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April 12, 2024:
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Hot Pod, one of the longest-running newsletters about podcasting, is to suspend publishing. Lead reporter Ariel Shapiro has announced that her last week with its owner, The Verge, will be next week; Deputy Editor Jake Kastrenakes adds: “We won’t have a new writer in place by next week, so we’re planning to put Hot Pod on hiatus while we figure out next steps.” The publication’s writers, Ariel Shapiro, Ashley Carman and Nick Quah, have been a vital part of the industry since 2014 and inspired Podnews to produce this daily newsletter in 2017. We hope the publication is back soon.
April 9, 2024:
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The Verge says that companies like OpenAI are transcribing podcasts as data to train artificial intelligence programs.
April 3, 2024:
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Google Podcasts is now said to have closed in the US (it’s still available in every other country, with no closure date yet). David Pearce from The Verge writes an excoriating article criticising Google. “The podcast app is only the latest good Google thing to die. And if Google ever wants us to buy into its promises again, this has to stop.”
February 29, 2024:
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In the mid-1970s, the Republican Party looked on the verge of self-destruction. Until 1976. Landslide from WFAE and NuanceTales is a new narrative podcast that looks at the closest presidential primary race in American history, what followed, and how it reshaped the political parties — opening the partisan rifts that divide us today.
December 15, 2023:
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One of podcasting’s biggest early advertisers, Mailchimp has pulled out of a Pineapple Street podcast because “the new Mailchimp contract required all work on the series to be performed by non-union workers”, says The Verge. Pineapple Street unionised in October 2022. The WGAE has a webpage to contact Mailchimp.
October 12, 2023:
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Further reading/viewing: "Don't make podcasts radio," said Oxford Road CEO Dan Granger in a speech made at Podcast Movement which was made available this week on the company's YouTube channel … Acast's Megan Davies has posted about what she calls a revolutionary female podcast landscape in Saudi Arabia … NPR left Twitter six months ago; but the broadcaster says traffic to its websites has dropped by only one percentage point … and The Verge covers more about redundancies and cancellations at WNYC.
August 14, 2023:
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Last week, Audacy's financial results included note of "an early exit to an onerous podcast ad representation contract". They didn't say who at the time; The Verge reports it is this agreement with APM. The final para of the press release: "UTA brokered the deal on behalf of American Public Media."
June 22, 2023:
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The Verge writes a feature article: Spotify’s podcast plan is going off the rails.
March 21, 2023:
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Marco Arment, the developer of Overcast, is interviewed by The Verge in The Vergecast. "I think what sets the Overcast apart today is it is designed by a podcast lover for podcast lovers and it puts your needs above any kind of weird data, analytics, tracking, promotional algorithm kind of stuff."
March 15, 2023:
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The Verge likes the new combination XLR/USB-C socket on the new RØDE NT1.
January 25, 2023:
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Spotify's layoffs yesterday included some people at Podsights and Chartable, says The Verge. (We'd be happy to highlight those looking for new roles - editor@podnews.net).
January 12, 2023:
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Land of the Giants returns for a seventh season today, looking at the multi-billion dollar dating app industry. The Cut and The Verge worked on the new series, which suggests that the apps are the problem, not the people who use them.
September 6, 2022:
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"Streaming services need to stop showing me the same ad over and over (and over)", says David Pierce in The Verge, a tech website. We'd suggest there's a parallel with some podcast ads, too.
July 14, 2022:
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Land of the Giants returns for a new season, from Recode and The Verge. The new season explores the genesis and growth of Meta as a company, and its impact on society. It's hosted by Alex Heath and Shirin Ghaffary.
June 3, 2022:
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Vox Media's union is threatening a strike. A search for
#VoxContractNow on Twitter shows the strength of feelings; the company publishes, among others, The Verge, Hot Pod, and Today, Explained.
May 12, 2022:
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At the IAB Podcast Upfronts, Sony Music Entertainment revealed their slate of upcoming podcasts. Vox Media presented The Verge's Nilay Patel talking with talent from across the Vox Media Podcast Network.
May 9, 2022:
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"Alexa, are you going to sell this conversation to someone?" What you ask your Amazon smart speaker is sold to more than 40 advertisers, claims The Verge.
April 15, 2022:
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David Pierce is returning to The Verge to co-host The Vergecast. He was Editorial Director at Protocol, and also spent time at the WSJ and WIRED.
March 25, 2022:
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In her last piece for The Verge, Ashley Carman writes "How SiriusXM bought and bungled" the podcast network Earwolf.
