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May 9, 2024:
May 1, 2024:
    Reflector is a new project from Andy Mills and Matt Boll - the producers behind The Daily, Rabbit Hole, Caliphate and The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling - who are making this documentary-style podcast that explores the strange experiences of being human. It's a Substack paid subscription podcast, and marks the first time that Andy and Matt will own every aspect of their work (from podcast IP to subscriber data, and their own RSS feed).
April 30, 2024:
April 23, 2024:
April 17, 2024:
April 15, 2024:
April 12, 2024:
April 11, 2024:
April 10, 2024:
April 2, 2024:
    A significant jump for Spreaker is seen in the share of new podcast episodes in March, according to Livewire. Spreaker’s use of Podping, a simple mechanism to advertise new published episodes, may be the reason why. Podbean overtook Spotify’s Megaphone to claim #6.
April 1, 2024:
March 25, 2024:
March 21, 2024:
    PJ Vogt’s Search Engine is to launch a paid subscription, dubbed “Incognito Mode”. It’s powered by Supporting Cast. In the announcement, PJ Vogt says the show is not profitable; and 40% of the show’s audience are international but “we currently do not make money from the advertisements they hear”.
March 14, 2024:
March 13, 2024:
    John McDermott posts 5 Ways To Grow Your Podcast in 2024. One of the ideas - “date Taylor Swift” - appears to be slightly beyond our capabilities right now, although come to think of it, our Editor is relatively similar to Tom Hiddleston, albeit ten years older with rather more grey hair and without the impressive acting career. So there’s a chance, right?
February 29, 2024:
February 19, 2024:
February 8, 2024:
January 23, 2024:
    Pod The North takes a deep dive into The Signal Awards, which are run by the same company as The Webbys. There were 600 winners in more than 100 categories. The story says that the judging process is opaque, and that the 177 judges were not compensated for their time.
January 1, 2024:
December 22, 2023:
December 11, 2023:
    Substack now has a video episodes feature. They’ve not called it a video podcasts feature, because the video doesn’t make it to the RSS feed, thus you’ll not be able to watch it in Pocket Casts or Apple Podcasts; and you can only watch in the iOS Substack app.
December 6, 2023:
November 20, 2023:
November 15, 2023:
October 18, 2023:
October 17, 2023:
    How can you make a whole podcast just using AI - no microphones required? Paul McNally produced a podcast with three hosts chatting about the news, entirely AI generated. He writes how he did it, and produced the Develop AI podcast which is impressive (try episode 1 for an episode based on his blog post). McNally founded Develop AI, an AI training and strategy company, and runs podcast producer Develop Audio.
October 10, 2023:
    Skye Pillsbury reports that WNYC's Death, Sex & Money, "a juggernaut show that helped establish WNYC as a force within podcasting", has been cancelled. Production ends in January. Anna Sale says "I am working with the company to find a new partner or home for our show long-term".
September 25, 2023:
August 29, 2023:
August 21, 2023:
August 17, 2023:
August 15, 2023:
    For a time yesterday, Substack was blocking popular podcast app Overcast, and the Podcast Index, from accessing shows hosted on the platform. The shows are hosted using the Cloudflare CDN - "Do not host podcast feeds behind Cloudflare", says Overcast's developer Marco Arment, before explaining what settings to use if you do.
August 9, 2023:
August 8, 2023:
August 1, 2023:
July 24, 2023:
July 20, 2023:
July 12, 2023:
    The new Canadian bill C-18, which forces Google and Facebook to pay to link to Canadian news sources, could be bad news for Canadian news podcasts, says Kattie Laur. Facebook and Google have stopped linking to news content, or threatened to - but could that include news podcasts?
July 11, 2023:
July 5, 2023:
    Spanish-language premium podcast company Sonora, which charges €4.99 a month to access its fiction and documentary podcasts, is to switch to an ad-funded model. The company, owned by Spanish media conglomerate Atresmedia, will also cut staff, including co-founders Gabriel Saenz de Buruaga and Toni Garrido. It released 84 titles last year.
June 27, 2023:
June 26, 2023:
June 23, 2023:
June 19, 2023:
June 5, 2023:
May 29, 2023:
May 24, 2023:
May 23, 2023:
May 8, 2023:
April 14, 2023:
April 10, 2023:
April 5, 2023:
April 3, 2023:
March 16, 2023:
March 15, 2023:
March 14, 2023:
March 9, 2023:
March 3, 2023:
February 27, 2023:
February 23, 2023:
February 22, 2023:
February 8, 2023:
    Courtney Kocak's Podcast Bestie newsletter is to also have a podcast. "I will be sprinkling in some podcast interviews amid the regular newsletter content to dive deeper into craft and marketing topics," she says.
February 6, 2023:
February 2, 2023:
    Booking promo swaps is an important part of any podcast marketing strategy. Podcast Marketing Magic does a deep-dive into how it all works.
