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May 3, 2024:
    Apple Podcasts has added a curated Wellness category to its app - you’ll see it in the search page. Featuring a curated collection of health, fitness and wellness shows, it’s part of Mental Health Awareness Month. The category curates episodes, shows and creators; subtopics reflect the evolving definition of what it means to be well today including: Mood, Sleep, Relationships, Meditation, Movement and Gratitude.
May 2, 2024:
May 1, 2024:
April 30, 2024:
    New from Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios and Wondery, The Competition is now available everywhere. The series focuses on the contestants of the Distinguished Young Women (DYW) program, a quasi-pageant/ academic competition that’s one of the most lucrative scholarship programs for teen girls in America, and follows seven participants as they experience the highs and lows of competing for two weeks, away from home and under the most high-stress circumstances. Wil Williams reviews it in their newsletter.
April 29, 2024:
    Is Apple’s Messages app the latest new podcast player? Not really - but it does play podcasts. Send someone on Messages a link to a Podnews news page (like this) it renders with the image, headline, and a little audio button - which, when pressed, plays the linked audio. It looks quite neat. It uses the og:audio meta tag, part of the Open Graph protocol, which is supported in the Messages app on iPhone and MacOS.
April 26, 2024:
April 19, 2024:
April 16, 2024:
April 12, 2024:
    The Apple & The Tree is a brand-new podcast series launched today, celebrating the universal truths, secrets, joys & pain between a parent and their child. Each episode invites listeners into the hearts and homes of a different family as they sit down to discuss something they’ve rarely – if ever – approached before. It's hosted by Vogue Williams, and is a DMG Media production.
April 11, 2024:
April 8, 2024:
    Apple Podcasts has added transcripts to its macOS app. Transcripts look like this: to get to them, hit the “...” menu button next to any episode, or the player, and choose “View Transcript”. Unlike the iOS app they don’t display in real time and nor can you use them to navigate the show; but they are searchable. Here’s how they work.
April 4, 2024:
    An email you’ve probably already seen: “On April 13, starting at 6:00 am PDT, Apple Podcasts Connect will be unavailable for up to two hours.” (That link will convert the time to where you are.)
April 3, 2024:
    On MeSsy with Christina Applegate & Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the two hosts get vulnerable about the curveballs that life can throw - theirs just happens to be multiple sclerosis, better known to many as MS. They'll self-reflect, learn, laugh, and grow through their own raw and often-times hilarious conversations with each other, friends, co-stars, and the people that keep them going through the messiness of life. Produced by Allison Bresnick of Wishbone Production, it's represented for ad sales by PMM.
April 2, 2024:
April 1, 2024:
March 29, 2024:
March 28, 2024:
March 27, 2024:
March 26, 2024:
    Apple Podcasts has updated its Content Guidelines. The main changes are that the company now requires use of AI to be prominently disclosed in both the audio and the metadata; and AI cannot be used to mislead. (¶1.11 and 1.12) Apple also requires creator-provided transcripts to accurately reflect and correspond to the content (¶5.1).
March 20, 2024:
March 19, 2024:
March 18, 2024:
March 15, 2024:
March 13, 2024:
    Year-on-year, downloads for LiSTNR’s network are down 9%; for ARN’s iHeart, down 29% - Australia hasn’t been immune to Apple’s iOS 17 changes.
March 6, 2024:
    iOS 17.4 launches today, and with it, support for podcast transcripts in Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts will make its own transcripts for new episodes; or, you can supply your own. It marks the first time that almost every podcast is fully accessible.
March 5, 2024:
    From Airwave: Want today’s biggest tech headlines in a flash from TechCrunch? You'll want the TechCrunch Daily Crunch - recently, they've covered Elon Musk suing OpenAI, Microsoft Windows 11's Copilot, and Tim Apple promising that Apple is doing something clever with GenAI.
March 4, 2024:
March 1, 2024:
February 29, 2024:
February 28, 2024:
February 27, 2024:
    In the Courts #1: There’s been (some) action in the National Association of the Deaf vs SiriusXM two year-old legal case, where SiriusXM has been taken to court for not producing transcripts. The lawyers for the NAD furiously say that SiriusXM didn’t give them any information about its new app (“sandbagging!” “incredibly vague!” “effort to sabotage!”) and asking for a further delay. SiriusXM’s lawyers furiously say that SiriusXM had a new app on Dec 12 which they told the other side about within two months and it does (some) transcripts now, and they allege bad faith on behalf of the NAD’s lawyers (“feigned surprise!” “acting improperly!” “tenuous assertions!”), but also are asking for a further delay. Anyone would think lawyers are paid by the hour. Meanwhile, Apple Podcasts will roll out transcripts for almost 100% of shows within the next few months.
February 26, 2024:
February 23, 2024:
    v2.2 of the guidelines add a requirement for companies to be clear whether they use a fixed or rolling 24-hour window for measurement; a requirement to update “safe” IP address lists such as those for known large corporations or universities; clarification that an ad can only be considered to be “delivered” if the overall episode download was valid; and a requirement for “practices to be put in place to account for mass market technology changes in measurement reports” (possibly the result of Apple’s changes in iOS 17).
February 21, 2024:
    In France, a charity event called Podcasthon is planned for next month. The idea is to make a special version of your show that highlights a cause or charity; and to co-ordinate its release at the end of March. Last year, 300 podcasts took part; this year, it has the support of Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Spotify. 400 shows have already registered for this year - et vous? (Next year’s Podcasthon will be in English and other languages, too).
February 20, 2024:
February 19, 2024:
February 16, 2024:
February 15, 2024:
February 14, 2024:
    How do you make good podcast artwork? We’ve collated some of the best advice from our newsletters. Notably, Apple Podcasts no longer requires podcast thumbnails to be less than 500Kb.
February 13, 2024:
    Total listens went down by 12% after Apple Podcasts changes in iOS 17. Those changes cost Acast US $7.2mn in a one-off contract revaluation.
February 12, 2024:
    Last month, the company reported that total global downloads for the top 20 publishers were down 19% month-on-month and 24% year-on-year: attributed to the changes in iOS 17 for Apple Podcasts.
February 9, 2024:
    Spotify is removing Music + Talk, which allowed you to present a music show (launched as “Shows with Music”); interactive audience tool Voice Messages, remote recording tool Record with Friends, and Background Music and Sounds. The company tells us it’s a shift away from legacy creation tooling, and towards tools for better audience growth and engagement.
February 8, 2024:
    Of note - his artwork is over-sized at 1.4MB; Apple normally requires images to be less than 500KB.
February 7, 2024:
    Apple has released a new developer beta of iOS 17.4, which will bring transcripts to podcast listeners. “I still haven't seen a single transcript utilized from the podcasts:transcript tag, even for shows that have them.” mentions John Spurlock.
February 6, 2024:
February 5, 2024:
February 2, 2024:
February 1, 2024:
January 31, 2024:
    Triton Digital has released its US Podcast Report 2023. The free 32 page report says there has been a 12% growth of monthly podcast users in the last two years, and that 55% of podcasts get fewer than 10,000 US downloads per month. Apple Podcasts gets 45% of all episode downloads; Spotify just 15%.
January 30, 2024:
January 29, 2024:
January 26, 2024:
January 24, 2024:
January 23, 2024:
January 22, 2024:
    Caution: The Elfsight Podcast Player widget, a paid-for podcast player, is downloading audio on page-load: against IAB guidelines, and defrauding advertisers. We contacted the company last week to report the issue and invited them to comment. We’d suggest you use Spotify or Apple’s players.
January 16, 2024:
January 15, 2024:
    London-based podcast publisher Audioboom has just posted a trading update for Q4/23. Q4’s revenue, at $19mn, was up 37% quarter-on-quarter, and up 5% year-on-year. Downloads for the quarter were only down 0.75% year-on-year, in spite of the auto-download changes in Apple Podcasts.
January 12, 2024:
    Zach Kahn, until recently the PR person for Apple Podcasts but tweeting personally, shares his 2024 Podcasting Wishlist. “Make shorter shows”, he suggests, “trust your gut”, and “let the past die”.
January 10, 2024:
January 8, 2024:
January 2, 2024:
December 22, 2023:
December 21, 2023:
    The effect of iOS 17’s changes in Apple Podcasts could be 30% fewer downloads for your show, according to Libsyn’s Rob Walch, speaking in The Feed. “If shows have over 300 episodes, they could and should expect to see their weekly downloads at the end of November be greater than a 25% drop below where their weekly numbers were in early September.” He adds: “Your audience size did not change. Those numbers? That was extra downloads (from) your back catalog (that) weren't being listened to. It's just right sizing your monthly and weekly downloads to what's more realistic and what's really happening.”
December 20, 2023:
December 19, 2023:
December 18, 2023:
    Podnews is on Mastodon (and other places), and this holiday period, we’d like to encourage you to follow us there (and the hashtag #podcasting perhaps, too). Megalodon works great for Android; we’re told Mammoth is a good app for iPhone. As of today, we’re posting on X thirty minutes late, as part of the x-last strategy.
December 15, 2023:
December 13, 2023:
December 12, 2023:
    For consuming podcasts, YouTube has more than twice the users of Apple Podcasts, and almost twice that of Spotify, according to a study of YouTube’s growth as a “power podcast player”, highlighted in a new study from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights.
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 8, 2023:
December 6, 2023:
December 5, 2023:
    Apple Podcasts will announce the 2023 Show of the Year at 8am Eastern today.
December 4, 2023:
November 30, 2023:
November 29, 2023:
November 28, 2023:
November 24, 2023:
    One Podnews reader points out that the decrease in podcast downloads seen by most rankers and hosts over the past few months may have a knock-on effect: more makegoods, as advertisers don't hit the numbers they were expecting. Makegoods - free spots to make up for lower than expected numbers - tie up future inventory. "This drop is not-nothing", our reader points out.
November 22, 2023:
November 20, 2023:
    Our New Podcast Trailers podcast feed - here's the RSS - uses OP3 to measure total plays (and individual shows see these downloads in their stats, too). One thing we learnt: make sure your audio enclosure URLs end ".mp3", even if they're just, like ours, redirects. Apple needs an audio file extension in the URL, otherwise it won't index the episode.
November 17, 2023:
    The Official Rustin Podcast has launched today from Netflix, accompanying the new Netflix film. The architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known; but has slipped from the public's mind. The film, and this podcast, aims to change that. It's produced by Pineapple Street Studios and Slayzhon.
November 16, 2023:
    From the State Library of Queensland, Cake the podcast looks at bakers from Queensland, and the story of The Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book, one of the most influential cookbooks in the state that was dreamt up when there was an oversupply of pineapples. Note: despite being less than fifteen minutes away from the State Library of Queensland, Podnews's offices did not get sent cake with this press release.
November 15, 2023:
November 14, 2023:
November 13, 2023:
November 9, 2023:
    Unruly is new today, hosted by hosted by author, curator, and critic Kimberly Drew. "We unpack the quiet ways women’s bodies are commodified, defined, and regulated by social media, the medical profession, the beauty industry, and more. Then we name them, out loud." It's from body hair and care brand Flamingo and Pineapple Street Studios.
November 8, 2023:
    Total listens dipped in the quarter (Jul/Aug/Sep) by 2.9%. Acast CEO Ross Adams blamed a decrease in listens on changes in download behaviour by Apple Podcasts in iOS 17. But, iOS 17 was only released on Sep 18, and only 16.7% of iPhones had installed it by the end of September, an adoption rate that Cult of Mac calls "a trickle". Too early to blame Cupertino?
November 6, 2023:
November 2, 2023:
    The biggest independent podcast host Buzzsprout released its network stats for October. Year-on-year, Apple Podcasts has increased download share by 3.5%; Spotify by 3.6%; and Google Podcasts increased its share by 0.3%. Total downloads were up 12.6% on the year, though dropped slightly month-on-month.
November 1, 2023:
October 26, 2023:
October 25, 2023:
    We hear that Spotify is testing public comments for podcasts. For select shows, all listener responses from the proprietary Q&A feature will be made available on the show’s episode page on Spotify, as long as they meet Spotify’s content guidelines. Spotify tells Podnews that "Participating creators will continue to have full control over questions and responses — they can publish or unpublish any response, or edit or remove Q&A prompts, through the interact tab of the Spotify for Podcasters dashboard." (By way of comparison, reviews left on Apple Podcasts are not editable by creators.)
October 24, 2023:
October 23, 2023:
    Ghost Story is new from Wondery today - a jaw-dropping tale of a haunting, which becomes a murder investigation, which leads to a family drama. It's made by Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios.
October 20, 2023:
October 19, 2023:
October 16, 2023:
    Exclusive: Ausha is launching a Podcast Search Optimisation tool today. The tool monitors and optimises show appearance in podcast app search results, suggests keywords to rank for, and monitors Apple Podcasts and Spotify to measure the effect of any change. It's available in beta for selected customers today, before a full launch later in the year.
October 13, 2023:
October 12, 2023:
October 10, 2023:
October 6, 2023:
    Kagi, a paid-for, ad-free search engine, has a permanent Podcasts tab, we notice. It looks like this; links are to the Apple Podcasts listing for the podcast, not direct to the episode, disappointingly.
October 5, 2023:
    The third season of Sound Judgment launched last week - exploring the audio storytelling craft of podcasting. Last week, Classy’s Jonathan Menjivar, of Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios and alum of Fresh Air and This American Life, shared strategies and self-doubts on the challenge of making a gripping podcast about class in America; and to come are Anna Sale, Nikki Boyer and others.
October 4, 2023:
    Who is supposed to register for the upcoming Canadian regulation of podcasts? The CRTC tells us: "online services that operate in Canada and offer podcasts, such as Apple and Spotify".
October 3, 2023:
    The regulation says it applies to all streaming services that operate in Canada, not those physically based there. We're asking the CRTC what an "online streaming service" is (Apple Podcasts? or Wondery?); and what "operating in" means (employees in Canada? or content available there?). We're also asking what sanctions are liable should a company not register by Nov 28. The CRTC has not responded to a request made over 24 hours ago.
September 29, 2023:
September 27, 2023:
September 22, 2023:
September 19, 2023:
September 14, 2023:
    The better tools he's demanding? OP3, which is open and free; here are our stats and those of many others. We'd agree that an API into Apple and Spotify's proprietary data would be useful, though.
September 11, 2023:
September 7, 2023:
    "Podcasts don't need ads", said Luminary in a criticised, and since-deleted, tweet when it launched. Today, Luminary has partnered with Acast to make six of its exclusive shows available wherever you get your podcasts - monetised by ads. The company will also use Acast+ Access to give access to its paid subscription content in any app: the company also uses Apple Podcasts's paid subscriptions.
September 4, 2023:
August 29, 2023:

The Daily Mail last week claimed that its podcast The Trial of Lucy Letby was "the No.1 podcast on Apple in the UK".

August 24, 2023:
August 22, 2023:
    Apple launched enhanced analytics for paid subscriptions; until now, creators had to download spreadsheet data directly. Apple Podcasts also announced more Delegated Delivery partners to allow you to upload premium content directly to Apple Podcasts: Podbean is the first of those to go live today.
August 21, 2023:
    Expect announcements later today from Apple Podcasts about new tools and services for creators.
August 18, 2023:
August 17, 2023:
August 14, 2023:
    Podshape has used artificial intelligence to help recreate social media posts in their latest podcast Out Of The Ordinary. The show is launched today in Apple Podcasts subscriptions, and looks at the story of Brandon Truaxe, a Canadian skincare entrepreneur who suddenly began to start posting some very odd social media messages.
August 10, 2023:
August 9, 2023:
August 7, 2023:
    Two shows were reportedly removed from Apple Podcasts after Russian authorities requested their removal. Что случилось ("What Happened") is published by Медуза, which is an officially banned media organisation in Russia; the podcast was removed for two days by Apple Podcasts for "an issue". Meanwhile, Холод was also removed according to the publishers Holod Media, after a complaint by Russian authorities that it discredited the Russian army. Both shows currently appear to be available in Europe on Apple Podcasts. Podnews is not available in Russia.
July 25, 2023:
    Pocket Casts is adding star ratings to its popular podcast app. The ratings come from a variety of sources including rival app Apple Podcasts, and are treated with a proprietary algorithm: but you won't, yet, be able to add your own rating in the app.
July 18, 2023:
July 17, 2023:
    In the Podcasting 2.0 podcast this week, Adam Curry looks back at 20 years of podcasting, and what he regrets about Apple's involvement.
July 12, 2023:
July 11, 2023:
    Apple has made a podcast - and this one is sponsored by an insurance company. The second series of After the Whistle with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe, looking at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, is made for Apple News by Meadowlark Media, and sponsored by State Farm. The football tournament is, in the US and Canada, on Apple TV.
July 6, 2023:
July 4, 2023:
July 3, 2023:
    With Apple no longer requiring email addresses in RSS feeds, many podcast hosting companies have removed them for enhanced privacy - but that comes with added complication for claiming podcasts on other services - leading to increased support tickets and frustrated podcasters. This is a priority to fix for the next podcast namespace work, and podcast hosting companies should take part in the discussion.
June 30, 2023:
    Android is still highly fragmented for podcast apps, according to data from the Open Podcast Prefix Project, analysed by Podnews. Data from 4.75mn downloads in May suggests that, while Spotify is the clear leader, the app ecosystem on Android remains significantly more fragmented than that of Apple - even when combining downloads from iOS, iPadOS and macOS.
June 29, 2023:
June 28, 2023:
June 27, 2023:
    When asked which platform listeners use most often for podcasts, Spotify is #1 with 34%; YouTube #2 with 24% and Apple Podcasts #3 with 11%. (Apple Podcasts isn't on Android; Kantar says Android has a 51.6% share in Australia).
June 26, 2023:

Thank you to The Optimal Life with Nate Haber for becoming our latest supporter. Nate is an entrepreneur, attorney and self-improvement expert; the podcast contains inspirational conversations with extraordinary people. His support, like our other supporters, helps our independent journalism: you, too, can support us here.

June 22, 2023:
June 21, 2023:
June 19, 2023:
June 16, 2023:
June 14, 2023:
    Apple is threatening to remove Damus, a NOSTR-based chat service, from the app store. The company's concern is that "zaps" - a way to send people a small amount of money - could be used to circumvent Apple's payment system. If upheld, the ruling threatens "value4value" podcast apps, which use a similar system, and even services like PayPal or Venmo.
June 7, 2023:
    N'Jeri Eaton has been hired by Wondery as head of co-productions for limited series. She had worked at Apple Podcasts and most recently was Head of Podcasts at Netflix.
June 6, 2023:
June 5, 2023:
May 25, 2023:
May 24, 2023:
May 22, 2023:
    Writing a clever bit of redirection magic for your new RSS podcast feed? Apple Podcasts requires a valid file extension in the enclosure URL for your show to be correctly ingested, even if the enclosure URL is actually a redirect. (Ask us how we know!) The Livewire Podcast Validator has been updated.
May 19, 2023:
May 18, 2023:
May 17, 2023:
    A new podcast search experience in Google is being rolled out in the US. Users on mobile who search for generic terms like "kids podcasts" or "news podcasts" now get individual podcast cards, which, when clicked on, include links to players: Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. The podcast pages also contain recent episode titles (and display on tablets as well as phones). Links to Apple Podcasts appear on Android, too (taking you to the web experience); the new search experience does not contain any podcast links to YouTube.
May 16, 2023:
    The Made by Google podcast returned yesterday (switching hosts from Podigee to Acast). The announcement tells us to "subscribe on Google Podcasts (of course), Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts". The newest podcast platform made by Google is, of course, YouTube, but this podcast from Google hasn't been uploaded there.
May 15, 2023:
May 9, 2023:
    Podcast Bestie, the Podcast this time around features Lauren Passell - talking to host Courtney Kocak about finding podcast friends to collaborate with, and how to land a coveted Apple Podcasts feature.
May 8, 2023:
May 4, 2023:
    Apple Podcasts has removed episode numbers from the title of many shows. While they used to show on iOS 16.3, iOS 16.4 no longer shows episode numbers for any show marked as "episodic" (the default). You can still see episode numbers when clicking through from the episode list; here's more information on serial vs episodic.
May 2, 2023:
May 1, 2023:
April 26, 2023:
    The data says that Apple Podcasts is the #1 app, with Spotify in second place and Deezer at #3.
April 25, 2023:
    JAR Audio shares how to measure the ROI of a branded podcast. Highlighting the benefit of time spent listening, the company says "audiences have spent hundreds of hours with Staffbase via the podcast on Apple Podcasts alone".
April 24, 2023:
    Spotify is the most popular platform in the country (by reach), with BBC Sounds, YouTube, and then Apple Podcasts also in the top platforms.
April 18, 2023:
    Author and activist Cory Doctorow has criticised Spotify, the BBC and Apple for operating walled gardens instead of open podcasting. Speaking on The Changelog, Doctorow criticises Apple for a "deliberate piece of engineering that allows Apple to usurp the relationship between audiences and podcasters".
April 17, 2023:
April 14, 2023:
April 12, 2023:
    Baby Shark do do de doo de doo… Baby Shark do do de doo de doo… Baby Shark do do de doo de doo… Baby Shark has launched exclusive shows on Apple Podcasts. Owners Pinkfong have launched a set of shows in English and Korean; it's the latest in exclusive premium content on Apple's platform, de doo de doo.
April 10, 2023:
April 5, 2023:
April 4, 2023:
    Buzzsprout's statistics for March show a drop in downloads from Apple Podcasts and a growth in listens via Spotify, which had its best figures since Dec 2021. We should see a significant increase in Apple's figures for April, as the new version of iOS rolls out.
March 31, 2023:
    Libsyn has mailed its hosting customers announcing Apple Podcasts subscriptions, YouTube stats and an episode tracking tool, as well as stats exports.
March 30, 2023:
March 29, 2023:
March 28, 2023:
March 27, 2023:
    Podcast history: from Oct 13, 2003 - the rediscovered source code for Adam Curry's iPod AppleScript that was the first tool that would automagically update your iPod with any new mp3's that are downloaded to your "Radio UserLand" enclosures folder (and so, made one of the very first podcast clients when coupled with Dave Winer's Radio Userland).
March 23, 2023:
March 20, 2023:
March 17, 2023:
    Podcast Studio Ideas is a new website from Justin Jackson, featuring the home (and office) setups of different podcasters. The first profile is on Stephen Robles (who does the AppleInsider, HomeKit, and Movies on the Side podcasts).
March 15, 2023:
March 13, 2023:
    Data: Exclusive: Who's biggest? Spotify is biggest for total listeners to podcasts, but Apple is biggest for downloads, according to new US data from Podtrac. The company also reveals that Spotify has the lowest number of episode requests per listener, at just three: Apple Podcasts users download more than nine times as many.
March 10, 2023:
    Our Editor James Cridland shared the results of the Podnews Report Card at Podcast Movement. We'll have this data in full in Monday's Podnews; but overall, Apple has increased its lead over Spotify as the most favoured podcast platform used by podcast creators. YouTube is eagerly awaited by many publishers; and Google Podcasts saw a disappointing fall in ratings from those in the industry.
March 7, 2023:
    Following the release of its first original podcast, UNBOXED, Evangeline Robinson joins Listen as the company's Marketing Manager. She spent the last year at Novel and was at Apple Podcasts before that.
March 6, 2023:
February 27, 2023:
February 23, 2023:
    Serial appears to have new artwork, and is now a podcast archive of shows from Serial Productions. Serial itself is no longer available on Apple Podcasts except within this 68-episode feed, which also contains a number of other shows. Serial still has its own RSS feed (with its logo) if you know where to look; but that's not listed in podcast apps any more. Curious!
February 22, 2023:
February 21, 2023:
February 20, 2023:
February 17, 2023:
    The next version of iOS and macOS will include a few changes to Apple Podcasts. A list of channels will appear within your library; there are improvements with the Up Next queue; and CarPlay improvements.
February 14, 2023:
    Hey live from everywhere at anytime its nothing at all! Trade Secrets is one of the oldest podcasts in the world: episode one was recorded before the name 'podcast' had even been chosen. It also didn't have an image thumbnail - Apple added those the following year. Dave Winer and Adam Curry's show returns to podcast apps today.
February 9, 2023:
February 7, 2023:
February 6, 2023:
February 3, 2023:
    Data: How many podcasts have trailers in their feeds? Podnews looked at 362,324 podcasts feeds in our sample over the last three months: just 50,096 of them (14%) have a trailer marked in their feed. Trailers are given special promotion within many podcast apps, and can be an ideal way to help potential listeners understand what your show is about. Here's some advice from Apple Podcasts and from Pacific Content: your podcast host has a special setting for one.
January 31, 2023:
    How do you get featured on Apple Podcasts? Isabeth, who works on Apple Podcasts as an Editor, shows us how to do it.
January 30, 2023:
January 26, 2023:
January 25, 2023:
January 24, 2023:
January 23, 2023:
January 19, 2023:
January 18, 2023:
    In April 2018, Google started showing individual podcast episodes and play buttons in Google Search, which opened a Google Podcasts branded player. Now, a Google search for a podcast no longer shows any play buttons linking to the service, or any links to Google Podcasts itself. A search for "history podcasts" lists a number of shows, but links to reviews, Apple Podcasts pages and other platforms.
January 17, 2023:
    Total downloads are one thing, but what podcast categories are listened-to longest? Apple Podcasts data supplied to Podnews tells us the top five categories with the longest overall global listen time, are: (1) Society and Culture, (2) Comedy, (3) News, (4) True Crime, and (5) Health and Fitness. That data is for December, but is much the same for the last half of the year, with Health and Fitness occasionally making it to #4.
January 16, 2023:
January 13, 2023:
    46% of podcast listeners say they prefer listening to podcasts with video, according to a Morning Consult survey. Among the reasons why: "to see facial expressions and reactions from the hosts and guests", and "to better focus on the podcast". The same survey unsurprisingly puts YouTube as the most preferred podcast platform among podcast listeners; Spotify, Apple Podcasts and then Pandora.
January 11, 2023:
January 10, 2023:
    Later today, Apple Podcasts will announce the launch of Delegated Delivery (beta), allowing creators to publish Apple Podcasts Subscriptions content directly from their participating hosting provider dashboard. Blubrry, Libsyn, Triton Digital's Omny Studio and RSS·com are the first to offer the service: Acast, ART19, Buzzsprout and other providers will follow. Creators can still upload subscriber audio directly to Apple Podcasts Connect.
January 9, 2023:
    LeVar bad news: in an end of the role of humans to do your reading-into-a-microphone jobs? Apple Books has launched a "digital narration" service to turn your ebook into an audiobook. Who needs LeVar Burton anyway?
January 6, 2023:
January 5, 2023:
    Operation: Tradebom is a new show from Apple TV+ on the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Narrated by Marc Smerling, it's produced by Truth Media in partnership with Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and is hosted on Amazon's ART19.
January 3, 2023:
January 2, 2023:
December 30, 2022:
    Exclusive: 911 Podcasts is to move into unscripted audio series. The new podcast Unscripted with Adam Murciano will dive into the careers of the actors who have performed on the company's podcasts, and learn what it takes to make it as a voice actor. It launches on Monday, with early access on the company's Apple Podcasts channel.
December 29, 2022:
    While neither Apple or Spotify support the new podcast:transcript tag yet, transcripts are supported on websites and in some new podcast apps: so Dan Barnett has evaluated about 15 different tools so far. He wrote about the first few on his website, including Microsoft Word and OtterAI. "Would be great to know if anyone is interested in these kind of comparisons to convince me to keep going and speed it up!" he tells us. We're interested.
December 26, 2022:
    If your New Year's Resolution is to support independent journalism, you could subscribe to our ad-free podcast feed in Apple Podcasts. It'll give you our daily and weekly podcast ad-free, and a warm feeling inside knowing that 30% of the money goes to Tim Apple 70% of the money helps support this newsletter.
December 22, 2022:
December 21, 2022:
December 20, 2022:
    Season two of The Midnight Miracle has just started. The show is hosted by Dave Chappelle, yasiin bey, and Talib Kwei. The first episode – “A Magnificent Day for an Exorcism”– is available now on the Luminary channel on Apple Podcasts and on Luminary.
December 19, 2022:
December 16, 2022:

The Meteor, Spotify, HBO, Apple, VOX, The Daily, Crimetown, The New York Times, Pivot, California Love and Dustlight, to name a few. Help them continue celebrating the most innovative, creative, and transformative work that shapes the online zeitgeist.

December 15, 2022:
December 14, 2022:
    A small but important UX change in Apple Podcasts comes with the release of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 this week: the "+" button is now clearly marked "+ Follow".
December 13, 2022:
December 12, 2022:
December 9, 2022:
December 8, 2022:
    In further evidence that we live in unprecedented times, where nothing that we thought we knew remains constant, Podbean's Rob Greenlee is now running an Apple Mac. The impromptu appearance of the device caused The New Media Show co-host Todd Cochrane to temporarily lose all power of speech, before exclaiming: "Are you kidding me? Wow". Greenlee added "I can truly be ambidextrous: Windows on this hand, Mac on this hand".
December 7, 2022:
December 5, 2022:
    Buzzsprout has posted its network statistics for November. The only regularly released IAB-compliant numbers, the numbers show a slight drop for Apple Podcasts (now 38.2% of all downloads), and a smaller rise for Spotify (up to 26.6%). Google Podcasts is the third largest podcast app, with 2.7% of all downloads.
December 2, 2022:
December 1, 2022:
    Apple Podcasts is beginning to release "Shows We Loved 2022" in various regions, which includes the "top followed" and "top new" shows. You'll see the full list in the Apple Podcasts app in each region: we hope to be able to carry a full set of lists next week. In the meantime, here's the full list from Australia.
November 30, 2022:
November 28, 2022:

**** Build/` (an identifier of the Samsung Mobile model being used). Dalvik is standard code used within Android - much like AppleCoreMedia has been for Apple.

November 21, 2022:
November 18, 2022:
November 16, 2022:
    The service only works for shows hosted with Anchor, for playback within Spotify. Open video podcasts using RSS work across many other platforms including Apple Podcasts; Podnews analysis of the Podcast Index suggests there are now 53,952 video podcast shows on RSS, up 38% year-on-year.
November 15, 2022:
November 11, 2022:
November 10, 2022:
November 8, 2022:
November 7, 2022:
November 4, 2022:
    In the new Apple Original podcast Little America: The Official Podcast which dropped the first three episodes today, you'll follow real-life stories of the immigrant experience in America. Hosted by actor Kumail Nanjiani, each episode features a different unique story as told to a different journalist.
November 1, 2022:
October 31, 2022:
October 28, 2022:
October 26, 2022:
    Spotify has reported its Q3/22 earnings. It has 456m monthly active users (up 20% y-on-y). Ad revenue, led by podcasting, is up 19% y-on-y and 7% q-on-q, at €385m (12.8% of the company's total revenue). The company lost €228m in the quarter; they predict a loss of €300m in Q4 (but suggest they may also raise their prices, following Apple's price hike).
October 25, 2022:
October 13, 2022:
October 10, 2022:
October 7, 2022:
October 5, 2022:
October 4, 2022:
    Apple Podcasts is still in the lead in Australia, according to new data from the Australian Podcast Ranker, revealed at Podcast Day 24. Apple accounts for 46% of all downloads for shows in the ranker, according to the data; Spotify for 19%. The data covers over 750 million downloads for the year ending June 2022.
October 3, 2022:
    In the UK, October's Pod Bible magazine was released inside some copies of The Sunday Times, and is available to read online. It features interviews with cover star Brett Goldstein from Films To Be Buried With and Jolyon Rubenstein from The New Conspiracist. There’s also Helen Bauer picking her top 5 shows, and regular columns from Acast, Audible, Stak and Apple Podcasts. We like page 27.
September 30, 2022:
September 27, 2022:
    The Devil Within, a true crime podcast from Cavalry Audio, launches its second season today on Wondery+. A story from the North of England, it focuses on a church ordered exorcism that goes horribly wrong.
September 26, 2022:
September 23, 2022:
    Wonder Media Network announced its new subscription service through Apple Podcasts. When you sign up for WMN Politics+, you’ll get bonus content from shows like Majority 54 and early access to new podcasts like Teaching Texas, as well as ad-free shows.
September 19, 2022:
September 15, 2022:
September 14, 2022:
September 9, 2022:
September 8, 2022:
September 7, 2022:
September 5, 2022:
September 2, 2022:
August 29, 2022:
    One of the biggest podcasts in the US and Canada, Dateline NBC, is to launch a new premium subscription on Apple Podcasts with exclusive content for true-crime fans. Premium listeners will get shows before anyone else, as well as ad-free content. Dateline's 31st season premieres on NBC Friday Sep 16.
August 24, 2022:
August 23, 2022:
August 19, 2022:
    To promote its paid subscriptions, Apple Podcasts has launched two new 'charts'. One displays the "top subscriber shows", and the other "top subscriber channels". Both charts are visible only in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. For interest, here's Australia's top subscriber channels and shows.
August 17, 2022:
August 16, 2022:
August 15, 2022:
August 11, 2022:
August 9, 2022:
August 8, 2022:
August 4, 2022:
    Exclusive: One of the biggest podcasts in the world will be making it to Radiodays Asia in Kuala Lumpur in early September. Presenter Jackie Leonard, and Karen Martin, the Editor of the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, will be speaking in a two-day conference which will also include podcasters from across the world. The Global News Podcast was quoted as achieving 12m downloads a month in 2019. SquadCast's Arielle Nissenblatt and Podnews's James Cridland will also be speaking. You can buy tickets here.
August 1, 2022:
July 29, 2022:
July 25, 2022:
    The July 19 dump of data from The Podcast Index now includes descriptions and categories. 369,000 shows have no description at all; most podcasts have about 22 characters; and only 44,000 have descriptions of more than a thousand characters. Apple doesn't search your podcast description field; but Spotify, Overcast, Google and most others do; so we'd recommend putting more in there if you want your podcast found.
July 21, 2022:
July 14, 2022:
July 8, 2022:
July 7, 2022:
July 6, 2022:
    Buzzsprout's data for June shows a small drop for consumption share via Apple Podcasts: down from 40.7% to 39.4%. Spotify has increased by a percentage point to 26.4%.
July 5, 2022:
    Why has there suddenly been a huge rise in shark attacks on a remote island in the Indian Ocean? Réunion: Shark Attacks in Paradise looks at the issues that could have led to the increase: it's new today from Hyperobject Industries and Sony Music Entertainment, and available in full in The Binge.
June 28, 2022:
    The number of open video podcasts are on the rise. In November last year, Podcast Index listed 39,194 video podcasts. As of June this year, Podnews can reveal the number had grown by over a quarter to 50,863. We measured these by looking for enclosure files with the extension mov, mp4 or m4v, the three filetypes Apple Podcasts supports. Apple has recently put video podcasts in the spotlight again; Spotify launched its own proprietary video podcasts tool in April (which we can't measure).
June 27, 2022:
    Project Unabom is the newest podcast from Apple TV+, and goes live today. Hosted by journalist Eric Benson and produced by Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios, the podcast explores the story of serial bomber Ted Kaczynski and what drove him to his dystopian vision.
June 24, 2022:
    A little tweak to the Apple Podcasts page about video podcasts: "Apple Podcasts supports up to 4K video but 1080p is recommended to provide a high-quality viewing experience without requiring significant device storage or data."
June 22, 2022:
    For podcasters, Fountain has made it easy to collect Bitcoin support for your show: download the app (on iOS or Android) and claim your show.
June 16, 2022:
June 15, 2022:
June 13, 2022:
June 10, 2022:
June 7, 2022:
June 6, 2022:
June 3, 2022:
June 2, 2022:
    Oldest Podcast Guest Corner: In this hitherto light-hearted feature this week we have arrived at a 105 year-old guest who we thought might be the oldest podcast guest. A producer for Radiotopia's Radio Diaries has been in touch, pointing out that the show recorded 107 year-old Joe Newman in 2020. In an email entitled "Fact Check", we were told our feature was "inaccurate" and a correction was demanded. Here it is, oh bringer of dark clouds and extinguisher of sunlight and fun.
May 25, 2022:
May 23, 2022:
May 20, 2022:
    YouTube is now the most popular podcast app in the US, according to new data from Signal Hill Insights. The data suggests that listeners prefer podcasts with video. The question was "Which of the following places do you use the most to access the podcasts you listen to"; YouTube got 24.2%, Spotify 23.8%, and Apple Podcasts got 16% (despite being unavailable on Android).
May 17, 2022:
    Selling paid subscriptions through Apple Podcasts? Until now, you've had to upload that audio separately to Apple; but Apple Podcasts Delegated Delivery was announced yesterday, allowing creators to upload and manage that audio through selected podcast hosting companies when this feature launches in Q3.
May 16, 2022:
    The Podcast Index is also working on a failover iTunes endpoint - useful for quick and instant failover for the Apple iTunes API that many use for a podcast directory.
May 13, 2022:
May 11, 2022:
May 10, 2022:
    Spotify has published its Swedish Podcast Report 2022. 54% of Swedish people from 18-79 listen to podcasts regularly; 60% say they listen on Spotify; SR Play is #2, and Apple Podcasts is #3.
May 9, 2022:
May 6, 2022:
    In Podland News this week, Steve Jones from Crowd Network explains how the podcast publisher gets new listeners for its shows - and discusses its differing relationship with Apple and Spotify.
May 4, 2022:
May 3, 2022:
April 29, 2022:
    Want more people to know about your podcast? Pocket Casts sends out a regular newsletter to podcast creators, highlighting how to get featured in the popular podcast app. Here's the latest edition, and here's where to sign up for it. The company was bought by Automattic last year, and say they are "working on a rather large update at the moment".
April 28, 2022:
    Are you selling access to your show? The free ride for Spotify’s paid podcast subscription service is coming to an end. In Spotify’s earnings call yesterday, Daniel Ek said that from 2023, the company will take a 5% cut (plus payment costs). Apple Podcasts takes 30% (including them).
April 27, 2022:
    Coming soon, Apple Podcasts paid subscribers will be able to buy a year's subscription up front. If you're a creator monetising through Apple Podcasts, you can add an annual plan now.
April 26, 2022:
April 25, 2022:

Thank you to Audacy for helping Podcorn, Pineapple Street Studios and Cadence13 return as Gold supporters. We're grateful for your support.

April 22, 2022:
    Apple's Safari doesn't, yet, support .webm format video files. On this platform it plays a number of MPEG2 .ts segments, which are presumably larger filesizes.
April 21, 2022:
    Spotify is the clear leader for "apps and websites used to listen to podcasts" - in terms of people, with 41% of respondents claiming to use it. BBC Sounds and YouTube are #2 and #3, with Apple Podcasts at #4 with 23%.
April 20, 2022:
April 19, 2022:
    Will podcast content be regulated? The Brookings Institution has written a document that highlights current platform policies, describes how Spotify and Apple allow listeners to report shows, and suggests areas that policy-makers might focus on.
April 18, 2022:
April 14, 2022:
April 13, 2022:
April 12, 2022:
April 11, 2022:
April 5, 2022:
April 1, 2022:
March 31, 2022:
    Brian Swarth is now SVP of Subscriber Engagement and Product Marketing at cable broadcaster AMC Networks. He was Head of Marketing for Audacy's Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios.
March 29, 2022:
    Apple Podcast Connect has a new terms of service document. Comparing the old and the new, we notice new clauses about the "right to label or remove" your shows (¶1); a new clause about confidentiality (¶4); and a new license clause (¶8). It may allow Apple in future to label shows (as Spotify are doing for COVID-19), and promote guests on your show.
March 28, 2022:
March 25, 2022:
March 23, 2022:
    The Ambies, the awards from The Podcast Academy that celebrate excellence in podcasting, took place last night. The winners are here: 9/12, from Amazon Music, Pineapple Studios and Wondery was the podcast of the year; the podcast's host Dan Taberski accepted the award in the award ceremony in Los Angeles CA, USA.
March 22, 2022:
March 21, 2022:
March 17, 2022:
March 15, 2022:
    Apple has released an update to Apple Podcasts as part of iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3, which were all released today. Listeners can now browse by season on show pages, and you can now filter episodes - played, unplayed, downloaded, or saved - from show pages too.
March 14, 2022:
March 11, 2022:
    RadioPublic, which was also sending out Acast promotional spam, has had its privacy page quietly restored again, after we reported it was missing. However, it dates from 2016, is authored by Jake Shapiro (who left RadioPublic to join Apple two years ago), and claims "If we merge with another company such that your information will become subject to a different privacy policy, we’ll notify you before the transfer. You can opt out of the new policy by deleting your account during the notice period". The last email from RadioPublic to its users was a full year before Acast bought RadioPublic's assets a year ago; we've asked Acast for details about how the promised notification happened.
March 9, 2022:
    Amazon has released Amp, a "live radio app" seen as their version of Clubhouse or TwitterSpaces. It's available in the US for iOS users only in a waitlist; it'll enable you to DJ your own music show (with "tens of millions of licensed songs" they say), and you can take callers, too. Amp's website is live, and you can download the app to join the waitlist (although we're told one code that works is twitter but we suspect it won't work for long). You don't have to use music; you could use the tool for a Clubhouse-like experience too; the app will alert your followers to upcoming shows. Guy Raz is doing a show for it; so is Nicki Minaj.
March 8, 2022:
March 4, 2022:
March 3, 2022:
March 2, 2022:
    Are indie podcast apps gaining ground? Buzzsprout report Apple had 35.7% of all downloads in February (down from 37.2%); Spotify 27.9% (also down from 28%). Google Podcasts has grown to 2.5%; Amazon Music has grown to 0.8%; and Facebook is up slightly to 0.5%. In their official podcast, Buzzsprout also mentions "a big update soon".
March 1, 2022:
    A new podcast platform, Spooler, has launched. It's founded by a who's who of podcasting, including CEO James O. Boggs, formerly Head of Podcasts at Apple; CCO Andy Bowers, co-founder of Slate Audio and Megaphone; CTO Dan Benjamin, founder of Fireside·fm and the 5by5 podcast network, and Exec Producer Kerry Donahue, former EP at WNYC. The product claims to be a new modular content management system for audio, allowing instant edits and re-ordering of content while being compatible with RSS podcast apps. The tech also incorporates Dolby·io to smooth audio volumes and apply noise reduction. Axios has more information.
February 28, 2022:
    HBO has announced HBO Docs Club, a deep dive into a wide variety of titles from HBO Documentary Films, past and present. Produced by Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios and HBO Max, it'll be hosted by Brittany Luse and Ronald Young Jr, and launches in March.
February 23, 2022:
    Finally, a new podcast by Google has launched (see below). Google's press release says it's "available on Apple, Spotify and all major podcast platforms." The first episode looks at team culture: imagine the team culture at Google Podcasts after even Google has forgotten it exists.
February 21, 2022:

Thank you to more than 600 new subscribers in February so far; including from people at Ausha, Netflix, Amazon, Claritas, Sybel, Apple, APM and Hessischer Rundfunk. If you're finding us useful, please tell your colleagues to subscribe too!

