Essential Listening: Future Industries

As popular as podcasts have become, they are still a very small slice of the media pie.

By any measure, they lag badly behind online advertising, radio, and television. Steven Perlberg at the Wall Street Journal talked with media buyers on the sidelines, who note that the podcast ad buying process is still quite complex and the metrics available still lag behind other media. Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at ZenithOptimedia, said:

“Podcast ads can’t be targeted in the way other digital media can be, and there’s no immediate metric of success — like impressions served or links clicked — to allow advertisers to evaluate return on investment.”

For now, this won’t affect our ability to enjoy them. So, if you’re interested in sampling more podcasts, be sure to explore earlier editions of Essential Listening. As usual, the latest installment includes a broad selection of content to make your next bit of down time a little more illuminating.

• The restaurant business is a huge part of the US economy, but the workers within it are some of the lowest paid. Barry Ritholtz talks with Saru Jayaraman, author of Forked: A New Standard for American Dining, about what, if any, progress has been made in making life in the restaurant business more humane. (Masters in Business)
• Pat Light and William Fallon, co-author of “Asset Allocation Implications of the Global Volatility Premium,” which appeared in the September/October 2015 issue of the Financial Analysts Journal, discuss the role a short volatility position could have in enhancing portfolio returns. (Enterprising Investor)
• The race to build a new kind of car company is on. Many believe Tesla is in the lead on this front, but big tech companies like Apple and Alphabet are waiting in the wings. In this episode, Neil Cybart opines on Apple’s ambition for the car business and what lessons it can learn from Tesla’s success to date. (Above Avalon)
• Michael Covel sits down with Philip Tetlock, co-author of Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, to go into the challenges of forecasting and how it is that some people are able to take an outside view to make more accurate predictions. (Trend Following Radio)
• Michael Copeland and Sonal Chokshi converse with Alec Ross, author of the new book The Industries of the Future. Ross talks about his extensive international experience and how future success will hinge on a country’s tendency toward openness. (a16z Podcast)
• Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg gets together with Lorcan Roche Kelly, who was a rural Irish cattle farmer prior to the financial crisis. In this episode, they discuss how Kelly became a recognized expert on the European economy and a colleague of Weisenthal’s at Bloomberg. (Odd Lots Podcast)
• The IRS doesn’t appreciate it when you don’t pay your taxes, especially when you come up with some novel loophole-based argument. Here, Keith Romer and David Kestenbaum talk with Larry Williams about his plan to not pay income taxes and the price he paid as a result.  (Planet Money)
• The fantasy sports industry has grown by leaps and bounds — so much so that regulators are pushing back. This Frontline documentary looks at the history of the industry and goes behind the scenes to show what is really going on. (Frontline PBS)
• James Altucher has a great conversation with Turney Duff, author of The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader’s Tale of Spectacular Excess. Duff tells his story of life on Wall Street in damning detail and explains how he made the transition to the life of a writer. (James Altucher Podcast)

Feel free to leave a comment or suggest other podcasts from which Enterprising Investor readers and listeners may benefit. I might highlight your suggestion in this ongoing series on the world of podcasting.

You can read more from Tadas Viskanta on his blog Abnormal Returns or follow him on Twitter @abnormalreturns.

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