Podfest Expo in Orlando - Himalaya could pay for your travel

• Want to be at Podfest Expo in Orlando in early March, but can’t cover the travel costs? Himalaya, the presenting sponsor of the event, have put a fund together to cover at least 50 podcasters’ flights to PodFest. Tell Himalaya with the name of your show, where you’re coming from, and why you want to be there to travel@himalaya.com by next Friday, 8th February - and mention you saw this in Podnews. (We’ll be there too).

• Acast are sponsoring the Diversity and Inclusion Award in the upcoming Australian Podcast Awards.

• Megaphone by Panoply has integrated with Google Campaign Manager to help advertisers and agencies manage their campaigns. The Google product allows one view to manage creative and campaigns (here’s an overview); historically, podcast advertising has been managed separately, and this should help podcasting appeal to new advertisers, says Megaphone.

• Event: the RAIN Podcast Business Summit is in New York NY, USA on Tuesday March 5th. Among the speakers: Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Founder and Head of Product, Google Podcasts; and James Cridland, Podnews’s Editor.

• Wil Williams writes about her experience at PodCon 2 - “lovely, frustrating”. Kyle Marshall also looked back at the event - learning about the importance of iteration and innovation; it’s also the subject of the latest Creative Block podcast.

• Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO (and potential presidential candidate) appeared on The Goop Podcast over the weekend. Slate listened. Not sure they liked it.

• Advice: Podcast Websites on how to showcase your guests better; Transistor has tips for getting more Twitter followers for your podcast; Jon Moore wants to get the intro to your podcast right; and Spreaker covers how to promote your podcast with Instagram

• Event: the Outlier Podcast Festival, Austin TX, USA, May 17-18. Speakers include Lisa Orkin and Kevin Goldberg.

Data and stats

• The Economist, a UK newspaper, says revenue through Acast has increased 50% year-on-year for their five podcasts. Podcast ads in the UK, according to Digiday, fetch around US$12 CPM.

Podcasts

The NAB Show in Las Vegas in early April is the largest collection of broadcasters and broadcast equipment anywhere. They’ve just launched the NAB Show Podcast to help you get the most out of the event. (Podnews will be there). (Spreaker)

The Europeans covers the most interesting stories and most fascinating people from Europe. (And no Brexit! Yay!) Hosted by a reporter in Paris and an opera singer in Amsterdam, it’s back for season three. (Anchor)

Hi-Phi Nation returns for a new season: its first since joining the Slate Podcast Network. “We investigate stories, from the serious to the whimsical, the profound and the mundane, that raise thought-provoking, consequential questions, and we answer them with the help of philosophers.” (Slate / Megaphone)

Web of WMN is a new podcast seeking “to trace the many interconnected and diverse relationships women have, through interviews on topics relating to gender, politics, career, religion and more”, and a clever premise of interviewing four women, then each of those women chooses a woman from her life to interview, and so on. (Anchor)

Engineering Reimagined is a leadership podcast from Aurecon, a digital engineering and advisory company. Of interest: the podcast’s website, integrated into the company’s main site, contains comprehensive contextual information for listeners. (Nearly / Omny Studio)