Bob Pittman Continues His Praise For Podcasting

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At the virtual Bank of America Securities 2020 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference Thursday, iHeartMedia‘s CEO continued to praise podcasting which the company is heavily invested in.


And, using an oft-repeated phrase, Bob Pittman called podcasting Netflix for radio.

iHeart continues to strike deals with major content creators and big name stars. The company is also working with others to create new podcast networks, and, the iHeartPodcast Network releases new shows on a nearly weekly basis.

Just this week, iHeart and syndicated radio host Charlamagne Tha God jointly launched The Black Effect Podcast Network. The shows on the network, curated by Charlamagne, will focus on diverse perspectives, and will be distributed by iHeart. The network came out of the gate with 19 shows.

Pittman told virtual conference attendees that advertising in podcasts continues to be strong, even during the pandemic, something he’s also reporting on the iHeart earnings calls. And he went on about the strengths of the medium. “Podcasting is already bigger than streaming music services like Spotify, and the growth continues. Internally, we think about podcasting as sort of like Netflix was for TV, it’s sort of the on-demand version of radio.”

Pittman added that he sees podcasting as an extension of radio and there is no plan to give up the power to create like the Television industry did with Netflix. He said we are creating it ourselves.

— Radio Ink