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Libsyn Ads
Libsyn Ads, formerly AdvertiseCast, combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-serv...
Ad sales and monetisation
Libsyn Ads, formerly AdvertiseCast, combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-serv...
Ad sales and monetisation
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September 4, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads reports that average podcast ad rates were down by just over 3% last month. The average CPM rate was $21.25.
September 2, 2024:
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In the Podcasting 2.0 show this week, we learn that Libsyn is hiring someone who’s role will be to take part in the Podcasting 2.0 community (among other things). We also learn that more than four thousand people are following podcasts using the “fediverse”, like Mastodon etc. (There’s a link in our podcast pages for that).
August 30, 2024:
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The National Security Agency is to launch a podcast next week. The government agency has chosen Libsyn as its podcast host.
August 28, 2024:
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Libsyn reports another new low for Apple Podcasts downloads - slipping to 46.7% of all downloads for shows on the podcast host.
August 27, 2024:
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Libsyn bought Julep Media, a German podcast advertising company, in Aug 2022; but it’s emerged that Julep Media is now independent again, after the original Julep management team bought the company back in March. David Mossler is the new CEO. Julep’s podcast hosting has been spun off to a new company called Audiorella, run by Christian Rymarenko, former Julep COO.
August 22, 2024:
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Libsyn is giving all its podcasters a six months free Universal Music for Creators subscription. Libsyn podcasters get access to more than 50,000 music tracks and 200,000 sound effects. It’s the first time this tool has been available to podcasters.
August 19, 2024:
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Adam Curry and Dave Jones talk about the history of the Podcasting 2.0 movement in the latest episode of the podcast. Entitled “All carrot, no stick”, the episode focuses on understanding recent critique from Libsyn’s Rob Walch.
August 15, 2024:
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In the first half of the year, advertising at Libsyn Ads has grown by 24% year-on-year. The company announced its presence at Podcast Movement 2024, and more promotions: Stephen Pickens and Anthony Savelli have been promoted to Executive Vice Presidents of Sales. The release does not mention last week’s departure of Interim CEO, John W Gibbons.
August 14, 2024:
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Marques Pfaff is to join Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) as Partner. Pfaff worked at AdvertiseCast for over five years, most recently as Director of Ad Operations. The other partners at AMP, John Donahue and Reggie Risseeuw, are also formerly of AdvertiseCast, now known as Libsyn Ads.
August 8, 2024:
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John W Gibbons is no longer the CEO of Libsyn, we understand: his departure was announced to the team on Tuesday. The company is also said to have sold Pair Networks, the website hosting company it owns, to a company based in Amsterdam. Libsyn has not made a statement, or responded to Podnews for comment.
August 1, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads released its July 2024 Podcast Advertising Rates. The average CPM rate was $21.90, essentially static against June’s $21.92. The company’s new CRO, Rick Selah, warns us that the holiday season is “just around the corner”.
July 22, 2024:
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Always interesting to check in on our page showing podcasters switching their show to a different podcast host. Over the last thirty days, the biggest winners are Megaphone, Spotify for Podcasters, and Acast. The biggest losers are Spreaker, SoundCloud and Libsyn.
July 17, 2024:
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Stephen Perlstein has been made SVP of Publishing for Libsyn Ads. He joins from Viral Nation.
July 16, 2024:
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At Libsyn Ads, CRO Dave Hanley and CIO Trevr Smithlin are leaving the company, three years after the acquisition of AdvertiseCast by Libsyn in 2021. “As significant shareholders & friends of the company, they remain strong supporters of the business,” says CEO John W Gibbons. “We’ve crossed a lot of ground together over the last 3 years, transforming Libsyn from a Hosting platform into a full-suite, monetization and hosting service company generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue for podcasters. It’s been a blast, wildly successful, and game-changing in so many ways.”
July 15, 2024:
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Dave Jackson has left Libsyn. One of the most respected podcast consultants and trainers, Dave had worked with the Libsyn team for eight years. But it’s him, not them. “There is nothing wrong with Libsyn”, he said, adding “when you hear where I’m going you’ll see it’s simply a better fit for my educational skillset”. We get to find out where on Jul 29 - in, of course, the School of Podcasting podcast.
July 2, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads released its June 2024 ad rates - average CPMs were $21.90, up 1.2% from May, and down 0.3% from last year. Technology podcasts pay the most; fiction podcasts are “more accessible”, the company says.
June 27, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads has signed an exclusive ad partnership with Mark Haynes Productions for an audio drama, Hindsight: The Day Before.
June 21, 2024:
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Riverside’s Kendall Brietman is on the Podnews Weekly Review this week to explain more of the features.
June 19, 2024:
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Libsyn stats for May show another new low for Apple Podcasts, and another new high for Spotify. The iOS/Android ratio is also at a new low. Google Podcasts slipped to 7th place; it closes internationally this Sunday.
June 18, 2024:
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Libsyn has integrated YouTube Music’s API, which lets podcasters automatically upload shows to YouTube. The API, which was announced at Podcast Movement Evolutions in March, automates the process of telling YouTube where your RSS feed is: Libsyn also pulls in statistics from YouTube to a separate page in the Libsyn dashboard.
June 17, 2024:
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Libsyn has blogged about earning IAB v2.1 podcast measurement certification - the company is certified for Download, Ad Delivery and Listener. It’s the first time the company has covered the news; Podnews reported its recertification when it happened in April.
June 10, 2024:
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Libsyn’s Wordpress “Publisher Hub” plugin was removed in March for a “security issue”, possibly this one. The plugin was last worked-on in Sep 2023; it is, however, still promoted on the Libsyn website.
June 6, 2024:
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Libsyn is reporting an all-time low for Apple Podcasts and an all-time high for Spotify, in the company’s latest figures. (If you missed it, we broke out Spotify’s data per country a few weeks ago.)
June 4, 2024:
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Average CPM at Libsyn Ads dropped 7.4% year-on-year in May, according to new data released from the company. The average, $21.63, is down 1.2% from April.
May 23, 2024:
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Libsyn Studio, the company’s online recording tool, has suddenly closed. An email to customers said it was a “difficult decision”. No alternative tool was offered; we’d recommend Podcastle, and other alternatives include Alitu, Riverside and Descript.
May 14, 2024:
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The Madhouse Chronicles is a new raucous talk show hosted by rock legend Ozzy Osbourne and his best friend Billy Morrison, diving into the internet’s wildest clips and tackling topics ranging from aliens to rock 'n’ roll. It's just been signed by Libsyn Ads.
May 8, 2024:
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In the US, Libsyn Ads debuts at #3 publisher, while in podcasts, The Daily is #1 again, beating NPR News Now.
May 2, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads reports a slight drop in average podcast CPM to $21.75 last month, down 0.9% monthly, 4.5% yearly. The company is speaking at the IAB Podcast Upfronts next week.
April 22, 2024:
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Last week, Libsyn was recertified under the IAB Podcast Measurement Guidelines v2.1. Captivate and Buzzsprout were last certified under v2.0 in 2020, but both companies are in the process of recertification.
April 18, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads has announced a partnership to represent the Toronto Star’s podcasts for ad sales.
April 2, 2024:
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Libsyn Ads published its podcast ad rates for March. Average CPM was $21.95, down slightly from February’s $21.98 and March 2023’s $22.10.
March 28, 2024:
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Correction: Yesterday, we said that the Locked On Podcast Network were represented by Libsyn Ads before they signed with Adswizz. We based this on a page on the Libsyn Ads website which sold “a full network buy” of the Locked On Network. That page was deleted after we published yesterday; and both companies say that Locked On did not work with Libsyn Ads, so we clearly got things wrong and we regret the error. We’re told they were with Spotify/Megaphone.
March 27, 2024:
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The Locked On podcast network is to be represented for adsales by Adswizz. They were with Libsyn Ads, formerly AdvertiseCast.
March 21, 2024:
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Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast is now Libsyn Ads, in a rebrand announced today. It’s “a natural progression of the successful execution of our platform strategy”, says CRO Dave Hanley.
March 12, 2024:
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Libsyn has added support for podcast transcripts. Users can upload a transcript in SRT or VTT format. Need one making? Libsyn’s competitor Spreaker offers a website (and desktop app) offering free podcast transcription for everyone.
March 7, 2024:
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Libsyn has reported a record share of downloads from Spotify, at 20%.
March 6, 2024:
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Congratulations to long-time Podnews supporter Rick Selah for becoming Executive Vice President of Sales for Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast. Selah was a founder of PodAdReps, worked at Himalaya, CastPlus and Westwood One.
March 1, 2024:
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Podcast ad rates are up month-on-month, according to Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast; the average CPM spot in February was $21.99, up from $21.61 in January, and unchanged year-on-year. (Cost per thousand downloads are, of course, related to total downloads: which, as we covered recently, are down by nearly a third.)
February 27, 2024:
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A new sales company has launched for podcasters and YouTube creators: Amplitude Media Partners has been formed by John Donahue, who was most recently Senior VP of Sales at Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast. He says: “Our network’s goal is to assist Independent Creators in monetising their content through a back-to-basics approach of dedication and transparency, utilizing our experience and extensive Advertiser connections.”
February 16, 2024:
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Podtrac has launched a global ranking - the first to include YouTube views. The first ranker for January 2024 says that Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast is #1 for “streams, downloads and views”, with the DailyWire+ at #2. However, DailyWire+ shows do 32x better on average than AdvertiseCast’s.
February 2, 2024:
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Libsyn’s Advertisecast released January’s podcast advertising market rates. The average CPM rate was $21.69 for a 60-second ad spot - that’s down from December’s $22.91, and from January 2023’s $22.21.
January 30, 2024:
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Yesterday, we mentioned that Apple Podcasts had mistakenly included Libsyn as a company supporting Podcasting 2.0’s transcripts feature. Libsyn had criticised the standard and clarified it didn’t support the feature. Today, we note they’ve disappeared from the list - along with Acast, Firstory, Pinecast, Podigee, Simplecast, Ximalaya and ZenCast. (We think Fireside and Pinecast support transcripts, incidentally).
January 29, 2024:
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Libsyn is erroneously marked as a podcast host supporting transcripts by Apple Podcasts. Libsyn’s support team has clarified that it does not support this feature (unless you write the XML yourself in Libsyn4, and host your transcripts separately). The company criticised Podcasting 2.0 in its official podcast last week.
January 26, 2024:
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The Podnews Weekly Review looks at the Digital Markets Act, and what this new EU legislation might mean for podcasters. We also take a listen in to Libsyn's The Feed, which claimed that Apple Podcasts doesn't support any Podcasting 2.0 feature. That comment got old quickly...
January 24, 2024:
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Is “Podcasting 2.0” clear enough? In the latest episode of The Feed, the official Libsyn podcast, Rob and Elsie highlight some of the problems with the new features, including poor app support and that it’s difficult to explain, especially to those new to podcasting in general. (We’ve a short transcript).
January 22, 2024:
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Podfest is later this week; some of Libsyn’s team will be there, they say.
January 10, 2024:
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Blubrry has published a new Statistics Report for January, including data from the Blubrry directory, and popular podcast apps. Unlike similar data from Buzzsprout and Libsyn, Spotify achieves less than 2% of all downloads and is not listed in the top podcast apps.
January 9, 2024:
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Moms and Mysteries has renewed its advertising sales agreement with Libsyn's AdvertiseCast. The show has amassed more than 30 million downloads to date.
January 8, 2024:
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Ten podcast companies are still not certified for the latest version of the IAB’s podcast measurement guidelines v2.1, in spite of being asked to do so by the end of 2022. More than a year later, the IAB’s list of compliant companies still shows AdsWizz, Anchor (now Spotify), Buzzsprout, Captivate, Chartable, Libsyn, Megaphone, Podbean, Podtrac and Simplecast as only compliant to v2.0 of the guidelines, something that means “they will lose current status”, according to the IAB Tech Lab.
January 3, 2024:
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The average cost-per-thousand for podcast ads in 2023 was $22.58, says Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast. That represents a 6% drop year-on-year - a “relatively small decrease which demonstrates the resiliency of the podcast advertising ecosystem.“
December 21, 2023:
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The effect of iOS 17’s changes in Apple Podcasts could be 30% fewer downloads for your show, according to Libsyn’s Rob Walch, speaking in The Feed. “If shows have over 300 episodes, they could and should expect to see their weekly downloads at the end of November be greater than a 25% drop below where their weekly numbers were in early September.” He adds: “Your audience size did not change. Those numbers? That was extra downloads (from) your back catalog (that) weren't being listened to. It's just right sizing your monthly and weekly downloads to what's more realistic and what's really happening.”
December 11, 2023:
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Elsie Escobar and Libsyn are releasing a prediction video at 8am ET today. Among those interviewed: our Editor, James Cridland.
December 7, 2023:
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John Donahue, SVP of Sales for Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast, has left the company. “For the moment, I've been given the gift of time and intend to use it wisely.” He’d been with the company since 2018.
December 5, 2023:
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What’s the future for IAB Podcast Measurement? In November 2022, we reported that the IAB’s v2.0 certification would no longer be valid after Dec 31 2023. As of today, some of podcasting’s largest names are still only compliant to v2.0, and all will lose their claim to certification by the end of the year unless recertified: Adswizz, Buzzsprout, Captivate, Chartable, “EmpireStreaming” (now Soundstack), Libsyn, PodBean, Podtrac, Simplecast, and “Anchor” (now Spotify Creator Studio).
December 1, 2023:
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Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast suggests that in 2024 advertisers will get more comfortable with brand safety in podcasting; and that more precise regional and local targeting will mean a boom in that sector of advertising. The predictions are made alongside the company’s average CPM for November, which rose 2.6% month-on-month to $22.96, though is down more than 6% year-on-year.
November 22, 2023:
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The change in auto-download behaviour for Apple Podcasts is showing up in Libsyn's data for October: Apple's share of downloads dropped 3.6% from August. Buzzsprout earlier reported a drop of 4.8% for Apple. (We're comparing August to October here, since iOS 17 rolled out in mid September.)
November 1, 2023:
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The Marketplace Podcast Advertising Rates at Libsyn's AdvertiseCast fell to an average CPM of $22.39 in October. That's a 2.2% drop on September, and a 6.5% drop year-on-year.
October 31, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed an ad partnership deal with Big IP Media to cover four popular reality-TV podcasts ... PodcastOne signed multiyear extensions for On Display with Melissa Gorga, Gals on the Go and LADYGANG (which it renewed in March) ... ARN's iHeart Podcast Network Australia announced a multi-year sales partnership with 7NEWS, Australia’s most-watched television network for news and public affairs. ARN has launched a takeover bid for its rival SCA/LiSTNR.
October 26, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed exclusive ad partnerships with ReversABLE: The Ultimate Gut Health Podcast and The Killing Month August 1978 from WRAL, which was previously only available on Wondery+.
October 24, 2023:
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Podcast hosting company Libsyn made a number of people redundant on Friday: among them, software developer Nick Michaels, Product Manager Yvette Jenny Menase, Web developers Gary Hlusko, Michael Scarlett, and Software Engineer Jeremiah Voltz. At Pair, Customer Service Rhonda Webb, Apps Security Jaime Eberley, and another five roles have been removed from Libsyn-owned Pair since June.
October 4, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast unveiled its September 2023 podcast ad rates. The average CPM rate was $22.91, up 3.8% month-on-month. The company also highlighted their brand safety tools from ComScore.