February 17, 2022:
February 16, 2022:
    New controls are coming to the Apple Podcasts app. According to users with the iOS 15.4 beta, you can filter episodes based on played, unplayed, downloaded or saved. You can also now browse by season. As with any features in beta, they might disappear before release.
February 14, 2022:
February 11, 2022:
February 9, 2022:
February 2, 2022:
    Buzzsprout's global stats for January, calculated to the IAB standard, show the company hit 100 million monthly downloads for the first time. Apple Podcasts continues to increase, with a reported 37.2% share of all downloads; Spotify decreased to 28%. (Their stats don't include AppleCoreMedia plays).
February 1, 2022:
January 28, 2022:
    Facebook is a dying breed and you shouldn't focus on it for your podcast, says Hala Taha from the YAP Media Network; Twitter is not the place to promote your podcast either, and audiograms don't work. Speaking to the Podland podcast, she says she recommends looking into LinkedIn instead; and never to just promote Apple Podcasts.
January 25, 2022:
    The Roxane Gay Agenda launches today on Luminary; 'the bad feminist podcast of your dreams—compelling conversations curated in the way only Roxane Gay can'. New episodes will be available ad-free one week early on the Luminary app and the Luminary channel in Apple Podcasts. She's previously presented Hear to Slay on Luminary. - read more
January 21, 2022:
    Podcasting in China is not that popular yet, but things are changing, according to Head of Capital Markets for LIZHI, Effy Kang, speaking to the Podland podcast. "The lower penetration rate in China indicates a growth potential in the future", she told us. She sees more connected devices, 5G, and increasing use in-car as being opportunities for more audio consumption. Hear a full interview in the Podland podcast today.
January 20, 2022:
    Anchor podcasts are unplayable in some podcast apps. Popular podcast app Overcast rushed out an update after files are "now being served as AAC in some way that breaks Apple’s ExtAudioFile API," said developer Marco Arment, which "makes them unplayable in Overcast as downloads, but playable as streams". The fault in Anchor's audio also affects other apps. Arment tweeted more technical details; and added, in a tweet to Anchor: "It’s been two weeks that you’re serving malformed files, breaking media players, and losing the audiences of your customers. Do you care about this medium at all?" The company hasn't responded.
January 19, 2022:
January 17, 2022:
January 14, 2022:
January 12, 2022:
January 10, 2022:
    Marvel’s Wastelanders: Black Widow launches today - a 10-episode scripted podcast starring Susan Sarandon as Helen Black. For a week, it's available exclusively on the SXM App and Marvel Podcasts Unlimited on Apple Podcasts; and then it is released more widely via RSS. - read more
January 5, 2022:
January 4, 2022:
    Buzzsprout has published its platform stats for Dec 2021. Compiled using IAB certified data, it shows Apple Podcasts once more well in the lead for episode downloads.
December 31, 2021:
    Meanwhile, Daniel J Lewis's Podcast Industry Insights suggests Apple Podcasts has grown by half that: just 570,000 new shows. There's a big slow-down in June when Anchor stopped automatically adding shows to Apple Podcasts. Only 17,000 new shows have been added in December; 81,900 were added in December 2020.
December 28, 2021:
December 21, 2021:
December 20, 2021:
    Thank you for many boostagrams this week, including Adam Curry saying he was pleased to hear our Editor on the microphone again, Kyrin from the Mere Mortals podcast, and one final boost from Adam Curry, reminding our Editor of his foolish bet of 100,000 sats (almost $50) that Apple Podcasts would release their app on Android this year. C'mon, Cupertino - one final sprint?
December 17, 2021:
    If listeners try to rate a show they haven't listened-to (for at least thirty seconds), they'll be told to listen first. You can rate a show on Apple Podcasts without listening at all.
December 16, 2021:
    Podbuddy is a new app for iOS that makes interactive video clips from podcast audio. Based on your phone, rather than your desktop, it allows for easier sharing to places like TikTok, Snapchat, or Facebook.
December 15, 2021:
    Do Anchor podcasters find it too hard to get into Apple Podcasts? The Podcast Index's Dave Jones reports that "726,234 Anchor feeds in the index do not have Apple iTunes IDs". The company stopped auto-submitting podcasts to Apple in June, resulting in a significant slow-down for Apple numbers. (Earlier this year, Buzzsprout told us that only 60% of their shows have bothered submitting to Apple).
December 14, 2021:
    Apple has released iOS and iPadOS 15.2, as well as new versions of watchOS and tvOS. There are new features within Apple Podcasts to help new and long-time listeners.
December 8, 2021:
December 6, 2021:
    88% of all iPhones can use Apple Podcasts Paid Subscriptions, according to the data showing phones running iOS 14.5 and over.
December 2, 2021:
    And Pushkin Industries has also launched a direct podcast subscription program, which will also work in Spotify. Jacob Weisberg, Pushkin co-founder and CEO, acknowledges that they will continue to work closely with Apple Podcasts but adds: “We now want to make sure the same experience is available to listeners on other platforms.” The company will also use Supporting Cast.
December 1, 2021:
November 30, 2021:
    In a few hours, Apple Podcasts will be publishing its "Apple Podcasts Best Of 2021". It'll be awarding a “Best Show of the Year” and a “Newcomer of the Year,” presenting editorially-curated lists for “Shows of the Year” and “Episodes of the Year,” and releasing new charts. There will also be Editors’ Picks and charts for Top New Shows for around 20 international markets. We'll have all the details tomorrow. The company has just announced the winners of the Apple Music Awards.
November 26, 2021:
    First look: The host of indie fiction podcast The Program has given Podnews readers the first look at his growth, marketing and revenue in 2021. A case study like no other, you'll see his download figures, revenue, the effect Apple Podcasts promotion has on his show, the release of a soundtrack album, and his plans for the future. There's something to learn here for every podcaster.
November 24, 2021:
November 22, 2021:
November 19, 2021:
November 17, 2021:
November 16, 2021:
November 15, 2021:
November 11, 2021:
November 10, 2021:
    Journalist and filmmaker Jon Ronson is back with a new show, Things Fell Apart. It features strange, unexpected human stories from the culture wars, and has a strange, unexpected distribution strategy: if you're in the UK, you'll hear it free on BBC Sounds (or on BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays at 9am) . If you're in the US or Canada and using an Apple device, it's available on BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts, and if you're on Android or elsewhere, you're out of luck.
November 9, 2021:
    Apple Podcasts has brought back the 'refresh feed' button. While Apple seem confident that new episodes, and other changes in your podcast feed are now seen within 'a few hours' - an update to this page - they've also restored the ability to refresh a feed faster within Apple Podcasts Connect. The feature was removed earlier this year.
November 8, 2021:
    Castamatic is the latest podcast app to include support for the Podcast Index and value4value. It features a "machine-learning auto-leveler", a silent-skipper, and additional features.
November 4, 2021:
November 3, 2021:
November 2, 2021:
November 1, 2021:
October 28, 2021:
October 27, 2021:
October 26, 2021:
    Shadow is a new podcast app for iOS which includes SharePlay, so you can listen to a podcast with friends. (It correctly sets both RSS and audio useragents).
October 25, 2021:
October 22, 2021:
October 21, 2021:
October 20, 2021:
October 19, 2021:
October 18, 2021:
    Apple has posted a new page explaining how automatic downloads work on Apple Podcasts. The page explains what gets automatically downloaded, when a podcast stops being auto-downloaded, how Apple Watch works, and cautions that automatic downloads may lead to an incomplete view of listener behaviour (in third-party analytics, we guess), recommending Apple's own analytics.
October 15, 2021:
October 14, 2021:
October 13, 2021:
October 12, 2021:
    Exclusive: Spotify is closing in on Apple Podcasts and indie podcast apps are becoming less popular, according to new data released to Podnews by Podtrac today. Calculated from over a billion US podcast downloads in September, for monthly audience, Spotify is now less than three percentage points away from Apple. But, for monthly streams/downloads, Apple is more than seven times larger - and that number's growing.
October 11, 2021:
    Good Apple: Now that recent versions of Apple Podcasts use one central RSS scraper, instead of every single phone calling on RSS feeds every time, this has resulted in significant bandwidth savings for podcast hosts. Compare: Friday May 7 (2,947 hits) with Friday Oct 8 (just 216 from the scraper; a further 395 from old iPhones).
October 8, 2021:
    Exclusive: A look at the podcast market in Latvia. Andrejs Siliņš tells us that Apple Podcasts is the #4 platform, with just 10% of Latvians saying they use it. Spotify is more than three times as popular; but there's a bigger platform still.
October 7, 2021:
October 6, 2021:
    Want to reach 13-23 year-olds with your podcast? You'll be wanting to promote Spotify, not Apple Podcasts. A Gen-Z survey published by Transistor (and compiled by a Gen-Z'er) shows that Spotify is almost three times more popular than Apple Podcasts - which, in the long run, could "have detrimental effects on both the creators and listeners using Spotify".
October 5, 2021:
October 4, 2021:
October 1, 2021:
    The Podnews Ranker, keeping tabs of companies and people we mention in our news, shows that Apple Podcasts was the company we've written about the most over the past three months.
September 30, 2021:
September 29, 2021:
September 28, 2021:
September 27, 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 23, 2021:
September 22, 2021:
September 21, 2021:
September 20, 2021:
    iOS 15 is out today at 10.00am in Cupertino CA (so, 6pm London; 7pm Berlin; 3am tomorrow in Sydney). Personalised recommendations are new to Apple Podcasts in this version ("The best podcasts, personalised for you, grouped by topics you care about."). You can also share the podcast you're playing in Apple Podcasts using Siri ("Hey, Siri, send this to Dave") - podcasts that friends have shared with you in Messages will appear in Apple Podcasts in a "Shared With You" section of "Listen Now".
September 17, 2021:
    Triton Digital has released the US Podcasting Report for August. Downloads are up 11% from July, as the Apple bugfix rolled out. Stitcher is #1 for podcasts, though NPR is just 70,000 downloads behind; it measures participating publishers only.
September 16, 2021:
September 13, 2021:
September 10, 2021:
    Transistor has given any customer access to their private podcast feature. The company is beta-testing dynamic pre-rolls, and says it has 16,227 podcasts using their service. (Listen Notes suggests 11,529 are in Apple Podcasts).
September 8, 2021:
    Podtrac reports that iHeartRadio is still #1 for podcasting, according to their US podcast publishers list for August. The average US monthly audience was up 15% from July - a figure affected by Apple Podcasts's download bug - but down 2% year-on-year. Podtrac measures participating publishers only.
September 6, 2021:
    Data: in Germany, the Online Audio Monitor 2021 has been released. 25% of Germans are listening to podcasts at least once a month, a figure that's increased by 26% year-on-year. Spotify is the #1 podcast platform (48.5%), YouTube is #2 (44%), Apple Podcasts is #7 (12.5%), and Google Podcasts is #9 (9.5%). (Thanks, Steffen!)
September 2, 2021:
September 1, 2021:
    The mass-market Android phone from Google, the Pixel 5a, launched last week, appears to have Google Podcasts as a suggested preinstalled app, according to this unboxing video - it was also preinstalled in the flagship Pixel 5 when that phone launched last year. The Android 12 setup also appears to suggest the app as standard. Google sold 7.2m Pixel phones in 2019, up more than 50% year-on-year, but Samsung sold 295m: and Apple sold a similar number. Pre-installed apps are mostly chosen by phone manufacturers and cellular operators.
August 31, 2021:
August 30, 2021:
August 27, 2021:
    Apple announced changes coming to the App Store that, pending court approval, will resolve a class-action suit from US developers. There is some clarification on non-app payment methods, which may be relevant for third-party podcast subscription services and apps.
August 26, 2021:
August 25, 2021:
    Spotify will now let all US-based Anchor podcasters sell podcast subscriptions. They have added more price points, and - if a listener opts-in - publishers will have their email address. Unlike Apple, you can't subscribe in-app: and also unlike Apple, Spotify won't take any revenue cut (after payment platform fees) until 2023, when it'll be just 5%. International listeners gain access to paid content next month; and international creators can sell shows "shortly after".
August 24, 2021:
    The implementation adds ?t=(seconds) at the end of the URL. YouTube and Spotify use this too, as does Pocket Casts and Podfriend, and it works on Overcast. Google Podcasts works differently; Apple Podcasts doesn't let you do this at all.
August 23, 2021:
August 20, 2021:
    The effects of the Apple Podcasts download bug could be clearer today after the release of new data from Triton Digital. The data allows us to compare overall download numbers from May, which was largely unaffected, with those across July in a number of different territories. Apple's buggy app began to be rolled out from May 24, and was fixed on Jul 31.
August 19, 2021:
August 18, 2021:
    IP addresses are how we know how many people are listening to our podcast. But Apple's Private Relay, and VPNs, let multiple listeners use the same IP address. So what happens to podcasting when IP addresses go away? In Sounds Profitable this week with Chartable, Bryan Barletta highlights who wins - and who loses.
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 16, 2021:
August 13, 2021:
    Did Apple Podcasts cancel their private briefings at Podcast Movement, like we claimed yesterday? Yes: but as part of a travel ban at the company. We're told that the team are still chatting regularly to podcast hosting companies; and have corrected that part of our story yesterday.
August 12, 2021:
    Below - Apple Podcasts: is it still having problems?
August 11, 2021:
    Are there still problems at Apple Podcasts? While nobody wants to put their name to it, Podnews has had a number of large publishers saying that Apple Podcasts occasionally doesn't notice new episodes appearing in podcast feeds - and they sometimes can take up to 72 hours to appear. While iOS 14.7 fixes an auto-download bug, this bug is different. What do you know? Hit reply and let us know.
August 10, 2021:
    Podtrac has highlighted how the Apple Podcasts bug affected US podcast traffic in July - reporting a 31% drop in downloads from the app. The company suggests that traffic during much of August will still be affected. Podtrac also report a significant drop in news podcast downloads since the end of the US election cycle in February 2020.
August 9, 2021:
August 5, 2021:
August 4, 2021:
    Google Podcasts is emailing every podcaster with last month's play statistics. If you've not got your email, claim your podcast at Google Podcasts Manager. (A reminder that since Google Podcasts doesn't normally auto-download, so your figures will be lower than platforms like Apple or Overcast which do).
August 3, 2021:
August 2, 2021:
July 30, 2021:
July 28, 2021:
July 27, 2021:
    You wait all year for a collaboration tool for podcast producers, and then two come along at once. Yesterday we mentioned Episode Check; today, EditPoint, a tool that works on an iPhone or iPad. It's designed to let you listen or check a show while doing other things, and comes complete with pre-filled buttons to note issues.
July 26, 2021:
July 23, 2021:
July 22, 2021:
July 21, 2021:
    The Haunted Estate with CelinaSpookyBoo has teamed up with Studio71 for new episodes, guests and wild stories about not just spooky things but the hauntings of everyday life. It made it to the top 75 of the Apple Podcasts chart.
July 20, 2021:
    Fireside, the social chat service, is now available on the Apple App Store. "Fireside is the next evolution of Storytelling. It is where the world's greatest creators go to bring the audience into the story through interactive virtual shows.", it says; it's still invite-only though. The founders, Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi, are speaking at Podcast Movement.
July 19, 2021:
July 16, 2021:
    The June 2021 US Podcast Report is out from Triton Digital. Stitcher are #1 for a second month, beating NPR (though iH eartRadio isn't measured). Average weekly downloads for the top 10 publishers were up by 5% year-on-year, in spite of an Apple Podcasts auto-download bug and a shift to IAB v2.1. (One investment analyst recently used figures from the competing Podtrac ranker to claim podcasting was in negative growth).
July 15, 2021:
    Analysis: Bernstein quotes Podtrac figures as evidence of this 'slowing market', saying that in June, listening sank 16.5% year-on-year. However, Podtrac don't measure Spotify's podcasts; and it's notable that the top ten publishers in Triton Digital's latest Podcast Report for the US (measuring May vs May) shows an 11.4% growth in downloads. However, a bug in Apple Podcasts may affect total downloads in June.
July 14, 2021:
    Fiction podcasts are growing in Asia, with the launch of Fey Hollow: The Fairy Tale Murders. A new true crime thriller podcast from Singapore's AXN, the podcast has a dual ending that allows listeners to choose how they want the show to finish - "making them the creator and the audience at the same time", says the producer, KC Global Media. The show's already hit #1 in the island state.
July 12, 2021:
July 9, 2021:
July 8, 2021:
    PodBooking - the social network for podcasters - will have a new section tomorrow containing the latest podnews, jobs and events from the Podnews network. You can download PodBooking, free, on the Apple App Store or the Google Play store.
July 6, 2021:
    For the first time, all major podcast apps display episode notes in the same way. As Podnews testing now reveals, in the <description> field, all major podcast apps now support <a href links, <p> paragraphs, <ul><li> bullet points, and make URLs clickable automatically. You should keep episode notes below 4,000 characters, though, to ensure they display everywhere (Apple has a limit of 4,000, Google Podcasts has a limit of 5,000).
July 5, 2021:
    Apple Podcasts doesn't support MP3 album art in the app, but does support MP3 chapter art. Question: is there any command-line utility to add MP3 chapter art? Hit reply and let us know.
July 2, 2021:
    Seeing lower download numbers from Apple Podcasts? You're not alone: there's an auto-download bug in iOS 14.6, Apple say. Listening is unaffected; it'll be fixed, say Apple, with a software update. Good on them for being open.
July 1, 2021:
    Apple Podcasts has reinstated HTML links in podcast descriptions. The server-side change appears to be live for Podnews, PodClock and for The Feed by Libsyn: it seems to be a recent change with the RSS parser used by the company. HTML links are important for podcasters to allow additional reading, affiliate links, sponsors or support: they broke with the rollout of the new Apple Podcasts infrastructure in late April.
June 29, 2021:
June 23, 2021:
    The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021 was released this morning. The most valuable international data available, it gives podcast consumption figures for 20 countries in a comparable manner, and says 31% of people (302 million) accessed a podcast in the last month: a similar number to 2020. It also says that the platform mix is changing, with Spotify overtaking Apple in some markets. (Here's our take on that).
June 22, 2021:
June 21, 2021:
June 18, 2021:
June 17, 2021:
June 16, 2021:
June 15, 2021:
June 14, 2021:
June 11, 2021:
    Podland, the weekly podcast from Podnews's Editor James Cridland and Sam Sethi, this week interviews Neil Mody from Headliner, and Sam and James talk Apple, Twitter Blue, and more.
June 10, 2021:
    Apple has set the launch date for Apple Podcasts Subscriptions and channels as Tuesday, June 15; they link to subscriptions best practices. The launch had been delayed from May. (Podnews will have a channel, but not a subscription offering).
June 9, 2021:
June 8, 2021:
June 7, 2021:
    The Australian Podcast Ranker revealed that Apple is the 'big dog of podcast aggregator apps' with Spotify a distant second for downloads in the country.
June 4, 2021:
June 3, 2021:
    Of note: we've seen two big launches recently that have glossed over the fact they're not in Apple Podcasts (or have given us links that are just RSS feeds). We've asked: these large publishers had problems with Apple Podcasts Connect. Yikes.
June 1, 2021:
May 31, 2021:
    In an email to podcasters sent late on Friday before a holiday weekend, Apple Podcasts has announced that Apple Podcasts Paid Subscriptions and channels will now launch in June. The company's original announcement had promised a May launch; we understand it is now planned to go live in the coming weeks.
May 28, 2021:
May 27, 2021:
May 26, 2021:

How's Apple Podcasts now? A month after the new Apple Podcasts Connect launched, we hope everything's all fine: but we're curious as to your experiences. For a story on Friday, we'd like to be able to report to our 19,000 podcast industry subscribers that the system responsible for around 40% of all podcast downloads is now working well. If that's not the case with you, please hit 'reply' and tell us what you're seeing when publishing to Apple Podcasts. And don't worry - we'll keep your details private, so you won't jeopardise that New & Noteworthy spot. Thanks.

May 25, 2021:
May 24, 2021:
May 21, 2021:
    Apple Podcasts has launched a new affiliate program for podcast subscriptions. The Apple Services Performance Partner Program now allows people to earn money by linking to (other peoples') paid shows - you earn 50% of the first month's subscription fee.
May 20, 2021:
May 19, 2021:
    Libsyn has released its most popular platforms for April, in The Feed: Apple has 60.01% and Spotify 13.65% of all podcast downloads. Earlier this month, Buzzsprout released its April figures: it reports Spotify and Apple Podcasts both tie at 29.3%.
May 18, 2021:
May 17, 2021:
May 14, 2021:
    We're still seeing reports that Apple Podcasts isn't working correctly: particularly slow to update episodes, and errors that are stopping some publishers from submitting new shows. We'd love to tell you more, but Apple isn't communicating with us - or with you. We guess there's good news in terms of fixing some of the issues: and would love to pass that on.
May 13, 2021:
May 12, 2021:
    CNN is to make a new show, The Handoff, as an Apple Podcasts Subscriptions exclusive when the service launches later this month. Hosted by friends and CNN anchors Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon, it will be a longer chat than their usual 'handoff' between shows normally allows for. It's part of "a subscription to the CNN channel" on Apple Podcasts Subscriptions.
May 10, 2021:
May 7, 2021:
May 6, 2021:
May 5, 2021:
May 4, 2021:
    Ricky Gervais is to launch a new podcast called Absolutely Mental, with neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris. Available May 10, according to Deadline it will be paid-for, at $14.99 for the season. The story says 'listeners will be able to air them on their podcast players', but no word yet on whether he's using Apple or Spotify's subscriptions.
May 3, 2021:
    Apple's Podcasts Connect still isn't allowing new podcasts from some users, with error messages about missing artwork and copyright statements. Podnews lost access to our account again last week (it's since returned, minus any stats). Still, we're doing better than Dirk Primbs, who has been waiting for more than ten days to access his.
April 30, 2021:
April 29, 2021:
    Facebook's in-app podcast player has appeared to have rolled-out. Open this in the Facebook app to see it; it seems that Android users only get to hear 30 seconds of the podcast, while Apple users get a consent window to hear it all.
April 28, 2021:
April 27, 2021:
April 26, 2021:
April 23, 2021:
    Many shows are still missing from the new Apple Podcasts system, but it appears to be gaining stability.
April 22, 2021:
    The launch of the new Apple Podcasts Connect tool has been plagued with bugs and technical issues; and has impacted other apps. We would recommend NOT logging in at this time.
April 21, 2021:
April 20, 2021:
April 19, 2021:
April 16, 2021:
    Apple Podcasts on the upcoming iOS 14.5 release will automatically show the release schedule for shows. "Apple’s implementation of this feature seems to be a bit unreliable", says 9to5Mac - it's recognised ours as daily, though.
April 15, 2021:
    Top Podcasts and Top Episodes are worked out differently; we've added their definitions to our comprehensive understanding podcasting stats page, along with details of how the Apple Podcasts charts are worked out.
April 14, 2021:
April 13, 2021:
    A little bit of history: Podcast Machine is a podcast host from 2008, promising "a flash player for your website", and that it's "made for iTunes". But it's a little bit of the present, too - it still hosts more than a thousand podcasts on Apple Podcasts, 31 of which have been updated so far this year.
April 12, 2021:
April 9, 2021:
    The podcast also discusses the company's recent claim that Spotify is now bigger than Apple Podcasts for downloads.
April 7, 2021:
    Scott Pape, an Australian financial advisor and journalist, has recommended five podcasts in a newspaper article. ARN's iHeartPodcast Network chief Corey Layton points out that the Australian Apple Podcast Chart is dominated by these picks, adding "in reality, those shows aren’t generating more listens than the ABC’s Conversations (now at #7) and therefore shouldn’t top the ‘charts’. Perhaps it’s time Apple rename the ‘Apple Podcast Chart’ to ‘Apple Podcast Trends’ to better represent how it works."
April 5, 2021:
April 2, 2021:
    "Godcasts" are no longer the biggest category in Apple Podcasts. Pacific Content's Dan Misener has produced a detailed look at Apple Podcasts categories, discovering that Education, Society & Culture, and Arts are now the top three, with Religion & Spirituality the fourth biggest. The religion category still produces the most episodes, though.
April 1, 2021:
    In a surprise move from Apple Podcasts, neither "Follow" nor "Subscribe" will be used in iOS 14.6, the next version of the popular mobile phone operating system. The app will, instead, listen to your telephone conversations and monitor your Facebook account to automatically subscribe you to podcasts it thinks you'll like. Every listener will also be automatically subscribed to a new show from U2's Bono.
March 31, 2021:
    Entercom, which owns Cadence13, Pineapple Street Studios, Podcorn and CBS Radio, has changed its name. "Part audio, part audacious, part odyssey", the new name is Audacy. As part of that, RADIO․COM is no more: they've rebranded it Audacy as well. You can get your podcast into that app; our big list of podcast directories includes them. The stock market likes it: shares rose by 5.2%.
March 30, 2021:
    Trying to submit a new podcast with Apple? Apple Podcasts Connect has a 'known issue' with validating new RSS feeds. They're working on it, but no timeframe on when it'll be fixed. Hang tight!
March 26, 2021:
    In the Apple Podcasts app in iOS 14.5 beta 5, released earlier this week, some people who have looked carefully at the open iOS beta have noted the Podcasts app now includes "a link to your iCloud information". This, we're told, is typically added to Apple apps that accept payment. There is more discussion in Buzzsprout's Buzzcast this week.
March 24, 2021:
    We just hit 2 million shows in Apple Podcasts, according to Daniel J Lewis's Podcast Industry Insights tool. Overnight, the total number of shows hit 2,004,462. He says that 37.29% are "active" (published at least one episode in the last 90 days).
March 22, 2021:
March 16, 2021:
March 11, 2021:

Correction: Yesterday, we reported an apparent change in Apple Podcasts’ automatic downloads in the next release. In fact, we’d found a known bug in the current beta around auto-downloads, which has already been fixed in a future release. We’ve been told there is no change in automatic download behaviour planned. Resetting an iPod Touch to a clean, anonymous install of iOS 14.5 confirms this - automatic downloads are enabled in the settings app and per podcast by default.

March 10, 2021:
    Entercom has acquired Podcorn, valuing the company at $22.5m. Entercom, a US radio broadcaster, owns Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios. Podcorn gives advertisers access to podcasters. In 2016 Google purchased the founders' previous company, FameBit, for $36m.
March 9, 2021:
March 5, 2021:
    Apple Podcasts is relaxing their 300 episode limit shortly. Listeners using the latest beta versions of the app can browse the latest 2,000 episodes.
March 4, 2021:

Would you recommend us? There are plenty of places to give Podnews an upvote or a good rating - Podchaser, Apple Podcasts, or just your own social media feed. If you'd recommend us, please do so today: we'd really appreciate it.

March 3, 2021:
March 1, 2021:
    Apple's API is not currently returning episode data, breaking our episode pages but also breaking other tools that link directly to shows. (Apple episode IDs are assigned by Apple, rather than using the UID in the RSS feed).
February 26, 2021:
    Counter Programming with Shira and Arielle is returning for a new season next week, focusing on counters in all their forms: expect stories about laminate, Beyoncé, and, we hope, the puppet from Sesame Street. One! Ha ha ha!! Two! Ha ha ha!! The show was featured on Apple's New and Noteworthy last time round.
February 23, 2021:
    Also from Obama's Higher Ground podcast company, a new season of Tell Them, I Am, hosted by Misha Euceph, was announced for Ramadan - promising "a compelling collection of narratives from Muslim voices". The show was previously produced by KPCC: Euceph had said she "doesn't own a single percent of the show", and had railed against KPCC to "give us our shows back". The new season will be on the same Apple Podcasts ID, suggesting that KPCC has reached an agreement.
February 19, 2021:
    First look: Acast has bought RadioPublic, acquiring tools and services for podcasters everywhere. The acquisition also sees RadioPublic co-founders Chris Quamme Rhoden (CTO) and Matt MacDonald (Chief Product Officer) join the Acast team. Jake Shapiro left in September to join Apple.
February 18, 2021:
February 16, 2021:
    For All Mankind: The Official Podcast is a new podcast from Apple, as an accompaniment to the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind. Apple's press release says "available globally on Apple Podcasts and via RSS", which is one way of acknowledging that other platforms exist; however, the show isn't on Spotify.
February 15, 2021:
    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 12, 2021:
    We had 1,489 downloads yesterday of our podcast. Here's how people listen: Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Overcast are our top three podcast apps.
February 10, 2021:
February 9, 2021:
February 8, 2021:
    Andy Mills has resigned from the New York Times, almost two months after significant issues were discovered with Caliphate, a podcast for which Mills was a producer and co-host. While host Rukmini Callimachi was publicly censured and removed to a different reporting area, Mills - who accepted the Peabody Award on the paper's behalf for the podcast - had not, seemingly, been disciplined, and questions made of past behaviour. Mills has posted a full statement. Michael Barbaro has not yet addressed the fact that his coverage on the matter did not disclose that Caliphate's Executive Producer Lisa Tobin is his fiancée, which is in contravention of the NYT's Editorial Standards. He has, though, written to NPR stations, and publicly apologised for attempting to silence critics.
February 4, 2021:
    Spotify says it has 2.2m podcasts in the system (Apple has 1.8m).
February 2, 2021:
February 1, 2021:
    A new book, The Spotify Play: How CEO and Founder Daniel Ek Beat Apple, Google, and Amazon in the Race for Audio Dominance, has been released. Our full review of the book says that you'll get "a renewed admiration for what the company has achieved, and the way in which it all happened".
January 28, 2021:
January 27, 2021:
    How to understand podcast stats is our big article about how podcast statistics actually work; updated with more information about the Apple Podcast Charts.
January 26, 2021:
January 25, 2021:
    We've updated our look at episode notes and episode images in major podcast apps. We discover that Spotify doesn't follow the RSS specification, sadly; Google Podcasts only shows the first 9,000 characters of episode notes; and that Apple does support episode images but only if you're, er, not subscribed.
January 22, 2021:
    Podland this week looks at Apple's subscriptions, Spotify's "failing strategy", and has interviews with, among others, Podpage and A Million Ads.
January 21, 2021:
January 20, 2021:
    The most popular way to listen to podcasts in Russia is Apple Podcasts, with Yandex Music occupying the #2 position, according to new research on Russian podcast listening. Google Podcasts is #3, with 8% of listeners, according to an article by Эдуард Царионов.
January 19, 2021:
    “Apple Podcasts Spotlight helps listeners find some of the world’s best shows by shining a light on creators with singular voices,” said Ben Cave, Global Head of Business for Apple Podcasts. “Chelsea Devantez has created a fun, vibrant space with Celebrity Book Club for listeners to gain new perspectives on the celebrities we thought we knew. We are delighted to recognize Chelsea and Celebrity Book Club as our first Spotlight selection and look forward to introducing listeners to creators like Chelsea to listeners each month.”
January 18, 2021:
January 15, 2021:
    Matt Deegan tweets: "New podcast rule: Anyone that tweets excitement over an Apple Podcasts position should also be made to tweet that week's actual download numbers too." 👏
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 12, 2021:
    A venture capitalist, Loup Ventures, floats the idea that Apple should launch Podcasts+, a set of exclusive podcasts available to anyone with an Apple One or Apple Music subscription.
January 11, 2021:
    We put together our own podcast stats which lists the most popular podcast apps used to play our podcast. But which of all the different podcast directories were responsible for each play on Friday? Can you just get away with listing your show on Apple Podcasts and nothing else? Here's the top 6:
January 6, 2021:
    "You can no longer do the lazy thing of just sharing an Apple Podcasts link to your latest episode on your social channels and call it a day", says Evo Terra.
January 4, 2021:
    In May 2018, Apple asked podcasters to switch to a secure RSS feed. "In the future, a secure feed will be required in order to access Podcast Analytics and submit podcasts", they said in an email. 30 months later, according to a recent dump of the Apple Podcasts database Podnews has been analysing, 85% of podcast feeds are now using HTTPS. The main podcast hosts that haven't switched: SoundCloud (38% of all HTTP feeds), and Feedburner (20%).
January 1, 2021:
December 31, 2020:

its business is more than just podcasts. Dirty John became a TV show for Bravo, Dr Death is under production for Universal, and The Shrink Next Door is to be made for Apple TV among many others that have been optioned for television.

December 29, 2020:
    The Feed from Libsyn has unveiled the latest data from Libsyn's network, claiming Apple Podcasts was still #1 with 64.5% of all mobile downloads in November. The data relates to mobile downloads only, and the company tells us that these are not based on IAB certified downloads.
December 17, 2020:
December 16, 2020:
December 15, 2020:
December 14, 2020:
December 11, 2020:
December 3, 2020:
    Will Wondery's new owner be… Amazon? The Wall Street Journal, and Engadget, report that talks are going on, valuing Wondery at around $300m. We're cautioned that it might, all fall apart yet - both Apple and Sony looked into buying the company last month.
December 2, 2020:
December 1, 2020:
    Spotify says there are now 1.9m podcasts in its catalogue (Apple Podcasts lists 1.7m); while streaming data is given for music tracks (especially visible in their poster campaign), no consumption data is given for podcasts.
November 26, 2020:
November 25, 2020:
November 24, 2020:
November 23, 2020:
    Podurama is a free, multiplatform podcast app, which syncs between different devices. We're on it. It appears to use the Apple Podcasts API.
November 20, 2020:
November 19, 2020:
November 18, 2020:
    RadioPublic itself hasn't posted new content to its blog since January 31; and hasn't tweeted since February. Jake Shapiro, who founded both RadioPublic and Podfund, joined Apple Podcasts in early September.
November 17, 2020:
    Apple Podcasts has launched an embeddable podcast player, allowing anyone to embed the audio from any podcast on their own website. We've added it to our list of embeddable podcast players; you can add your podcast's player by visiting your podcast's page on Apple Podcasts on the web, or the Apple Podcasts Marketing Tools website.
November 16, 2020:
    Spotify is taking a bite out of Apple. Buzzsprout has shared the top podcast 'agents' on their platform. Apple Podcasts accounts for just 47% of all plays and downloads, Spotify for 24.4%, and Google Podcasts is third with 2.4%. These are the lowest numbers yet for Apple Podcasts from a podcast host. (Libsyn's data only shows mobile app downloads, and has a higher percentage of US downloads).
November 12, 2020:
    On Monday, the total number of podcasts in Apple Podcasts hit 1.6m, according to MyPodcastReviews. In October, 97,181 podcasts were added, and 13,860 removed, from Apple's directory.
November 11, 2020:
    Apple launched some new computers with some of their own chips in them. Big Sur, the company's latest version of mac OS, will be available to download tomorrow. We're told Hindenburg Journalist Pro is fully compatible - but be careful if you use a different audio editor. Last time around, it took Audacity six months to work correctly on Catalina.
November 9, 2020:
    We reported that Wondery was up for sale on September 28. Bloomberg report that both Apple and Sony have held talks; Spotify isn't apparently interested. The asking price is between $300m-$400m; significantly more than Spotify paid for Gimlet.
October 30, 2020:
    The second season of Dr Death has hit #1 on Apple Podcasts. This season is about Dr Farid Fata, who subjected over 500 patients to brutal chemo treatments they did not need, just to collect millions from insurance; and it unveils a rotten system that tried to protect him.
October 29, 2020:
October 26, 2020:
October 23, 2020:
    The University of Canberra in Australia has released Podcast Trends and Issues in Australia and Beyond: Global Perspectives. It claims that 32% of Australian news consumers have listened to podcasts in the last month; and that 42% of Australian podcast listeners use YouTube to consume podcasts (Spotify at 33%, Apple at 21%, Google at 15%). It asked 692 podcast listeners in the country.
October 22, 2020:
    The electric Porsche Taycan now comes with Apple Podcasts. It's the first "full integration" of Apple Podcasts in any vehicle; the Porsche voice assistant will allow you to ask for "popular podcast episodes or shows", and it also includes the Top Charts for navigation. Listening is synched with other Apple devices. We're eagerly awaiting our review unit.
October 20, 2020:
    Apple is still trying to hire an Apple Podcasts Manager for France; this position, first marketed in August, has just popped up again in a job alert email. Pourquoi personne ne veut travailler pour La Grosse Pomme?
October 19, 2020:
    Who else could do "shows with music"? It strikes us that there are only a few with the right music licensing: Deezer, Amazon, YouTube and... Apple.
October 16, 2020:
    Apple have sent an email to all podcasters (in fact, two differently-formatted ones) highlighting the updates in iOS14's Podcasts app that we reported on last month, some changes to the Sports category (which seem proprietary and outside of the RSS feed), and holiday submission deadlines.
October 14, 2020:
    Apple has introduced "HomePod Mini", a small, $99 smart speaker. It will play podcasts, among other things - from Apple Podcasts, not Spotify. "Hey, Siri - play news from Podnews" is probably the best feature.
October 13, 2020:
    Apple is to announce new hardware today at 10am PDT. The company is widely expected to announce a set of new iPhones including 5G models, and a new, smaller HomePod. ("Hey, Siri - play news from Podnews!")
October 12, 2020:
October 6, 2020:
    Seeing a drop of about 3% of downloads? A reminder that, as of October 1st, Apple Watch downloads from Apple Podcasts are no longer included in IABv2 stats. Here's more from Sounds Profitable, our ad-tech newsletter.
October 1, 2020:
September 30, 2020:
    Bethenny Frankel's podcast officially launched today. Just B has already reached #4 in Apple Podcasts; Frankel is an "entrepreneur and mogul".
September 29, 2020:
September 28, 2020:
September 25, 2020:
September 23, 2020:
September 22, 2020:
    Podnews is now on Siri's news service - on phones, tablets and HomePod. "Hey, Siri - play news from Podnews" is how to hear us. "Hey, Siri, change my news to Podnews" is how to hear us more. You'll find us in the tech news category in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.
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:
    RadioPublic's Jake Shapiro joins Apple Podcasts as Head of Creator Partnerships, in a significant hire for the company. Shapiro co-founded PRX in 2002. New leadership for both RadioPublic and Podfund will be "announced shortly".
September 14, 2020:
    Podcast listeners are listening longer, says Cumulus's Westwood One - who has published its Podcast Download Fall 2020 Report. It's their fourth annual study. Among the findings, Spotify is closing the gap with Apple Podcasts - by total listeners, it's close (22% say they use Apple the most; 20% Spotify). (Also see this data). However, 16% of podcast listeners use the site or app of the podcast itself to listen; and weekly podcast listeners are using more podcast platforms than ever.
September 9, 2020:
    Exclusive: Podtrac has shared total downloads and audience, split by platform. Based on 1.5 billion US downloads from participating publishers measured by Podtrac during August, Apple has 61.1% of all podcast downloads; but when measured by total audience, Spotify is closing in on Apple in the country. Founder and CEO of Podtrac, Mark McCrery, told Podnews "Apple continues to provide the largest US podcast audience, podcast downloads and streams, and downloads per audience member. Spotify has become a popular podcast player in the US but with fewer monthly downloads and streams per audience member currently."
September 8, 2020:

The digital ad space is watching as the bottom falls out of their data collection methods. But how exactly does Apple’s Age of Privacy impact podcasting? - in today's Sounds Profitable, our new adtech newsletter, with Podsights

