So that you never miss a beat, I've compiled a recap of some of the top audio and advertising stories from April 2016. I hope you enjoy!

The New York Times Launches A Podcast Team To Create A New Batch of Wide-Reaching Shows

NiemanLab by Laura Hazard Owen 3/31/16

Another news organization has decided to invest in podcasts, and this one’s a biggie: The New York Times is creating a new audio team that will work to launch a batch of news and opinion podcasts this year and more in 2017.

To start, the Times will “launch a handful of shows with outside partners which, like Modern Love, have a strong prospect of quickly attracting a wide audience,” Kinsey Wilson, editor for innovation and strategy (and formerly the EVP and chief content officer at NPR), and Sam Dolnick, senior editor, wrote in a memo released Thursday. (The full text is below.) The Times will then “use those shows as a platform from which we can build audience for shows produced within The Times that are as integral to our coverage as our live events and visual journalism efforts.”

Samantha Henig, a Times senior editor for digital transition, will be editorial director of the new audio unit. The team Kelly Alfieri, executive director of special editorial projects; Diantha Parker, who will be an editor and senior audio producer; Pedro Rosado, who will serve as an audio producer; and audio producer Catrin Einhorn. (Parker and Einhorn both previously worked in public radio.) Adam Davidson, co-founder of NPR’s Planet Money and co-host of Gimlet’s Surprisingly Awesome, is an adviser.

Local Versus National And Cross-Platform Data Gaps Pose Planning Challenge

Media Post by Karlene Lukovitz 4/8/16

While data-driven and programmatic media buying are more in the spotlight than ever, it still all begins with media planning.  “The world is moving toward programmatic or automated buying, but that’s really down the food chain once the plan is developed,” noted media consultant Maribeth Papuga, currently executive-in-residence at BIA/Kelsey, in moderating a panel on data-driven local marketing held during the organization’s recent Brands conference. “Planners need to feel confident that whatever’s going to happen on [the buying] end is actually going to deliver back” the expected strategy and results, she said.

One of the biggest challenges in that regard is that media planners and buyers alike are simultaneously blessed and challenged by the proliferating third-party and first-party data sources and platforms in play.

At the same time, as data sources and inputs multiply, “it’s become much more difficult to know what to do with that data to make data-driven decisions about national versus local or different channel mixes,” Cancro said. So one challenge is ensuring continuing education of planning teams on using data for decision-making, she said.

MediaVest continues to use some traditional data sources, including MRI, and the agency’s optimization tools, to help determine channel mix, but those tools “don’t necessarily feed the data we get from our clients, so that’s a bit of a gap,” she acknowledged.

Specifically, while there are “a lot of great national and local data sources out there, there continue to be gaps in what I’d call syndicated, readily available data in the marketplace,” Shiffman said. “And as marketers and agencies have looked for more, some of those measurement and data solutions haven’t necessarily kept up or led the path forward.

Triton Digital Releases February 2016 Ranker

Triton Digital 4/18/16

All measured clients within the Domestic U.S. reported a total of 4,753,593 Average Active Sessions (AAS) during the Monday-Friday 6:00AM-8:00PM (M-F 6A-8P) daypart, and 3,985,680 AAS during the Monday-Sunday 6:00AM-Midnight (M-SU 6A-Midnight) daypart. Overall streaming has seen steady growth when compared to February 2015. February 2016 AAS increased by 15.2 percent in the Domestic M-F 6A-8P daypart and by 14.5 percent in the Domestic M-SU 6A-Midnight daypart.

Worldwide Ad Spending Growth Revised Downward

eMarketer 4/21/16

Annual gains in worldwide ad spending will hover around 6% throughout the forecast period

Spending on paid media worldwide will climb 5.7% in 2016 to $542.55 billion, propelled by increased investments in digital advertising. This is lower than eMarketer's previous forecast, but still represents accelerated growth when compared with 2015 (5.0%).

This year, ad expenditures will be boosted by incremental spending generated around quadrennial events, most notably the US presidential election and Rio Summer Olympics, as explored in a new eMarketer report, "Worldwide Ad Spending: The eMarketer Forecast for 2016."

The outlook for global ad spending through 2020 remains optimistic and advertisers will allocate more dollars as stability returns to most major economies. Worldwide ad spending will reach $674.24 billion by the end of 2020, with annual gains hovering between 5% and 6%. However, growth will vary widely across individual markets based on a variety of factors including economic growth and advertising maturity.

U.S. Internet Ad Revenues Hit Landmark $59.6 Billion in 2015, a 20% Uptick over Record-Breaking Numbers in 2014, Marking Sixth Consecutive Year of Double-Digit Growth

IAB 4/21/16