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May 3, 2024:
April 29, 2024:
April 19, 2024:
    Ariel Shapiro’s final Hot Pod was published. In an editorial, she paints a picture of a new industry landscape - where investments have dried up and every project needs to be profitable to survive; and suggests she “got to the party too late”.
April 17, 2024:
    One of the two big Australian commercial podcast publishers, ARN, is bidding to buy the other, its competitor SCA. “If the proposal goes ahead, we expect ARN would close its iHeart app and shift to LiSTNR as a single audio streaming platform,” says an analyst from Morgan Stanley.
April 12, 2024:
    Can you help a study for the University of Amsterdam? Chance Dorland is investigating how users perceive the features of different social audio platforms for an academic paper on how such features lead to distinct user experiences. He’s looking for an hour of your time.
April 11, 2024:
    Scandal rewatch podcast Unpacking The Toolbox is back for a second season today, hosted by Katie Lowes and Guillermo Diaz. It's from Shondaland Audio, in partnership with iHeartPodcasts. We're promised a slew of special guests including Bellamy Young, Tony Goldwyn, Kate Burton, and Dan Bucatinsky.
April 8, 2024:
April 4, 2024:
    Innovation Minutes, a (normally) German-language podcast, interviews our Editor, James Cridland, today on the landscape of podcasts in Europe, the US and beyond. It was recorded a few weeks ago at Radiodays Europe in Munich - and yes, this episode is in English, because James ist zu faul Deutsch zu lernen.
April 3, 2024:
    The Pete and Sebastian Show has signed with Studio71. It was with Audioboom. It stars two A-list comedians, Pete Correale and Sebastian Maniscalco, get together once a week to create a tight comedy radio show with stories and comedy bits.
April 1, 2024:
March 21, 2024:
March 19, 2024:
    The host of the Detectives Don’t Sleep podcast and voiceover for Star Wars and Gremlins, Mark Dodson, has died. He was 64. “A voice can make or break a show, and in this case, Mark had the perfect voice,” said Noiser’s CEO Pascal Hughes.
March 13, 2024:
    If the Oscars have got you all excited about the creative process and creators across all kinds of industries, then ICONS could be the podcast for you: the show offers insightful discussions and reflections on the creative minds behind some of the most influential works in cinema.
March 11, 2024:
March 8, 2024:
March 6, 2024:
March 5, 2024:
    The Bitch Bible is now with PodcastOne, joining from Dear Media. It's the 27th show added to PodcastOne's network this fiscal year. The show, hosted by Jackie Schimmel, will start to produce video elements and make additional shows.
February 21, 2024:
    Story Mill Media has launched Anomalie, a role-playing meditation podcast. The goal of guided fantasy role-playing meditation is to help you cultivate a sense of wonder, curiosity, balance, and joy in your inner world - a form of escapism and relaxation, as well as a creative outlet for the imagination.
February 9, 2024:
February 7, 2024:
    Spotify’s podcasting business was close to breaking-even in Q4, Daniel Ek said in an earnings call. He also outlined the change of strategy: “While some of these exclusivity deals worked, generally it wasn't aligned with what the creator wanted. The creator wants to have a broader audience. With these new deals, we are in a position where we're better aligned with the creator. We can both deliver the growth rate and we are equally incentivized to drive our audience growth. And of course then also drive revenue growth because we both share in that upside. Today, Spotify is in many cases the number one podcasting player already. Exclusivity makes sense when you're the smaller playing, trying to gain scale: [but] when you're the bigger player, the additional value of the exclusivity is far smaller than it is about being aligned. From a values point of view, this is better aligned with who we are at Spotify too.”
February 6, 2024:
January 23, 2024:
    The Louis Theroux Podcast is back for a "star studded second series", including Hollywood icon Sharon Stone, visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, fellow podcast maestro Adam Buxton, and breakout music sensation PinkPantheress, with more to be announced. Paul Mescal is the guest today. We have to tell you that "The Louis Theroux Podcast is a Spotify podcast, now available everywhere, with new episodes every Tuesday" apparently.
January 22, 2024:
January 9, 2024:
    The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself: fifty years ago, ABBA's Waterloo won the Eurovision Song Contest - and now you've got this ABBA song going round your head, and you couldn't escape if you wanted to. Like A Magic Spell is a brand new podcast unlocking the joy of ABBA, one song at a time with ABBA superfans and music journalists.
January 8, 2024:
January 3, 2024:
December 22, 2023:
December 1, 2023:
November 22, 2023:
November 16, 2023:
    Starting today, Ghost - Scary Stories features Thanksghosting: a spine-chilling week-long podcast event where eerie ghost stories meet the warm, cozy vibes of Thanksgiving. Prepare to be haunted each day with tales that will make your turkey tremble and cranberry sauce curdle. (Podnews fact check: cranberry sauce can't curdle.)
November 14, 2023:
    Johnny Jet, a travel blogger, is the latest victim of a scam aimed at podcasters. It was a Facebook hack, where someone promised to pay a guest fee of $3,000, and gained control of his Facebook page under the guise of setting up a live event. Here's someone else reporting the same thing; and Podnews knows of a very high-profile podcaster who fell for a similar scam in September (being promised $2,000 to remotely speak). He told us: "We should warn podcasters about this. They’re PHISHING, but targeting podcasters specifically. This pitch was tailored to me personally."
November 1, 2023:
    What happens when a failed sitcom superstar is forced out of Hollywood and starts work stacking shelves? Supermarket is the result - a new podcast from 911 Podcasts featuring an ensemble cast. The comedy fiction podcast is 911 Podcasts' third release, after Cascadia and ICE-CREAM.
October 31, 2023:
October 30, 2023:
October 24, 2023:
October 23, 2023:
    Missing Pages returns today from The Podglomerate. This season investigates the biggest “hot button” topics in the book world – from the rise of Colleen Hoover, to the idea of who owns what in fan fiction, as well as the impact of literary scams and frauds, and the fallout from the 2022 DOJ trial against the PRH/S&S merger.
October 19, 2023:
    The Wedding Scammer is new from The Ringer, and is the Spotify-owned company's first ever true crime podcast. Justin Sayles tracks a mysterious figure who once wronged him. A man with a lot of aliases, a lot of failed businesses, and a trail of victims. Justin follows him through a sham media company, a series of ruined weddings, and beyond, trying to find answers.
October 18, 2023:
    In Australia, the owner of iHeartPodcast Network Australia ARN Media has made a hostile bid to take over its competitor, SCA (which owns LiSTNR). The radio market is worth AUD $1.7bn (US $1.1bn): ARN and SCA are the two largest companies. If successful, the broadcast radio business would be split into two companies for regulatory reasons; however, the podcast businesses aren't subject to the same ownership regulation.
October 17, 2023:
    From the creators of Radio Rental and Tenderfoot TV, Rattled & Shook is a variety show for all things creepy-adjacent and horror-lite where each week, hosts Aprile and Meredith share new scary stories — reacting in real time — play horror-themed games, and feature special guests.
October 12, 2023:
October 6, 2023:
    Through October until the scariest night of the year, Ghost: Scary Stories Daily is bringing you bone-chilling ghost stories that will have your heart racing and your spine tingling. They're doing 31 stories in 31 days, so there are already six to choose from. Get ready to face your deepest fears and join them on a haunting journey leading up to Halloween.
September 29, 2023:

Ashley Flowers, Founder & CCO, Audiochuck and Host, William "Donwill" Freeman, Rapper, DJ, Producer & Host, Neil Cowling, Founder, Fresh Air Production, Laci Mosley, Actress, Comedian & Host of Scam Goddess, Adam Sachs, SVP Comedy Entertainment Radio & Podcasts, SiriusXM, and Malvina Goldfeld, Chief Product Officer, Podimo.

September 27, 2023:
September 22, 2023:
September 15, 2023:
    Burger Murders is a true-crime series for 2023. From soggy buns, barely melted cheese and frozen beef, the podcast delves into the most serious UK burger crimes, featuring real-life accounts, about what happens when fast food goes scarily wrong. It's hosted by Joel Morris and Sara Barron, and is sponsored by - who else - Wendy's, which returned to the UK in 2021.
September 13, 2023:
September 11, 2023:
    Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University is a a new investigative podcast, reported and hosted by award-winning health reporter Laura Beil. Centering on the scandal around Dr. Robert Hadden, an OB-GYN at Columbia University who abused his patients for more than 20 years, the show shares the stories of numerous survivors and their decade-long battle to bring Hadden to justice and hold institutions accountable. It's produced by Wondery.
September 7, 2023:
    Part of the Airwave Podcast Network: The Movies That Made Me features filmmakers and entertainers, discussing the movies that inspired them. Recorded live in Hollywood, it's hosted by Oscar nominated screenwriter Josh Olson and director Joe Dante.
