Daily news is the genre of podcast that delivers a briefing on the day’s major news events. It’s a key area of growth for many podcasting publishers, providing the audience with a quick, convenient way to stay up to date on what’s happening and driving significant habit and loyalty. For publishers pursuing subscription business models, daily news podcasts are also a key way to increase customer retention and reduce churn.
Publishers in a range of markets are developing their own daily news podcasts, from the global giants like The Daily and Guardian to local and regional players around the world. The most common format is the deep-dive style pioneered by The Daily – a long-form weekly episode that focuses on one main story each week. However, there are a number of other options. This report identifies three further types: a short, concise news round-up; an extended chat; and a microbulletin aimed at smart speakers and streaming apps.
This report examines the trends in this fast-growing segment of the podcasting market. It explores how listener habits are changing, how the different formats differ and how new technology is being used to create and deliver daily news podcasts. It also identifies the key challenges and opportunities for publishers in this rapidly evolving area of audio.
As the newspaper of record for New York City, The Daily News covers national and international news and politics, as well as intense city news coverage, celebrity gossip, sports and classified ads. The paper’s editorial stance is described as ‘flexibly centrist’ with a high-minded, populist legacy.
Podcast listening has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, but it appears that news content has held up better than other genres. Interviews with publishers show that daily news podcasts have performed much better than other podcasting categories, such as weekly chat, specialist content and documentaries.
This has been helped by the agile approach taken by a number of news brands. Rather than pausing or cancelling production, they have launched a series of ‘pop-up’ daily news podcasts during the pandemic, tapping into heightened interest in deeper and more detailed coverage. Some publishers have reported that their revenue levels are now at or even higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Despite this positive performance, the daily news category is still relatively small within overall podcasting. It makes up less than 1% of podcasts in the US, 2% in Denmark and 1% in Sweden. There are only a handful of native daily news podcasts in each country, though DR, the Danish public service broadcaster, recently launched a daily news show and Radio France has created a feed of short bulletins designed for smart speakers. In addition, a number of public radio stations in the US and Australia have started to broadcast daily news shows. This is likely to increase as the category matures. Apple introduced a dedicated ‘daily news’ tag in 2019, making it easier for users to find this type of content. The tag is also helping to differentiate this content from other news podcasts that may have a similar theme, such as weekly chat or true crime.