February 25, 2022:
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Ashley Carman is to leave The Verge and HotPod, and will join Bloomberg next week. She's been writing some excellent stories about podcasting over the last few years; the hype-house from hell was our favourite.
January 31, 2022:
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Spotify published its content policy in full, after The Verge published a leaked excerpt. When read literally, the policies appear not to have been broken by Rogan's guests. In addition, CEO Daniel Ek pledged to add content advisories to podcasts that contain COVID-19 discussions. He claims it's "the first of its kind by a major podcast platform", though YouTube has included automated COVID advisories for well over a year. It's unclear how Spotify will add these advisories, and what to.
January 28, 2022:
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Spotting an opportunity, US satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM has announced a Neil Young channel: Spotify removed Neil Young's music after the musician objected to Joe Rogan's views. Writing for Recode, Peter Kafka points out that no other music artist is following Young's lead; in The Verge, Ashley Carman writes that Joe Rogan is the lynchpin of Spotify's podcasting apparatus: advertising on the show is only available as part of a network buy across all of Spotify's podcasts.
December 15, 2021:
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Want to advertise on Joe Rogan's podcast through Spotify? The minimum spend is $1 million, according to Ashley Carman in The Verge. Her article suggests buying podcast advertising is changing and becoming more impersonal; that dynamic ads have less value for advertisers, and as you'll read from the links in our show notes and newsletter, podcast publishers are becoming greedy.
November 24, 2021:
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The Verge reports that RadioPublic, which was purchased by Acast in February, is broken for many users, and has been for months. We reported in early October that it wasn't updating some shows.
November 19, 2021:
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In The Verge, Ashley Carman also looks at Spotify's purchase of Findaway, the book distributor.
September 29, 2021:
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Clubhouse has been criticised for not delivering promised sponsorship. The Verge reports that the Creator First program didn't deliver meaningful stats, promotion, or sponsors. “We’re better off turning this into a podcast, instead of doing it on Clubhouse”, one creator is quoted as saying.
September 8, 2021:
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Hot Pod has been acquired by Vox Media. Senior reporter for The Verge, Ashley Carman, will be the new lead writer for the newsletter; Nick Quah, who launched Hot Pod in 2014, will become a full-time podcast reviewer. Hot Pod will remain at $7/month, becoming
September 3, 2021:
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The Verge detail how to get great audio for podcast interviews.
August 26, 2021:
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The Verge reports that Joe Rogan's exclusivity on Spotify is hurting his influence, and that his social numbers have halved. Ashley Carman reports that searches for Joe Rogan also dropped after moving to Spotify, and YouTube data has also fallen.
August 19, 2021:
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A number of podcast companies have criticised Apple Podcasts and their new paid subscriptions service in a piece in The Verge.
August 3, 2021:
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The former hosts of The Nod, who last year wanted Spotify to "hand over their podcast", have signed with SiriusXM to relaunch their Black culture show For Colored Nerds. Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings were interviewed by The Verge about their battle for ownership of intellectual property.
August 2, 2021:
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Fireside Chat, which launches properly this week, is already asking its own users to invest, says The Verge, which also says that the company will announce a partnership with podcast host Libsyn this week. Last week, we looked at Fireside's terms and conditions; we've chatted with the company, but have yet to receive a statement. (That terms and conditions page also includes a look at the t&cs from Libsyn).
July 27, 2021:
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LA Weekly carried an article praising 'king of podcasting' Peter Vincer, which appears to be paid content, linking to a 12-minute denial video from Vincer on YouTube tackling a number of accusations made by The Verge in early June. The video includes a number of screengrabs of messages that he says refutes points in The Verge's story, and ends with a quote from The Office.
July 19, 2021:
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In The Verge, Ashley Carman writes about shortform audio as the future for social networks. Beams, Quest, Pludo, Soundbites and Racket are all mentioned; not mentioned, the many failed/pivoted audio social networks, which include "Twitter for audio" app Audioboo (now Audioboom), and... Anchor.
July 8, 2021:
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One Year is new from Slate and the Slow Burn team. Hosted by Josh Levin, the podcast's first season focuses at 1977, "a year when the nation's rules seemed on the verge of getting rewritten".
June 17, 2021:
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As we reported earlier this month, Facebook is launching podcasts next week. The Verge links to the terms and conditions, which Nathan Gathright has analysed. It's invite-only for now; no, Podnews's page hasn't been invited. :sadface:
June 14, 2021:
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After an explosive article on Peter Vincer on Friday from The Verge, an anonymous article has appeared in The Hype Magazine, breathlessly praising the Notorious CEO. On Twitter, Vincer has said of The Verge piece: "I like to have fun. And I certainly border inappropriate often. The rest is nonsense."
