Urban One Inc. And Sounder Partner To Help Bring More Advertising Opportunities To Black Podcasters

Podcasting has become a premiere medium of expression for content creators everywhere. Not only is it a great way to connect with listeners around the world, it’s a booming business. On average, a podcaster with around 10,000 downloads per episode has the potential to make upwards of $500 to $900 per month. On the high end, podcasts can earn much more, reaching up to $30 million in annual income with the help of sponsorships. Unfortunately, there’s a deep racial disparity standing in the way of Black podcasters getting their piece of the pie, and two organizations are aiming to change that.

Recently, Urban One Inc., an African American owned and operated multi-media company, and Sounder, a contextual intelligence platform for audio, joined forces partnership to present important research that can lead to better access to advertising opportunities for Black podcasters. According to a news release, ‘the data aims to improve podcast ad technology to ensure equal monetization opportunities for all creators of audio content with a special focus on BIPOC audio content,’

“As the leader in urban-formatted content, Urban One’s mission has always been to do our part in educating our partners, ourselves, our clients, and the broader industry on the evolving cultural landscape of Black America,” said Josh Rahmani, CRO, Urban One, Audio Division in the release. “Through this work we hope to bring awareness of Black culture and its nuances to the industry at large and support an ecosystem of the diverse voices that drive mainstream culture.”

Sounder, Radio One and Reach Media—Urban One’s audio divisions—as well as the new Urban One Podcast Network, will work alongside one another to analyze the strengths and challenges facing audio ad technology diverse media to compile the immersive report with the hopes that advertisers will use the data to encourage future partnerships with Black podcasters.

“Sounder was founded on the belief that we could help diverse voices connect with listeners who cared about what they had to say. We also believe that these voices should have the same ability to monetize and fund their content,” said Kal Amin, co-founder and CEO of Sounder in the news release. “Yet suitability and brand safety can’t be optimized until technology catches up to culture and holistically supports a thriving, diverse world of audio content. Our mission to transform audio insights includes redefining the brand safety status quo with contextual intelligence tools to support diverse creators.”