September 6, 2023:
    "Criminal gangs behind a rise in bombings and shootings in Sweden in recent years are using fake Spotify streams to launder money", is the unusual claim in Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. The article, reported in The Guardian, suggests that Swedish gangster rap is actually funding Swedish gangsters. Spotify says it has not found “any data or hard evidence that indicates that the platform is being used at scale in the fashion described”.
September 1, 2023:
    Nielsen released a new Podcasting Today report, with data from Edison Research and Nielsen Scarborough Podcast Buying Power. The total US podcast audience has grown 68% in the last five years, with the number of Hispanic listeners almost doubling. Comedy is the most popular genre.
August 28, 2023:
    Launched Sept 2020 in Podnews, NPR ends localised versions of the Consider This podcast this week, which they claimed at the time was the "first localised daily news podcast". Localisation "did not prove sustainable", said a spokesperson; Current reports that the production process wasn't scalable; audiences didn't value it much anyway; and NPR is moving to Megaphone which means the use of different tools. Consider This continues, with national content (featuring anchors like Mary Louise Kelly, above)
August 25, 2023:
    Part of the Airwave podcast network: What is the history of the potato? The Enigma machine? Constantinople? Houdini? History of Everything takes deep dives into history every week, whether you're into war battles or Presidential sex scandals.
August 18, 2023:
    Part of the Airwave podcast network: Tumble Science Podcast for Kids explores stories of science discovery - for the whole family. Join Lindsay Patterson and Marshall Escamilla as they ask questions, uncover mysteries, and share what science is all about.
August 16, 2023:
    Two years ago, the US pulled out of Afghanistan, and a desperate sea of humanity rushed to Kabul airport to escape with them. More than 80,000 refugees made their way to America - but what happened to those families, arriving in the middle of a pandemic with a lack of affordable housing? Stranger Becomes Neighbor is a new six-part series from KSL Podcasts.
August 14, 2023:
    It's two years since El Salvador said Bitcoin was legal tender. The Spanish-language Plan Cuscatlán: de las Pandillas al Bitcoin investigates how Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador and self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator”, took the world by surprise when he announced the Bitcoin Law that would make his country the first in the world to adopt crypto. Almost all voices in the show are Salvadoran; it's made by Argentinian production studio Mantel.
August 10, 2023:
    From Better Homes & Gardens, The Better Buy returns for a new season, to delve into the full home buying process, from house hunting and moving to interior design and landscaping. Each episode will progress through this homeownership journey, with host Mélanie Berliet talking to both experts and celebrities who will share their stories, practical tips, and advice.
August 4, 2023:
    The Automated Daily is produced every day, automatically, by AI. "Our intelligent algorithms scour the news landscape to sift through the noise, ensuring that you receive only the most relevant and significant stories." (Hmm, we use a human for that...)
August 2, 2023:
July 25, 2023:
    Free plugin, anyone? If you want your podcast to sound as if it's been recorded on a TASCAM cassette deck, today is your lucky day - and no requirement for a bit of sellotape over the recording hole. You've until the end of August to grab a free plugin from TASCAM and IK Multimedia, and add a bit of 1⅞ ips sound to your next show.
July 20, 2023:
July 13, 2023:
June 28, 2023:
    One of the oldest podcast apps, Stitcher is to close on Aug 29. An internal memo, seen by Podnews, says that the "scale and reach of our widely-distributed podcasts has been and remains a crucial accelerant for our advertising sales business". In January, Stitcher was the sixth-biggest podcast app in the US, according to Podtrac - though it had lost a quarter of its users in two years, and had only 1.3% of the market.
June 26, 2023:
June 22, 2023:
June 21, 2023:
June 15, 2023:
June 14, 2023:
    The Australian Podcast Ranker for May was released. Both ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Australia and SCA's LiSTNR claim various #1 slots. The #1 publisher in the country is the ABC, but they are still not participating in the ranker; they announced their participation in March (and in Oct 2019).
June 6, 2023:
May 31, 2023:
    It's the latest acquisition from the PodX Group, who now own companies in Scandinavia, Argentina, France and the UK. To learn more about PodX Group, read this interview with CEO Staffan Rosell in the Podcast Business Journal.
May 29, 2023:
May 19, 2023:
    The Podnews Weekly Review this week includes interviews with Mark Asquith of Captivate on the company's new monetisation tools, Oscar Merry of Fountain on the new version of the app, and Martin Mouritzen on the new version of Podfriend.
May 18, 2023:
    A star of West Wing and Scandal, Joshua Malina, is to join the Jewish podcast Unorthodox, it was announced. His first show is on May 25. The show itself has been airing weekly since 2015.
May 15, 2023:
May 12, 2023:
May 5, 2023:
May 3, 2023:
May 2, 2023:
May 1, 2023:
April 28, 2023:
    WNYC and Gothamist have launched a new podcast, NYC NOW. Updated three times a day, it contains the latest WNYC newscasts. In a letter posted on Gothamist, Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper suggests the new podcast is an accompaniment to WNYC and Gothamist's longer-form material.
April 27, 2023:
April 21, 2023:
    Spotify believes that podcast advertising could be easier and more efficient for ad buyers. In an interview to be published later today for the Podcast Business Journal, Nina Harvey says the Spotify Audience Network is "able to bring to an advertiser a single buying point to supply an efficient way to access audiences at scale." You can subscribe to the Podcast Business Journal here.
April 20, 2023:
April 19, 2023:
April 5, 2023:
April 3, 2023:
March 31, 2023:
    Podshape has launched SleepScape, a premium subscription podcast that gives you two hours of sounds from places across Australia. "The world's first ambient sound sleep aid podcast", it is recorded in 360-degree audio, and is available exclusively on Apple Podcasts.
March 30, 2023:
March 24, 2023:
March 20, 2023:
    LiSTNR's Just the Gist has hit ten million downloads. The show tells stories about famous scandals, true crimes, celeb drama, conspiracy theories, politics, and amazing people throughout history.
March 15, 2023:
March 7, 2023:
    Podcast Movement Evolutions is about to start in Las Vegas NV, USA. A multi-track podcasting event, it's designed to help people keep up with the evolving landscape of audio and podcasting.
March 3, 2023:
February 22, 2023:
February 21, 2023:
    The owner of LiSTNR, SCA also released its annual report. It claims 3.4mn monthly podcast listeners, and 889,000 registered users on LiSTNR. Digital revenue was AU$20.7mn (US $14mn), up 35% y/y: 5.2% of total audio revenue (the group also owns television licences).
February 16, 2023:
    Stuck with Damon Young returns with more off-the-cuff conversations inspired by today’s most culturally relevant headlines and round ups of Damon-approved listener-submitted questions. In the first episode of season 2, “Girls Trip” and “Scary Movie 5” director and filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee joins Damon to recount Super Bowl weekend. It's a Spotify exclusive from Gimlet.
February 15, 2023:
February 10, 2023:
February 9, 2023:
    Plastic is everywhere - it's advanced our world, but damaged our environment, and our health. Discarded is new from Lemonada Media this week, focusing on society’s relationship with plastic, as told through the personal story of Sharon Lavigne, who became an accidental activist in this space. It's hosted by Gloria Riviera.
February 7, 2023:
February 3, 2023:
    False Profits: Hillsong is new today from Storyglass and iHeartPodcasts, looking at Hillsong, the global megachurch favoured by the former Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, among many others. The podcast focuses on the rise and fall of the church's founder, the many scandals of the church, and stories of submission, exploitation, and discrimination.
February 1, 2023:
January 26, 2023:
    Former CNN anchor and journalist Carol Costello is working with Evergreen Podcasts for Carol Costello Presents: Blind Rage - focusing this season on the attack of Phyllis Cottle, who was blinded by her assailant. Costello says: “Her story is tragic, but that's not her full story. Her life in her words, ‘had a purpose’ after she escaped her attacker.”
January 25, 2023:
January 18, 2023:
    The Australian Podcast Ranker for December was released by Triton Digital. SCA's Hamish & Andy lost their top spot - but then, they didn't release a single show in December; the #1 is now Casefile True Crime, produced by Audioboom and represented by ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Australia, which remains the top publisher; while SCA's LiSTNR remains the top sales house (just). Both claim they're #1 in press releases.
January 16, 2023:
    Australia's Shameless has launched a subscription channel on Apple Podcasts, called Shamemore. "Shameless is known for unpacking celebrity controversies, including scandals that have rocked the public, shaken up popular culture, and changed the way we think such as as the Jen, Brad and Angelina love triangle. Now Shamemore subscribers will receive ad-free listening across all episodes, early binge drops for the SCANDAL series, and monthly bonus episodes."
January 12, 2023:
    Magellan AI has updated the Podscape, the overview of all the companies involved in the podcast industry.