January 26, 2023:
January 23, 2023:
January 10, 2023:
    Value-for-value enabled podcast app Fountain has had a major update, adding an "activity feed" for enhanced discovery, and an integration allowing you to reward podcasters directly using your credit card. (Our Editor is an advisor.)
January 3, 2023:
January 2, 2023:
December 28, 2022:
December 20, 2022:
December 19, 2022:
November 15, 2022:
    From CBC Podcasts #11 is: The Outlaw Ocean Pulitzer-Prize-winner Ian Urbina spent over eight years reporting at sea. His 7-part investigative series explores the gritty and lawless realm rarely seen. "Ian’s not relying on research," says critic Lauren Passell. "He was there ... and Outlaw Ocean makes you feel like you’re there, too.
November 8, 2022:
    Eric Johnson's Follow Friday podcast and newsletter is another casualty of Twitter's purchase by Elon Musk. "I believe the era of social media as we’ve known it is coming to a close," Johnson adds.
November 2, 2022:
October 21, 2022:
    The Active Voice has launched a new podcast of conversations with the most interesting writers and thinkers working today. It's hosted by Hamish McKenzie, co-founder and chief writing officer at Substack.
October 19, 2022:
October 18, 2022:
October 17, 2022:
October 14, 2022:
October 10, 2022:
October 5, 2022:
September 30, 2022:
September 16, 2022:
    If you heard that "most books sell fewer than 12 copies", that might not be true: but in the comments to this article, we learn that 66% of books (print, from major publishers) sold fewer than a thousand copies in the last year.
September 15, 2022:
September 14, 2022:
    Courtney Kocak shares How To Be Your Own Best CEO. We're told to kill unnecessary meetings, and also that everyone has imposter syndrome. We're also told to "be a good person".
September 12, 2022:
September 9, 2022:
    Skye Pillsbury publishes "a visual representation of what diversity looks like at the executive and deal-making level in Big Podcasting."
September 8, 2022:
September 6, 2022:
August 31, 2022:
August 23, 2022:
August 12, 2022:
August 8, 2022:
July 29, 2022:
July 26, 2022:
July 22, 2022:
July 15, 2022:
July 13, 2022:
July 11, 2022:
June 30, 2022:
June 28, 2022:
June 21, 2022:
June 20, 2022:
June 17, 2022:
June 13, 2022:
June 10, 2022:
    Substack has announced Summer of Sound, a month-long workshop for podcasters and audio-based publications on the platform, with mentorship, guidance and a stipend. You have until Jun 21 to apply.
June 6, 2022:
May 26, 2022:
    Skye Pillsbury is to launch a new podcast newsletter, The Squeeze. She was the original writer for Inside Podcasting, and also wrote for Hot Pod.
May 23, 2022:
    Spotify added advertising banners to many podcasts on Saturday for Wild Turkey, a bourbon whiskey. The ad, which on some platforms included an "order now" button for the liqour, was even placed on a podcast for recovering alcoholics. A Spotify spokesperson told Podnews: "On Saturday, Spotify made a technical error that caused ads featuring the Wild Turkey brand to be incorrectly placed on a number of podcasts. We identified the cause and swiftly resolved this matter." We contacted Wild Turkey's owners, Campari; they did not respond. This raises trust issues for podcasters and brands alike.
May 20, 2022:
May 17, 2022:
April 28, 2022:
April 26, 2022:
    Substack has dramatically improved its podcast player in its iOS app. As shown above, the updated app now has a full-screen podcast player, speed controls, accessible playback options and a customisable 'playing next' queue. Here's more about podcasting on Substack.
April 25, 2022:
April 12, 2022:
April 8, 2022:
    Rent Free Media is a free software platform not unlike Patreon, Substack, BuyMeACoffee or similar services. Integrated with Stripe, the code is open on Github. It's in-use on DubiousPod.
April 6, 2022:
April 5, 2022:
    What is Podcasting 2.0 all about? As Dave Jones writes, our report card shows that there's some confusion out there; but it's a vision: and the standards to achieve it.
March 29, 2022:
March 23, 2022:
January 28, 2022:
    There are many different Grants for Creators - so Danielle Desir has launched a paid newsletter to help you find them across the US. Her most recent newsletter contains grants totalling $106,500 (though some are state dependent).
January 20, 2022:
January 10, 2022:
January 6, 2022:
December 9, 2021:
December 3, 2021:
November 12, 2021:
    Lieven Heeremans writes about gentrification of the podcast landscape. He argues that the initial phase of the 'creative bohemians' have made podcasting attractive to new listeners, and now the big commercial operators are moving in to take advantage.
November 9, 2021:
    "Did the feed change yet? Did the feed change yet?" What's the alternative to refresh buttons and repeated checks for updates? Podping - decentralised push notifications for podcasting, means that new episodes can appear in podcast apps within just 45 seconds. Part of Podcasting 2.0, Podping has been running for the past six months for more than 200,000 podcasts and claims to fix a lot of practical issues with WebSub, a similar service. Dave Jones writes about Podping, and how podcast hosting companies can support it with one line of code.
