Business Summit.

The half-day event takes place March 5, 2019 at New World Stages in New York, 9am – 1pm. Tickets are available at the Podcast Business Summit website.

In its third year, the RAIN Podcast Business Summit features a lineup of speakers from across the industry – brands, platforms, publishers, tech companies and trade journalists -- focused on the solutions and innovations driving the ad-supported podcast industry forward. Sessions cover advances in audience measurement, podcast marketing case studies, advertising technology, and more.

Keynoting the event is Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Founder and Head of Product, Google Podcasts. In a keynote interview Zack will discuss his team’s mission to grow podcasting further into the mainstream: “Our team’s mission is to help double the amount of podcast listening in the world over the next couple of years.” The conversation will explore his comprehensive vision of bringing on-demand audio to everyone.

Featured speakers include Jarl Mohn (CEO, NPR), who will offer insights on the future of on-demand audio as a mainstream media category. Gina Garrubbo, President and CEO of National Public Media, will host a conversation with a national brand partner on “The Power of Brand Audio,” with illustrative success stories. Also, Conal Byrne (President and CEO), HowStuffWorks, and James Cridland (Editor, Podnews) will be featured at the event.

A full agenda of sessions and speakers will be released in coming days.

“Podcasting is proven,” said RAIN President Brad Hill. “It is proven in creative quality, in its unique values to advertisers, and as a dynamic media category. As the march toward a billion-dollar industry accelerates, the challenge becomes unlocking the mainstream – mainstream listening, mainstream hits, mainstream embrace by the national advertisers.”

"Podcasting's value to publishers and advertisers is continuing to be validated by research," said RAIN Founder Kurt Hanson. "According to Nielsen, podcast advertising can generate brand awareness lift that outperforms display ads by over 300%. Podcasting is an ever more dynamic category, and the RAIN Podcast Business Summit is the preeminent meeting place for its stakeholders.”

The RAIN Podcast Business Summit is presented again with support from NPR, the #1 podcast publisher in the U.S. (Podtrac) with 1.37B downloads in 2018 and the first major podcast publisher to receive IAB Certification for compliance with podcast measurement guidelines. The Summit is part of the highly-regarded RAIN Summit conference series, which for 17 years has illuminated and advocated webcasting, podcasting, streaming radio, music services, online delivery, and personalized listening.