January 10, 2023:
    The Statue is new from WHYY today: a podcast looking at a monument to the most famous Philadelphian who never lived: “Rocky Balboa” of the Oscar Award-winning film Rocky (1976). The show sheds light on the stories of real-life Philly boxers and explores the neighborhoods around the city that run parallel to the statue.
January 9, 2023:
    Texture and Artefact is a new project from James Errington, combining personal monologues, field recordings, interviews with friends and family, clips from old cassettes, occasional drama and original music, all knitted together into narrative soundscapes. From the person who gave us Centuries of Sound, it's a beautiful piece of sound design. One episode a month, the first is out today.
January 6, 2023:
    The Google Podcasts app itself got no new feature updates in 2022. A press release announcing a Google-branded podcast forgot the platform existed in February. A YouTube document suggested it might merge into that product; but progress seems to have stalled. The third biggest podcast app, it was responsible for 2.6% of all podcast plays from Buzzsprout in December.
January 5, 2023:
December 26, 2022:
    At a loose end this holiday time? Want to escape from the family and do something to help podcasting? Why not write a page for the new podcastnamespace - the website's open for anyone to edit.
December 22, 2022:
December 14, 2022:
    From iHeartMedia, Table for Two is hosted by celebrity restauranteur Bruce Bozzi. He's joined by some of his customers - Hollywood's biggest stars. The first episode features Scarlett Johansson. It's co-produced by AirMail.
December 1, 2022:
    As the popular show finishes up, My Dad Wrote A... releases a bonus episode today, where the team hear from their fans. One listener used the podcast to scare away a bear, we learn, while another proposes to his boyfriend live on the episode. Listen to find out if he said yes.
November 29, 2022:
November 16, 2022:
November 11, 2022:
    The Podnews Weekly Review is like Podnews, but longer - a review of the week's podcasting news with Sam Sethi (formerly an executive with Netscape and TechCrunch EMEA) and James Cridland, the editor of Podnews and the man who is currently typing this. This week, Nic Ivanov from Vizzy talks about his tool for enriching podcasts.
November 7, 2022:
November 4, 2022:
    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:
    From CBC Podcasts - #18 is: Buffy For 60 years Buffy Sainte-Marie’s music has reverberated throughout pop culture, providing a touchstone for Indigenous resistance. Mohawk and Tuscarora writer Falen Johnson explores how Buffy’s life is essential to understanding Indigenous resilience.
October 31, 2022:
    Natalie Hauptman, a former marketer for Manscaped, has launched Podscale, a podcast advertising agency. "We found that the vast majority of agencies that offer podcast advertising do not specialize in it, and only offer it because their clients demanded it," she writes.
October 25, 2022:
    Case 63 launched today on Spotify. The series features the voices of Academy and Emmy Award-winning actor Julianne Moore and Golden Globe-winning actor Oscar Isaac. It follows a New York psychiatrist who begins treating a patient registered as Case 63 who claims to be from the year 2062. What begins as routine therapeutic sessions quickly turns into a story that threatens the boundaries of the possible and the real. The series is produced by Spotify’s Gimlet studios, Moore’s production company FortySixty, and Isaac’s Mad Gene Media.
October 24, 2022:
    Data: In Australia, the ABC's Annual Report was published. The national broadcaster is seeing 33m downloads per month for its podcasts (p64), up 22% year-on-year. (ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Australia, the #1 according to the Australian Podcast Ranker, got 18m downloads in Sep 2022). News shows got the highest increase (50% year-on-year); the ABC News Daily achieved 46% higher downloads than its predecessor, The Signal. Long-form interview podcast Conversations remains #1, with an 8% drop. /ht Oscar
October 18, 2022:
October 17, 2022:
    Enjoying nature and escaping to green spaces are an essential part of our modern lives. Now, more than ever, we understand the need to preserve and protect these places. But what if our love of the land is accidentally doing more harm than good? Produced by The Podglomerate, Trail Weight returns for a new season today.
October 13, 2022:
October 12, 2022:
October 11, 2022:
October 7, 2022:
October 4, 2022:
September 26, 2022:
September 23, 2022:
September 21, 2022:
September 20, 2022:
September 13, 2022:
September 5, 2022:
August 26, 2022:
    Björk: Sonic Symbolism is new from Talkhouse and Mailchimp Presents. Created and hosted by Björk, the intimate and immersive new podcast features a first-person reflection on the textures, timbres and emotional landscapes that characterized the creation of each of her albums.
August 16, 2022:
    Missing Pages, Podglomerate's first original production, went live yesterday - a look behind the book publishing industry and its scams, fiascos, frauds, and lies.
August 10, 2022:
August 8, 2022:
August 5, 2022:
    A company called Ninet5 Technologies is fraudulently claiming to sell email lists of attendees of Podfest, Podcast Movement, Radiodays Europe and other conferences. Initial emails are sent from domains without websites like AbsoluteFair, Eviqevents, Inotegritty, CorbitalOrganisers and many others; and we can confirm that the data is not supplied by the event organisers. Approached for comment by Podnews, Mike Jordan, the VP of Sales, would not tell us how they got the data, and did not respond to follow-up questions. Their website looks impressive, but is demonstrably false and incomplete in many places. Other websites also suggest that Ninet5 Technologies are scammers; and the company, registered in Wyoming, didn't pay its tax, and was dissolved in 2020.
August 1, 2022:
    Chameleon: Scam Likely is brand new from Campside Media. Ordinary citizens all around the US are losing their life savings to scam callers... so the hunt is on for the shadowy multinational mob behind the con. Hosted by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, it launches today.
July 29, 2022:
July 15, 2022:
July 14, 2022:
    The latest edition of Career Crossroads interviews new Podcast Hall of Famer Evo Terra. Hear about his career path before podcasting, and how he ended up turning podcasting into a career. Other notable podcasters to appear on the show are Lindsay Graham, creator/host of History Daily, Business Movers, American Scandal among others, and Podnews's Editor, James Cridland.
July 7, 2022:
    From Pushkin: From Montréal to Mexico City, Not Lost is a delightful travel escape and an insightful look at people — locals and visitors alike — trying to make sense of a constantly changing world. You can binge the entire season now.
July 6, 2022:
    Mediatel has launched Audioscape, which they call "the UK's first interactive directory of the audio industry". It's free, and available to anyone.
June 28, 2022:
    Curl Up & D.I. from Folding Pocket is already making headway into the trending charts before its release on Thursday. It claims it's the UK's first major scripted fiction podcast to feature household name acting talent, including Katherine Kelly, Vic Reeves and Morgana Robinson. A surrealist comedy-drama is a murder-mystery that sees a pair of hapless police officers turning to their hairdressers for their help in solving an escalating murder problem.
June 24, 2022:
June 23, 2022:
June 20, 2022:
    The New Conspiracist looks at conspiracies across the world, with comedian and BAFTA winner Jolyon Rubinstein and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist James Ball. They are joined by expert guests to unpack one specific conspiracy theory, from the frankly ridiculous but enjoyably escapist (the pyramids were built by aliens) to the somewhat believable and eye-opening (the truth behind the lack of pockets in women’s clothes). A new season launches today.
June 17, 2022:
    Academy and Emmy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore and Golden Globe-winning actor Oscar Isaac are to star in a new podcast from Spotify called Case 63. The show was announced in September last year, and is an adaptation of a show from Santiago in Chile which was Spotify's most listened-to show in Latin America.
June 13, 2022:
June 10, 2022:
    The new episode of Pod Chat released today is with Captivate CEO, Mark Asquith. "The time for exciting things needs to take a break, and we need to get really good at the basics. How do we measure things? How do we make sure that all creators are represented fairly? How do we begin to educate that podcasting is different depending on your scale?"
June 8, 2022:
June 2, 2022:
June 1, 2022:
May 31, 2022:
    Yesterday, we mentioned a podcast claiming it had the oldest podcast guest of all time, at 92. Records are made to be broken: tomorrow, the new season of Remarkable Stories will start with an interview with Lou Landreth, who's 98. She talks with Mike McDowall about her life, her husbands and her criminal escapades around the globe.
May 30, 2022:
May 19, 2022:
May 11, 2022:
    The Australian Podcast Ranker was published for April. Orginal podcasts by both ARN's iHeartPodcast Network and SCA both lost 18% of downloads month-on-month. An incomplete ranker, it measures participating publishers only, and not the country's #1 podcast publisher, the ABC.
April 14, 2022:
    New from iHeartRadio, Sympathy Pains is a chilling new true crime podcast hosted by Laura Beil -- acclaimed medical journalist and host of the chart-topping podcast, Dr. Death. It's the true story of Sarah Delashmit, a scam artist who convinced everyone that she was amazingly ill. The story even involved Dr Phil.
April 13, 2022:
March 29, 2022:
March 28, 2022:
March 21, 2022:
    "The future of media is synthetic media", claims Aflorithmic, a company taking your text and making a podcast from it. The company claims it "makes personalised audio scalable"; it's based in London and Barcelona.