September 25, 2023:
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Ashley Carman reports on a closed-door meeting organised by Libsyn at Podcast Movement about fraudulent download numbers. Some fraud is easy to spot, the company said, including podcasters editing screenshots of their data, or unusual levels of traffic from browsers.
September 11, 2023:
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Podtrac's US data for August shows a 7% increase in global downloads over July. There is no change in the top 5, with iHeartPodcasts being #1 for podcasts and showing an 11% increase in total global downloads. Libsyn's AdvertiseCast saw an increase of 27% of global downloads month-on-month. The data measures participating publishers.
September 6, 2023:
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In the US, ABC Audio has announced an exclusive multiyear podcast advertising partnership with Libsyn's AdvertiseCast. Shows include Edward R. Murrow Award Winners Start Here and Reclaimed.
August 30, 2023:
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Podcast host Libsyn has launched LibsynEDU, aimed at fostering excellence in podcasting and nurturing the next generation of podcasting talent. The company is also announcing the creation of the Libsyn Fellowship for a student enrolled in NYU's Podcasting and Audio Reportage master’s concentration.
August 21, 2023:
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John W. Gibbons has been appointed to the Board of Directors at Libsyn (booth #101). He is serving as Interim CEO and Chief Product Officer.
August 17, 2023:
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Libsyn (Podcast Movement booth #101) has unveiled Predictive Contextual Targeting for podcast advertising. The company has also released data showing the size of the company's US unique monthly audience (over 16mn, bigger than The New York Times or NBC News), and is "on track to deliver 500mn monthly impressions".
August 11, 2023:
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Libsyn has announced a new Chief Financial Officer - Charles F. (“Chuck”) Cargile. He replaces Jonathan Charak.
August 4, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed two new podcast networks: Multitude and Upfire Digital will now be represented exclusively by AdvertiseCast.
August 1, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports that the average CPM for podcast advertising in its marketplace fell last month to $22.24. It's the lowest level for four months, and is down 3.6% from June's figures.
July 24, 2023:
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Another Kast Media show Happy Sad Confused, which signed in January, had a Kast Media logo on its thumbnail in mid June, but now doesn't, and has shifted hosting to Libsyn.
July 20, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed a new exclusive ad partnership with podcast producer Big IP Media … iHeart has signed a strategic partnership with LinkedIn and the LinkedIn Podcast Network … meanwhile, in France, Audion has signed Engle and Slate France to use Audion360, the company's podcast distribution and monetisation tool.
July 14, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has renewed its partnership with improv comedy show The Commercial Break. The Commercial Break will leverage AdvertiseCast’s full-service advertising platform, including the incorporation of host-read ads, as well as other service offerings.
July 12, 2023:
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Podcast host Libsyn has published its latest platform stats. Spotify is showing a record number of downloads on the platform. (In March, Spotify released "Auto Play for Podcasts", which plays other relevant episodes after one finishes; and its new scrollable interface for podcasts)
July 3, 2023:
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Spotify for Podcasters, formerly Anchor, saw a big drop in share of new podcast episodes in June, according to Livewire. Omny Studio overtook Libsyn to gain the #4 slot. For tracking services, Podtrac increased its lead over Spotify's various tracking tools.
June 27, 2023:
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TWiT is switching away from Spotify - the company is now using Podscribe, and is testing Libsyn's AdvertiseCast instead of Megaphone. "Advertisecast has a higher fill rate, plus we hope to partner with them on the host-read ads side of our business," says Lisa Laporte.
June 26, 2023:
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John W Gibbons has been appointed interim CEO for podcast hosting and monetisation company Libsyn. He's been with the company since January 2022, and was previously CEO of Pocket Casts. He takes over from Bradley Tirpak, who will continue to advise the company (and owns an amount of the company's private stock).
June 16, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed an exclusive ad partnership with The Roseanne Barr Podcast. The show launched yesterday.
June 5, 2023:
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"I asked AI to make a podcast - the results are terrifying" - Libsyn's Brian Cottington used AI for every step of the way.
May 11, 2023:
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The NewsWorthy has renewed its agreement with Libsyn's AdvertiseCast. The daily news show offers a “fast, fair, and fun” look at the top stories hosted by award-winning journalist Erica Mandy.
May 2, 2023:
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April's average CPM rates for Libsyn's AdvertiseCast were up 4% to $23.07. The company has also announced that it is a sponsor of the 2023 IAB Podcast Upfront.
April 28, 2023:
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Hosting: Libsyn won a Stevie Award for product innovation … Buzzsprout has added unlimited team members to its podcast hosting service.
April 27, 2023:
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Get Your Dream Guest in 5 Steps promises Libsyn, offering an interview booking process and preparing questions.
April 18, 2023:
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Deals: ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Australia has renewed its representation deal with Audioboom as a "multi-year partnership". … PodcastOne has acquired two shows - a hit rewatch show Causing a Scene, previously known as The Netchicks on Libsyn, and I've had it, which was formerly on Podbean … Syntax has been acquired by Sentry, a code analytics product, on the occasion of its 600th show. "We personally loved Scott and Wes’ ad reads for Sentry, but going forward the podcast will be free of paid advertising".
April 17, 2023:
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At the NAB Show, a number of podcast companies including Blubrry, Podbean and Libsyn are exhibiting among the plethora of equipment manufacturers. The event has a podcast conference track: among the speakers: our Editor, James Cridland, interviews Valerie Geller in Podcasting in 2023: Where Are We & Where Are We Going? (11.30am, N255/N257)
April 13, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has renewed a number of exclusive ad partnerships with a number of popular shows.
April 12, 2023:
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Philadelphia PA, USA, isn't just home to Libsyn - it's the home to a new podcast booth that could be Philadelphia’s most visible podcasting studio. Find it at the Bower Cafe on 1213 Walnut Street.
April 11, 2023:
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Podtastic Audio has made it to 100 episodes: the show aims to "deliver value to the indie podcaster", and help them learn basic techniques that will make their podcast stand out. Brian Cottington of Libsyn is the guest for this episode - a filmmaker and podcaster.
April 6, 2023:
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Podcast hosting company Libsyn's publishing and content management platform is now available in Spanish.
April 5, 2023:
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Libsyn's latest platform stats numbers seem to mirror Buzzsprout's in seeing a drop for their "Apple Podcasts" numbers (which include AppleCoreMedia), and a year's high for listens on Spotify.
April 4, 2023:
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Podcast ad revenue is up. Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports an increase of average CPM to $22.17 for March: an increase from February of less than 1%.
March 30, 2023:
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Patrick Dolan has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board at Libsyn. He became a Director in Nov 2021.
March 28, 2023:
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Libsyn's Glow has unveiled integration with Spotify Open Access. It joins a number of publishers and services making their premium subscription content available on the platform.
March 23, 2023:
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Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast has hired Cody Kleitz as a Sales Associate. He was at Havas Edge, where he served as a Media Buyer for the performance marketing agency’s Influencer Marketing team. Before that, he was a Media Manager at Veritone One.
March 15, 2023:
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Agreements: Audacia has signed with AdsWizz to represent marketplace ad inventory across streaming and podcasts in Asia … Backyard Ventures has signed with Libsyn's Automatic Ads to help monetise their content.
March 7, 2023:
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Meredith Krantz has been announced as Director of Brand Partnerships at Libsyn's AdvertiseCast. She joins from the Cumulus Podcast Network.
March 3, 2023:
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Paid-for podcast host Libsyn released a financial statement for 2022. The podcast hosting and monetisation platform says it made $58.7mn in revenue; including more than $33mn from advertising.
March 2, 2023:
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Podcast host Libsyn has slipped to #5 in new podcast episode market share. The company had been #4 since the data started in Sep 2021. It was overtaken by Omny Studio; Anchor increased its market share to 22.3% - the highest since August of last year.
February 28, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed an ad partnership with The Viall Files. The podcast will also use Libsyn's own subscriptions platform, and the company's automatic ads solution.
February 14, 2023:
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We need to do a better job, says Elsie Escobar, of keeping our own historical records. She has written a post focusing on four Black podcast creators. Meanwhile, the EarBuds Podcast Collective - which celebrates its sixth anniversary this week - shares podcasts about Black history.
February 8, 2023:
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Libsyn's The Feed podcast has added a
podcast:soundbite
audio clip from the new podcast namespace into their RSS feed: we think that is the first use of the new podcast namespace for the show. You'll see the clip appear in this compatible podcast player. The audio, "there is no cliff", agrees with Podnews's analysis about the "big decrease of new podcasts".
February 3, 2023:
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Libsyn has signed a Canadian comedy podcast network and an NHL show to Libsyn's AdvertiseCast.
February 2, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports a significant drop in average podcast CPM rates for January. At $22.28, the average rate in its marketplace is down 12% year-on-year, and is the lowest figure for 23 months.
January 31, 2023:
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Libsyn has unveiled an integration with YouTube metrics data. Libsyn podcasters will see metrics for shows; AdvertiseCast will also use this data in its marketplace.
January 27, 2023:
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Covered by Podnews on Jan 18, Libsyn has officially announced Libsyn Connect, a browser-based remote recording tool, and a number of other creator offerings, at Podfest in Orlando.
January 18, 2023:
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Libsyn has launched Libsyn Connect, a browser-based remote recording tool. Here are the support documents; it's free for every Libsyn customer until Feb 7, and will be available for any customer on a $20+ plan.
January 10, 2023:
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Later today, Apple Podcasts will announce the launch of Delegated Delivery (beta), allowing creators to publish Apple Podcasts Subscriptions content directly from their participating hosting provider dashboard. Blubrry, Libsyn, Triton Digital's Omny Studio and RSS·com are the first to offer the service: Acast, ART19, Buzzsprout and other providers will follow. Creators can still upload subscriber audio directly to Apple Podcasts Connect.
January 3, 2023:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast report that December's average podcast advertising rate was $23.57 CPM, a drop of 4% month-on-month. The company's release also gives an average CPM rate in 2022 of $23.87, which was 2.4% higher than 2021's $23.30.
December 22, 2022:
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Livewire reports that Libsyn's podcast consumption stats are now using IAB-compliant numbers. Those figures had been their own legacy numbers until September. The company appears to include all AppleCoreMedia downloads under Apple Podcasts data, and claims Apple has 69.5% of all downloads, Spotify 13.7%, and Google Podcasts at 2.2%.
December 21, 2022:
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First look: The Program has published its annual report, looking at where the fiction podcast grew and earnt money. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions were the second biggest revenue source, in spite of a relatively low price ($4/month). The producer also covers their experience with Libsyn's AdvertiseCast and Rusty Quill; and what happened when they started posting shows on YouTube.
December 12, 2022:
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The latest episode of Built to Sell Radio has AdvertiseCast's Trevr Smithlin and Dave Hanley talking about their acquisition by Libsyn. It includes "a crafty negotiation tactic to increase an acquirer’s offer"...
December 9, 2022:
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Libsyn has announced a new user interface, and integration of Libsyn Studio into its platform (which we reported Nov 23). The press release contains a code to try Libsyn free.
December 5, 2022:
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By 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities, and How to Really Run a City is new from The Philadelphia Citizen, telling us how mayors and their teams should be innovating. It's hosted by Kasim Reed (Atlanta's mayor from 2010 to 2018) and Michael Nutter (Philadelphia's mayor from 2008 to 2016); and, fittingly for a podcast from Philadelphia, is hosted by Libsyn, who are based there.
December 2, 2022:
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Rob Greenlee is now SVP, Content and Partnerships, at Podbean. A podcast hall of famer, he'd been at Libsyn since 2019.
December 1, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast revealed its marketplace ad rates for November. The average CPM was $24.76, up 3% month-on-month and up 6% year-on-year.
November 29, 2022:
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Taylor Kirch has been announced as Director of Product Management at Libsyn. She joins from Pandora and SiriusXM.
November 23, 2022:
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Libsyn has closed its free podcast hosting platform, Libsyn Studio. Launched nine months ago, it offered ad-supported free podcast hosting: the recording tool is now a feature for all paid Libsyn plans. The service lets you record directly from your computer into Libsyn, and assemble a show with custom intro and outros. Libsyn Studio accounts have been migrated to Libsyn 5.
November 21, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has signed an exclusive partnership with Not Even Mad, a new political debate podcast.
November 10, 2022:
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Libsyn had a small problem with scheduled episode publishing yesterday. It was fixed in just over an hour, and was the first issue with the platform since July.
November 7, 2022:
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How was Libsyn's hosting done when launched 18 years ago in 2004? Here, from one of the founders, is one of their notes - underneath an architecture diagram, the phrase "research colo and dedicated hosting".
November 4, 2022:
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Podcast hosting company Libsyn - the first in the world - turns 18 tomorrow. Founded by Dave Mansueto, Matt Hoopes, Marty Mulligan, and Dave Chekan on Nov 5, 2004, here's the back story and, rescued from the web, Libsyn's first video ad. Libsyn's CEO Brad Tirpak told Podnews: “We’re proud of our growth and transformation. Our innovation and investments are paying off — with the scaling of our advertising business, international expansion, and enhancements to our industry-leading tools.” Under US law, now it's 18, Libsyn will be legally able to get a tattoo, vote, use a meat slicer, and adopt a child.
November 3, 2022:
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Libsyn is offering Sounder customers their first 6 months for free. The company joins Co-Host in offering migration. Sounder announced it was closing its podcast hosting for more than 5,000 shows.
November 2, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports a rise in average CPM in October to $24.26. The second-highest figure on record, it's a 3.3% annual growth, or 0.4% monthly.
October 27, 2022:
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Greg Buretz has been promoted to CTO of Libsyn in an announcement today. He's worked for the company for more than ten years, and is the company's first CTO.
October 24, 2022:
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A group of podcast companies, RSS Buzzsprout Transistor Libsyn and Acast, are working on a project to promote open standards for podcasting. "The Podcast Standards Project" hopes to launch its website before January's Podfest.
October 19, 2022:
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Podtrac has launched a new Podcast Sales Network Ranking. The initial ranking, for September, places Wondery at #1, with a US monthly audience of 25 million. Others in the ranking include Podcast One, and new to Podtrac's measurement, Acast and Libsyn's AdvertiseCast - we understand more sales networks are lined-up to be included.
October 17, 2022:
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TikTok's parent company also owns Resso, a music streaming service in Brazil, India and Indonesia, which already carries podcasts from hosts like Libsyn.
October 5, 2022:
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Libsyn has been announced as a presenting sponsor of BIPOC Podcast Creators. Additional sponsors include NPR, Simplecast, and Sounds Profitable.
October 3, 2022:
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There has been a jump in the average CPM for podcast advertising, according to Libsyn's AdvertiseCast: the average is now $24.35, the second-highest on record. It's up 3.7% month-on-month, or 5% year-on-year.
September 29, 2022:
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Spotted: The Ramsey Network switched from Libsyn to Megaphone a few months ago. Flagship The Ramsey Show reached a billion downloads in Mar 21.
September 2, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast said that the average CPM rate for podcast advertising within AdvertiseCast's marketplace in August was $23.51. It's down year-on-year from $23.70, and month-on-month from $23.63.
August 30, 2022:
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Podcast startup Auddy has purchased Audiomy, a podcast advertising company focused on the German language region of Europe with access to around 450 podcasts, 70 from Austria. No terms were given. Auddy announced the closure of their £2.5m investment round earlier this month. Podcast host Libsyn also recently purchased a German podcast company.