June 11, 2021:
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Breaking: The Podcasting Hype House From Hell has just been published by The Verge - an investigation into Himalaya and Peter Vincer, and the $100 million they told us they'd raised, which turned out to be entirely made-up. It's quite a read.
June 2, 2021:
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A collective of creators is producing Spacecasts, a podcast containing the very best discussions from Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse. The Verge reports that creators will share in the revenue from the podcast.
May 14, 2021:
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Castbox appears to be linking to subscriber-only RSS feeds for podcasts, according to an investigation by The Verge. Castbox claim it's not intentional, though one feed had 14,000 subscribers.
March 12, 2021:
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After an unofficial history of Spotify was released earlier this year as a book, Spotify: A Product Story is a show from Spotify about the history of Spotify: "the lessons that have shaped Spotify's product, and took it from being an innovative idea to the most popular audio streaming subscription service in the world". The Verge notes that it doesn't mention iTunes, in a piece that unaccountably doesn't mention Engadget.
March 8, 2021:
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The Verge takes a look at Fireside - the Mark Cuban Fireside, not the Dan Benjamin Fireside - with some screenshots of what's to come.
February 15, 2021:
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The Verge asks "Can anyone moderate podcasts?" - following up on the story that Steve Bannon's War Room podcast is still available on Apple Podcasts. Interviews suggest most podcast apps are trusting Apple to choose what's acceptable and what isn't; and the story claims that podcasting "isn't ready for moderation".
February 10, 2021:
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iHeartRadio has announced investment into binaural podcasts, or "iHeart 3D Audio", as the company brands it. "This is virtual reality for the ears," said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartPodcast Network. The Verge also report that QCODE is recording in Dolby Atmos, a surround-sound technology (which no podcast app, yet, supports).
February 9, 2021:
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Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi are co-founding a “next-gen podcast platform” where hosts can talk to fans live and monetise their conversations, reports The Verge - it's said to be similar to Clubhouse but with the ability to record conversations. Cuban sold internet radio company broadcast·com to Yahoo for $5.7bn.
February 3, 2021:
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The Verge writes about Elon Musk's use of Clubhouse; meanwhile Matt Deegan says that Clubhouse isn't about audio. "At its worst, I’d say the content is basically the annoying self-promoters from LinkedIn given a microphone to talk to their echo-chamber," he says, before saying it's a good place for like-minded people to chat.
January 22, 2021:
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The Verge reports that on Anchor, the only sponsor that most podcasts have is Anchor itself. We spoke to one Anchor podcaster, who's had more than 700,000 plays on Anchor over the last 18 months. They've had four sponsors - three podcasts, each of whom paid around $200; and Anchor, who paid $8,600 advertising itself - a $17.50 CPM.
January 13, 2021:
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Eleven former Condé Nast podcast producers have criticised their experience while making shows for the US magazine publisher, claiming they were chronically understaffed and then terminated without notice. The Verge has more. We've asked Condé Nast for comment.
January 8, 2021:
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How much is it to listen to a free podcast on Amazon? Apparently $8.95 according to Charlie Harding, who tweeted a screenshot of the Amazon website yesterday. The Verge covered the story. Amazon have removed those prices but have not responded for comment; however, Nick Quah's Hot Pod Insider has been told it was a technical error. Podnews's podcast appears to be free again, as we go to press.
December 29, 2020:
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The Verge only had 17 favourite podcasts in 2020. They should listen to more! Randomly chosen: Eggplant: the secret life of games, candid interviews with game creators. We think it's specifically video games, rather than board games.
December 21, 2020:
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The New York Times said that its podcast Caliphate had failed to meet its editorial standards. The newspaper returned a Peabody Award, and has reassigned the podcast's host, Rukmini Callimachi. The Verge claims podcasting has a problem with facts.
December 3, 2020:
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Anchor powered more than one million show launches in 2020, reports The Verge. "Spotify says Anchor shows account for more consumption, in terms of time spent listening, than any other third-party podcast hosting or distribution provider on its platform." Wow.
November 11, 2020:
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In its biggest deal yet, Spotify announced it has bought podcast hosting company Megaphone. The Verge suggests that the purchase price was $235m. Spotify says that its Streaming Ad Insertion technology will be made available to all Megaphone publishers; and a note sent to current Megaphone clients explicitly highlights that they will continue to support all podcast platforms. We have analysis below.
