Podcast industry moves toward standardizing how audiences are measured across audio and video

The podcast industry has taken its biggest step yet toward standardizing how audiences are measured across audio and video, with the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP) releasing a comprehensive framework that supporters say could remove one of the biggest barriers to future advertising growth, reports Inside Radio.

Known as the AMP Accords, the white paper is the culmination of roughly a year of work by an industry coalition assembled by podcast advertising agency Oxford Road. It proposes, states Inside radio, “the first unified framework for defining podcasts, measuring audience exposure across platforms, and evaluating advertising effectiveness in an era when podcast consumption increasingly spans RSS feeds, YouTube, and connected TVs.

“Supporters say the initiative comes at a pivotal moment for podcasting. As more creators embrace video distribution, inconsistent measurement standards have made it difficult for advertisers to compare audiences across platforms, creating uncertainty about campaign performance. Many podcasters blame that for slowing the flow of advertising dollars into the medium – even as listeners pour in. Oxford Road estimates more than $1 billion in advertising spending is at stake if the industry fails to establish consistent measurement standards.”