August 24, 2022:
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Libsyn will today be announcing a new programmatic ad solution for Libsyn-hosted shows. The beta program for Libsyn's Auto Ads, which allows pre, mid and post-roll, is now open for application. Additionally, the company has announced it has made more than $50m in advertising earnings for podcasters.
August 18, 2022:
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Yesterday it expanded podcast advertising services into Germany; today, Libsyn has announced it is expanding into Canada. The company has announced the appointment of Bob Kane (Podnews told you in June), and has signed Bob McCown and The Sonar Network.
August 17, 2022:
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Libsyn is expanding to Europe by acquiring German podcast company Julep Media. The company is Germany’s largest independent platform for podcast advertising, and gives Libsyn opportunities across Europe: adding to the company's other advertising acquisitions of AdvertiseCast in April 21, Podgo in Nov 21, and Podcast Ad Reps in Feb 22.
August 3, 2022:
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Edison Research will unveil The Latino Podcast Listener Report 2022 in a free webinar on Aug 16. It'll be presented by Edison Research's Gabriel Soto and Elsie Escobar from Libsyn and She Podcasts.
August 2, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports that the average CPM for their marketplace for July was $23.60, up slightly from a year ago. The highest CPM category was technology, at $28.
July 26, 2022:
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Parts of Libsyn were down for over five hours yesterday. Downtime happens to all of us; this was related to a database change. Apart from delayed stats processing, all is now well.
July 19, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has a new exclusive ad partnership deal with BiggerPockets, a real estate investing media network.
July 14, 2022:
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Libsyn's Glow, the company's podcast monetisation platform, has seen a 167% revenue growth since its acquisition in April 2021, the company says. The product lets podcasters sell subscriptions and accept monetary support.
July 7, 2022:
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Libsyn Studio, the company's free podcast maker tool, is running a brief user survey to help shape the future of the product. Watch your email if you've used the service in the past.
July 1, 2022:
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Libsyn has added a new distribution point - Resso, a music streaming service available in Brazil, Indonesia and India.
June 13, 2022:
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Brad Tirpak, Libsyn's CEO, will be speaking at the Credit Suisse 24th Annual Communications Conference on Wednesday. He'll be taking part in a virtual panel discussion on podcasting from 8.45am. Tomorrow, SiriusXM's Jennifer Witz at 12.45pm (listen).
June 9, 2022:
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Bob Kane was at Canadian Music Week representing Libsyn AdvertiseCast. He'd worked at TPX and CBC.
June 7, 2022:
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Buzzsprout's global stats don't include AppleCoreMedia, under-estimating downloads from Apple Podcasts. On the other hand, Libsyn's stats wrongly attribute all traffic to AppleCoreMedia as Apple Podcasts.
June 3, 2022:
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After its shares were suspended in April, Libsyn has confirmed it is no longer a publicly-listed company, telling Podnews in a statement: "The Company agreed to the deregistration of its shares with the SEC. When it completes its financial audits, the Company intends to re-register with the SEC and re-list on an exchange. The shareholders who purchased shares when it was publicly listed retain their exact same number of shares and proportional ownership interest in Libsyn as a private company." The company's ad business grew more than 50% last year, and it has hired additional financial staff, below.
June 2, 2022:
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Sounds Profitable announced the Business Leaders Summit, in collaboration with Podcast Movement on Tuesday, Aug 23, in Dallas TX. The summit is built with four sessions: new research, successful measurement, video and programmatic. People at companies that sponsor Sounds Profitable, like Libsyn's AdvertiseCast, get in for free.
June 1, 2022:
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Amid concern about inflation and energy prices, Libsyn's AdvertiseCast report that May's average CPM rate was $23.77 for podcast advertising. That's remarkably stable - down less than 1% from April's $23.94, and almost identical to May 2021's $23.81. Libsyn bought AdvertiseCast one year ago.
May 20, 2022:
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Libsyn Studio, Libsyn's free podcast host, has added Reusable Chapters as a tool to help speed up podcast creation, among other improvements.
May 17, 2022:
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A number of initial podcast hosting companies have been announced including RSS·com, Libsyn and Buzzsprout; but if you run a podcast hosting company and wish to participate in Delegated Delivery, you're encouraged to fill out this form. (Memo to Apple: here's a list).
May 16, 2022:
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At Radiodays Europe, Acast's Daniella Murphy highlighted good podcast ad creative in a session about monetisation. She gave ten "commandments" for good creative. Rob Greenlee, from Libsyn's AdvertiseCast, also gave an overview of podcast monetisation.
May 11, 2022:
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Gemini XIII has invested in podcast and book publisher Diversion to launch a new premium podcast network, Diversion Audio. Diversion Audio’s podcasts will drive new audience communities and tell expert-driven stories that spring from Diversion’s book titles. (Scott Waxman, Diversion's Founder, spoke to Podland earlier this year.)
May 3, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast saw an average CPM of $24.01 in April. It's the second-highest figure on record, 3.2% up year-on-year.
May 2, 2022:
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More than a quarter of new podcast episodes published in April were on Anchor, according to data from John Spurlock: Spotify's free podcast host was responsible for 25.8% of all new podcast episodes in April, breaking 25% for the first time. The rest of the top five were Buzzsprout, Spreaker, Libsyn, and at #5, Podbean which overtook Omny Studio last month. More ranking detail in The Tech Stuff, below.
April 22, 2022:
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Libsyn's Rob Greenlee will be at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. He'll be speaking about podcast advertising, and taking part in live editions of New Media Show. Meanwhile, Radiotopia from PRX will be at the Tribeca Festival in New York City, the podcast network has announced.
April 20, 2022:
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Libsyn, parent company to AdvertiseCast, has had trading in its shares suspended by the SEC. The company hasn't filed financial reports for any period since Sep 30, 2020. The company appointed a new CFO at the end of last year to help sort things out.
April 12, 2022:
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#forthespammers: Acast is under fire for continuing to send spam to attract new podcasters to its platform, with one podcast consultant reporting that Acast had spammed his client within seconds of signing with a competitor. A majority of Acast's mailings seen by Podnews omit a physical postal address, which is required by US law. One unsolicited Acast email claims that "you subscribed to our newsletter via the beefree·io website", but BeeFree has denied any affiliation with Acast. Acast's emails also reference Mailup Inc; but mail headers reveal that Acast's emails are sent using a competitor, Mailgun (via customer·io). Acast haven't responded to our questions about their emails; they last gave us a cursory statement in February.
April 11, 2022:
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Podcast host Anchor's creator interface is now available in 35 different languages. Of the top five podcast hosts, Omny Studio is in six languages, Spreaker available in four; Buzzsprout and Libsyn only offer English, though YouTube is in 82 different languages. It's unclear whether support is available in all of them. Podcasting is growing faster in non-English languages.
April 4, 2022:
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Anchor, Buzzsprout and Spreaker were the podcast hosting companies who published the most new episodes in March. John Spurlock's monthly data shows a significant rise for Libsyn (possibly due to the launch of Libsyn Studio, its free podcast hosting alternative).
March 16, 2022:
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Libsyn has $4.75m of new equity financing, and now has $13m in the bank. And, AdvertiseCast's revenue exceeded $18m in the calendar year of 2021, the company says.
March 11, 2022:
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Libsyn quietly improved its monthly hosting plans in early February: more than trebling the available storage for its cheapest plan, and increasing most of its others. Blubrry announced similar changes yesterday. At 128kbps stereo, audio is roughly 1MB a minute.
March 10, 2022:
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Bill Maher, a US comedian and host of HBO's Real Time, is to launch a podcast. Club Random, hosted on Libsyn, will launch on Mar 21.
March 9, 2022:
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Radiodays Europe, in Malmö, Sweden, this May, has announced a Podcast Summit as a pre-conference event. Speakers haven't yet been announced, but we can exclusively tell you Rob Greenlee from Libsyn is one of those speakers; and the summit will be moderated by James Cridland, Podnews's Editor.
March 7, 2022:
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In our sample, we observed Buzzsprout losing 27 podcasts last week, and Libsyn losing 14. The podcast hosts gaining the most were, as they always are, Anchor and Megaphone; though Simplecast and Acast also saw a good number of migrations.
March 3, 2022:
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Libsyn has closed its acquisition of Podcast Ad Reps, or, as its 8K says, "consummated the transaction".
March 1, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports that the average CPM for podcast ads in its marketplace is up 6.3% year-on-year. February's figure fell slightly from January's record high, to $23.61.
February 25, 2022:
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Spammer Corner: Two minutes after publishing details of Stockholm-based Acast spamming podcasters who use competing platforms, we got spam from Berlin-based Audry, inviting our test podcast PodClock to their platform. It's considered illegal to scrape RSS feeds under the GDPR to obtain personal details of EU citizens, like the owner of PodClock.
February 23, 2022:
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Libsyn has launched Libsyn Studio Beta, "an all-in-one free platform for new and casual creators to plan, launch, and distribute their podcasts". Here's a how-to video showing how it works. It publishes shows directly to Libsyn - here's a test show we made - and contains a midroll ad and postroll credit. Libsyn Studio builds on the company's acquisition of Auxbus a year ago.
February 15, 2022:
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A podcast has turned into its own radio station in the UK. Libsyn-hosted The Alfred Daily, a 40-minute daily local news show, is now being broadcast on 107.3FM across Shaftesbury in Dorset. The podcast, and station, is staffed by volunteers, and uses the Hindenburg editor. The podcast has been doing 1,000 downloads a day (the area it covers is just 12,000 people).
February 14, 2022:
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Podcast host Libsyn has been "delinquent with its financial filings", according to the SEC, which has ordered proceedings against the company. This may mean, Libsyn acknowledge, that stock in the company may not be able to be traded. The company says it is "working closely with its external counsel, independent auditors, and tax experts to as promptly as practicable finalize and file the Outstanding Exchange Act Reports and any reports that become due subsequently." Libsyn are title sponsor of Podnews this month.
February 9, 2022:
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This year's Podcasting Hall of Fame inductees will be unveiled at 9am ET today by Podcast Movement. Presented by Libsyn, the honor recognizes an individual’s outstanding work in podcasts and their significant contributions to the booming podcast industry: we're expecting eight new inductees to be announced. The ceremony itself is at Podcast Movement Evolutions on May 25; past inductees are on the Hall of Fame website, including School of Podcasting's Dave Jackson, above.
February 2, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports a significant rise in podcast ad rates in their marketplace for January. Average CPM is now $25.39, up 6.1% from $23.91 last month, and up 12.8% year-on-year.
January 31, 2022:
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Other, more innocent, parties have been caught in the crossfire. PodcastAddict has received a number of one-star ratings furious that Rogan has been censored from PodcastAddict, while others protested that he should be removed from it. (The show still exists as an open, but empty, RSS feed).
January 27, 2022:
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Acast was announced as a launch partner for Spotify's Open Access subscription tool in July last year; but Acast+ doesn't work with the tool. Memberful and Libsyn's Glow were also announced as launch partners; but have also yet to roll out support. We hear whispers that Spotify Open Access requires mandatory caching of audio, which cedes considerable control away from podcast hosting companies.
January 24, 2022:
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The launch of Libsyn5 last week also means a new, more private, RSS feed address for shows. Libsyn had used unique domain names for RSS feeds, which are never encrypted and bad for listener privacy. New feeds from Libsyn will come from
feeds.libsyn.com
- older feeds don't yet 301-redirect, but we assume they will. (If all that's tech-speak - don't worry, you need do nothing).
January 21, 2022:
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Libsyn has put its new user interface, Libsyn5, live to all users. The new interface is easier to use, and features 'social scheduling' and support of the locked tag.
January 13, 2022:
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The Podcast Hall of Fame is coming back. Presented by Libsyn, the awards recognise those that have made a difference to podcasting. The ceremony will be held at Podcast Movement Evolutions in Los Angeles on Mar 25, though open to everyone. It last took place in 2018; the current members will be involved in choosing this year's inductees; eight were announced in 2018, and we expect a similar number this year.
January 6, 2022:
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Billi Watland has joined Libsyn's AdvertiseCast as Senior Publisher Relations Manager. They bring more than 20 years of media experience at places like Gannett and Time Inc.
January 5, 2022:
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There's been action in Libsyn's ongoing dispute with what they call fraudulent shareholders, who own 22% of Libsyn (worth $26m). In an SEC filing, Libsyn say they've now cancelled those shares: the company will give the shareholders 90 days to object. If they're cancelled, investors say it increases the value of remaining shares.
January 3, 2022:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reported a record high for podcast advertising of an average $23.78 CPM. That's up 6.5% year-on-year.
December 13, 2021:
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Podbean has switched all its RSS feeds from unique domains like
podcastname.podbean.com/feed.xml
to feed.podbean.com/podcastname/feed.xml
. This is good news for privacy: domain names are never encrypted, so you can be tracked as a listener to a specific podcast every time your phone checks the RSS feed for a new episode. Libsyn is now the only major podcast host still using unique, trackable domain names for its feeds.
December 2, 2021:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast reports that the average CPM for a podcast ad dipped slightly in November to $23.25. It's still up 5.3% year-on-year though.
November 30, 2021:
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It's Christmas time at Libsyn, with a number of SEC filings. New CEO Bradley Tirpak now owns $2.4m of stock, while board member Eric Shahinian now controls $17.7m of stock, around 13.4% of the company.
November 29, 2021:
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Dave Jackson and Elsie Escobar from Libsyn are hosting a holiday game afternoon for podcasters - it's not limited to Libsyn customers, and the artwork features Dave and Elsie in festive costumes we think may have been Photoshopped.
November 23, 2021:
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Brian Kibby has been appointed as Chairman of Libsyn. He's been on Libsyn's Board since October 2019. Libsyn also announced that Denis Yevstifeyev will step down as a Board Member at the end of the year.
November 22, 2021:
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Patrick Dolan has joined the Board of Directors at Libsyn. He had worked for the IAB for 14 years, and was recently COO and President.
November 19, 2021:
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Didn't get Apple's email? We didn't either this time, but Elsie at Libsyn has our back. If you didn't get it too, get to Apple Podcasts Connect, and edit your profile (top right), to make sure the little tickbox for the newsletter is still turned on.
November 18, 2021:
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Libsyn announced it has partnered with Samsung to bring podcasts to Samsung Galaxy devices. If this seems familiar, that's because Libsyn announced this partnership in March with a near identical press release. Anyone can add their podcast to Samsung Podcasts, wherever you host.
November 12, 2021:
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Libsyn has been announced as Elite Sponsor for the Afros and Audio Podcast Festival. Their announcement contains a 25%-off promo code.
November 5, 2021:
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Libsyn is on the acquisition trail again, with its AdvertiseCast platform acquiring "certain assets" of PODGO, a podcast monetisation platform for smaller podcasts, specialising in host-reads. PODGO’s founder David Ehrlich joins the company and will help transition customers and advertisers. No terms were given.
November 4, 2021:
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Bradley Tirpak is the new CEO of Libsyn. A professional investor, he's been Chairman of Libsyn since August 2020, and a director since October 2019. The company had been without a CEO for over 14 months.
November 1, 2021:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has released average CPM rates for October, showing an average of $23.30. The data is up from September's $23.13, and up 92.3% year-on-year.
