{"id":2169,"date":"2021-12-01T07:25:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T06:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/12\/01\/hinge-not-facebook-or-clubhouse-cracked-getting-audio-to-go-viral-the-verge\/"},"modified":"2021-12-01T07:25:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T06:25:49","slug":"hinge-not-facebook-or-clubhouse-cracked-getting-audio-to-go-viral-the-verge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/12\/01\/hinge-not-facebook-or-clubhouse-cracked-getting-audio-to-go-viral-the-verge\/","title":{"rendered":"Hinge \u2014 not Facebook or Clubhouse \u2014 cracked getting audio to go viral &#8211; The Verge"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Filed under:<br \/>Why Hinge\u2019s voice prompts took off<br \/>     Hot Pod is a newsletter from The Verge written by Ashley Carman that delivers news, analysis, and opinions on the audio industry. Subscribe <a href=\"https:\/\/hotpodnews.com\/subscribe\/\">here<\/a>.   <br \/>Hello! I\u2019m back from Thanksgiving break and now have mashed potatoes for brains. Really, I\u2019ve eaten mashed potatoes five days in a row. I can stop, but I won\u2019t stop until the leftovers are gone. Anyway, in between mashed potato servings, I did my best to \u201clog off\u201d and not think about audio \u2014 no offense \u2014 so instead, I binged the entire new season of <em>Selling Sunset<\/em> and played many crosswords. I\u2019m back for you now, though, and we have a big issue ahead. We\u2019re talking about how a dating app stumbled upon viral audio success, and I chatted with the CEO of podcasting\u2019s latest $100 million-funded company, Podimo. Plus, an update to my RadioPublic story from last week and new Apple charts. Lots! Of! Stuff(ing)! On we go.<br \/><strong>EXCLUSIVE: Hinge makes viral audio happen, despite many other apps trying<\/strong><br \/>Today\u2019s main story is one best told in a couple parts. The first: Last month, the dating app Hinge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/10\/27\/22746297\/hinge-voice-notes-prompts-profile\">debuted<\/a> voice prompts to daters\u2019 profiles. Instead of telling potential matches about yourself with text, you could do so with your voice. Each clip can be 30 seconds, and, at launch, Hinge said two out of three daters it polled thought voice would help them \u201cbetter determine their chemistry\u201d with someone.<br \/>Fast forward to now, and, well, voice prompts are certainly doing something. The prompts have gone viral on TikTok and Twitter, with people reposting them either because they\u2019re funny, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DNA_Bethylation\/status\/1462668039049158656?s=20\">cringe-worthy<\/a>, or something in between. There\u2019s impersonations, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jaycesimpson1\/status\/1465166046323625992?s=20\">singing<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DJKZA\/status\/1462239099205472262?s=20\">sincerity<\/a>, and bizarre moments. NBC News wrote about the viral fad a couple weeks ago, which you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/pop-culture\/viral\/hinges-new-voice-prompts-are-tiktok-hit-rcna5663\">can read here<\/a>.<br \/>I reached out to Hinge to get more concrete data on how this feature is performing and whether going viral was part of the plan. The company tells me 13 percent of new daters on the app build their profile with a voice prompt and that 46 percent of people on the app have listened to at least one voice prompt. A slow build, but one Michelle Parsons, Hinge\u2019s CPO, interprets as encouraging.<br \/>\u201cIf you imagine the amount of extra time that it takes to add any piece of information to your profile, it\u2019s already a friction point. So we\u2019re really excited with this, and our plans are to continue to help users see the value, and things like them going viral on TikTok has definitely been very helpful for us here,\u201d she says. She also adds that these new users \u2014 the 13 percent integrating the feature \u2014 are seeking voice prompts out on their own because their creation isn\u2019t part of the onboarding flow. <br \/>People on the app record their voice in response to their selected but Hinge-curated prompts, so they aren\u2019t just talking about nothing for 30 seconds. The most popular prompt so far, per a spokesperson, is: \u201cA life goal of mine.\u201d The second most popular is \u201cAll I ask is that you.