March 18, 2022:
March 14, 2022:
    Oscar Merry has suggested Lightning Comments as a potential solution for cross-app commenting: using "boostagrams" as a method of sending comments. We like this idea; and the spec is simple enough for us to code it; so, you'll find a "comments" section on every update in Podnews's web version. You can also see those comments in the Fountain app.
March 11, 2022:
    There's a brand new #1 podcast publisher in Austra—only joking, it's still ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Australia, which has improved its lead over rival SCA's LiSTNR.
March 9, 2022:
March 8, 2022:
    The Real Estate Rebel with Scott McGillivray is back for a third season, this time working with Acast. It will cover topics like how to invest in a hot real estate market, how social media is changing the real estate landscape, and lessons Scott has learned from being a landlord for over 20 years. - read more
March 7, 2022:
March 3, 2022:
    Scoundrel: History’s Forgotten Villains is new from the creators of Myths and Legends and Kast Media. It tells "the stories of the rapscallions through time who were just a little more adept at hiding their evil from historians than others", and is hosted by Jason and Carissa Weiser. - read more
February 23, 2022:
February 21, 2022:
    Another new service, Scale Your Podcast Marketing, offers to produce graphical assets for your show's social media, transcripts, sound bites and tweets.
February 17, 2022:
    Spotify has acquired Podsights and Chartable. Spotify describes Podsights as "a leading podcast advertising measurement service that helps advertisers better measure and scale their podcast advertising", and Chartable as "a podcast analytics platform that enables publishers to know and grow their podcast audiences through promotional attribution and audience insight tools". No terms were given.
February 11, 2022:
February 10, 2022:
    Poscar is a new podcast about podcasting, mainly targeting productions in Spanish from Latin America and Spain. A fortnightly podcast, it has just launched with an introduction and an episode all about podcast awards. It's hosted by Pablo Fisher.
February 3, 2022:
    From the team that brought you S-Town and Serial, The Trojan Horse Affair launches today - S-Town's Brian Reed and journalist Hamza Syed investigate a mystery at the heart of a scandal that rocked Britain. Has an entire country been duped? - read more
February 1, 2022:
    The BBC says it saw a total of 257m podcast downloads globally last quarter. That would make it the #3 podcast publisher in the world, possibly; NPR has 169m vs the BBC's 85m per month. The 257m doesn't include all plays though - a BBC spokesperson tells us: "If you listen via BBC Sounds as a stream (e.g. without downloading it) then they’re not included. If listening via BBC Sounds as a download then they would be."
January 27, 2022:
January 20, 2022:
January 19, 2022:
    Baby or Bust is new from Dr Lora Shahine, and will gather medical experts and patients to bust myths, shatter stigmas, and provide encouraging best practices to help anyone trying make their baby dream come true. The series will address the numerous questions that people struggling with fertility have but are too scared or uncomfortable to ask, and launches today.
January 13, 2022:
January 11, 2022:
January 3, 2022:
December 29, 2021:
December 20, 2021:
    When does a "lifetime account" only last nine months? When it's a lifetime account with podcast hosting company bCast. The service, which currently hosts 630 shows in the Podcast Index, has been accused by users of being a scam. After selling "lifetime accounts" on AppSumo earlier this year, bCast has announced that all lifetime accounts will expire in just two weeks. The TrustPilot reviews (which bCast still links to from its front page) are scathing.
December 9, 2021:
December 8, 2021:
December 7, 2021:
December 1, 2021:
November 30, 2021:
    Voiceworks: Sound Business has our Editor, James Cridland, as their guest this episode. James sits down with host Jim Salveson to discuss the current value in the podcast market, how Spotify is disrupting the landscape and make some bold predictions as to what might change in the industry over the next 2 to 3 years.
November 24, 2021:
    Italian food - not just pasta and pizza, but also Casu Martzu, a cheese filled with maggots; and Sanguinaccio, a dessert made of blood. Yum! The Ugly Ducklings of Italian Cuisine - Scarrafoni in Cucina is a new, bi-lingual podcast from SBS covering those regional delicacies that don't get onto Instagram that often. Ascolta tutti gli episodi in italiano e in inglese per uno sguardo inedito sulla cucina italiana. - read more
November 23, 2021:
    The newest episode of Days Like These, published in the next few hours, focuses on Iranian woman Jaleh Misaghi who was forced into oppression in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution, and managed to escape the country. It's produced by the award-winning producer Pariya Taherzadeh, who herself escaped Iran with her mother when she was eight months old. - read more
November 12, 2021:
November 11, 2021:
November 4, 2021:
November 3, 2021:
    Buzzsprout's stats for October 2021 were released, showing Spotify and Apple Podcasts level-pegging at 31% of all downloads. Downloads via Facebook are up by more than 50% month on month, but account for just 0.3% of all downloads. The data underestimates both Apple Podcasts and Facebook, since it discards AppleCoreMedia plays.
October 25, 2021:
October 20, 2021:
October 6, 2021:
    Here's what else you need to know today - there's no change in the top 5 Top US Podcasts, with The Daily still #1. SmartLess - a new entry last month at #9 - is still #9.
September 28, 2021:
September 24, 2021:
    Ashley Carman's Hot Pod Insider reports that podcast company Himalaya has been scaled down, with around eight people, almost half the company's staff, losing their jobs over the summer. Ariel Liu has been made CEO. We reported in April that the company was transitioning towards a focus on audio courses; the company is now pivoting again to "short-form inspirational and motivational content".
September 22, 2021:
    Badlands: Sportsland launches today, taking a deep dive into the most sensational true crime stories in the world of sports: Mike Tyson, Oscar Pistorious, Evel Knievel and OJ Simpson are just some of the athletes who'll be covered. It's hosted by Jake Brennan, and available to binge on Amazon Music.
September 20, 2021:
September 17, 2021:
    Podland this week contains an interview with Oscar Merry, talking about the Fountain App, and Alex Jacobi talks about the Open Podcast Analytics Format.
September 16, 2021:
    Melanie Withnall is SCA's new Head of News and Information, responsible for broadcast and on-demand news.
September 9, 2021:
    Lemonada Media has launched its first Italian-language podcast. In Giro con Fra is created by Francesca Lazzarin, the wife of Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers. After a decade touring and raising their family, Fra talks to diverse Italians who have incredible stories.
September 7, 2021:
August 31, 2021:
August 30, 2021:
August 26, 2021:
    Kid Don't Kill My Vibe's latest episode has an exclusive interview with Allyson Reneau, an Oklahoma-based mother of 11 children, who recently helped 10 members of the Afghan girls Robotics team escape Afghanistan. Having graduated Harvard with a Masters, she became a NASA advocate, and now is an activist and humanitarian.
August 19, 2021:
August 17, 2021:
    Good news - cross-platform podcast app Pocket Casts is "scaling back up", the company posts in an update. In a comment perhaps aimed at the buggy Apple Podcasts, they've revealed that the first thing they're working on is "how quickly you get new episodes after a podcast author publishes them". They're also working on app translations; Emmeline Berry is rejoining the team as Content Curator and Podcaster Liaison.
August 12, 2021:
    A few have told us that if you log into Apple Podcasts Connect and change the frequency of your podcast in the interface, that appears to get Apple to rescan your feed. "Oddly, it appeared and disappeared a few times from Apple Podcasts before being there permanently a few hours later", one tells us.
August 10, 2021:
    Sales Talk for CEOs is a "first of its kind" podcast from Alice Heiman. Alice covers the good, the bad, and the ugly of scaling a sales organization with innovative CEOs.
August 9, 2021:
August 5, 2021:
August 4, 2021:
August 3, 2021:
    Also returning, this time for its seventh season, is the Overheard at National Geographic podcast. The podcast invites listeners with real life adventurers on an audio escapade of discovery beyond the magazine to “inspire the explorer in everyone.”
July 22, 2021:
    In Canada, Corus radio stations have launched The Curiouscast Podcast Hour, airing a weekly show with a different podcast episode every week from the company. It'll be hosted by Chris "Dunner" Duncombe, the Director of Podcasting and Streaming for Corus Entertainment, and aired on GLobal News stations. The company owns 39 stations in eight of Canada's top ten markets.
July 8, 2021:
July 7, 2021:
    Podnews's Editor is speaking later today for The Podcast Academy members: the title is "Podcasting: A Whole World of Opportunity". James Cridland from Podnews talks about the podcast landscape outside the US, and the opportunities it gives us - from the different platforms used, the types of shows listened-to, and what that means for US-based podcasters. The webinar starts at 7pm ET.
July 5, 2021:
    The Guardian tells us that "podcasting success is not limited to white old men", featuring the hosts of The Receipts. "While research on podcasting specifically is scant, ethnic minorities make up just 7% of the UK radio workforce (versus 12% of the wider population)".
