Videl Bar Kar (Penguin Random House, UK Audio), Claire Powell (audioBoom) and Adam Martin (Acast) formed the panel on Audio Publishing at the Quantum conference today. Here are the top 10 things we learned.

The Market

1) People are listening to podcasts and audiobooks on their runs, commute, in the car and when going to sleep.

2) Men listen more regularly than women and audiobooks reach a more diverse audience in comparison to print.

3) Podcasts are proving to be a highly engaging and intimate means of storytelling. Once people start to listen to them, they tend to carry on.

4) Podcast production is dominated by white middle class men. It’s not making the market any bigger and this needs to change in order to reflect the audience and content available. A broader, mass, millennial appeal needed.

Monetising Podcasts

5) Only when a podcast is downloaded is data available on how much it’s listened to, at which points users stop listening, and how they are shared. It’s hard to monetise without this.

6) Producers are beginning to incorporate data for streaming too, so that they can inform creators of what’s working and what’s not.

7) Data shows that an endorsement by the host is most effective form of advertising and that the commercial message better received. Creators are changing the model: it’s not the advertising agencies coming up with ideas, but the podcaster telling the brand’s story in their own way. If the creator gets it right, the users wants to stop and listen, not skip ahead.

Discoverability

8) The current challenge is reaching potential new users. Go direct to your audiences with links to, and snippets of, your content, e.g. Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook. Users will often find the gateway show that pulls them in.

9) Listeners are discovering new podcasts by reading recommendations on podcasts themselves.

10) Curated podcast playlists are also becoming increasingly popular.