October 28, 2021:
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The Ed Mylett Show has signed with SiriusXM. He was hosting with Libsyn, and was independently represented.
October 26, 2021:
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Libsyn and AdvertiseCast are the presenting partners at this year's 2021 X Fronts.
October 25, 2021:
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Want a nice example of a podcast using the
podcast:location
tags per episode? Закат империи has it properly used, with placenames, OSM id, and latlong. It's hosted with Libsyn.
October 20, 2021:
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Facebook recently added podcasts into their app (mobile only, US only), but haven't talked too much about their plans for podcasting. 1.8 billion users visit Facebook daily, so anything they do to increase podcasting would be welcome. Today, Facebook's podcasting team is joining The New Media Show, with Libsyn's Rob Greenlee and Blubrry's Todd Cochrane, at 3pm Eastern. You can watch the live feed here.
October 11, 2021:
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Libsyn Pro appears to have migrated many of its shows over to Libsyn RSS feeds, according to our podcast hosts tracker (we list the two as separate). Otherwise, our sample suggests Megaphone gained 27 shows overall, while Libsyn lost 25 overall.
October 8, 2021:
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A market share of podcast hosts based by new episodes has been published for September. John Spurlock's Livewire Labs has produced the data: Anchor published the most new episodes, with Buzzsprout, Spreaker, Libsyn and Soundcloud also in the top five.
October 6, 2021:
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The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe has been signed by Audioboom. It was the #1 short-form podcast in Podtrac's revised Nov 2017 figures. It was hosting with Libsyn.
October 5, 2021:
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Jonathan Charak has been appointed as Libsyn's new Chief Financial Officer. He replaces Richard Heyse, who resigned in May.
October 1, 2021:
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Libsyn's AdvertiseCast has released its average CPM figures for September. The average CPM for a 60-second podcast ad within AdvertiseCast's marketplace dropped slightly to $23.12 (-1.8%) - it's up 9.7% year-on-year.
September 29, 2021:
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Hot on the heels of Fireside comes Glow - in terms of name confusion, that is. Just as Mark Cuban's Fireside is nothing to do with Dan Benjamin's Fireside, so Amazon's Glow is nothing to do with Libsyn's Glow. Amazon's Glow, launched yesterday, is a device to help parents play with their kids remotely, while Libsyn's Glow is a podcast membership service. We're pleased to have cleared that one up.
September 24, 2021:
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Perry Tripp has joined Libsyn's AdvertiseCast as Director of Brand Partnerships. He joins from media company Talkhouse.
September 22, 2021:
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In terms of total global downloads, Buzzsprout's figures for August suggest it's already happened: Spotify is on 31.7% and Apple Podcasts on 26.9%. Libsyn, however, says August's figures show Apple at 59.3% and Spotify 15.1%. Podnews analysis in May suggests that both companies' figures are incorrect.
September 13, 2021:
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The Guilty Feminist has switched from Libsyn to be distributed and monetised by Acast. The show will launch a number of spinoffs later this year. (We also note an Acast logo on their artwork, which appears a new piece of branding from the company's shows).
September 8, 2021:
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Exclusive: Libsyn's AdvertiseCast is to release monthly average advertising rates to aid transparency for the industry - and has launched a report showing historical rates within AdvertiseCast's marketplace. August's figure, based on individual 60-second spots rather than downloads, was an average CPM of $23.57.
August 31, 2021:
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The show had announced a switch to Audioboom in January, but appears to be still hosted at Libsyn.
August 30, 2021:
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We've added ceased shows (those that have removed their RSS feeds) to our podcast host changes page. There are surprisingly few of these. As usual, Megaphone is the paid podcast host being switched to the most (observed gaining 39 shows overall this week); Libsyn performing worst (observed losing 35 shows overall to other hosts).
August 26, 2021:
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Podsights has terminated its contract with Libsyn's AdvertiseCast, according to a notice on Podsights' website. Podsights attribution will not be available to advertisers attempting to run campaigns on Libsyn's AdvertiseCast from Oct 11. Podnews understands a notice of termination was sent after a Libsyn employee accosted a female Podsights staff member at a virtual event in April, but the banner only appeared after Podsights was called "malicious" and "ignorant" by the same person, Libsyn's Rob Walch, during a session at Podcast Movement. Walch accused Podsights of "f#cking this community" in an aggressive speech that we're told is part of a pattern of targeted behaviour against Podsights.
August 25, 2021:
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Congratulations to Elsie Escobar, who's podcast The Feed for Libsyn has hit episode 200. The show first published in 2013 - the first five episodes covered Windows Phone 8 podcast apps, social media marketing, and what to do if Apple iTunes is not updating your podcast. Not that this would happen these days.
August 23, 2021:
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From our sample, we saw 411 podcasts change podcast host last week. Libsyn lost 52 shows and added just 15, losing 37 shows overall; Anchor lost more shows (59) but gained 83 from other hosts.
August 16, 2021:
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Last week, we saw an overall 84 shows migrate to Spotify's Anchor and Megaphone. Excepting Podiant’s migrations to Castos, Libsyn was the paid-for podcast host losing the most shows in our sample.
August 10, 2021:
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Fearne Cotton's Happy Place, the most-listened-to wellness podcast in the UK, has signed with Acast. The deal will unlock fan-supported revenue with Acast+. It was with Libsyn.
August 9, 2021:
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Podping means apps can detect new episodes in less than a minute. In response to a query, Libsyn says that the more people who request that they support podping, the higher priority those requests will be given.
August 6, 2021:
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At Podcast Movement, Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi spoke about their new storytelling platform Fireside Chat. Cuban described podcasting as being “old, tired and beat up,” adding “...there’s only one way to monetize - by lying your ass off to secure sponsorships.” The app is available now on iOS. Reactions below.
August 2, 2021:
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Fireside Chat, which launches properly this week, is already asking its own users to invest, says The Verge, which also says that the company will announce a partnership with podcast host Libsyn this week. Last week, we looked at Fireside's terms and conditions; we've chatted with the company, but have yet to receive a statement. (That terms and conditions page also includes a look at the t&cs from Libsyn).
July 22, 2021:
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Libsyn announced a partnership with Canva, to help podcasters produce show and episode art.
July 9, 2021:
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Inspired Money hit episode 200, with new episode art, social media re-branding, and an interview with international motivational speaker Chad E. Foster. We reported it hitting episode 100 in July 2019.
July 8, 2021:
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Libsyn shows can now be added to JioSaavn, India's largest music streaming service with more than 100m monthly users. “I see the partnership with JioSaavn as a key opportunity to expand interest for podcast creators and listeners globally,” said Rob Greenlee, Libsyn’s VP of Content and Partnerships.
July 1, 2021:
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Apple Podcasts has reinstated HTML links in podcast descriptions. The server-side change appears to be live for Podnews, PodClock and for The Feed by Libsyn: it seems to be a recent change with the RSS parser used by the company. HTML links are important for podcasters to allow additional reading, affiliate links, sponsors or support: they broke with the rollout of the new Apple Podcasts infrastructure in late April.
June 15, 2021:
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Libsyn announced that it owes $2.6m in unpaid income taxes, including penalties, for 2017-2019. They also announced John Busshaus, the CFO of Libsyn at the time, has reached agreement with the company after he was fired. He will receive $990,000 plus legal costs, but loses unvested shares in the company that could have been worth $4.3m. The company has also said it owes $2m in unpaid VAT/GST and penalties. A law firm is investigating a class action against the podcast host.
June 14, 2021:
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BlueWire's switch to Megaphone is highlighted in our 'podcast host changes' page this week. Otherwise, Libsyn lost most shows; Omny Studio gained most.
June 9, 2021:
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We covered Libsyn's additional equity financing yesterday; it looks like Hudson Executive Capital invested $9m.
June 8, 2021:
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Libsyn completed its acquisition of AdvertiseCast for $30m. It also completed $25m of equity financing, including $8m from Libsyn Director Eric Shahinian's Camac Partners - Camac now owns 12.2% - and $1m from Chairman Bradley Tirpak. They've also agreed a new bank loan agreement. The company is currently without a CFO, after it was found to have underpaid $3.2 million in taxes over the past five years.
June 7, 2021:
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After Libsyn lost a second CFO in less than two years, and financial irregularities and unpaid taxes have come to light, a law firm is now considering a class action against the company on behalf of investors who lost money.
June 3, 2021:
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Buzzsprout now supports any Podcasting 2.0 channel tag. Libsyn supports channel or item tags.
May 24, 2021:
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After a short hiatus, our podcast hosting company changes page has returned. As ever, it shows a significant amount of podcasts moving from paid hosting companies to Anchor. Overall, the biggest gains went to Anchor, RedCircle and Megaphone; the biggest losers were Whooshkaa, Soundcloud and Libsyn.
May 19, 2021:
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Libsyn has released its most popular platforms for April, in The Feed: Apple has 60.01% and Spotify 13.65% of all podcast downloads. Earlier this month, Buzzsprout released its April figures: it reports Spotify and Apple Podcasts both tie at 29.3%.
May 6, 2021:
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The new Apple Podcasts iOS 14.5 app is not following Apple's specification around the
itunes:title
tag, and seems to ignore the tag completely. This is leading to shows displaying with double episode numbers. Those examples are hosted on Libsyn and Captivate, who both follow that specification correctly. Thanks to Crate Media for the heads-up.
April 26, 2021:
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From our sample, we saw 1.2% podcasts switching podcast hosting company last week. Libsyn was the biggest loser, down 40 shows overall. Megaphone did best, gaining 41 shows. (Anchor gained 72 overall).
April 16, 2021:
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Podcast hosting company Libsyn is a GARP, according to Adam Wilk from Greystone Capital - "Growth At A Reasonable Price". Speaking on the Yet Another Value Podcast, he criticises the company's recent growth rates, however, and says he will "have to assess how much damage the lack of effort toward the product and the customer has hurt them".
April 14, 2021:
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Google Podcasts has hit 100m installations on Android. Since November it has doubled installations, added support for subscribing by RSS feed, and is the #3 podcast app according to Libsyn and Buzzsprout. It's due to launch personalised episode recommendations at some stage this week. Surprisingly, it is not a standard install on new Android phones.
April 13, 2021:
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Libsyn has acquired Glow, a podcast membership monetisation platform, for $1.2m. In February, Libsyn acquired podcast production platform Auxbus and earlier this month acquired ad company AdvertiseCast.
April 2, 2021:
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Podcast host Libsyn are to acquire AdvertiseCast, a podcast advertising company, for $30m. Last year, AdvertiseCast brought in $12m in revenue, and grew 45%. "We expect to generate meaningful revenue by offering the AdvertiseCast solution to Libsyn’s customers," said Libsyn President Laurie Sims. Libsyn acquired podcast creation platform Auxbus in February.
March 31, 2021:
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Libsyn has put Libsyn 5 into open beta for everyone to try. "We are excited to share with current and new Libsyn.com users the opportunity to access the new streamlined publishing experience," said a company spokesperson. Libsyn 5 overhauls the user experience, adding nicer-looking podcast websites, and improved statistics - here's a full list of the new features.
March 26, 2021:
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Samsung has launched Samsung Podcasts within the Samsung Free app in the US. The service offers instant access to "thousands of podcasts" from publishers like American Public Media, CNN Audio, Conde Nast, iHeartMedia, Kast Media, Motley Fool, NPR, PodcastOne, PRX, This American Life, Vox Media Podcast Network and Barstool Sports. Both Blubrry Podcasting and Libsyn have announced a launch partnership: both require you to specifically add your podcasts to the service. Samsung has a roughly 25% market share in the US; this is available now on Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy Note 10 devices.
March 18, 2021:
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Libsyn has appointed Douglas Woodrum to its Board of Directors, a former CFO of CNET. In the past, Libsyn has identified significant issues of alleged fraud in China: Woodrum has experience that could help: he's been CFO at ChinaCast Education Corporation since 2012. ChinaCast filed for bankruptcy in 2016 after former CEO Ron Chan allegedly stole $41m from the company. Some former ChinaCast officials are in jail.
March 15, 2021:
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Investment company Icaria Capital issues a positive opinion on investing in Libsyn.
March 10, 2021:
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Speaking in The Feed, Rob Walch says that the word 'subscribe' is 'an elegant word for a more civilised age', quoting from Star Wars "A New Hope". He adds, "kudos to Apple".
February 15, 2021:
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Last week, we reported the ACPM Podcast Ranker in France. Today: the other one, run by Médiamétrie, reports that January hit 100m global downloads of podcasts by their French publishers, almost all radio broadcasters. An incomplete ranker, it measures participating publishers only.
February 12, 2021:
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Libsyn has acquired podcast creation platform Auxbus. Launched in May 2019, Auxbus is a web-based podcast production platform "that lets you plan, record, and launch all in one place". Ryan DuVal, Auxbus Chief Engineer, will "join Libsyn to lead its newly formed Creation product line", says the press release. Terms weren't disclosed; Auxbus was put up for sale in December 2019.
February 11, 2021:
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Libsyn5, the fifth version of Libsyn's publishing interface, is now available in beta. It offers new features and enhancements to existing ones.
February 5, 2021:
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What's Joe Budden doing? He's supposed to have moved his podcast to Patreon, yet he is still hosting with Libsyn. He's quoted as saying that exclusive deals are prehistoric; yet has launched exclusive shows on Patreon. He spent two hours explaining why he was leaving Spotify, though, through the metaphor of strip clubs, stories about watches and 52 f-words, so no wonder we're a bit f-ing confused.
January 29, 2021:
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Libsyn's senior management presented at an investor conference. President & COO Laurie Syms and CFO Richard Heyse highlighted that their strategy is to grow the company organically, rather than take part in corporate acquisitions.
January 27, 2021:
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Libsyn has added the namespace for Podcast Index and Google Podcasts by default in their feeds "in preparation for productisation". This work now allows advanced podcasters to hand-code additional tags into feeds at their own risk - "picture a big flashing neon proceed-with-caution light", said Rob Walch in The Feed episode 185 (47'04").
January 18, 2021:
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Libsyn released some data in The Feed saying that 44.8% of its creators use Macs; with its publishing backend also being used by Windows (30.8%), iOS (20.3%), and Android (3.4%).
January 15, 2021:
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Popular, multi-award winning show The Fantasy Footballers is moving to Audioboom, which is to provide exclusive ad sales and marketing support. The podcast was being hosted on Libsyn.
January 13, 2021:
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Speaking on the latest episode of Libsyn's The Feed, Rob Walch highlights Apple's privacy information in the app store, which we covered December 14: "For those that are tracking podcast listeners, do you really think the only thing in iOS14 that Apple will allow privacy violations to continue with… is your product? And for those running newsletters and sites on this space that just don't think tracking with no opt-in is okay but actually promotes privacy violations, the world is changing, and privacy is going to matter more and more. Opt-in is the only ethical way to track the listener, and sans that ability, it should not be done, period."
January 11, 2021:
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Libsyn has posted confirmation of our stories over the last few days, describing our coverage about Rob Greenlee as accurate, adding additional detail; and clarifying that the company is not yet implementing the Podcasting 2.0 namespace. Rob Greenlee will talk to Rob Walch about both these stories on The Feed this week.
January 7, 2021:
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Greenlee also announced in his Podland interview that Libsyn has decided not to support the new Podcasting 2.0 namespace at this time. "We're definitely monitoring it. We're very supportive of what Adam Curry is doing, but we are primarily working on our new Libsyn5 tools. It's in our roadmap to consider against a lot of other things that are going on as far as priorities in the company."