June 30, 2021:
June 25, 2021:
June 24, 2021:
June 17, 2021:
June 10, 2021:
June 9, 2021:
June 4, 2021:
    Podtrac's US top 20 podcasts for May 2021 has an unchanged top ten, excepting Dan Bongino rising one place to 10. Bongino has taken the place of the late Rush Limbaugh on a number of stations. Of the US publisher list, iHeart remains #1, with almost a third more audience than NPR. It measures participating publishers only.
May 25, 2021:
May 18, 2021:
    Why do people cheat? Cheat is new from Somethin'Else, telling the inside stories behind some of the biggest scandals in contemporary history.
May 17, 2021:
    West Cork has a new episode out: the first for three years. "The episode takes the listener inside an incredible courtroom drama in Paris in which a man was tried for murder without a legal defence and without even being present himself." The show is also to be made into a TV series.
May 14, 2021:
May 13, 2021:
May 11, 2021:
May 10, 2021:
April 28, 2021:
April 27, 2021:
April 26, 2021:
    Emsolation from Australian broadcaster Em Rusciano has become a Spotify exclusive. She'd moved it away from SCA's Podcast One, as it was then, at the end of last year.
April 22, 2021:
April 12, 2021:
April 5, 2021:
March 22, 2021:
March 17, 2021:
    Noted today: YouTube's uploader scans your videos for copyright violations as you upload.
March 10, 2021:
March 3, 2021:
    Today, the RAIN Podcast Business Summit takes place from 10.00am to 1.30pm New York time. It's free to take part on Zoom; tickets are here. Our Editor, James Cridland, will speak with National Public Media's Bryan Moffett about the latest happenings within the podcast landscape. Conal Byrne, Eric Eddings, Anne Frisbie and Christian Facey are among the speakers.
March 1, 2021:
    Analysis: Tom's explanation - that Serial included Nice White Parents in full - is certainly part of the answer: as independent verification, Podtrac reported the audience for the Serial feed was huge in July 2020, up 48 places to #11. However, that "up 48 places" tells us that Serial was #59 in Podtrac's chart in June - which is worth highlighting. In spite of Serial not releasing an episode since November 2018, it was still in the top 60 podcasts on Podtrac, measured by unique audience. Serial appears to be relatively unique as an evergreen podcast that new listeners seek out, and as Edison Research's data also shows.
February 25, 2021:
February 23, 2021:
February 18, 2021:
February 8, 2021:
February 3, 2021:
January 12, 2021:
    Australia's Podcast Ranker for December shows Stuff You Should Know at #1, represented in the country by ARN's iHeartPodcast Network. They had 9.2m downloads in December; the second place, SCA/PodcastOne, had 5.2m. The ranker is incomplete, listing participating publishers only.
January 11, 2021:
January 7, 2021:
January 1, 2021:
December 31, 2020:
    Adam Curry calls Amazon's purchase "clearing the decks for more independent and free voices". Austin Rief, a co-founder of newsletter Morning Brew, suggests in a thread that this is further evidence that media companies do not provide the scale and returns needed for VCs.
December 23, 2020:
December 18, 2020:
December 16, 2020:
    Magellan and Sounds Profitable have released v1.1 of The Podscape, a visual landscape of the podcast industry. It's got us in it now, so go download it.
December 9, 2020:
December 7, 2020:
December 4, 2020:
December 1, 2020:
    How different - and similar - is audio across the world? Matt Deegan, who runs both the Australian and British Podcast Awards, says that a lack of ambition from commercial radio seems similar in both cases; but the BBC's commissioning structure adds depth to the UK's audio landscape. You can also watch both ceremonies.
November 30, 2020:
November 26, 2020:
November 20, 2020:
    Whatever Happened To? from CuriousCast looks at what happens after the cameras shut off and the reporters walk away. Just because a story disappears from the news doesn’t mean it’s gone, after all. It's brand new, and launched yesterday.
November 18, 2020:
November 17, 2020:
    Want a podcast, but scared of microphones? Poise is a service that creates podcasts from any content, and is "narrated by real voices".
November 13, 2020:
    ...while the "best podcast, long-form storytelling" went to the Spanish-language Buscando Una Luz from Podium Podcast; produced by long-time Podnews reader Francisco Izuzquiza. All the winners are here.
November 12, 2020:
    "For companies that have a hard time to break even it is very enticing to take the money and run, since monetization of this market is not a given. Scalability is still an issue because people seem to prefer own-language productions - which is different from the huge video on demand market that is focused on English for most of the world outside Asia. It’s not yet clear if this is good news or bad news, all the more because what might be good for podcast creators might be terrible for podcast investors and vice versa." - A secret Podnews reader
November 9, 2020:
    13 Hours: Inside the Nova Scotia massacre is launched today from Curiouscast and Global News. A 13-episode series, it looks to piece together exactly what happened and what could have been done to prevent it.
November 6, 2020:
November 2, 2020:
October 28, 2020:
October 19, 2020:
October 7, 2020:
    Is it that time of the month already? Podtrac have published their US Top Podcasts list for September; The Daily is still #1. In their US Top Podcast Publishers, NPR also remains the US #1 for audience; iHeartRadio, the #2, is measuring 44 new shows and remains the global #1 for downloads. An incomplete ranker, it measures participating publishers only.
October 6, 2020:
    Congratulations to Blubrry CEO Todd Cochrane, for whom yesterday was the 16th anniversary of becoming a podcaster. "It all started in Waco, Texas in a Hampton Inn hotel room. Sounds like the start of a scary movie," he says. Cochrane wrote Podcasting: Do-It-Yourself Guide in early 2005, before podcasts had even made it to the Apple iPod. (There's currently one still available at Amazon - or Todd has six in a cupboard, according to a recent podcast).
October 5, 2020:

Thank you to our latest gold supporter, Focusrite, the makers of the Scarlett USB audio interface. We're grateful to all our kind supporters, who allow us to focus more time in improving Podnews for everyone.

September 28, 2020:
September 21, 2020:
    The Guardian: "Thousands of documents detailing $2 trillion of potentially corrupt transactions that were washed through the US financial system have been leaked to an international group of investigative journalists" — Eighteen months in the making, Entercom's Pineapple Street Studios has released Suspicious Activity, a podcast to accompany the FinCEN files, a landmark investigation from BuzzFeed News and the international consortium of investigative journalists. This is the first time that a large-scale investigation like this has been accompanied by a podcast series. It's available now.
September 16, 2020:
    In Australia, PodcastOne Australia makes two appointments - Sam Cavanagh will look after "entertainment and news content" for the company, while Jennifer Goggin will focus on specialist content. PodcastOne Australia is owned by broadcaster SCA.
September 10, 2020:
September 8, 2020:
September 4, 2020:
September 2, 2020:
August 28, 2020:
    Fraudsters explore scams that have made millions and the fraudsters behind them, like Enron and Jim Bakker. A Spotify Original, hosted by Seena Ghaznavi and Justin Williams, it's from the guys behind The Last Podcast on the Left.
August 27, 2020:
August 20, 2020:
August 18, 2020:
August 17, 2020:
    Why did Serial bounce so high in Podtrac's Top 20 Podcasts for July? It wasn't anything to do with the news about the New York Times buying Serial Productions, it turns out - instead, it was that Serial's feed had a promo in it for Nice White Parents, and the amount of people still subscribed to the Serial feed kicked off all those downloads.
August 14, 2020:
August 13, 2020:
    Dan Misener from Pacific Content looks at square podcast artwork and suggests you should consider other formats for other platforms. (For the record, we use 2048x1024 landscape in our hero images).
August 3, 2020:
    Podcast Junkies interviews Dave Zohrob from Chartable. "We’re really trying to do good work here. We’re not trying to do anything weird. We’re not trying to scam people. We’re not trying to collect data that we shouldn’t be or anything like that. We’re trying to help podcasters."
July 31, 2020:
July 23, 2020:
    We hear that recently there have been a lot of takedown requests to podcast hosts from record companies discovering unauthorised use of music. David Oxenford writes a long article about using commercial music in podcasts. "The bottom line: don’t use music in podcasts without getting permission directly from the copyright holders." (We've added to to our guide on how to use commercial music, which contains the word "no" eighteen times).
July 22, 2020:
    A prime example of good podcast marketing for your show: find a good angle and stick with it. Fireflies: the original kids debate show sent us a press release, which we covered; Steve Scauzillo from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune got in touch with us, and covered the story in the newspaper.
July 14, 2020:
    Podtrac has also released their US Top 20 Podcasts ranker. The Ben Shapiro Show climbs to #5. It only measures participating publishers.
June 24, 2020:
June 23, 2020:
June 17, 2020:
    Lindsay Graham from podcast maker Airship tells us that he saw record downloads in May. American Scandal saw a 71% increase in listenership in May over April.
