Day Three Of The IAB Upfronts: Wondering About Wondery; WNYC's Silence Podcast?; Diverse, Inclusive, Incisive

  Day three of the IAB Podcast Upfronts went from sideline to sideline, with Wondery (Amazon) bragging about its dominance to smaller, multicultural podcast networks modestly reciting their hard-won achievements.

 From May 10-12, the IAB Podcast Upfronts are held via a digital conference forum. It's the podcast version of "you show me yours, and I'll show you mine."

 What is the IAB? The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is an organization that works with publishers to foster the growth of advertising on the internet.

 Every year, the IAB holds a three-day virtual conference This is a special marketplace designed for brands, agencies, and media buyers to preview the latest in innovative podcast programming. Leading audio and podcast networks showcase their brand and announce new shows.

Wondery's presentation, filtered by its mother ship Amazon, told us that Wondery (they mean Amazon) is "defining the future of podcasts." Interesting boast. They claim they are the fastest growing podcast brand in the world. When they used the word premium, which means paywall, I became anxious.

Wondery gushed over its technology, which sounds a lot like an invasion -- of our privacy. What is deterministic targeting and even geo-targeting? 

They're targeting me? 

Take cover.

By contrast, Libsyn, the hosting giant, showed off its AdvertiseCast subsidiary, which made some cogent points about one-stop shopping.

I was a little worried when they mentioned Dr. Phil, because the good doctor has locked in self-aggrandizing, manipulative TV programming. Now I find out he has a podcast -- Phil In The Blanks.

I need a good psychologist to deal with that? Not Dr. Phil.

 The cool tech came from Backtracks, which showed us a search tool that can data mine for SEO, keywords and so much more. Cool without being creepy. 

WNYC Public Radio has a long history of great programming and terrific podcasts. I can't wait to hear more about the emotional makeup of whales and the study of silence. Wait, silence being studied on an audio medium? Can't wait to hear out!

Acast's presentation was music to my ears because they talked about an "open ear policy," and wide open access. Good code words for no paywalls and "premium" content.

Acast's Sex with Emily podcast host Emily Morse made some compelling points about finding advertisers that fit with her brand.  

The culture and politics podcast with John Kasich and Jordan Klepper seems like a winner because it flips the script on Americans so polarized they can't find a common ground. These guys do, and they are fun.

To the IAB's credit -- and done in such a classy way that it did not seem like pandering or self-serving -- the rest of the day focused on multicultural, minority and underserved voices in culture and podcasting. From Televisa Univision to Pod Digital and the Mocha Network to a fascinating panel discussion, the presentations highlighted how these podcast networks offer listeners a voice that sounds like them, thinks like them, and knows how to connect with the audience.

 Pod Digital Media got me interested in their faith-based podcasts, an interesting way to use audio. Likewise, the Mocha Podcast Network explained the power of connecting with its audience, since black podcast listeners have a 70% recall rate on an ad. That's astounding

Day three wrapped up with an Asian-American podcast -- They Call Us Bruce --where co-hosts Jeff Yang and Phil Yu gave us an unfiltered look at the viewpoints and voices of Asian-Americans.

 So how to sum up, this three-day IAB Upfront forum.

Well-planned, well-executed, with just enough good old-fashioned capitalism tempered by a social conscience to be more inclusive and erase barriers for multicultural voices.