\u201d <br \/>Throughout our chat, Parsons emphasized the reason Hinge thought voice prompts made sense in a dating app. Namely, if people are \u201ctrying to assess vibe, personality, what [a match] is looking for, [and] what\u2019s it like to date them,\u201d Hinge is best off giving them as much data as possible. <br \/>\u201cOur goals are to get users off of the app and into a relationship, or at the very least into a good date, and the constructed, the curated, doesn\u2019t always necessarily relate to a positive experience with another person, and so we want to help users showcase more of their personality, more authenticity, which really comes from your voice \u2014 it\u2019s really hard to hack your voice,\u201d she says, adding that the team didn\u2019t see \u201cvery high adoption\u201d of voice calling, another audio-oriented feature, likely because making a cold call to a stranger is more intimidating than firing off a 30-second clip and hoping for the best. <br \/>Now, part two of this story is how Hinge got lucky with this viral moment. Lots of other apps are trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/7\/16\/22570683\/audio-short-form-podcast-app-racket-beams\">create the TikTok of audio<\/a> \u2014 Facebook chief among them, along with many decently funded startups focusing on shortform audio. Hinge didn\u2019t set out to make a viral feature that would come with wide-ranging network effects, or at least Parsons says that wasn\u2019t the intent. So why did this take off? For a couple reasons, I think. For one: Hinge already has a massive network. It\u2019s been downloaded <a href=\"https:\/\/s22.q4cdn.com\/279430125\/files\/doc_financials\/2020\/q2\/Earnings-Letter-Q2-2020.pdf\">more than 5 million times<\/a> and has a better shot of making a feature popular over a startup. (Facebook has yet to widely launch its attempt at shortform audio, Soundbites, and I\u2019ll be watching how that performs for similar reasons.)  <br \/>Two: The dating app space is particularly ripe for viral audio \u2014 context is everything. A random person telling you their opinion on what NYC pizza spot is the best or, god forbid, their life goal is incredibly boring. There are no stakes \u2014 why do I care? But if you\u2019re instead assessing whether you want to literally meet this person or hook up with them, all of a sudden, that opinion is critical. (L&amp;B\u2019s, baby!) This is also probably why Clubhouse had such a pandemic moment. Currently, I can go talk to my friends and family IRL or over the phone or even go to a bar to chat up a stranger \u2014 why do I want to have someone talking at me through an app? But when we were all stuck at home, the stakes were real. When will I meet a new person again??<br \/>All of which is to say, these startups have a challenge ahead of them. TikTok made remixing sound and visuals viral fodder, and the same will happen solely for audio, too, I\u2019m sure. But will it be inside a wholly new app or one you join for some other purpose and audio is the fun bit on top? My bet is on the latter.<br \/>Enjoying this story?<em> Hot Pod<\/em> is a newsletter from <em>The Verge<\/em> that delivers news, analysis, and opinions on the audio industry written by Ashley Carman. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/pages\/hot-pod-podcast-audio-newsletter\" data-analytics-viewport=\"related-story\" data-analytics-link=\"related-story\">weekly Tuesday issue is free<\/a>, and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/hotpodnews.com\/subscribe\/\" data-analytics-viewport=\"related-story\" data-analytics-link=\"related-story\">subscribe to two additional <em>Hot Pod Insider<\/em><\/a> newsletters per week for $7 \/ month or $70 \/ year.  <br \/><strong>EXCLUSIVE: The newest $100 million podcasting app<\/strong><br \/>There\u2019s a new, highly funded podcast app on the market: Podimo. The app, which has yet to come out in the US but launched in 2019 and is already in multiple European and Latin American countries, announced its $78 million Series B funding round late last week, bringing its total funding to over $100 million. That\u2019s a number familiar to those of us who\u2019ve been watching this space for a minute now \u2014 Luminary famously launched with $100 million in funding, as did Himalaya. (Though a source told me Himalaya\u2019s funding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/22526502\/himalaya-histudios-notorious-llc-podcast-audio-hype-house\">was made up<\/a> earlier this year.) <br \/>Funnily enough, Podimo\u2019s strategy is somewhat similar to both those companies\u2019 in that its business is built around subscription audio. Users pay a set amount per month to stream as many exclusive podcasts, audiobooks, and \u201cexperiences\u201d as they want, and Podimo pays the creators of that audio based on their content\u2019s popularity. (SoundCloud is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/3\/2\/22309090\/soundcloud-artist-stream-pay-listener-fan-royalties\">deploying a similar model<\/a> for music.) So, if you listen to podcasts on Podimo and 20 percent of your time is spent listening to one specific show, 20 percent of your subscription payment will go to that audio creator, minus the cut Podimo takes for its services. (RSS-based podcasts can also distribute on Podimo, but they get less of a cut of that listener revenue.) The idea is that creators will be incentivized to promote Podimo because they make money off the listeners there, and they\u2019ll also be encouraged to go exclusive to make even more, along with other perks, like extra promotion. Podimo says it has over 950 exclusive shows and audiobooks on the platform currently.