June 16, 2020:
    Podtrac has also released their US Podcast Ranker. Call Her Daddy moved up eleven places after the return of the show. It, too, only measures participating publishers.
June 15, 2020:
June 8, 2020:
    Manscaped, a company that sells trimming kits for the hair down there, tells Podnews that the company is looking for new podcasters to work with. They're now present in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, so if you're popular in those countries and good at talking up their product, you can email them at podcasts(at)manscaped.com
June 1, 2020:
    RomComPods "harnesses our culture’s reinvigorated love of the charming romcom genre, and provides a bit of much-needed escapism during the COVID craziness", with more than twenty voice actors recording remotely. The first season, Honeymoon for One, launches today.
May 29, 2020:
May 22, 2020:
    Thrilling tales of modern capitalism is new from Slate today: featuring on companies who are in the news and what stories have shaped them. Slate tells us that while some will mention the coronavirus, other stories will "provide a nice escape".
May 21, 2020:
April 28, 2020:
    A month ago, Zoom had 200m daily users. It now has 300m. It's been used for a while by podcasters for guest interviews.
April 24, 2020:
    Australian audio equipment company RØDE have published a free ambisonic sound library, and DAW plugin. "Ambisonics is a 360° surround sound format that, unlike conventional stereo and surround sound, records the full directivity information for every soundwave that hits the microphone – including, crucially, height information. Once captured, ambisonic recordings can be manipulated in post-production to create any 360° surround soundscape desirable," says the company, which makes a suitable microphone.
April 20, 2020:
    Southern Cross Austereo, an Australian radio and TV broadcaster, has launched a new daily news podcast, called The Briefing. It's being hosted by four award-winning journalists from the ABC, News Corp, Network Ten and Nine Networks.
April 15, 2020:
    If you buy the top 5 US podcast networks, you reach 50% of weekly podcast consumers, according to new data from Edison Research's Podcast Consumer Tracker. "Achieving that kind of reach 10 years ago would have meant buying thousands of individual podcasts, but as these reach numbers continue to change, buying podcasts at scale is more feasible than ever," says Tom Webster. The networks aren't named.
April 13, 2020:
April 10, 2020:
April 8, 2020:
April 3, 2020:
April 1, 2020:
    In The Bubble with Andy Slavitt launches today - Slavitt is a US healthcare expert, and his podcast will interview "important guests and friends" about how they’re handling life in their respective bubbles and how to process the changes happening today and as well as those coming around the corner. Guests announced include Chelsea Clinton, Anthony Scaramucci and Tina Fey.
March 27, 2020:
March 25, 2020:

Thank you to our many new subscribers, helping us hit 12,600 readers earlier this week. Among the 200 recent subscribers in the past two weeks, welcome to those from SCA, Megaphone, Crate Media, JAR Audio, Spotify, the Jordan Harbinger show, Cavalry Media, Media Radar, Deutschland Radio, Pushkin, Condé Nast, ABC News, FOX News, and Radio France. Please consider becoming a supporter or advertising.

March 24, 2020:
    ABC Australia, the public service broadcaster, is now listing selected podcasts on Spotify. Their Coronacast podcast is now also on Spotify. (Our systems can't match them up, yet, since they use different publisher names - but we'll work on that). The BBC, however, is still witholding its Coronavirus Newscast podcast from Google Podcasts.
March 20, 2020:
March 18, 2020:
March 16, 2020:
March 12, 2020:
March 11, 2020:
February 24, 2020:
February 21, 2020:
    The news bulletins are taking over the rankers: Podtrac has published their top 20 podcasts for January. NPR News Now, a five-minute news bulletin mainly driven by smart speakers, is now at #2; Fox News Radio Newscast is a new entry at #20. Podnews reported on Feb 6 that Sky News's News Bulletin, which is not available as a podcast at all, is #2 in the Australian Podcast Ranker. (Podnews is also available in your daily news briefing settings).
February 19, 2020:
    Nick Quah weighs in about The Podcast Academy. "There is a way to approach this cynically: give up trying to fully represent the podcast universe as a whole and instead build the buzziest possible coalition ... But the involvement of founding member PRX in particular, which has historically advocated to preserve the open nature of podcasting, suggests that such a bottom-line strategy isn’t in the cards."
February 12, 2020:
    Podcast Radio has launched in London, on DAB+ Digital Radio. If you're in London and you can pick up either Radio Caroline or Atlantis, you should be able to find Podcast Radio too - do a rescan if you can't. Excitingly, we're on it, several times every weekday!
February 7, 2020:
January 28, 2020:
January 24, 2020:
January 17, 2020:
January 9, 2020:
    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:
    Matt Saraceni, formerly of Omny Studio and Telstra, has joined Australian broadcaster SCA as "Innovation Director - Audio on Demand".
December 20, 2019:
December 18, 2019:
    Let's make a poop with Triumph the Insult Comedy Dog is a new podcast from Conan O'Brien's Team Coco. In the first episode, Lawrence O'Donnell, Pete Davidson, and Anthony Scaramucci compete for charities and their dignity, at Union Temple's Murmrr Ballroom in Brooklyn NY, USA. (Starburns Audio / Team Coco / Robert Smigel / Megaphone)
December 5, 2019:
    Exclusive: 2020 looks like it might be the year podcasting finally gets smart, says Entale's Wil Harris, writing for Podnews: "It’s clear from just about every survey of consumer trends that podcasts are only increasing in popularity ... and supporting that requires not just experiences that can scale beyond the hand-curated, but data and monetisation that can support that growth."
December 4, 2019:
    There are more than 700,000 podcasts, but only 15% are making money - according to Podcorn, a new self-service advertising platform which has launched today. Podcorn promises to "streamline podcaster discovery and provide the tools to run native podcast ads at scale". The product has a good ancestor - it has been built by the founders of FameBit, a service which allowed YouTubers to connect with brands: Google thought it was so good, they bought it.
December 3, 2019:
    Starting Greatness offers lessons from startup super performers before they were successful, and features interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s most influential business leaders including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary, and Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger. It's hosted by Mike Maples from Floodgate. (Simplecast)
December 2, 2019:
    Spreaker Prime: The Dirty Bits is performed by Tawny Platis, a professional voice actor, who gives a casual – and hopefully comical – Southern Californian retelling of the sexy, scandalous, and salacious stories from history that your teacher probably left out. She’s using Spreaker Prime to increase exposure and maximize monetization.
November 27, 2019:
November 26, 2019:
    The Weird Tales Radio Show supported Podnews for the last twelve months. Lawyer turned award-winning writer and sometime werewolf-hunter Charles Christian has a weekly feast of folklore, magick and scary tales. We're grateful to them for their support! (Omny Studio)
November 20, 2019:
    Culture First is a new podcast from Culture Amp, an employee engagement platform, on business culture and managing change. The monthly podcast will start by covering relationships at work, scaling culture, and activism in the workplace. (Culture Amp / ART19)
November 13, 2019:
November 5, 2019:

the winning team is Adrienne Quartly & Hannah Price with their production of Treasure Island. Adrienne, Hannah and their team stuck to the brief they had devised for themselves and delivered a production with a distinctive soundscape of musical and sound tones and pulses, which was richly layered to create an atmospheric, contemporary production, complimented by solid performances and sound effects. The brief suggested an unusual approach to such a normally organic piece, and that is precisely what was delivered. The team also displayed proficiency in the recording studio throughout their four hour session - they were excellent at communicating their audio vision with their actors, with clear focus on the schedule and a calm, professional approach to technical problem solving. This resulted in excellent, nuanced performances and believable character choices forming an excellent platform for the unusual production style mentioned. Audible hopes to work with the team fully on something even more demanding in future.”