January 1, 2021:
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Steve Boyett has shared How I make… Podrunner and Groovelectric. He hosts his podcast with Libsyn, but prefers to code his RSS feeds manually.
December 31, 2020:
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According to reports made to the SEC, Libsyn's President, COO and Principal Executive Officer Laurie Sims was awarded $917,000 in Libsyn shares on Monday. She'll also be entitled to receive at least $500,000 in cash at midnight tonight - a bonus for completing three years of her employment contract with the company.
December 29, 2020:
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The Feed from Libsyn has unveiled the latest data from Libsyn's network, claiming Apple Podcasts was still #1 with 64.5% of all mobile downloads in November. The data relates to mobile downloads only, and the company tells us that these are not based on IAB certified downloads.
December 25, 2020:
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The future of podcast measurement is facing some very large challenges in the near future, says Rob Greenlee, writing in his personal blog. Rob works for Libsyn and is Chair of The Podcast Academy.
December 22, 2020:
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Libsyn has said it will support the Podcast Index tags, Adam Curry will announce in the next edition of Podcasting 2.0. Buzzsprout is already supporting the new tags, and Blubrry has already said it plans to support them soon too. The podcast will have a special guest: our Editor.
December 15, 2020:
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Today is the last day to enter The Ambies, the new podcast awards from The Podcast Academy.
December 8, 2020:
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Libsyn is taking Chinese investors, who hold 27% of the company's shareholding, to court, alleging "massive fraud". Three of these investors are currently in prison in China, in a story that's been running since 2012 - if current Libsyn management are successful, their stock price could increase by more than a third.
November 30, 2020:
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Buzzsprout is now the world's largest paid-for podcast host. The company overtook Libsyn (including LibsynPro) according to data from ListenNotes over the past few days, which measures RSS hosting domains. Buzzsprout itself claimed it has 82,574 shows at the end of October; Libsyn claims just 62,000 podcasts on their main website but over 75,000 in their latest press release; Libsyn haven't responded to recent requests for comment. While both companies also offer custom RSS domains, Buzzsprout has a limited free plan.
November 25, 2020:
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If you're still on Mac OS Mojave, and you use Safari, Libsyn reckons Apple has broken something in a recent update. They're suggesting you use Chrome or Firefox instead.
November 17, 2020:
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Podcast host Libsyn has published its 2020 third quarter financial results. The company's podcast hosting revenue for the quarter grew by 15% year-on-year. However, Libsyn's ad revenue continued to fall, down by 22%; and the payoff to the company's former CEO made the company lose over $2m this quarter. Libsyn also owns Pair, an internet hosting company.
November 16, 2020:
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Spotify is taking a bite out of Apple. Buzzsprout has shared the top podcast 'agents' on their platform. Apple Podcasts accounts for just 47% of all plays and downloads, Spotify for 24.4%, and Google Podcasts is third with 2.4%. These are the lowest numbers yet for Apple Podcasts from a podcast host. (Libsyn's data only shows mobile app downloads, and has a higher percentage of US downloads).
November 4, 2020:
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Elsie Escobar criticises Shure in the latest edition of The Feed from Libsyn, for seemingly giving every single one of their review units of the new Shure MV7 microphone to men. "It's not about wanting free stuff: it's the fact that there is an unrepresented community here. Consider expanding your relationships with just not the same dudes."
October 30, 2020:
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Libsyn have demonstrated their much-awaited Libsyn5 podcast dashboard. It features a new visual look and feel for stats, and simpler podcast publishing.
October 21, 2020:
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Google Podcasts is now the third-biggest podcast app. Libsyn's Rob Walch unveiled the company's download statistics in The Feed. It is, though, still five times smaller than Spotify, the #2. According to Libsyn, which gets 62% of its downloads from the US, total downloads to Pocket Casts dropped below 1%.
October 16, 2020:
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Two podcasts have been forced to close after they were contacted on behalf of the record industry for "hosting unauthorized recordings". One, The Americana Radio Show was hosted by Libsyn, the other, WB Walker's Old Soul Radio Show was self-hosted using PodPress. Both the podcasts appeared to be music radio shows; both claimed music was used with the artist's permission. David Oxenford, a media lawyer, blogs that the artist's permission isn't, normally, enough - saying this "highlights the difficulty of clearing music for podcasts".
October 14, 2020:
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Libsyn shows us how to do good social media, responding to a support query from a podcaster threatening to switch from a different podcast host in a positive, constructive way.
October 13, 2020:
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What's bad for podcast privacy? Unsecure audio files. Bryan Barletta in Sounds Profitable has discovered that one of the most aggressive voices on podcast privacy, Libsyn, has been threatening the privacy of its podcast listeners by still serving some of its podcasts using unsecure HTTP. The practice makes it easier for employers, ISPs and governments to monitor which Libsyn podcasts listeners are requesting.
October 7, 2020:
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Rob Walch posts a list of podcast apps that support video podcasts via RSS.
October 2, 2020:
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Spotify has signed a new exclusive - the Just Break Up podcast. Of note - it was hosted on Libsyn; had a short incubation period on Anchor some time between September 7-14, and then announced its exclusivity a week later on September 21. It'll become exclusive from October 19.
September 30, 2020:
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Libsyn's YouTube publishing isn't working at the moment - the company is blaming YouTube. Their Annual Meeting for stockholders will be on November 17; the company has also announced fewer stockholders will be required to make decisions at these meetings. And is this the new Libsyn5 player?
September 23, 2020:
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Libsyn are beta-testing "Libsyn 5", the latest user interface for the podcast host. Customers can apply here to take part. The company also announced a distribution partnership with podcast app Player FM.
September 9, 2020:
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Analysis The downloads data is similar to Libsyn's reported global downloads for July (Apple 68.4%; Spotify 9.1%): but the difference between "downloads" and "audience" is clear - Apple Podcasts might still be bringing in the downloads, but Spotify appears a significant service in terms of increasing podcasting's total audience. This data would explain the discrepancies in some research for platform popularity, which typically measures audience, rather than downloads. (Some audiences may use both apps, of course). We'd expect to see these figures shift significantly as Joe Rogan's audience moves onto Spotify.
August 18, 2020:
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Libsyn has got a glowing, and detailed, writeup from an investment company - a useful look inside the podcast host.
August 17, 2020:
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Podcast host Libsyn has published a positive Q2 2020 financial report. While revenue from advertising and LibsynPro decreased during the worst months of the pandemic, total podcasting revenue was up by 10.6% in the second quarter. Laurie Sims has been promoted to COO, and a strategic review has recently concluded. The company now hosts 74,000 podcasts; and April was the second-highest month in the company's history for signups. Libsyn also owns Pair, an internet hosting company.
August 14, 2020:
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Libsyn has an investor call today at 11am Eastern, following release of their Q2 financial results.
August 12, 2020:
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An update from Anchor, following our story yesterday that Anchor could automatically delete your account without warning. Anchor say that they do not have an algorithm that automatically deletes duplicates; instead, the company uses a combination of automated and human-detected signals to assess potential infringement, and they tell Podnews that podcasts are always elevated to a human before any action is taken. In the case we reported on, the podcast had "similar content to the Libsyn-hosted Spotify listing", and it had other negative signals which led to its removal.
August 10, 2020:
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Here's how to get your podcast into Amazon Music/Audible: the company has emailed a large number of podcasters over the last few days, inviting them to use this link to submit their shows to an upcoming service from the company. However, you are highly recommended to submit via your own podcast host if they offer the service, especially if you're with Libsyn, since you'll get additional control and statistics via your own podcast host's dashboard. Amazon haven't responded to our requests for comment.
August 7, 2020:
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An SEC filing states that Libsyn's former CEO Christopher Spencer, who resigned on July 31, will continue to be paid until the end of this year (he earns $400,000); will get a bonus of $177,776 in early January; and will then earn $215,000 a year for his role as Senior Advisor until the end of February 2023, for which he'll have to work a maximum of eight hours a month. Libsyn will also pay Spencer $4,061,385 to buy back shares he holds.
August 6, 2020:
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Libsyn's CEO, Chris Spencer, has resigned. He'd worked at Libsyn for fifteen years, and will stay on as a Senior Advisor to the company. Last year, a bonus payment to Spencer was cited as one reason for a revolt by minority shareholders; the settlement in October installed a number of new board members who'd been publicly critical of the company: none of those are quoted in Libsyn's release.
August 4, 2020:
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Libsyn has hired Richard Heyse as their new CFO. “I am delighted to join Libsyn at this exciting time. I believe the potential for shareholder value creation is excellent given the favorable growth trends in the podcasting and web-hosting market and Libsyn’s position as a leader in the space”.
August 3, 2020:
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Libsyn report that Apple continues to be the #1 podcast app, accounting for 68.2% of mobile downloads. According to the podcast host, which is the largest paid podcast host in the world, Spotify is at 8.3% and Google Podcasts at just 1.3%. Sharing these figures on The Feed, Rob Walch adds: "The death of Apple Podcasts has been greatly over-stated".
July 22, 2020:
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Podcasts are coming to "Amazon Music / Audible"; Libsyn has quietly rolled out a distribution option for this service. "Amazon is not announcing a launch schedule at this time," the announcement says.
July 17, 2020:
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Distribution: Libsyn has announced a new distribution agreement with Gaana, an Indian music, podcasts and video service with 150m monthly active users. Entercom's RADIO·COM has a new distribution agreement with Twitch, which initially will bring live radio programming to Twitch's video streaming platform. Omnicast Media's Something You Should Know has joined Westwood One: the podcast was formerly signed to DAX.
July 15, 2020:
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Edison Research's Tom Webster is on The Feed, the official Libsyn podcast. He focuses on the Latino Podcast Listener Report. The episode also includes average downloads stats: if your podcast is doing more than 120 downloads per episode, you're doing better than half the shows out there, says Libsyn VP Rob Walch.
July 13, 2020:
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Good news for Libsyn, which has published its financial results for Q1 2020: in total, the company's podcasting arm saw revenue increase by 13%. Year-on-year, standard hosting revenue increased by 17%, though LibsynPro shrank by 4%, and ad revenue, partially affected by the onset of the pandemic, decreased by 28%. (Libsyn runs Pair, an internet hosting company).
June 22, 2020:
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The 2020 Latin Podcast Awards is being sponsored by Libsyn and also by Podbean, a set of press releases have announced.
June 17, 2020:
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Hall of Famer, School of PodCasting and Libsyn support guru Dave Jackson has a new book out soon - Profit from your Podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood. It's released on Jul 27.
June 12, 2020:
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Some podcast download numbers might be incorrect: and could be 5% too large, according to The New Media Show. If you use Apple Podcasts and own an Apple Watch, your watch automatically downloads duplicate copies of shows you're subscribed to when it's charging - which could be as much as 5% of a podcast's total downloads. According to the podcast, Libsyn already marks these additional downloads as duplicates, but many podcast hosts may not be doing so. In October 2018, Voxnest published that 9.4% of all downloads were to an Apple Watch.
May 28, 2020:
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The Podcast Academy have posted an updated Board of Governors. Rob Greenlee from Libsyn has been confirmed as the Chair; governors include Conal Byrne from iHeartMedia, Ben Cave from Apple, Anya Grundmann from NPR and Courtney Holt from Spotify. The Board also includes podcast producers, talent agents, and studios. Google is absent.
May 22, 2020:
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Search Off The Record is a new podcast from Google's Webmasters, the team behind search. "They will share fun stories from the many conferences they attend", we're promised (presumably this feature comes later). It's hosted by Libsyn.
May 20, 2020:
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In one of podcasting's biggest deals, The Joe Rogan Experience, generally held to be the biggest podcast in the world, is to move to Spotify in a licensing deal. It will remain free, but will become an exclusive-to-Spotify show by the end of this year. The show is currently hosted on Libsyn.
May 18, 2020:
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Podcast host Libsyn have filed their 2019 financial statement. Libsyn brought in $14.4m in 2019 (up 14%); including Pair, the company's ISP, the company made $2.8m profit (down from $4.3m last year).
May 13, 2020:
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Is there a growing market imbalance in podcasting? Writing for Podnews, Libsyn's Rob Greenlee wonders if we have too many new podcasts, but not enough new listeners. He also calls for Apple Podcasts to launch an Android app. "It would be great to see Apple Podcasts get very aggressive in this area", he says. (Our Editor suggested this in March 2019, too. Great minds, etc.)
May 6, 2020:
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Speaking on The Feed, Rob Walch said that there has been a 15% decline in weekly downloads on Libsyn since the pandemic. The week of April 19th was, apparently, the worst; and things are getting better since then. He also said that the median number of episode downloads for Libsyn shows was 125 (so if you're doing more than 125 downloads per episode, you're better than 50% of all the shows out there).
May 5, 2020:
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Libsyn are reissuing their financial statements for 2018" - reported income for the year was $586,000 too low. Libsyn's former CFO, John Busshaus, resigned in Oct 2019.
May 4, 2020:
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We Are Podcast plans what they call House Sessions, "the world’s first multi-stream, multi-speaker, multi-day live virtual podcast conference", a networking event between 21-23 May. Our Editor is speaking, along with many others including Jordan Harbinger, Libsyn's Dave Jackson, Lyndal Harris, Laura Petersen, and Travis Chappell. Tickets are now available. (Podnews is a media partner).<!-- LINKCHECK|20230823|403|https://podnews--mustamplify.thrivecart.com/we-are-podcast-housesessions/|| --><!-- LINKCHECK|20230823|403|https://podnews--mustamplify.thrivecart.com/we-are-podcast-housesessions/|| -->
April 29, 2020:
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Amanda Loughlin, the CEO of a Brooklyn-based podcast collective called Multitude, is interviewed for Pocket Casts. The company also writes a guide for listening to your own audio files on the app. Pocket Casts accounted for 1.14% of all podcast downloads in August 2019, according to Libsyn; but even though the app went free in September, it has slightly decreased in share to 1.12%.
April 22, 2020:
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More people are listening to podcasts on computers, according to new data from Libsyn's The Feed podcast. Total plays via computer, rather than mobile, increased by almost a percentage point to 12% of downloads. "Those changes had to do with people starting to stay at home", said Rob Walch, the company's VP of Podcaster Relations, adding that he would "expect [the figure] to drop more next month for mobile". Apple Podcasts is still the market leader for consumption, though more people are listening via Android devices according to the company.
April 17, 2020:
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For every review, Podchaser is paying 25 cents to Meals on Wheels America. It's extended its reviews4good program until the end of April. Libsyn and Captivate are also matching all donations for podcasts on their platform, and if a podcast replies to the review, that doubles the money. (Our Editor is on Captivate's advisory board. Disclosures)
April 9, 2020:
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Yesterday, we got all excited after Libsyn's Rob Walch spotted that podcasts had been removed from Google Play Music's iOS app. Google tells us: "We actually have never had podcasts in Google Play Music on iOS." (We didn't know either.)
April 8, 2020:
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How many takedowns have Blubrry and Libsyn had from Spotify because of coronavirus-related concerns? Hardly any - "under double digits" according to Todd Cochrane of Blubrry, speaking on The New Media Show.
April 7, 2020:
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Want to take a sneak peek behind the scenes at podcast host Libsyn? They've posted about their team, now all working from home. Meet Dax the cat, see Laurie's measuring tape, and discover which member of support misses his dual-monitor setup.