October 28, 2020:
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Audible has added "100,000 free podcasts" to their app, says The Verge. This seems a geographic rollout - we don't see them in the Audible app in Australia - yet, anyway. (Are we there? )
September 3, 2020:
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Spotify-owned Parcast is unionizing, reports The Verge. Spotify has voluntarily recognised Gimlet, and is negotiating with The Ringer's union.
August 25, 2020:
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Audible has unveiled new pricing for a new subscription podcast service. Audible Plus will offer access to exclusive Audible podcasts for US$7.95/month. (Luminary charges $4.99/month for their subscription service). Audible's Rachel Ghiazza apparently clarifies to The Verge that the platform is developing podcast content, but isn’t pulling them in from third-party RSS feeds. Confusingly, Podnews reported that Audible, and Amazon Music, have emailed podcasters to get them to submit their RSS feeds for a forthcoming service.
July 17, 2020:
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That new 'exclusive' Apple News Today podcast, that we reported on yesterday? It has an RSS feed after all, and has been added to some podcast apps, including Overcast (via a 'hack', says Marco Arment, though apparently the feed address is visible in iTunes desktop software). However, the RSS feed is hidden from third parties in Apple's API and its mirror URL has also been disabled: so the intention appears to be that it's an exclusive, and The Verge described it as such.
July 16, 2020:
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Apple is making its own daily news show. Apple News Today, which the company calls a podcast, is exclusive to Apple Podcasts, and there's no RSS feed. It is visible but doesn't play on the Apple Podcasts website. The Verge claims it's only available in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia: the editorial, however, seems entirely US-focused.
July 2, 2020:
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As we reported last week, the hosts of The Nod "want Spotify to hand over their podcast", according to a story in The Verge, which highlights other podcasters in the same boat. They were Gimlet employees when they pitched the show.
June 18, 2020:
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Kim Kardashian West has signed an exclusive deal with Spotify, report the WSJ ($). The Verge reports she'll do a show with Parcast on criminal justice reform; no terms were given.
May 22, 2020:
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Ashley Carman writes, in The Verge, that the podcasting world is now Spotify vs everyone else
May 20, 2020:
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"Rogan is one of the most popular YouTube podcasters, often with millions of people watching each episode, so losing his voice on the platform is a major hit to YouTube" (Ashley Carman, The Verge)
May 7, 2020:
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Spotify is testing video podcasts, says The Verge. The company says they test things all the time.
January 9, 2020:
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Spotify has announced Spotify Podcast Ads, a method of targeting advertising for listeners within its exclusive podcasts. The announcement promises that advertisers can target listeners based on age or gender, as well as reach and frequency. Covering the story, The Verge says that premium users will still hear these ads (just as they do with non-Spotify Original podcasts).
September 18, 2019:
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Amazon has announced Amazon Music HD, which, for $5 extra per month, will offer HD songs in lossless FLAC format at "16 bits 44.1kHz sampling", and "million" of songs in ultra HD ("24 bits at up to 192kHz sampling"). The Verge points out that most phones have a maximum of 24-bit 44.1kHz sound chips anyway, and you're unlikely to hear the difference using Bluetooth headphones.
September 10, 2019:
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YouTube is "a podcast network", says The Verge. The article highlights some podcasters who post full shows, and clipped highlights, onto the video sharing platform.
September 4, 2019:
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Lawyers acting on behalf of Mike Boudet have sent Justin Drown from Obscura a cease-and-desist letter, The Verge reports, after Drown accused Boudet of orchestrating negative one-star reviews against his podcast.
September 2, 2019:
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The Verge wrote a story about automated one-star ratings, covered by Podnews in July. The story has also been picked up by Search Engine Journal, who highlight "try not to let malicious reviews damage morale too much if you happen to receive them."
August 9, 2019:
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US broadcaster iHeartRadio is to broadcast podcasts on broadcast radio every Sunday night. Sunday Night Podcasts will be produced in different versions for different radio formats. The Verge reports that over 270 of iHeart's stations are being told to broadcast the show: "it is a strong recommendation from us centrally," says Conal Byrne, president of the iHeartPodcast Network.
June 10, 2019:
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Bear Brook played a role in identifying the victims of a serial killer, according to The Verge. There's a new episode with the latest information. (New Hampshire Public Radio/Cabana/Megaphone)
June 5, 2019:
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Spotify is beginning to test curated podcast playlists, says The Verge.
May 1, 2019:
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The Vergecast features Nick Quah this week, talking about "Apple, Luminary, Spotify, and the podcast wars to come".
April 30, 2019:
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RedCircle launched. It's a podcast host offering tools like free hosting, analytics and a cross-promotion marketplace to help smaller podcasts get heard. The company has $1.5m of funding, and is built by five ex-Uber software people; it plans to earn revenue by selling advertising within podcasts. The Verge has more.