October 30, 2019:
    Hunted launches on November 12th: the first in a slate of audio fiction from Wolf Entertainment and Endeavor Audio. "When four convicts escape from a maximum-security prison, Deputy Marshal Emily Barnes (Parker Posey) is called in to pursue the criminals on one of the most treacherous and violent manhunts in United States history." The trailer's in our podcast today. (Wolf Entertainment / Endeavor Audio / Megaphone)
October 22, 2019:
    Bauer Media, a radio broadcaster in the UK (and present in other countries), has launched a podcast from Dave Berry, the host of Absolute Radio. Dave Berry's Dadpod celebrates the wonderful, exciting, sometimes scary, but absolute joy of fatherhood. (Sharpstream)
October 21, 2019:
    Bauer Media, a radio broadcaster in the UK (and present in other countries), has launched a podcast from Dave Berry, the host of Absolute Radio. Dave Berry's Dadpod celebrates the wonderful, exciting, sometimes scary, but absolute joy of fatherhood. (Sharpstream)
October 10, 2019:
    Camp Monsters focuses on stories of impossibly scary creatures across the wildest corners of North America. ("Camp" like campfire not like RuPaul's Drag Race, although the enormous frog sounds fabulous). The trailer's in our podcast today. (REI Co-op / Simplecast)
October 9, 2019:
September 23, 2019:
September 20, 2019:
    Sports podcasts are almost as popular as true crime podcasts. So... what would happen if you managed to produce... both? Sports Criminals highlights professional athletes who thought they could get away with anything, including blackmail, theft, prostitution and even murder. The first few episodes focus on Oscar Pistorius. (Parcast / Megaphone)
September 18, 2019:
September 4, 2019:
September 2, 2019:
    THE NEWS with Anthony Davis is a daily newscast, promising "five minutes of verified, honest & truthful world news". It's produced by Anthony Davis, a UK broadcaster. (Buzzsprout)
August 28, 2019:
August 27, 2019:
August 23, 2019:
August 2, 2019:
July 23, 2019:
July 17, 2019:
July 15, 2019:
    Scale Up is back for season 3; a show about startups founded in Melbourne VIC, Australia, scaling up to global success. This season is about Envato (like eBay, but for digital things). (LaunchVic / Courtney Carthy / Omny Studio)
July 12, 2019:
    Sword & Scale's Mike Boudet has been widely accused by others of being behind these paid-for one-star ratings. We've no evidence of that, but have reached out to him multiple times for comment. (His email address? He's mailed us before.).
July 11, 2019:
    Jeff Gordon - A Colorful Career is a new podcast telling the story of one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. It's the sixth original series from Motor Racing Network, the largest independent sports radio network in America, which is now in its 50th year of broadcasting. (Motor Racing Network / StreamGuys)
July 9, 2019:
June 28, 2019:
June 27, 2019:
June 25, 2019:
    Reid Hoffman's Masters of Scale is hosting its first ever live event in Boston on July 23, with "an awesome guest".
June 24, 2019:
June 11, 2019:
May 20, 2019:
May 16, 2019:
    Jesse Baker and Eric Nuzum have launched Magnificent Noise, "a boutique production house and consulting company, built on an intimate scale". They say they are already at work on projects with longtime collaborators TED and Esther Perel, and developing projects with The New York Times.
May 10, 2019:
    In the UK, Somethin'Else is currently casting for a new business reality podcast that will offer one new “scale up” business the chance for £250k investment from one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs. The series will be called The Investor and will air later this year; a form to participate is here.
May 3, 2019:
April 30, 2019:
    KPCC is launching Tell them, I am next week, with a new episode every day this Ramadan. The stories are universal; the guests are all Muslim. Tan France, star of Netflix’s hit show Queer Eye, actress Alia Shawkat, best known for her role as Maeby Funke in Arrested Development, and Iqbal Theba from the Oscar-winning movie Greenbook are among the many high-profile guests. (Megaphone)
April 12, 2019:
    Amazon's Alexa speakers have unveiled a new "news" experience: it will now play continuous streams of news (including things like a live CNN stream, or additional news stories from NPR. Details are scant, and it isn't clear whether this is only in the US for now.
April 9, 2019:
    Decomposed is a new podcast from American Public Media. Concert pianist and host Jade Simmons is the host; it shares the tales of heartbreak, scandal and sheer genius that have shaped classical music.
April 2, 2019:
March 21, 2019:
March 15, 2019:
    Sword and Scale earns at least $75,000 a month from Patreon, and after a review, Patreon has decided that its host, Mike Boudet, can remain on the platform, in spite of his denigrating comments and social media bullying. We reported on Monday that Wondery had sacked him from the network. He's also deleted all but 65 of his tweets. Patreon removed some creators last year.
March 11, 2019:
    Wondery has parted ways with Mike Boudet's true crime podcast Sword and Scale, after Boudet had repeatedly posted comments many found offensive, and behaved aggressively online. Sword and Scale posted an emotional announcement from Boudet, who blames Aaron Mahnke and Rabia Chaudry, and says he has laid off his staff and closed his show. Chaudry congratulates Wondery for "finally doing the right thing"; Mahnke claims, in a long thread, that Boudet has been increasingly aggressive and that hundreds of people had complained to Wondery. A freelance journalist called Maggi sums up the story from her point of view.
March 5, 2019:
    Crime Beat launches today - a journey deep inside some of Canada’s most high-profile cases. It's hosted by Nancy Hixt, an award-winning crime reporter.
February 26, 2019:
    The government won't tell you to get a cab. That's advice from Scamwow, a podcast about the worst scams. After receiving a mysterious phone call possibly concerning her parents’ safety, Abby Holland embarks on an epic journey that involves the IRS, a Mexican drug cartel, graphic designers, and one extremely helpful Apple store guy. (Libsyn)
February 25, 2019:
    PodcastOne in Australia, run by Southern Cross Austereo, has doubled its downloads year-on-year to 100m. It claims 60 "authors", according to SCA's CEO Grant Blackley, who says that it should move into profitability towards the middle of next year.
February 22, 2019:
February 21, 2019:
    WaitWhat, the podcast creator and "media invention company" announced this morning that it has raised $4m in funding. The company was founded by former TED executives June Cohen and Deron Triff, and is responsible for the Webby award-winning Masters of Scale.
February 12, 2019:
February 4, 2019:
    Masters of Scale answers the question "how do companies grow from zero to a gazillion?" Legendary Silicon Valley investor / entrepreneur Reid Hoffman tests his theories with famous founders: this week's edition focuses on Hoffman himself. (WaitWhat / ART19)
January 28, 2019:
    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 25, 2019:
January 18, 2019:
    Amazon Alexa has unveiled "a professional newscaster voice", which they plan to use for news briefings and other similar pieces of work. The post includes excerpts of the voice, which contains all the right cadences for news broadcasts.
January 11, 2019:
    Vocalkast is a new podcast aggregator helping to organise sports podcasts. They tell Podnews: "Our process allows us to comb through thousands of podcast episodes every day to identify and rank those belonging to the major sports disciplines: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, Football, Golf, Tennis, Rugby, Cricket, Cycling, F1 and Nascar." Apple Podcasts has four, US-leaning, sports subcategories.
December 31, 2018:
December 24, 2018:
    Mark Thompson, CEO of the New York Times, talks to Digiday about (among other things) the newspaper's plan for podcasts. "We’ll look to scale the number of podcasts and the way we think about podcasting." (He'd know - he was the boss of the BBC for seven years.)
December 17, 2018:
    Retisean is technology that records and analyses you to give an "emotion-scale" level for your voice - marketed for public speakers, but perhaps useful for podcasters too.
December 12, 2018:
December 11, 2018:
December 5, 2018:
    The CEO of Australian commercial radio broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo has done a bullish interview, where he says he wants "to turn original podcasting into SCA’s biggest profit growth driver". He anticipates significant profits from branded podcasts by... 2021.
November 30, 2018:
    Media lawyer David Oxenford covers the recent news of a prominent podcaster being sued for copyright infringement by a set of record companies. Oxenford says: "The bottom line – don’t use music in podcasts without getting permission."
November 28, 2018:
    Podcasting solution provider Voxnest announces today that it has partnered with DAX to help monetise UK audiences. Voxnest customers, including those on the company’s Spreaker platform, now have the benefit of DAX monetisation, while advertisers can take advantage of advanced targeting and measurement solutions. Voxnest President Francesco Baschieri says: “It’s an exciting time to be involved in this medium, and we’re confident that our easy-to-use, efficient and scalable solution for creating, monetizing and distributing audio content will have a catalyzing effect on creators worldwide.”
November 16, 2018:
    American comic book writer Stan Lee passed away earlier this week; but he'd been fighting battles of his own at the end of his life, with charges of fraud, elder abuse, theft, and plenty more as his family fought for who would control his business - and his money. Scandal - Stan Lee's World covers the ugly inside story. (reVolver Podcasts / ART19)
November 1, 2018:
    Headliner has signed a deal with international German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, to create social video from DW’s audio content at scale.
October 31, 2018:
October 29, 2018:
October 24, 2018:
    It Seemed Smart was launched yesterday by Vox Media and SB Nation. Promised are absurd stories of stolen bats, pirated play calls, renegade cross-country road racers, and fantasy football's own insider trading scandal. (SB Nation / Vox Media / ART19)
October 10, 2018:
    The "screwy and seemingly scammy" state of the Apple Podcast Charts is the subject of much of the latest issue of HotPod; meanwhile an Apple website claims that Apple is aware, but offers little proof. Our Editor's piece yesterday has resulted in a number of private emails from podcasters disillusioned and demotivated by the cheating.
October 5, 2018:
    A Stitcher Premium exclusive comes on Oct 11: a scripted podcast created by NY-Times best selling author Zane. The NSFW trailer for the podcast is over here. We'd mention it by name if the corporate email scanners wouldn't instantly consign us to your spam box.