March 20, 2020:
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More of a cat person? Cat People focuses on cats: but big ones. Fascinating fact: there are more captive tigers in the US than there are left in the wild. Wow. This podcast, launched earlier this week, focuses on people that keep lions, tigers and other dangerous cats. Here, kitty. (Libsyn)
March 19, 2020:
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Kids Listen, an advocacy organization for kids' podcasts, has produced the Kids Listen Activity Podcast, a different podcast each time with an episode and an activity based on that episode. (Libsyn)
March 17, 2020:
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How's your heart? "moved up our launch date by a week because we felt this is a time when we all need some laughs in our lives," they tell us. It's a "hilarious, vulnerable, and unapologetic" podcast about dating, sex, queerdom, "all those feelings", and more. (Libsyn)
March 16, 2020:
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Sickboy is an independent Canadian comedy podcast that breaks down the stigma surrounding illness and death - with 75,000 listeners each week. You'll never guess what virus they're talking about this week (OK, perhaps you will). (Libsyn)
March 12, 2020:
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Google is podcasting. Apps, Games and Insights is a new podcast for developers and software companies. It went live on March 4th. (Libsyn)
March 11, 2020:
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Libsyn has added Headliner integration, to help podcasters share pieces of their shows on social media. They've introduced a new, simpler method of setting permanent 301 redirects, which the company no longer charges for.
February 28, 2020:
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Today is the 500th episode of Gary Leland's 4 Minute Crypto And Bitcoin Daily News. A Bitcoin conference, Bit Block Boom, will be held in Dallas TX, USA at the end of August. (Libsyn)
February 20, 2020:
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New consultancies, like this one from Terrance J. O'Malley, means a new podcast: Operational Leaders, a podcast about running an asset management business. (Libsyn)
February 19, 2020:
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Bad On Paper is a weekly podcast bringing you the people, products, and books you need to know about; it already boasts 125,000 monthly downloads, and a Facebook community with over 4,000 members. (Libsyn)
February 12, 2020:
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There's been a murder! True crime meets business in The Great Fail - a new podcast that launched this week, focusing on what killed some of the greatest companies and ideas. The first few episodes look at LA Gear and Google Glass. (Libsyn)
February 10, 2020:
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Justin, the host of The Peripheral Podcast has announced, on his Facebook page, that he's no longer producing the show after an online harassment campaign. He adds: To those I've advised about podcasting, I strongly urge you to reconsider. The bigger your podcast becomes, the more prone you become to criticism, personal attacks, and drama. The toxic culture and harassment will never dissipate. (Libsyn)
January 31, 2020:
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Podcast consumption on smart speakers is up, says Libsyn: their official podcast The Feed claims podcast plays on smart speakers has grown 45% between October and December. Hold on though: the growth, while welcome, just means they're now responsible for 0.29% of all plays.
January 28, 2020:
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The Apple Podcasts directory is currently slow to update podcast episodes on their website and to people who aren't subscribed. Libsyn say Apple are aware of it. Subscribers remain unaffected.
January 22, 2020:
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Exclusive: Apple vs Spotify: who is number one, really? Morgan Stanley and MIDiA have both released recent data showing Spotify could be #1 for "people", aka "unique devices" - but both surveys are based on human recall, not data. We were keen to see what the data said: so Podnews asked two podcasting companies whether they were able to work out "devices" vs "downloads". Libsyn did not reply to our email; but Chartable - which has oversight of a number of podcasts across different podcast hosts and services - has crunched the data and given a categorical, and final, answer to who is #1 for podcasting. Researchers may like to note that Chartable's "unique downloads" per app are, pleasingly, within 1% of Libsyn's reported percentages.
January 20, 2020:
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The iHeart Podcast Awards winners were announced on Friday. The Dropout won the Podcast of the Year award. Joshua Dudley reports the event was head and shoulders above last year. Libsyn's Rob Greenlee shared some video from the event on his Twitter feed; it was streamed on iHeart's LiveXLive platform, visible in the US only.
January 17, 2020:
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Libsyn has decided to "set the record straight" about whether Spotify is #1 or not, by publishing their app download figures for December to "help debunk the erroneous stories". They show 59.6% of downloads from Apple Podcasts and iTunes, and 11.6% from Spotify. Interestingly, Spotify has dropped from the 13% Libsyn reported in October. (In November, Libsyn became a passthrough destination for Spotify).
January 16, 2020:
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Is Spotify really bigger than Apple Podcasts? Adam Bowie, an audio researcher, looks into the data from MIDiA and Morgan Stanley, and compares Libsyn's actual download data.
January 14, 2020:
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Sam Walker, a former BBC radio presenter, changed her life from living in drizzly Manchester to take her family to the desert in Phoenix AZ, USA. Sam Walker's Desert Diaries promises "excitement, frustration, fear, joy, loneliness and scorpions". (Libsyn)
January 9, 2020:
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Palace Intrigue: A daily Royal Family podcast is the best place to hear an amazing fairytale story about a prince called Harry and a princess called Meghan wanting to get away from their evil grandmother's family by escaping to Canada, only to find their evil grandmother's picture is still on all the money. (Libsyn)
January 8, 2020:
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Immigrantly is a podcast from a Pakistani American human rights activist, which explores racial identity, culture, and class through the lens of immigrant experiences. Some episodes have made it to public radio; season five has just launched. (Libsyn)
January 7, 2020:
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Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic Mystery returns for a second season tomorrow. Highly praised by listeners and critics alike, the audio fiction podcast "takes us even deeper into the mystery of Mount Absalom, including explorations of the Burning Woods and the Mount Absalom Observatory, and both new and familiar faces". (Libsyn)
January 1, 2020:
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Libsyn have published their review of 2019. They claim 5.1bn downloads in the first nine months of the year, and highlight the welcome hiring of Rob Greenlee, who joined Libsyn earlier in 2019 as VP of Content and Partnerships.
December 26, 2019:
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In Libsyn's The Feed, Rob Walch shared growth stats for Libsyn-hosted podcasts in Jan-Oct 2019. Listening on Apple Podcasts increased by 13.1%; but since Apple Podcasts accounts for 58% of all podcast listens, that growth accounts for 44.5% of total podcast growth in 2019. Listening to podcasts on Spotify doubled in 2019, accounting for 39.5% of total podcast growth. We reported on Libsyn's overall podcast app market share numbers in late November; Walch also clarified that almost all Libsyn shows are now on Spotify.
December 23, 2019:
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Congratulations to Dave Jackson's School of Podcasting for reaching, we're told, 700 episodes. He started in 2005. (Libsyn)
December 20, 2019:
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Ma'ayan Plaut thinks we should share our work to make a better podcast.
December 19, 2019:
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Podcast host Libsyn is restricting its publishers from using some analytics companies. The company's recent platform update to add "URL prepends" for companies like Podtrac and Blubrry does not allow publishers to add Podsights, a company that measures the effect of podcast advertising. Attempts fail with an error, saying that the prepend is not compliant with privacy legislation. Podsights, however, say in a statement to us that "Podsights is GDPR and CCPA compliant, and data privacy is core to our business." Libsyn tells us: "We are taking these steps to help Libsyn, our customers and Libsyn partners better comply with CCPA and data privacy best practices globally, and because we feel it is necessary to protect listener privacy," though their statement does not mention Podsights by name.
December 16, 2019:
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Libsyn has updated their platform, adding the ability for you to add Podtrac/Chartable/Blubrry "URL prepends" and author data per episode.
December 9, 2019:
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Podcast advertising company Midroll is "bullying" podcaster David Pakman to switch his podcast host from Libsyn to Omny Studio, he says in a YouTube video. Pakman is unhappy at leaving Libsyn, and claims Omny Studio "tracks listeners using a tracking pixel". He is, he says, ending his relationship with Midroll as a result. We've approached Midroll for comment, and will carry that tomorrow; however, Sharon Taylor, CEO of Omny Studio, has clarified to Podnews (our bold):
December 5, 2019:
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Sweet Valley Diaries starts its fourth season today. The podcast focuses on Francine Pascal’s over-dramatic Sweet Valley High books, and started two years ago. (Libsyn)
December 4, 2019:
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Is it time to look at additional extensions to RSS? In an episode of the New Media Show, Blubrry's Todd Cochrane and Libsyn's Rob Greenlee say they're working on some new namespaces to allow podcast apps to link to things like transcripts or podcast guests and asking for contributors. Our Editor has previously suggested some optional attributes to help publishers control audio caching and automated transcripts. Extensions to RSS namespaces don't break existing feeds.
November 29, 2019:
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BLACK FRIDAY launches today. A scripted podcast by Tycho Newman, it tells the story of a mysterious phenomenon that turns white people into black people. (Stormfire Productions, Libsyn)
November 28, 2019:
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Thanks to Carey Green from PodcastFastTrack: have you ever wondered what good podcast editors can chop out of your show? Carey shares this audio with us - edited out of just one episode. 😲
November 27, 2019:
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In the latest episode of The Feed, Libsyn report which mobile apps downloaded podcasts from them in October. Apple Podcasts is the highest, at 58%. Of note: only around 40% of Libsyn shows are published on Spotify (so the app will be under-represented in these figures). Libsyn won't publish any numbers next month, because of work they're doing on Spotify passthrough.
November 26, 2019:
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Clarification: plays from Spotify are counted in all Libsyn accounts: they are broken out per destination for accounts paying $20/month or over ("advanced statistics"). Destination data, and IAB v2 certified figures, are not available for those with basic statistics. We meant to say that yesterday but didn't make that very clear.
November 25, 2019:
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Libsyn's changes to become a "Spotify passthrough" destination - so Spotify appears in their standard stats - has had the effect of instructing Spotify to download every single episode all over again, the company says, causing a spike in download numbers. "Don't panic!", they add. Spotify stats are available for users paying $20 or more per month.
November 20, 2019:
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Libsyn has alerted its customers that Spotify will shortly be "passthrough" on their platform, allowing Spotify stats to be in the main Libsyn numbers. Libsyn have also released improvements to their show notes editor and file replacement tools.
November 19, 2019:
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Yesterday, we quoted Libsyn's Rob Walch about what happens if you mark your podcast as explicit: that you're removed from Apple Podcasts in many countries. Jack Rhysider, who hosts an occasionally potty-mouthed podcast Darknet Diaries, says things have changed somewhat, and that "it's hardly a hurdle now".
November 15, 2019:
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Libsyn's revenue continues to increase, according to its Q3 2019 report. For its podcasting business, Libsyn earnt US $10.5m in revenue in the first nine months of 2019: up 14% from $9.2m in the same period last year. Libsyn has 67,000 podcasts on its platform, and also owns an internet hosting company, Pair.
November 6, 2019:
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The latest episode of Be The Drop was recorded live in Adelaide SA, Australia, and is an interview with James Cridland, Podnews's Editor. (Narrative Marketing / Libsyn)
November 4, 2019:
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Caution: Libsyn achieved IAB Certification in August, but that doesn't mean you'll get access to those numbers. We've been alerted by a number of podcasters that basic Libsyn plans do not give access to IAB Certified statistics. In September 2017, the company claimed "ALL users" would get "more accurate download numbers", and though they may dip a little, "➩ They will, however, be IAB Standard!"
November 1, 2019:
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The Double Shift podcast, focusing on the personal side of being a working mother, returns for a new season, including a live show. (Critical Frequency / Lipstick and Vinyl / Libsyn)
October 28, 2019:
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True Consequences launches today: a true crime podcast focusing on many of the unsolved cases in New Mexico in the US, and hosted by someone directly involved. (Libsyn)
October 25, 2019:
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Podcast Review, um, do a review of Podcast But Outside, with a review that uses the phrase "content perfection". You've convinced us. (Libsyn)
October 24, 2019:
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Another podcast host is now IAB Certified. Simplecast achieved the citation this week. It means the podcast host's figures are calculated the same way as others, like Voxnest, Libsyn and Blubrry.
October 23, 2019:
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Resonate Recordings highlights their new one-click posting feature for Libsyn, Podbean and Buzzsprout, in a video featuring two impressive beards .
October 22, 2019:
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Ignition Point returns for a second season, with twenty guests for practical strategies to help young professionals and aspiring leaders get fired up. Podcasts are deliberately short at around 20 minutes. (Libsyn)
October 21, 2019:
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Ignition Point returns for a second season, with twenty guests for practical strategies to help young professionals and aspiring leaders get fired up. Podcasts are deliberately short at around 20 minutes. (Libsyn)
October 15, 2019:
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Podcasting Step by Step has an interview with Andrea Jones from the Savvy Social podcast, and a specific social media strategy that podcasters can put into practice. (Libsyn)
October 11, 2019:
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Extreming is your basic “girl meets boy, girl meets robot, girl can’t decide” story set against the fakiest, fraudiest election in U.S. history—the one ahead. A "barely fiction musical theatre" podcast from Santa Barbara CA, USA, it launched on October 1st. (Libsyn)
October 10, 2019:
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The Contrarian Investor Podcast, from Nathaniel E. Baker, is a weekly podcast featuring an interview with a personality from the investing world. A press release highlight's Baker's experience at Bloomberg News. (Libsyn)
October 9, 2019:
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Borrowed Future is a new podcast from the Ramsey Network, highlighting what they call a massive student loan crisis in America. "This podcast series explores the lies we believe about college" - it's already a top 20 podcast in the US. (Libsyn)
October 8, 2019:
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BREAKING: Podcast host Libsyn has reached a settlement with their disgruntled shareholders, led by Camac. Libsyn has agreed to many of Camac's demands - Camac's founder Eric Shahinian is now Libsyn's new Chairman; some payments to Libsyn's CEO and former CFO have been cancelled; a new independent director will also be appointed, as will Bradley Tirpack; and Libsyn will pay Camac $600,000 for their expenses. Shahinian, 31, is an investor; Tirpak, 49, has variously worked for a dentist, a mining company and a vending company in the past four years, and works to improve corporate governance. Libsyn's CFO resigned last week; the special shareholder's meeting has been cancelled.
October 4, 2019:
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Libsyn's Chief Financial Officer, John Busshaus, has resigned. It comes after a complaint by the US's Securities and Exchange Commission, accusing Busshaus and Libsyn's CEO, Chris Spencer, of negligence and misrepresentation involving Libsyn's previous parent company. Busshaus and Spencer have agreed to a settlement "without admitting or denying the allegations"; and Busshaus has also agreed to a two year suspension of appearing or practicing as an accountant before the SEC.
October 3, 2019:
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Hormonal is a new podcast from a female health app Clue. The weekly podcast examines the ways in which hormones affect, and are affected by our world - spanning everything from PMS to pollution. It's hosted by author Rhea Ramjohn. (Libsyn)
October 1, 2019:
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Deezer is coming after Spotify, and has substantially strengthened its podcast offering, partnering with Libsyn, Ausha, Podomatic, Blubrry and Simplecast in addition to Audioboom and Spreaker. Podcasters on those platforms will find automated submission tools; though you can add a podcast to Deezer from any platform. It reports a 250% increase in podcast usage on its platform over the last two years.