<br \/>I spoke with Podimo\u2019s CEO and founder, Morten Strunge, before the holiday to get a better sense of how Podimo plans to use this recent cash infusion and how its past couple years have gone. The question I most wanted to know, of course, was when Podimo might launch stateside. <br \/>\u201cIt\u2019s not the top of our list,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we don\u2019t see an opportunity for a service like Podimo in the US, but obviously competition is bigger there, and it requires deeper pockets to make a difference. So it\u2019s definitely on our roadmap, but it\u2019s not the first country.\u201d<br \/>The funding he says will broadly go toward \u201ccontent\u201d and \u201ccreators,\u201d like \u201cbringing even more content onto the platform that in return will fuel user growth.\u201d The team will also invest in marketing, the actual tech product, and expanding to new markets. Notably, Podimo partners with hosts and fronts the creation costs for exclusive shows, so this funding will help the team do more of that. Strunge also adds that 90 percent of listening happens in a user\u2019s native language, so Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, and German, and the team is hyper-focused on approaching each of its markets locally. It already partners with <a href=\"https:\/\/podnews.net\/press-release\/podimo-wondery\">Wondery<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iheartmedia.com\/press\/iheartmedia-and-podimo-partner-translate-and-adapt-widely-popular-podcasts-listeners-globally\">iHeartMedia<\/a>, and Sony Music Entertainment\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/podnews.net\/press-release\/somethinelse-podimo-translation\">Somethin\u2019 Else<\/a> to translate their English-language shows for Podimo\u2019s users.<br \/>In Denmark, Strunge says the company has 100,000 paying subscribers out of a market of 6 million people. \u201cWhat\u2019s been important for us is to show that this is not a niche thing, but it\u2019s actually a mass market thing, something that millions of people would subscribe to in a market like Germany and not thousands of people.\u201d<br \/>It\u2019s all very similar to the big subscription dreams of Luminary and Himalaya. Both were focused on the US, and neither panned out as expected. But maybe going abroad changes that outcome, especially with so many shows under its exclusive offering.<br \/>Phew, we\u2019re past the two big pieces and can get you onto more news. I don\u2019t want to spend too much time here, so I\u2019m just going to drop a few things to think about, and we\u2019ll get either more into later this week for you paying subscribers or onto new things. Who can say!<br \/><strong>UPDATE: RadioPublic says it\u2019s fixed its app<\/strong><br \/>Last week, I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/11\/23\/22797808\/podcast-app-acquire-radiopublic-acast-rss-feed-hot-pod\">reported on issues<\/a> podcasters were having with the RadioPublic app \u2014 their RSS feeds weren\u2019t updating; they couldn\u2019t get in touch with anyone from the company; and new shows couldn\u2019t be added to the catalog. The company tells me it has now fixed the issue. Matt MacDonald, CPO at Acast and RadioPublic co-founder, says the issue had to do with an <a href=\"https:\/\/letsencrypt.org\/docs\/dst-root-ca-x3-expiration-september-2021\/?utm_source=podnews.net&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=podnews.net:2021-10-04\">expired SSL certificate<\/a> from Let\u2019s Encrypt. Here\u2019s what MacDonald had to say about the issue:<br \/>\u201cWe have systems in place to readily catch bugs, problems our podcasters encounter, and issues affecting feeds. This issue in particular was of a nature that evaded those systems. It\u2019s one we regrettably missed and should have caught.<br \/> Since resolving the issue, we\u2019ve updated RadioPublic\u2019s systems to avoid future problems of this nature. Our team continues to monitor that all our services are running smoothly, and when our Pro users encounter issues and contact us, we continue to provide individualized support.\u201d<br \/>Let me know if you keep running into issues, but this should hopefully be solved for now!<br \/>Every Tuesday receive analysis, insights, and commentary on the growing audio industry.<br \/>Check your inbox for a welcome email.<br \/><strong>Apple divulges the most popular subscription shows<\/strong><br \/>Apple Podcasts is getting into the end-of-year content early with new charts and curated content. The company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/apple-podcasts-presents-the-best-of-2021\/\">released<\/a> its curated selection of the best shows and episodes of the year just around an hour ago \u2014 <em>A Slight Change of Plan<\/em> from Pushkin is its top pick \u2014 as well as new charts around free and paid shows.