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UTA has launched a data analytics service, Audio IQ, to assist agents and clients on podcast and audio deals.
The service is a joint effort between UTA’s audio division, led by Oren Rosenbaum, and UTA IQ, the agency’s research, analytics and strategy arm led by Joe Kessler. Using analytics compiled from categories including social media, search and other propriety data gleaned from open source data, Audio IQ is meant to give clients and agents a better sense of their podcast’s performance — or future performance — during the dealmaking process.
UTA IQ first launched in early 2018 as a means to consolidate the data tracked by the agency, such as box office performance and TV ratings, and imbue that information with added analyses, giving the agency a more data-driven, analytical approach to negotiations, Kessler tells The Hollywood Reporter.
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“We were faced with a community of buyers for our talent, our content that were using data to make their acquisition and hiring decisions, so we felt it was necessary to come to the table and apply … that Moneyball mentality into the entertainment business,” Kessler says.
The recent boon in podcasting has made it necessary for UTA to extend its in-house research into the audio space in light of major deals brokered by UTA like Spotify’s exclusive pact with Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, Amazon and Wondery’s licensing deal with Exactly Right Media (My Favorite Murder) and Audiochuck’s ad sales deal with SiriusXM.
While podcast analytics can often rely on historical data points like number of downloads or past ad revenue, UTA’s Audio IQ analyses also offer future projections — a tool that is particularly key in negotiations for shows that have not yet launched or for identifying emerging talent.
“We have an ability to go to market with not just, ‘Hey, we think this person’s going to be a great podcaster,’ or ‘Look at this person’s social media following,’ but ‘Here’s this comprehensive analysis as to why we chose this particular format and this genre for this artist and why we think they’re going to convert,'” Rosenbaum says. “If [a buyer] wants something, you have to help them advocate for that deal internally as well.”
Kessler and Rosenbaum are aware that outside parties may be skeptical of data coming from an agency, given that UTA has a vested interest in making their clients look favorably in deals. But misrepresenting data would only hurt the agency for future deals, Kessler and Rosenbaum argue, and coming to the table having done their own homework helps to push back against preconceived notions that other companies may have about a client’s podcast during negotiations. (Rosenbaum and Kessler declined to comment on data used for specific deals.)
“There have been instances where, depending on the content of the podcast or the talent behind it or the category that the content is in it, there’s been a perceived ‘strike’ before they even took the meeting,” Rosenbaum says. “Or [they will say], ‘Oh, we’ve seen this before and we don’t think it’s going to do well with advertisers.’ And then it’s incumbent on us and and Joe’s team and Audio IQ to debunk them.”
And as major audio companies are snapping up podcast analytics companies — Spotify recently acquired the analytics firms Podsights and Chartable, while iHeartMedia bought the ad tech company Triton Digital last year — Kessler and Rosenbaum emphasize the need for more a more democratized approach to podcast data.
“I’m hopeful that this announcement serves as a wake-up call for the podcasting industry to somehow coalesce around a common source of truth and data for the industry,” Kessler says, “because it’s sorely needed as it’s maturing.”
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