September 26, 2019:
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We're only one idea away from changing our whole lives. Unlocking Creativity talks to industry-leading creatives, exploring the thought that changed everything: and tips and tricks for coming up with great ideas. (Libsyn)
September 24, 2019:
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Life on the Outside is a podcast from ex-lifers, returning to society after decades of being in prison. Unusually, it'll be available to prisoners throughout the Californian prison system, "providing incarcerated individuals a rare opportunity to hear successful reentry stories from their cells." (Libsyn)
September 13, 2019:
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Weird Work, a podcast about people who do strange things for a living, has taken a break from interviewing international pizza consultants and obituary writers to interview Ma'ayan Plaut, the podcast librarian from RadioPublic. (Hubspot / Libsyn)
September 12, 2019:
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I Know Dino, a podcast that "dives into the latest dinosaur related news", will release its 250th episode next week. It's hosted by husband and wife team Garret Kruger and Sabrina Ricci, " who celebrated their love for each other and dinosaurs with a dinosaur themed wedding". (Libsyn)
September 10, 2019:
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40.2% of new shows on Libsyn in Q2 2019 were hosted by women, according to Rob Walch, speaking on The Feed.
September 9, 2019:
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George McDonagh, the producer of Power Corrupts writes what he learnt when producing the first season. He notes that the podcast has had half a million downloads. (Libsyn)
September 5, 2019:
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Similar decreases were flagged by Podtrac in May, Podbean in June 2018, Audioboom in Jan 2018, and Libsyn in Sep 2017 along with many others.
September 3, 2019:
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A Scottish Podcast is an audio drama about a washed-up former radio DJ. His name is Lee, and these days he runs a paranormal investigation podcast called The Terror Files. In season 2, we’ve travelled with Lee and pals Gina and Dougie to the North coast of Scotland: the season finale will be on Friday 13th. (Libsyn)
August 26, 2019:
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Naxos, the classical music record company, are producing music podcasts. The Naxos Classical Spotlight is produced by Naxos of America every fortnight. (Libsyn)
August 23, 2019:
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The Resonate Recordings web app has added one-click posting to Libsyn.
August 22, 2019:
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The latest episode of Freelance Pod features an interview with Zoe Jeyes, who's the programmer of the London Podcast Festival. She listens to four new podcasts a day; and knows what makes a good live podcast. (Libsyn)
August 20, 2019:
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Dave Jackson's School of Podcasting focuses, in its latest episode, on insights from Podcast Movement. (Libsyn)
August 15, 2019:
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Podcast host Libsyn has released the company's latest financial reports. In the first six months of 2019, Libsyn's podcasting business made $6.9m in revenue, up from $5.9m for the same time last year. Shares were down 3%, but remain close to a record high.
August 12, 2019:
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Futility Closet covers forgotten stories from the pages of history. It's hosted by Greg Ross, who kindly just increased his personal support for Podnews. Be like Greg (Libsyn)
August 9, 2019:
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Podcast host Libsyn saw a 26% increase in new podcasts hosted by Libsyn in the first six months of 2019. The company says the growth is fueled by celebrity podcasters.
August 8, 2019:
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Libsyn has announced a new global partnership to distribute podcasts on Deezer, the global music streaming service. Deezer has 14m users. Blubrry will be doing similar next week. (Deezer all the places to put your podcasts, including, yes, Deezer).
August 7, 2019:
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Podcast Movement's main stage will be streamed live all day Wednesday and Thursday. The last event of Thursday is a live taping of the New Media Show, with Todd Cochrane (Blubrry), Rob Greenlee and Rob Walch (Libsyn), Lindsey Bowen (Pandora) and Sarah van Mosel (Stitcher).
August 2, 2019:
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Libsyn has a new website. "This does not change how you create a podcast," adds one of the support team.
August 1, 2019:
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The team behind The Fantasy Footballers - a fantasy football podcast with over 100m downloads - have been interviewed by Sport Techie on how they engage with their fans. (Libsyn)
July 31, 2019:
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Rob Greenlee is a guest of Podcasting Made Easy, delving into the past, present and future of podcasting. (Libsyn)
July 30, 2019:
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The Paranormal Podcast is celebrating its fourteenth anniversary today, with 597 episodes to date. The host, Jim Harold, started producing the podcast on July 29th 2005, and went full-time in 2012. (Libsyn)
July 29, 2019:
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Marketing podcast Future Proof interviews Danielle Lee, Spotify's Partner Solutions Global VP, on the company's aspirations - and why marketers should be "leaning in" to audio. (Saïd Business School / Oxford University / Kantar / Libsyn)
July 26, 2019:
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Shares in Libsyn are cheap - it "trades at half the valuation of its peers", says an article in Seeking Alpha. They're trading at near record levels; double where they were last year.
July 25, 2019:
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Spotify has purchased a music podcast. A nine month-old podcast The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers will become a Spotify Original; it'll continue to be available on all platforms. (Libsyn)
July 24, 2019:
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Blubrry has already activated the new podcast categories in their platform; and we understand Libsyn should follow suit today. The Powerpress Wordpress plugin has a new release to also support the new categories.
July 19, 2019:
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First Draft has reached its 200th episode. Hosted by author Sarah Enni, it promises "a quality hang with young adult and middle grade authors". The 200th episode is a compilation of some of the best and most pointed questions. (Libsyn)
July 17, 2019:
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A minority shareholder of Libsyn says it has succeeded in forcing the company to convene a special meeting. Camac, which owns 6.5% of Libsyn, wants to replace the board of directors and change the company's corporate governance. Shares in Libsyn closed up almost 5% yesterday on the news, at a five year high. (Don't worry, though - people called Rob are expected not to be affected by this news).
July 16, 2019:
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Rob Schneider and Patricia Maya have launched See What Happens, promising occasional guests and dissecting show business, their contrasting parenting methods, jokes, good food, philosophy, and more. (Libsyn)
July 15, 2019:
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The Screenster Podcast is an industry-insider look at the film and television world. Host and actress Georgie Grier talks to her guests about their careers, the highs and lows of this business and the good stuff on our screens. (Libsyn)
July 12, 2019:
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Turn Me On, a "provocative" podcast, has a live show next week in Toronto ON, Canada, "allowing the audience to be a part of the salacious conversation". Tickets (eOne / Libsyn)
July 10, 2019:
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Life, Death, and the space between is from Chicago-based clinical psychologist and medium Dr Amy Robbins, and sets out to explore life, death, and what it all means. It was launched six months ago. (Libsyn)
July 9, 2019:
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How i Died launches tomorrow. It claims to be a new twist on the true crime podcast genre, set in a fictional world, with fictional characters who delve into some of the strangest true deaths in the world. (AudiOhm Media / Libsyn)
July 1, 2019:
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In-Person is a new podcast that tells the stories behind the world's biggest professional events and the leaders who make them happen. SXSW is the first event highlighted. (Libsyn)
June 27, 2019:
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Rob Walch from Libsyn has released the latest download figures for podcasts hosted on Libsyn on mobile apps: Apple Podcasts 59.9%; Spotify 10%; Overcast: 2.9%; Castbox 2.5%; Stitcher 2%; Podcast Addict 1.6%; Google 1.3% and Pocketcast 1.2%. This is the first time, he notes, that Apple have slipped below 60%. (Libsyn's podcasts aren't all in Spotify, incidentally.) You can hear commentary on this in The Feed.
June 26, 2019:
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Publishing with Libsyn to LinkedIn? You need to reauthenticate.
June 25, 2019:
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After a minority shareholder threatened to replace Libsyn board members by calling for a special meeting (Podnews passim), the Libsyn board have changed the company bylaws to require a vote from the majority of shareholders to make such a change.
June 13, 2019:
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A minority shareholder of podcast host Libsyn, Camac, is continuing to express dissatisfaction against the current Board. Its latest filing highlights salary and bonus for some Board members. Camac is drumming up support for a special meeting; but needs 25% of shareholders to request one.
June 6, 2019:
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Lehmans Solutions for a simpler life has interviews with homesteaders, cooks, gardeners and employees will help you take the next step on your journey to a simpler life. (Evergreen Podcasts / Libsyn)
May 30, 2019:
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Rock guitarist David Gilmour has announced a podcast, called The David Gilmour Podcast. According to the announcement, each episode will focus on specific guitars played by Gilmour on some of the most well-known Pink Floyd songs ever written. Each podcast will also be slightly too long, contain relaxed rock guitar playing while Clare Torry adlibs a wordless tune over the top of it, and if you listen while watching The Wizard of Oz, man, it's, like, amazing. None of this is true. (Libsyn)
May 29, 2019:
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Podcast host Libsyn has partnered with Entercom's RADIO·COM, which claims it's the fastest-growing audio app in the US. Entercom reaches 170m Americans every month; Libsyn customers will find RADIO·COM listed as a new destination in their dashboard. (Podnews is on RADIO·COM; here's a full list of where we are, and how to get your podcast there).
May 28, 2019:
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Libsyn are making an announcement at 8.30am Pittsburgh time today. Follow us on Twitter.
May 27, 2019:
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Libsyn plans to launch a new advertising platform created specifically for podcasters; and is looking to expand its business outside the US, according to their quarterly investor phone call..
May 24, 2019:
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Postcard Academy this week features Podnews's world HQ in Brisbane, Australia - and interviews our editor about what he learnt when he moved here. (Libsyn)
May 23, 2019:
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The folks behind The Nightcap built a studio above a famous restaurant in Stratford Upon Avon, England, and invited the top chefs in the country to come and... have a nightcap. (Big Bertha Productions / Libsyn)
May 22, 2019:
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Clusterf*cked is a brand new US political podcast that makes the point that liberals are too clustered together, and talks to "people in places that aren’t blue." Its first guest is Chief Political Analyst at ABC News, Matthew Dowd. (Libsyn)
May 21, 2019:
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The largest independent podcast host Libsyn has released its Q1 earnings report. Libsyn's podcast revenue increased by 16% to $3.3m (and, including Pair Networks, the company got $6.28m in revenue, up 24% year-on-year). Libsyn now hosts 62,000 shows (and 4.9m media files); it claims it's responsible for around 35% of the Apple Podcasts top 200, and delivered over 5.1 billion downloads in 2018.
May 20, 2019:
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Podcast host Libsyn have announced 125 new podcast networks are using the company, including eBay, the NYSE and a tractor company.
May 17, 2019:
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Veteran podcast executive Rob Greenlee has joined Libsyn as Vice President of Content and Partnerships. He'll report to Laurie Sims, President of Libsyn, and will work with Rob Walch to further the company’s relationships with podcast producers and develop industry partnerships. He's previously worked for Spreaker and Voxnest; and has also worked at PodcastOne and within Microsoft's Zune division.
May 16, 2019:
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Civilized is a brand new dark comedy podcast from Sean Howard and Eli McIlveen, the makers of Alba Salix, Royal Physician. A full-cast, immersive audio fiction series, it's an improvised podcast using seasoned members of Hamilton ON's improv scene. (Libsyn)
May 14, 2019:
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The Talkhouse Podcast has just celebrated their 250th edition, where musicians, actors, filmmakers, and others speak one-on-one with their peers. The 250th edition was a special Mothers Day episode, featuring eleven artists. (Libsyn)
May 10, 2019:
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After the fact is currently in the middle of a four-part series about today's American family. (Pew Charitable Trusts/Libsyn)
May 9, 2019:
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The Podcast Engineering Show has a long interview with our Editor, James Cridland, including plenty of technical discussion about microphones and LUFS. Lucky you. (Libsyn)
May 2, 2019:
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Latina to Latina is celebrating 100,000 downloads. “We have been so moved by how strongly the show has been embraced by Latinas and their friends,” says Exec Producer Juleyka Lantigua-Williams. (Lantigua-Williams & Co, Libsyn)
May 1, 2019:
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Persistence 360° is hosted by comedian Mark Malkoff, talking to people for whom persistence paid off. “A lot of times we don’t hear the struggles that come with these success stories,” he says. “I’ve walked away from these interviews inspired as well as practical tips to help me get to the next level of my own personal goals.” (Libsyn)
April 30, 2019:
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Spotify paid €50m (US$55m) for Parcast, their financial results say. More than 50,000 shows have been submitted through their podcast portal - and there are 250,000 podcasts in their system overall (the differences being Anchor's catalogue, presumably, as well as automated API-driven submissions from partner hosts like Libsyn or Omny Studio). Apple has over 700,000.
April 29, 2019:
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"There is simply no excuse for the current state of Libsyn", says a shareholder of Libsyn, Camac Partners, which is demanding all four existing directors of the company are removed to "bring needed discipline to Libsyn and an unwavering commitment to stockholder value". They have suggested five new directors - four of whom only have a financial background; the other has just launched a new podcast onto Luminary.
April 24, 2019:
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Libsyn's The Feed usually contains some nice stats. In the latest show, for March, 62% of Libsyn's podcasts were downloaded from Apple Podcasts; 9.6% from Spotify, and 2.8% from Overcast (with Google Podcasts at #8, with 1.2%). (Fewer than 40% of Libsyn shows are available on Spotify).
April 23, 2019:
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Got an unfinished novel? Bruce Janu did: so he gave himself a kick and turned it into a podcast to help him finish it. The result is Lilac Wine - The Podcast. (Libsyn)
April 17, 2019:
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What Was That Like is a conversation with someone who has found themselves in an extremely unusual situation. Previous episodes feature people who survived a mass shooting, prevented a kidnapping, or caused a fatal accident. What was that like? (Libsyn)
March 27, 2019:
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The Nocturnists is a live show (see above) where health professionals tell stories from the world of medicine. The first episode of season two came out yesterday; based in San Francisco, it records on both US coasts. (Libsyn)
March 25, 2019:
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Catholic Sports Radio - not always three words that go together, but long-time podcaster Bruce Wawrzyniak describes it as "content for ongoing reflection for daily life". (Libsyn)
March 19, 2019:
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In a statement, Libsyn says its podcasting revenue grew by 30%, and in total the company earned double the amount of revenue year on year: earning over US $22m. The company has $11m in the bank. Congratulations to them. (Cough)
March 11, 2019:
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John Lee Dumas was the first keynote speaker at Podfest. Slides from his talk, The top 4 tactics for creating, launching, growing and monetising your podcast, are available online. "JLD", as he calls himself, was also the target of the humorous "roast" at the end of the event, which took place in Orlando FL, USA and attracted podcasters from across the US and Canada. Other speakers included Libsyn's Rob Walch, Evo Terra, and Chartable's Dave Zohrob. It was sponsored by Himalaya.
March 1, 2019:
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Libsyn are putting on a free webinar tonight at 7pm New York time about podcast metadata; it'll contain some Libsyn-specific information but is open to everyone.
February 27, 2019:
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How to be less awkward, a podcast from Laura Merli and a guest, generally a fellow comedian, revealing their most awkward encounters, is back for a new series. The description tells us it's "cringeworthy, heartwarming, and hilarious". (Libsyn)
February 26, 2019:
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Podrunner is a workout music podcast, celebrating thirteen years as a podcast this week. The podcast has won many awards during the past thirteen years, and is currently in the charts in many different countries. The current episode is an hour of mixes at 154 BPM, which we listened to at our desk and still felt exhausted. (Libsyn)
February 21, 2019:
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What podcast apps are Libsyn podcasts being consumed on? Stats from Libsyn's The Feed podcast, related to all podcasts downloaded on the platform, are shown above for December 2018. (We wrote these down for a presentation: but thought we'd also share them here.)