<br \/>I\u2019m including screenshots of the full list below, but I want to specifically call attention to the top paid shows. Three Uncanny Four\u2019s <em>Bad Blood: The Final Chapter<\/em> is the top paid show, which, as we last know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/9\/28\/22697263\/john-carreyrou-theranos-elizabeth-holmes-decoder\">from September<\/a>, had 6,000 paying subscribers. We can probably presume that\u2019s gone up a bit since the Theranos trial has picked up, but that\u2019s essentially the ceiling. (What happens to this feed when the trial ends?) Otherwise, Betches has two shows in the top 10 individual subscription shows, and people are apparently paying for Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon\u2019s program, too, which hm, who knows what\u2019s going to happen after all this recent Cuomo controversy. Apple spokesperson Zach Kahn had nothing to share around when or if these charts might get updated again. I might have more on this on Thursday once I have time to parse, but if you have thoughts, let me know!<br \/><strong>Spotify and Netflix are friends who launch audio hubs together<\/strong><br \/>I have seen <em>a lot<\/em> of hype over Spotify and Netflix\u2019s news <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.spotify.com\/2021-11-23\/get-even-more-squid-game-bridgerton-and-money-heist-with-our-new-netflix-collaboration-and-dedicated-hub\/\">last week<\/a> that they\u2019re partnering to launch an audio hub on the Spotify app. This means Netflix\u2019s publicly available podcasts (read: available everywhere) are now in one place on the Spotify app, along with music from popular programs. Currently, one soundtrack, <em>The Harder They Fall<\/em>, is called an \u201cenhanced album\u201d with the Spotify logo on the cover, which means it includes a video intro from writer, director, and soundtrack EP Jeymes Samuel. Despite the hype, I\u2019m unconvinced this is a monumental moment. If Netflix were ever to go the exclusive podcast route, I think they\u2019d likely include them in its own app \u2014 why would it cede any of viewers\u2019 attention to Spotify? <br \/>Could this mean more collabs in the future between the two companies? Sure. Does this just logically make sense as a partnership? Yes. People want to listen to Netflix soundtracks, and Spotify is making it easier for them to do so along with some bonus content. Friends!<br \/><strong>Clubhouse monthly users reportedly fall off a cliff but are still millions-strong<\/strong><br \/><em>Insider<\/em> published <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/rise-and-fall-of-clubhouse-poster-child-pandemic-hype-2021-11\">a big look at Clubhouse<\/a> this past week that hits the major points of conversation around the app: the dearth of advertisers, a drop-off in downloads, and controversial \u201cdrama rooms.\u201d<br \/>The main data takeaway is a graph depicting that in July, Clubhouse reportedly peaked with 13.45 million monthly active users but just a couple weeks ago had fallen to only 6.78 million. Its daily active users dropped from 4.09 million at its peak in February to around 942,000 two weeks ago. All that data is according to a company called Apptopia.<br \/>A spokesperson told <em>Insider<\/em> the app is a place where \u201cmillions gather daily\u201d and that overall growth exceeded expectations. \u201cWe expect to see a regular fluctuation as we grow,\u201d this spokesperson added, along with the fact that 700,000 rooms are created daily, and the average time spent on the app is 70 minutes. Millions of people logging on monthly doesn\u2019t read so badly to me, but the drop is steep and something Clubhouse is going to need to turn around before its competitors seize the market.<br \/>All right! That\u2019s it for today. I\u2019ll catch you paying folks Thursday, and for those of you who have yet to subscribe, I don\u2019t have a Black Friday special for you, except that <a href=\"https:\/\/hotpodnews.com\/subscribe\/\">for $7 \/ month<\/a>, you can impress all your friends and family with far too much audio industry knowledge. A deal IMO.<br \/>Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week.<br \/>Please confirm your subscription to Verge Deals via the verification email we just sent you.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/11\/30\/22809684\/hinge-voice-prompts-tiktok-shortform-audio-viral\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Filed under:Why Hinge\u2019s voice prompts took off Hot Pod is a newsletter from The Verge written by Ashley Carman that delivers news, analysis, and opinions on the audio industry. Subscribe here. Hello! I\u2019m back from Thanksgiving break and now have mashed potatoes for brains. Really, I\u2019ve eaten mashed potatoes five days in a row. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}