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- Aug 17: Exclusive: A few weeks ago, Podnews broke the story that Spotify is testing a "Skip ahead" ad-skipping tool for some customers. Perhaps making the most of its dominant market position, today we note that Spotify is selling its own unskippable podcast ads; and we discover that its terms and conditions gives Spotify the legal right to automatically skip everyone else's.
- Aug 14: An appearance on a comedy podcast by the Australian Prime Minister has resulted in an international diplomatic incident. In July, Anthony Albanese was criticised for responding to a game of "shag, marry, date" with the answer "Kylie Minogue, all of the above", and was forced to apologise. Now, political opponents, aided by the Murdoch press, have complained about a gesture Albanese made when he was describing two melons he was gifted by Japan's (female) prime minister; a former Japanese ambassador has described it as "casually mocking" the gift. It's headline news in Australia. The show, launched by NOVA Podcasts in May, is called Bush Deep, which apparently wasn't enough of a red flag to Albanese's media team.
- Aug 13: Podcast Movement has revealed featured speakers for the event in NYC in September. Among the speakers are Greg Glenday, the CEO of Acast, beehiiv's Ainsley Rossitto, and our Editor, James Cridland. Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster will also be unveiling new research. Tickets are available now.
- Aug 12: Podcast marketplace Acast has acquired Backyard Ventures, a US-based podcast network, for US $20mn. Backyard Ventures is home to podcasts like Piers Morgan's Uncensored, Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic, and audiences of more than 230 million. The team from Backyard Ventures will stay with the business; the brand will be retired as the company is integrated into Acast. Backyard shows are currently hosted and monetised by ART19 and Megaphone.
- Aug 11: Greg Glenday, CEO of Acast, has given a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about Spotify's "skip-ahead" ad-skipping button. "We do have some creators on the Acast platform who are not happy about this and we will support them completely as they evaluate any recourse. Acast is working privately with Spotify to understand if we could have collaborated more on the rollout or positioning," he said. Acast didn't give us a statement when we asked last week.
Data credits: Podnews newsletter