April 26, 2019:
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More podcasts have been removed from Luminary, including iHeart Podcast Network, PodcastOne, BluBrry corporate podcasts. The Verge reports that many other smaller podcasters are removing their content. Surprisingly, the BBC are still there, given their concerns about Google. If you need it, here's how to remove your podcast from Luminary; we've no plans to remove our podcast from the service, though.
April 23, 2019:
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Luminary, the self-styled "Netflix of podcasting", launches officially today. As The Verge points out, Luminary doesn't have The Daily from the New York Times in it - an in-app message grumpily recommends alternative podcasts. Podcasts from Spotify, Gimlet Media and Anchor are also unavailable. Perhaps surprisingly, it does contain BBC content. The Verge's Dieter Bohn calls this "the upcoming podcast wars".
April 22, 2019:
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Swoot, a new social podcast player from the founders of HipChat, has been getting plenty of positive reviews, like this from The Verge; we mentioned it last week, but clearly it would be wrong of us to recommend you all sign up and listen to the Podnews podcast in Swoot, so we'll not do that.
April 12, 2019:
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ABC Nightline’s investigative series The Dropout is turning into a TV show, reports The Verge.
April 9, 2019:
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The Verge reviews the Rødecaster Pro. It uses the word "perfect" in the opening paragraph.
March 11, 2019:
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Can Anchor be "the YouTube of Podcasts", asks The Verge. #thesomethingofpodcasts
March 6, 2019:
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Nick Quah analyses the recent Luminary launch announcement - there's much that he considers a wild gamble. Meanwhile, The Verge covers Spotify's strategy.
February 8, 2019:
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The Verge gives ways Spotify could be a better podcast app.
January 28, 2019:
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The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has made the good folks at The Verge really very excited. They write an in-depth article about the podcast. (BBC)
December 26, 2018:
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The Scout podcast app makes it to TechRadar's "best android apps from 2018". It's a podcast app based on playlists. Meanwhile, The Verge's best android apps list highlights Pocket Casts.
November 30, 2018:
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Meanwhile, The Verge covers Apple Podcast Chart manipulation, mainly sourced from a story in Podnews from Oct 22.
November 15, 2018:
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Podcast app Pocket Casts have unveiled an entirely redesigned app for iOS, Android and the web (including new macOS and Windows apps). Highlights include a brand-new 'discover' section which is geo-aware, listening history, and more. The iOS version is available now; the Android version is in opt-in public beta; there is coverage in The Verge and CNet Libsyn report Pocket Casts was the #7 podcast app in September, with 1.42% of all downloads; Anchor suggests it's the #5 app, with 0.9%; it's based in Adelaide in Australia, but owned by a consortium of US public radio broadcasters.
October 11, 2018:
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Why'd You Push That Button, a podcast that examines the way technology influences our thinking, changes our behavior, and affects our social lives, returns for a third series. (The Verge / ART19)
August 27, 2018:
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The Verge's "Pod Hunters" column covers Drawn, a podcast about the story of animation. (From HowStuffWorks and Cartoon Network; hosted by Knit)
August 22, 2018:
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Google is apparently developing a new "podcast app" called Shortwave, says The Verge. The article is, however, almost entirely guesswork based on a pending trademark application.
June 20, 2018:
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Google have globally released their much-hyped Google Podcasts App for Android: the smartphone operating system has four times the users of iOS. This 100K app links to the podcast functionality already installed in almost all Android phones. Wired says it could turbocharge the industry; The Verge makes much of its personalised recommendations; VentureBeat goes into more detail; while GonnaGeek says it leaves a lot to be desired. (The app is not a fully-featured replacement for the likes of Pocket Casts.)
May 24, 2018:
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The Verge has launched interview-cum-game-show Converge with Casey Newton.
April 24, 2018:
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The tech press covers Google's podcasting strategy. The Verge highlights the multi-device features; you can also see coverage in RAIN and 9to5Google.
April 19, 2018:
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Spotify is planning a redesign for free users, says The Verge. It's unclear from this story what this means for podcasts within Spotify's free tier.
April 18, 2018:
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Spotify's big announcement next week could be about its mobile app, claim The Verge.
April 11, 2018:
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The Verge think Spotify is to unveil a car music player in an event later this month.
February 23, 2018:
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Podcast app Anchor has launched v3.0 of their app. Its focus is now on podcasting says The Verge, rather than simply sharing audio; RAIN notes that it now offers distribution to Spotify as well as Apple and Google.