Apple Podcasts shines a spotlight on independent voices

Apple Podcasts has launched a new editorial feature, Apple Podcasts Spotlight. The company says new Spotlight creators will be announced each month, “and represent a diverse range of podcast genres, formats and locations — with a focus on independent and often underrepresented voices”. The first feature is Omny Studio hosted Celebrity Book Club.

• “Apple Podcasts Spotlight helps listeners find some of the world’s best shows by shining a light on creators with singular voices,” said Ben Cave, Global Head of Business for Apple Podcasts. “Chelsea Devantez has created a fun, vibrant space with Celebrity Book Club for listeners to gain new perspectives on the celebrities we thought we knew. We are delighted to recognize Chelsea and Celebrity Book Club as our first Spotlight selection and look forward to introducing listeners to creators like Chelsea to listeners each month.”

• Podsights has shared their Podsights Benchmark Report, a free report showing data from podcast advertising lift reports and conversions. In it, we discover that the average CPM of all Podsights campaigns in 2020 was US$25, ads for automotive lead to the most purchases, and podcast ads heard on iPhone outperform those on Android devices.

  • Podsights, arguably the largest by volume podcast attribution player, currently sponsors our ad-tech weekly Sounds Profitable; editor Bryan Barletta wrote about how to understand lift reports last month.

• More consolidation in the podcast space - the largest online music platform in China, Tencent has bought Chinese podcast platform Lazy Audio for RMB 2.7bn (US$416m).

• Podkite has added embedded players for its paid subscribers, allowing anyone to embed players on their website. Here’s what they look like on the Podcast Brunch Club website.

• Steven Goldstein “went” to CES, and discovers new developments in in-car audio, artificial voices, and drones that transport people.

  
  Aug 31 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
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• Playapod, a podcast app, has had a new release on Android which uses Podcast Index as a default.

Below, our podcast events section now shows events that have just been added to our list; and 👋 Clubhouse events too. (Run a Clubhouse event? Add yours in Podevents.)

Tips and tricks - with Buzzsprout

• Climbing the Listener Pyramid: The Key to Podcast Growth (Nick Loper, Podcast Movement)

• Do not ignore Instagram (Blubrry)

Podcast News - with Podcast Network Asia

From Podcast Network Asia: The Eve’s Drop is a Spotify Exclusive podcast that features real women discussing relevant issues through drama, truths, and tears.

Where Is George Gibney?, a BBC podcast produced by Second Captains about an Olympic coach charged with child sexual abuse charges, has been instrumental in reopening police investigations, after the podcast helped two more women to contact the police.
Aug 31 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter Robert Riggs, and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, have produced a special episode of Justice Facts “about the mindset of the right-wing extremists who stormed the US Capitol”.

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