February 12, 2019:
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Deliver Us launches tomorrow, featuring interviews with experts, advocates, and survivors to learn what the church can do to move forward from its sexual abuse scandal. (Libsyn)
February 7, 2019:
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Should you use 44.1kHz or 48kHz sample rate for your podcast? Allan Tépper has launched the 48kHz Alliance, giving reasons why he feels 48kHz is preferable, and taking Libsyn's Rob Walch to task for a statement he made in The Feed. (Our podcast technical analytics measure the samplerate of recent podcasts).
February 4, 2019:
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The Family Tree returns for its final season. A piece of audio fiction presented as true, the majority of the action happens off-mic, spanning comedy, tragedy, adventure and interpersonal drama. If listening for the first time, you might want to go back to the first season, as a press release makes clear. (Libsyn)
February 1, 2019:
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Pew's After the Fact is two years old today, and celebrating 47 episodes and 85 guests. The podcast features nonpartisan analysis, with numbers and trends about society’s biggest challenges. (Libsyn)
January 30, 2019:
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The latest episode of Chartable Radio has, as a guest, the Editor of Podnews, James Cridland. If you fancy thirty minutes of an "aloof British accent", knock yourself out. (Tech note: recorded using CleanFeed). (Libsyn)
January 28, 2019:
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Meet your Maker returns for a fourth season next week. Focusing on the stories behind the creation of all manner of culture, Liam Geraghty returns with his New York Festivals Radio Award nominated podcast; and will feature guests such as American cartoonist Chris Ware, Oscar nominated filmmaker Nora Twomey, Senior Conservator at the Chester Beatty Library Kristine Rose-Beers and video game maker David O'Reilly. (Libsyn)
January 21, 2019:
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Dave Hill's Podcasting Incident says "If you like podcasts and/or the Internet in general, you will really like this podcast because it is pretty much the greatest of all-time." In the latest episode, an interview with comedian and former America’s Next Top Model contestant Sarah Hartshorne. (Libsyn)
January 8, 2019:
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David Siteman Garland, a "million dollar business owner", is interviewed about his podcast The rise to the top. "Creating a podcast is relatively easy, when you know what to do. Building a profitable laser-focused business? Much harder." (Libsyn)
January 2, 2019:
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OZY Confidential promises "raw, rant-o-riffic crosstalk from the edge", hosted by Eugene S. Robinson, who "gets heavy, deep and real with everyone from a world renowned Nietzsche scholar who left behind a PhD for life as a crack whore, to Boston Irish Mafia's Kevin Weeks." It launches on January 14th. (Libsyn)
December 31, 2018:
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Simplecast is in the process of attaining IAB Certification. They join Voxnest/Spreaker, Megaphone, Libsyn, Omny Studio, and ART19. With Blubrry and NPR having already achieved it, that's over a quarter of a million dollars that the IAB has earnt so far from certification. Cough
December 20, 2018:
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Libsyn have confirmed that they aim to achieve IAB Certification. They'd join Blubrry and NPR, who were the first to get the accolade earlier this week.
December 6, 2018:
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You can now binge the full first season of The Sugar Baby Confessionals, focusing on Ruby, a self-confessed "sugar baby". The podcast is "thought-provoking, charming, funny and candid" according to reviews. (Fable Gazers / Libsyn)
December 3, 2018:
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Lots of data about podcasts in Puerto Rico. The most popular hosts for the podcasts surveyed are Anchor, Libsyn and iVoox.
November 30, 2018:
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Libsyn have unveiled a new podcast directory, showcasing Libsyn-hosted podcasts.
November 27, 2018:
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Chartable Radio is a new podcast that discusses charts and podcast statistics. (Libsyn)
November 15, 2018:
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Podcast app Pocket Casts have unveiled an entirely redesigned app for iOS, Android and the web (including new macOS and Windows apps). Highlights include a brand-new 'discover' section which is geo-aware, listening history, and more. The iOS version is available now; the Android version is in opt-in public beta; there is coverage in The Verge and CNet Libsyn report Pocket Casts was the #7 podcast app in September, with 1.42% of all downloads; Anchor suggests it's the #5 app, with 0.9%; it's based in Adelaide in Australia, but owned by a consortium of US public radio broadcasters.
November 14, 2018:
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Libsyn appear to be the only host available to independent podcasters that is included in Pandora's launch offering. Libsyn calls this an "exclusive" partnership, and has announced that Libsyn customers should email their VP of Podcast Relations Rob Walch - rob@libsyn.com - if you want your show to be listed on Pandora. Speaking on a special episode of the company's podcast, Walch said that initially there are 420 shows from Libsyn available in Pandora, and that this "is a really good day for podcasting".
November 13, 2018:
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Spotify, which is the #2 podcast platform according to Anchor and Libsyn, is testing shareable podcast playlists. A test has been seen by My Spotify Ideas which allows users to share individual podcast episodes (and, like all playlists, ask for the entire playlist to be downloaded). The test has disappeared.
October 31, 2018:
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A Scottish Podcast returns for a second season. It's an audio drama about a washed-up DJ who launches a paranormal investigation podcast. (Jester's Baffies Productions / Libsyn)
October 30, 2018:
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The award-winning Alba Salix, Royal Physician, a satirical fantasy in the tradition of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the novels of Terry Pratchett, returns for a second season. The podcast boasts more than a quarter of a million listeners. (Libsyn)
October 26, 2018:
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Earbud Theater's latest release, "Tales from the dead of night", is a 'creepshow style anthology perfect for the Halloween season'. (Libsyn)
October 18, 2018:
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The NY Post report on how this couple turned their fights into a hit podcast, focusing on Marriage & Martinis (Libsyn)
October 15, 2018:
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Grumpy Old Geeks is celebrating five years online by shifting from a weekly podcast to having two episodes every week. It's hosted by Jason DeFillippo and Brian Schulmeister. (Libsyn)
October 12, 2018:
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The Marriage Family Business Podcast is a podcast dedicated to entrepreneurial couples seeking their ideal lifestyle. (Libsyn)
October 9, 2018:
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The Sicario Effect focuses on Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez, alias “Popeye”, who was Pablo Escobar’s trusted lieutenant and chief sicario (assassin): killer of at least 300 people and now... a social media star. (Exclave Media / Libsyn)
October 5, 2018:
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Podcasts have been disappearing from Apple Podcasts - kind of. Many publishers are reporting that iTunes, and the Apple Podcasts app, showed no episodes at all for certain podcasts. Subscribers continued getting the episodes, though - with Apple, when you subscribe to a podcast, your app pulls the RSS feed directly from the publisher rather than Apple's copy. Libsyn report that Apple has fixed it.
October 4, 2018:
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Libsyn has a new status page for its customers, showing whether there are any outages on the service.
October 2, 2018:
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Mad Influence is GQ magazine's new podcast. "Legendary actor Ethan Hawke" is the first interviewee. (Libsyn)
September 25, 2018:
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Glenn Gould's Chair is a new Canadian podcast about the eccentric pianist, who always used a special seat while playing. (Ludwig Van / Libsyn)
September 20, 2018:
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Coming Out Stories "lets one person tell their own story in their own words and share their experience of coming out. Sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious, always emotional." (What Goes On Media / Libsyn)
September 18, 2018:
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Many people fall asleep to podcasts: Sleepy is specifically designed to help you do that. Otis Gray tells me "Sleepy is now downloaded in over 50 countries, with downloads increasing by 43% each month." He also points to lots of grateful listeners, for whom the podcast is a vital part of their sleepytime. Zzzzzz. (Libsyn)
September 17, 2018:
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SAPIENS: A podcast for everything human is a podcast at the intersection of science and storytelling. The producers take one question about the human experience per episode, and answer it using anthropology. (House of Pod / Libsyn)
September 12, 2018:
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Hello to new subscriber The Honor Project, who have created Warriors in their own words to capture stories of US war veterans. (Libsyn)
September 5, 2018:
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How is Google Podcasts doing? And how could it do better? Editor of Podnews, James Cridland, writes an opinion piece with a few ideas for Mountain View; the story also includes data from Libsyn, ART19, Omny Studio and Whooshkaa.
August 29, 2018:
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What is really the top hosting service? After feedback, Chartable have re-examined their numbers in an illuminating blog post. Of note: just 2.8% of podcasts are measured by Podtrac; Libsyn is hosting 28.2% of top podcasts, and Anchor is easily the most popular host over the last six months - even limiting it to podcasts with more than ten episodes.
August 27, 2018:
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Fired Up! is an "inspirational and funny" podcast with "high profile people from a variety of walks of life who have been fired or faced a downturn, and managed to turn things around to achieve greatness". (Cascade Media, Libsyn)
August 24, 2018:
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There might be about 540,000 shows in Apple Podcasts, but they're not all active. In fact, according to Todd Cochrane from Blubrry, 75% of podcast [shows] are no longer in production, he tells Stephen Goldstein - a phenomenon known as "podfade". Separately, Chartable's hosting data suggests only 16% of podcasts on the free podcast host Anchor have published more than 9 episodes: that figure rises to 77% of podcasts hosted on the paid platform Libsyn. (Anchor is considerably younger, of course.)
August 23, 2018:
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Google Play Music Podcasts, the company's previous podcast attempt that only works in US and Canada, is not currently importing new episodes, due to a bug.
August 22, 2018:
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Caution: The data, in many places, confuses "top RSS feed hosting platforms" with the audio hosting platform. As an example: the RSS feed for NPR's Up First is hosted by npr·org, but as we note on that page, the audio is hosted by Triton Digital; npr·org is not the "podcast host". Chartable say they are re-running the dataset and will post updated numbers in the next twenty-four hours. Expect Libsyn and Blubrry, who host audio and also offer tools for third-party RSS feed generation, to appear higher in the revised figures.
August 14, 2018:
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Followup - in November 2017, we reported that much of New & Noteworthy was broken within many iTunes country categories. At the time, we noted that the Business category in Australia consisted of podcasts added in Q1 2016, and hadn't been updated since then. Nine months later... nothing appears to have changed. Every single podcast in the category appears to have started two and a half years ago; of the twenty podcasts in this category, eight haven't posted a new episode in the last six months. (Meanwhile, Apple Podcasts Connect is still reportedly unusable for many podcasters).
August 7, 2018:
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Stats from Libsyn's The Feed podcast:
July 25, 2018:
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AdsWizz has launched a podcast platform partnership program with a set of podcast hosts including Blubrry, Libsyn, Voxnest, StreamGuys and EmpireStreaming. The program offers 'massively accelerated revenue growth' to podcasters on those platforms.
June 18, 2018:
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Spotify is adding new shows to their system again, and working through a large backlog, including 2,500 shows from Libsyn alone. They suspended new submissions in early May while they retooled their podcast service.
June 8, 2018:
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Steven Goldstein writes about podcasts and smart speakers; particularly, a set of data and numbers that might come handy. NPR noted in a conference earlier this week that voice activation is the future of podcasting; we also noted Libsyn's stats that 0.2% of all podcasts were played on a smart speaker in April.
May 31, 2018:
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Omny Studio tell us that they are planning to roll out an automated tool that will automatically help migrate any of their customers' HTTP feeds to HTTPS. (They already support it, and it's default for new podcasts). Libsyn support https links (just 'add the s'), but they're also working on automatic migration.
May 30, 2018:
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Some stats from Libsyn-hosted podcasts, from their podcast The Feed (ep 120) for the month of April:
May 25, 2018:
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Google Home is now outselling Amazon Echo devices, reports Gizmodo. Of course, Google Assistant is also present in many Android phones and even headphones. In Libsyn's The Feed this week, Rob Walch mentions that the Google Assistant iPhone app is a good way to check whether Google's properly indexed your podcast; and here's how to get your podcast onto Google Home. (Oh, and "OK, Google, ask podnews for the latest" is a good thing to try, too).
May 11, 2018:
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NPR podcasts are now available on Spotify, they announce. Spotify is, say Libsyn, the #2 podcast destination in the world.
April 17, 2018:
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Spotify are doing some behind-the-scenes work on their podcast platform. Libsyn warns of delays in new shows. (We're on Spotify with a special weekly version of our podcast).
April 13, 2018:
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LibSyn's The Feed ep 177 was out last week. From the stats section: 1,432 is the sensibly-adjusted average episode download figure for downloads. 6.9% of all downloads have 5,000 downloads or more. Spotify is up again: 5.75% of all downloads. Tip: the show notes let you skip in this 90-minute podcast.
April 9, 2018:
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Thank you to World's Toughest Podcast for your kind support on our Patreon page; and also to Second Line Themes who make excellent Wordpress podcast themes.
February 21, 2018:
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Spotify are going to launch their own speaker hardware, according to a job ad, at least. (They're the second-most popular way of getting podcasts, according to Libsyn.)
February 20, 2018:
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In December, Libsyn said that Apple Podcasts accounted for 60.8% of all podcast downloads. Only iOS 11 devices - 65% of all active iOS devices - contribute to the Podcast Analytics (and the latest iTunes). Apple's Podcast Analytics therefore may only represent 39.5% of your total traffic.
February 5, 2018:
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This Week In Bitcoin is a new, ten-to-fifteen minute summary of news about the cryptocurrency. Hosted by a Brit in Columbia, on Libsyn.
January 8, 2018:
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Podcast host Libsyn have turned their legacy stats off for their customers. The numbers still live there, but they're no longer being updated.
January 4, 2018:
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Podcast host Libsyn, properly known as Liberated Syndication Inc, has purchased web hosting company Pair Networks. Some data points in the announcement: "In 2016, Libsyn delivered over 4.59 Billion downloads. We host over 3.2 Million media files for more than 35,000 podcasts, including typically around 35% of the top 200 podcasts in iTunes." Both companies are based in Pittsburgh PA, USA.
January 3, 2018:
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Sweden: a switch by Libsyn to use IAB-approved analytics meant that the figures for the largest podcast in the country, by Alex Schulman and Sigge Eklund, went down by 38% according to Swedish site Breakit. "Both the 750,000 and the 650,000 download number are grossly incorrect, Breakit can reveal," it said in a story from November 23. Sweden have already fixed this: they have a national weekly podcast data portal using IAB podcast measurement standards as we reported on November 20.
December 6, 2017:
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Libsyn has added an "add to Spotify" button in their dashboard. It's next to a similar button for Google Play Music and iHeartRadio.
November 21, 2017:
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A Libsyn webinar on YouTube, including explanation of the change in stats with LibSyn (describing some of their previous stats as 'buggy'). Some podcasters are seeing over 50% smaller stats, it transpires. From 31 minutes in, some actual stats (using the new methodology): 50% of podcast episodes in September got less than 162 downloads; 80% mobile; 5.3 iOS downloads to every one Android download. Lots more in here. From 49 minutes in, how to talk to advertisers about the falling stats. From 54 minutes, their dashboard. You could criticise Libsyn for previously wildly inaccurate stats with no filtering at all; or commend them for trying to put it right even if it meant them losing customers; both are probably valid viewpoints.
September 26, 2017:
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UK presenter Geoff Lloyd launches a new podcast with former Labour leader Ed Miliband: Reasons to be cheerful. Episode 1 looks at universal bonus income.
September 20, 2017:
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Libsyn plan to overhaul their podcasting stats to comply with IAB guidelines. "There is no easy way to tell our customers that they will see a decrease in the download numbers they have worked to grow."
June 22, 2017:
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Poynter shares ideas of what Apple's new stats could mean for discovery - assuming Apple opens up the data. They're great ideas. Not sure Apple nor many podcast makers want this data to be quite as visible as these ideas would need. (That said, people like Omny Studio or Libsyn could do this.)