September 21, 2018:
September 20, 2018:
September 14, 2018:
    Feminists Don't Wear Pink is launched today: "Journalist and activist Scarlett Curtis interviews inspiring women about what feminism means to them, and why it matters." (Audioboom)
September 13, 2018:
September 12, 2018:
    Latest episodes of The Bosscast features Springsteen fans and comics Casey James Salengo (Jimmy Kimmel Live, Comedy Central) and Jess Lane (Adult Swim and The Special without Brett Davis) (Libsyn)
September 11, 2018:
    Ten million people have been diagnosed with it - but few people know much about it. When life gives you Parkinson's launches tomorrow; co-hosted by Larry Gifford (above), a thirty-year broadcast veteran who was diagnosed in August 2017. "My goal is to help people with Parkinson’s realize they aren’t alone", Gifford says in a press release. (CuriousCast / Parkinson Canada / Omny Studio)
August 30, 2018:
August 27, 2018:
    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:
    The CBC have launched their Q3 2018 podcast slate. They promise an audio fiction podcast The Shadows from Kaitlin Prest; Uncover: Escaping Nxivm investigating the alleged cult; and the fifth season of hit true crime series Someone Knows Something.
August 22, 2018:
    HotPod 174 discusses the PRX/PRI merger (in 1,787 words).
July 30, 2018:
July 27, 2018:
    The Brain Machine's The Bosscast, "a podcast about Bruce Springsteen by the fans, for the fans". (#PM18 attendees born in the USA could download this and listen on the streets of Philadelphia, ah, ha)
July 20, 2018:

Welcome to our new readers this week, including fine folk from Auscast Network, the New York Times, Midroll, Loftus Media, the Wall Street Journal, Cliff Central, the Financial Times, the BBC, Monash University, Radio France and Future.

July 19, 2018:

Thank you to Auscast, Australia's coolest podcast network, and Alitu, the podcast maker app, for becoming supporters of Podnews. I appreciate your support.

July 17, 2018:
July 16, 2018:
July 9, 2018:
    In the New Media Show over the weekend, Google Podcast product manager Zack Reneau-Weden was interviewed. He gave strong hints that Google Podcasts would be available on more platforms in future; discussed support for deep links into audio, like chapter marks, from show notes; and claimed that there were over two million podcasts indexed in Google Podcasts. (Apple claim about 600,000; he may have been including duplicate RSS feeds like those from Castbox, which are still partially visible in Google's search index). He also made great play of Google's personalised recommendations, rather than using editorial teams, which he claims doesn't scale: particularly for the diverse groups of people who listen to podcasts. He also trailed new announcements at Podcast Movement.
July 5, 2018:
    China: there was a podcasting event today in Dongdaqiao in Beijing. Of note from this story: Chinese audio platform XimalayaFM is "dominant; they have twice the subscribers of iTunes"; and the registration process for attending the event was to scan a QR code.
June 29, 2018:
    Podcasting now has scale and growth according to Cathy O'Connor, CEO of Australian podcast and radio company NOVA Entertainment. She was speaking at a radio industry conference in Singapore.
June 18, 2018:
    Bauer Media UK's magazines are "getting into podcasting", according to Digiday. (Bauer is the third-largest radio broadcaster in the country).
June 13, 2018:
May 23, 2018:
May 15, 2018:
    Acast and Wisebuddah have announced Launchpod, which they say is the UK’s first ever large-scale podcast competition, in a bid to find the UK’s new podcast star.
May 11, 2018:
May 4, 2018:
    Wondery also announce a new podcast, American Innovations, which will "tell the stories of the scientists, engineers, and ordinary people behind the greatest discoveries of the past century". Fans of wifi, the black box recorder, the electric drill and the ultrasound scanner are going to be out of luck.
May 3, 2018:
    Blubrry's Todd Cochrane has a view on the adoption of podcast pingback and RAD. He says he spoke with someone at Apple, and 'when posed the question on a scale of 1-10 would Apple participate in RAD I was asked why zero was not an option'.
April 27, 2018:
    Following the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal, MouthMedia has an interview with former Cambridge Analytica director Brittany Kaiser on American Enough. This is for you if you like data privacy, consumer rights and governance - and who doesn't?
April 18, 2018:
    Carl Kasell, familiar to podcast listeners as the voice of Wait Wait, has died.
April 11, 2018:
    Podcast killed the radio star says The Michigan Daily. (Context: 73m Americans listen to podcasts every month; 243m Americans listen to radio every month. Many people listen to both. Relax - Biffo, Johnny And The Morning Crew are still safe and well. #prayforbiffo)
April 10, 2018:
April 6, 2018:
March 26, 2018:
    The BBC and Norwegian broadcaster NRK are working together on a Scandic true crime podcast. Death in Ice Valley had a premiere last week in the BBC Radio Theatre, and is the first such collaboration for podcasts. The podcast launches in April.
March 21, 2018:
March 7, 2018:
    A long piece from Technode discusses the podcasting landscape. "The podcast industry is chaotically fragmented. It is in desperate need of centralization, and the efficiencies and monetization that can come from that."
March 5, 2018:
February 20, 2018:
February 7, 2018:
February 2, 2018:
    HotPod 149 is out. Total reading time is 20 minutes 31 seconds. Part of Nick's coverage centres on turmoil in US public radio after a series of scandals.
January 31, 2018:
    Jaime Chaux, formerly Head of Digital Platforms at Australian broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo, and then at PodcastOne (which SCA works with in Australia), will join Commercial Radio Australia in March as their Head of Digital. He'll drive the lobbying group on streaming, podcasting and DAB+ Digital Radio, the broadcast format in the country.
January 17, 2018:
    A new podcast called the Global GoalsCast launches - not about soccer, it instead focuses on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, signed by 193 countries in 2015.
January 10, 2018:
January 3, 2018:
    Steven Goldstein posts some stats on today's podcasting landscape as an aid to consider where 2018 will take us. "It has taken podcasting about 12 years to get to 60% of general public awareness. Smart Speakers have hit that mark in one year."
December 26, 2017:
December 25, 2017:
December 18, 2017:
    Scale Up is a new podcast about startups in Melbourne scaling to global success.
December 14, 2017:
    Australian duo Hamish and Andy may have finished on the radio, but they have just signed a deal with PodcastOne to produce 40 podcasts over the next two years. PodcastOne is represented in Australia by their former broadcaster, Southern Cross Austereo.
December 11, 2017:
    The New Yorker discovers In Our Time in their podcast column. "It’s just four intelligent people in a studio, discussing complex topics that are, as a friend of mine once said of Bragg’s openers, aggressively uncommercial."
December 7, 2017:
    Worth adding that most patrons outside the US are, in effect, paying 6% in exchange and card fees, since Patreon only accept US dollars, and none of the 179 other currencies in-use in the world.
November 27, 2017:
    Job: "Head of On-Demand Audio" at the UK's Wireless Group. Owners of talkSPORT, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio, as well as being owned by The Times and The Sun's News UK.
November 21, 2017:
November 13, 2017:
    The fashion industry notices podcasting. MouthMedia Network's American Fashion Podcast "has over 1.5 million downloads of its in-depth interviews with fashion industry insiders" (though no timescale given).
October 27, 2017:
October 12, 2017:
    Recommended: the Cascadian Beer Podcast - a "Podcast Series about the Stories Behind Craft Beer in the Pacific Northwest". Beer, podcasts, what's not to love? (Disclosure: presenter Aaron knows where all the beer is in Vancouver, and the entire podnews team helped him drink it.)
October 3, 2017:
September 14, 2017:
September 13, 2017:
August 25, 2017:
    PodcastOne's partner in Australia, Southern Cross Austereo, says they "may charge advertisers more to be in podcasts than on the radio". "The time will come where we can achieve not only comparable, but potentially premium CPM for that". The CEO also signalled more investment into podcasting. Profits for the company, which has radio and TV assets in Australia, were up 40.7% up year-on-year.
July 18, 2017:
    Australia: PodcastOne and Southern Cross Austereo launch two new podcasts. A Plate To Call Home, about passion for food (but not a cooking podcast, they're keen to point out); and Sex and Life from a relationship expert.
July 10, 2017:
    Interview with June and Deron from the Masters of Scale podcast. "We wondered what might happen to an ideas program if it were set to an original score, the way an independent documentary might be. Why shouldn’t an audio program surprise and delight you?" - notably, the show also commits to a 50/50 gender split for guests.
June 9, 2017:
    "Our podcasting landscape today demands new podcasts to be more than just funny — they need to be funny and incredibly edited, funny and knowledgeable, funny and uniquely formatted." - a piece about comedy podcasts
June 1, 2017:
    Mike Francesca, New York sports radio personality, is leaving WFAN at the end of this year, and might be eyeing up a podcast of his own. What interests him about podcasting? “Right now, nothing. They’re doing it so wrong.”
May 31, 2017:

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