November 3, 2021:
November 1, 2021:
October 19, 2021:
September 3, 2021:
August 30, 2021:
July 23, 2021:
July 21, 2021:
June 22, 2021:
May 24, 2021:
May 4, 2021:
    JustPod's Yi Yang reminds us that 播客一下, his newsletter about podcasting in China, is also available in English.
April 27, 2021:
    Eric Nuzum writes about why subscriptions matter: suggesting that podcast creators shouldn't rely on one source of revenue; but to examine who owns the relationship.
March 30, 2021:
March 29, 2021:
    Tom Webster writes about exclusives in podcasting, and a "beignet", a New Orleans deep-fried pastry topped with sugar. Previous editions have included Yoo-Hoo, some form of sugary chocolate beverage from New Jersey; and nachos. We'd like to request Twinkies, please.
March 10, 2021:
March 9, 2021:
    This seemingly small change could dramatically affect the industry. Tom Webster from Edison Research says 47% of people who don't currently listen to podcasts think that 'subscribing' to a podcast will cost money, describing it as a stone in the shoe of podcasting's growth run. He tells Podnews: “Today, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube are the three most widely used services to play podcasts, and now the word Subscribe means ‘automatically download for free’ in exactly none of them. Podcasters will have no choice but to adapt their language accordingly or risk confusing listeners.”
March 8, 2021:
March 2, 2021:
March 1, 2021:
February 15, 2021:
February 4, 2021:
    Ariel Nissenblat has launched a newsletter, Podcast Plunge. Each issue is anchored by a podcast episode, and then focuses on other pieces of internet about the main topic of the show.
February 3, 2021:
    Heb je nog een podcasttip? Answering the question often asked - "do you have any podcast recommendations" - Lieven Heeremans has been keeping an Excel sheet of all the podcasts he's listened to since April 8. 835 so far, and recommends you some. Google Translate is your friend, tenzij je Adam Curry heet.
February 2, 2021:
February 1, 2021:
January 27, 2021:
January 18, 2021:
January 13, 2021:
    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 6, 2021:
    Eric Nuzum has launched a newsletter, called The Audio Insurgent. It's free; he says it'll come out every two or three weeks.
January 4, 2021:
December 23, 2020:
December 21, 2020:
December 14, 2020:
December 8, 2020:
December 7, 2020:
October 21, 2020:
    The second keynote session at Podcast Movement Virtual looked at emerging podcast markets across the world. Our Editor hosted it; panelists were Norman Chella from Malaysia, who hosts the Podlovers Asia podcast; Paula Rogo from Kenya, who runs the Pods4Africans newsletter; and Núria Net from Spain, from the boutique podcast publisher La Coctelera Music, currently in the middle of several productions for Podimo, Audible and others.
October 19, 2020:
October 15, 2020:
    UK radio executive Matt Deegan notes that his show was rejected because he didn't talk enough; and adds that "if anyone asks, it definitely isn’t radio and it doesn’t mean that songs have come to podcasts."
September 22, 2020:
August 27, 2020:
August 17, 2020:
August 11, 2020:
June 30, 2020:
    JustPod, a podcast newsletter covering the Chinese podcasting scene, has published a new edition. It focuses on the removal of two popular podcast apps from the Chinese Apple App Store, and the podcasts that are available in the country.
May 26, 2020:
May 22, 2020:
April 17, 2020:
    Interested in podcasting in China? You'd like JustPod, a brand new English-language podcast newsletter, from Yang Yi who's based in Shanghai.
February 10, 2020:
    Will Spotify ruin podcasting? argues that Spotify plan to, eventually, "force podcasters to live in its ecosystem." The author, Matt Stoller, also argues that Spotify should be blocked from purchasing The Ringer.
February 8, 2019:
    Substack, a premium newsletter service, has launched Substack for Audio, a paid subscription tool for podcasts. Playback is through the web, which as this blog posts notes, isn't a bad experience any more on mobile.
August 29, 2018:
    Nick Quah's Hot Pod newsletter is now no longer just Nick Quah. UK-based Caroline Crampton, formerly of Podmail, has joined as a writer, says Nick and says Caroline. (They both highlight how you can support their newsletter in their announcements - so here's how you can support Podnews).
July 18, 2018:
    Kellie Riordan, the boss of ABC Audio Studios, is interviewed in PodMail and highlights radio's relationship with podcasting. "Whether someone consumes [audio] in the on-demand environment or on a radio, to me that’s almost the wrong argument."
January 30, 2018:
    Caroline Crampton, who used to write the New Statesman's podcasting column (and is Head of Podcasts for the UK magazine), is embarking on a new podcast critique newsletter. "I’m very bored of reading/hearing things about “the importance of storytelling” when it comes to podcasts."

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