September 3, 2020:
    Owen Grover, formerly of Pocket Casts and iHeartRadio, appears as a guest on Kinsider. Discover what he's doing now; and what he thinks of Joe Budden, indie podcasters, Apple, media, and more.
September 2, 2020:
    In his podcast, Adam Curry says he's building something called Podcast 2.0. It's a new podcast that outlines an alternative to the Apple Podcasts directory. "I think we've figured out some incentive for developers," he says. He also says he'll be on the first show from Joe Rogan's new studio in Dallas.
September 1, 2020:
August 31, 2020:
August 27, 2020:
August 26, 2020:
August 25, 2020:
August 20, 2020:
August 19, 2020:
    Apple has announced Apple Music radio, which includes a number of on-demand shows from "the world’s top music hosts and artists", and three radio channels: Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, with the original Beats 1 station being rebranded to Apple Music 1: the live channels are available free for everyone within Apple Music. (The on-demand shows could be in Apple Podcasts as exclusives, if Apple wanted to...)
August 17, 2020:
August 11, 2020:
    Apple Podcasts is a bit broken - random shows are appearing in Apple Podcasts's category "top shows" listings. Here's what we're seeing for business, comedy, technology or society/culture - some are in foreign languages while none are recognisably "top shows"; we get the Australian storefront, but we hear other storefronts are similarly affected (here are the comedy top shows in the UK). This apparent bug, which has been visible for at least the past three days, coincides with problems that some podcasters are reporting with Apple not updating its website with latest episodes for some shows.
August 5, 2020:
August 3, 2020:
    Libsyn report that Apple continues to be the #1 podcast app, accounting for 68.2% of mobile downloads. According to the podcast host, which is the largest paid podcast host in the world, Spotify is at 8.3% and Google Podcasts at just 1.3%. Sharing these figures on The Feed, Rob Walch adds: "The death of Apple Podcasts has been greatly over-stated".
July 30, 2020:
    Their podcast catalogue has 1.5m shows, 50% of which launched in 2020. (Apple's data is 1.45m shows, 25% of which launched in 2020, reports ListenNotes.)
July 27, 2020:
July 22, 2020:
    The open podcast ecosystem also does video podcasts: supported by Apple Podcasts and Pocket Casts, among others. Spotify's implementation, however, appears to be different. We've asked how it works.
July 21, 2020:
July 17, 2020:
July 16, 2020:
July 15, 2020:
    Voxnest claimed earlier this month that in April/May, Spotify overtook Apple for total podcast downloads in, among other places, North Macedonia and Moldova. However, the 5m people in those two countries only got access to Spotify yesterday.
July 10, 2020:
    Nothing to do with podcasting, but Apple's Keynote has had an update: with a new feature to "play slide show in window", which those of us who do a lot of presenting via Zoom will like.
July 9, 2020:
July 8, 2020:
July 3, 2020:
    There were 133,171 new shows in Apple Podcasts in June, according to MyPodcastReviews: that's the highest amount of new shows ever to be added in just one month. It brings the total amount of valid podcasts to over 1,250,000. However, the rate of new shows added each day has declined dramatically, suggesting the growth of new shows is beginning to slow.
July 2, 2020:
    Spotify is leading Apple in more than 80 markets, according to Voxnest, who have published a mid-year version of their State of The Podcast Universe report. The report also contains details of the impact of the pandemic on listening.
July 1, 2020:
    Player FM's iOS app has had an update: the popular podcast app now includes Apple Watch support, a 'relax and sleep' collection of shows, and full support for iPad.
June 30, 2020:
    After WWDC, Apple executives have been making appearances on podcasts. Apple Marketing VP Bob Borchers and Product Manager Ronak Shah appeared on Upgrade; Apple SVP Craig Federighi talked on Waveform; John Gruber's The Talk Show snagged Federighi and VP Greg Joswiak. Apple Podcasts' boss Ben Cave? Not so much. We need more aloof British accents in podcasting, Ben.
June 23, 2020:
    Did it work? iHeartRadio's campaign - we estimate it would cost $1.9m if they were buying it - did make a difference, it turns out. All shows saw a significant increase in the Apple Podcasts chart during the week - the chart is worked-out using new subscriptions. Ron Burgundy wasn't even charting before the ad campaign (it's in a break).
June 19, 2020:
    The Apple Podcasts app is to get personalised recommendations, according to a leak. Also apparently coming: "the option for podcast creators to offer bonus content" and "new user profiles may allow you to follow friends and see what podcasts they’re listening to," a feature similar to Breaker or Swoot.
June 17, 2020:
June 16, 2020:
June 12, 2020:
    Some podcast download numbers might be incorrect: and could be 5% too large, according to The New Media Show. If you use Apple Podcasts and own an Apple Watch, your watch automatically downloads duplicate copies of shows you're subscribed to when it's charging - which could be as much as 5% of a podcast's total downloads. According to the podcast, Libsyn already marks these additional downloads as duplicates, but many podcast hosts may not be doing so. In October 2018, Voxnest published that 9.4% of all downloads were to an Apple Watch.
June 11, 2020:
    Pocket Casts has confirmed a report in Podnews on Jun 5 that they've been removed from the Apple App Store in China. The company tweets that they were removed "by Apple, at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship. As such we won't be censoring podcast content at their request. We understand this means that it’s unlikely that our iOS App will be available in China, but feel it’s a necessary step to take for any company that values the open distribution model that makes podcasting special." Apple Podcasts continues to be available but only carries selected podcasts in the country.
June 5, 2020:
    Podcast apps Castro and Pocket Casts have both been pulled from Apple's App Store in China. Apple Podcasts remains available, but only offers a selection of podcasts to comply with Chinese government content rules. This time last year, they removed a number of shows for, um, some reason.
June 4, 2020:
    Hubl is a new podcast app that offers "the best way to find, review and share podcast episodes". It links with Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and uses the Listen Notes directory.
June 3, 2020:
    The study also suggests that Spotify is now more popular than Apple Podcasts for Canadian podcast listeners aged under 35.
June 2, 2020:
    A record number of podcasts were started in May. 96,537 new shows were added to Apple Podcasts, according to Daniel J Lewis's My Podcast Reviews. The previous record, 90,977, was hit in April: it's likely that the coronavirus pandemic had a positive effect in podcast launches. There are now 1,136,520 podcasts in Apple Podcasts, according to the data. (Apple Podcasts powers at least 75% of all podcast app directories)
May 28, 2020:
    The Podcast Academy have posted an updated Board of Governors. Rob Greenlee from Libsyn has been confirmed as the Chair; governors include Conal Byrne from iHeartMedia, Ben Cave from Apple, Anya Grundmann from NPR and Courtney Holt from Spotify. The Board also includes podcast producers, talent agents, and studios. Google is absent.
May 26, 2020:
    Android is way bigger than iPhone. ScientiaMobile's latest data shows Android phones are used by 65.1% of the world. The data, based on mobile web use, shows that the most popular phones are (for iOS) the Apple iPhone XR and (for Android) the Samsung Galaxy S9. Out of the countries highlighted, the US is the only country with more Apple use than Android.
May 22, 2020:
    Apple is ramping up its push into original podcasts says Bloomberg. "The technology giant has begun acquiring two types of original podcasts, according to people familiar with the matter: one category is audio spinoffs of existing movies and programs on its Apple TV+ service, and the other is original programs that could eventually be adapted into future TV+ video content."
May 21, 2020:
May 20, 2020:
    Apple Podcasts, and the apps that use its directory, is responsible for about 70% of all podcast plays. Spotify, according to the latest data from Libsyn, has 9.1%.
May 19, 2020:
May 18, 2020:
    Exclusive: PodKite is to launch a new SEO service this week, aimed at improving search position within podcast players. Most people discover new shows via player searches, the company claims; the company allows you to monitor your place in keyword searches in Apple Podcasts and others.
May 15, 2020:
May 13, 2020:
May 12, 2020:
    Half of podcast consumers in China listen every day, according to the first survey of podcasting in the country from PodFest China. The most popular app is Apple Podcasts, according to the data, with Ximalaya FM and NetEase also being in the top 3; while a chat app, WeChat, is at #4. Most people listen to podcasts on public transport.
May 11, 2020:
    The best-of-breed podcast app Overcast has released an update that improves the Apple Watch functionality, allowing you to stream over cellular direct to the watch. You lose the voice boost and smart speed functionality, sadly.
May 8, 2020:
    Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, was interviewed on Bloomberg. "There will be millions of podcasts around the world, but few that are daily rituals. For us to build and invest in them, it's a much better fit by owning them than having them as a third party relationship."
May 7, 2020:
    Spotify has removed a COVID-19 podcast featuring an interview with conspiracy theorist and idiot David Icke, after he tried to claim that 5G was to blame for the coronavirus, which it isn't, and then says he doubts the virus exists anyway, which it does. CNBC reports that Apple Podcasts has yet to remove the episode, however. Icke also believes that we're ruled by shape-shifting reptilians, and that the universe is made from vibrational energy.
May 6, 2020:
May 4, 2020:
    The number of new podcasts are increasing massively. Apple Podcasts added just under 91,000 new podcasts in April, according to MyPodcastReviews. By way of comparison: March had 63,000 new podcasts, the previous record; and February just 50,000.
May 1, 2020:
    Spotify's continuing to increase its hold on podcasting. In February, Spotify was more popular than Apple for podcasts in Apple's home state of California, according to new data from Voxnest. Spotify's also continuing to overtake Apple in many countries, including Ireland and Australia, according to the data.
April 30, 2020:
    If you're wondering: "more than 70% of new podcasts on Spotify were created with Anchor", which may be how they've hit a million so quickly after Apple. Given that some major publishers aren't on Spotify - not least, Serial and most titles from the Australian ABC - it might be accurate to say that Spotify may have over a million podcasts, but not the same 1,036,965 podcasts that are available on Apple.
April 29, 2020:
April 27, 2020:
    Apple Podcasts is currently being slow at updating new episodes: some podcasters reporting a delay of a number of days for new episodes to appear. "Our engineers are working to resolve this issue," an email from Apple says, adding "we do not have an estimate as to when the issue will be resolved". However - the delay only affects users who aren't subscribed, including Apple Podcasts Preview on the web. Your subscribers are unaffected - they grab new episodes directly from your podcast host. So everyone's cool.
April 24, 2020:
    Podio is a new open source podcast player for the web. (It uses the Apple Podcasts API).
April 22, 2020:
    More people are listening to podcasts on computers, according to new data from Libsyn's The Feed podcast. Total plays via computer, rather than mobile, increased by almost a percentage point to 12% of downloads. "Those changes had to do with people starting to stay at home", said Rob Walch, the company's VP of Podcaster Relations, adding that he would "expect [the figure] to drop more next month for mobile". Apple Podcasts is still the market leader for consumption, though more people are listening via Android devices according to the company.
April 21, 2020:
April 20, 2020:
April 10, 2020:
April 8, 2020:
    First spotted by Rob Walch on The Feed, Google Play Music appears to have finally removed podcasts from their iOS app. A note saying "for iPhone or iPad, podcasts are not available in the Google Play Music app" has also appeared on Google's help pages, though there's no helpful link to the Google Podcasts app, which has replaced it on iOS.
April 6, 2020:
    Spotify-owned podcast host Anchor has quietly rolled two more improvements out to their service: 301 redirects are now available directly from your dashboard, as well as a method of claiming your podcast stats from Apple Podcasts Connect.
April 3, 2020:
    We're not aware of any such policy from Apple Podcasts. YouTube demonetises all related videos by default; Medium adds a note linking to official information.
April 2, 2020:
    Apple have published a curated list of coronavirus podcasts called COVID-19: Essential Listening. It's available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, with more countries to come.
April 1, 2020:
    First look: Downloads are down; listening is down more. So says Chartable, which has just published how coronavirus is changing podcast listening. Unlike other download numbers that we've linked-to so far, Chartable also has access to Spotify and Apple Podcasts listening data, which it aggregates into its platform. "Listening has dropped off much more than downloads have. This is likely because many podcast apps, like Apple Podcasts, will continue downloading podcast episodes even if they are not actually played." The number of reviews also dramatically dropped, as have downloads over cellular networks. There is a slow recovery on the way though.
March 30, 2020:
March 26, 2020:
March 25, 2020:
March 24, 2020:
March 23, 2020:
    We’ve made it easier to grab “listen link” code for your podcast’s website - HTML code you can copy and paste, which opens the right podcast app on someone’s phone or tablet. (And a way to get the proper Apple/Google/Spotify buttons). Here's an example for Reply All - just search for your podcast.
March 20, 2020:
March 19, 2020:
    Pineapple Street Studios have also announced a project called Stuck at Home, encouraging kids to make their own podcast. "As part of this experiment, kids are encouraged to create their own Stuck at Home podcast featuring the content of their choice".
March 17, 2020:
March 16, 2020:
    On Friday we reported on new charts from Backtracks. On closer look, we'd note that the lists are virtually identical to the Apple Podcasts US charts, which do not measure how popular a podcast is. However, the company tells Podnews: "Backtracks Charts uses a variety of scoring mechanisms using direct data via partnerships with multiple listening platform partners, additional sources of direct data, and indirect signals to derive a proprietary podcast score which Backtracks calls a PodScore. Backtracks has significant ecosystem-wide data that the company will release over time." To our assertion that they're identical to Apple, Founder/CEO Jonathan Gill disagrees: "The charts are not identical, but we are modifying the algorithm as it is closely tracking to one partner".
March 10, 2020:
March 9, 2020:
    Podcast Radio in London, a curated radio station playing nothing but podcasts, has a "special mention" featured slot every week. Last week, station boss Gerry Edwards tells us, they focused on Military Wives: The Official Film Podcast; and possibly as a result, that podcast went to #1 of the Apple Film and TV podcast ranking in the country (even beating the new Sopranos podcast).
March 5, 2020:
February 28, 2020:
    Apple Podcasts hit 900,000 podcasts yesterday, according to the My Podcast Reviews service by Daniel J. Lewis. 50,000 have been added in the last thirty days.
February 27, 2020:
February 25, 2020:
    What podcast buttons should you have on your website? The Apple Podcasts button, obviously - but what other ones? We have some data from our own website - and it seems to uncover the need for at least one button we bet you don't have.
February 24, 2020:
    Question - we don't use Apple Podcasts. But wasn't there a way of flagging spammy or offensive reviews within the app? Has that been removed?
February 21, 2020:
February 20, 2020:
February 14, 2020:
February 13, 2020:
    The Pineapple Project has a new host: Jan Fran; and a new topic: death. "From understanding what happens in the hours after we die, to the secrets of funeral homes; it’s an insider’s guide to what is coming to all of us." (ABC Australia)
February 7, 2020:
    Spotify is a prison for podcasts, says developer Peter Rukavina, who complains that you cannot export your subscribed list of podcasts out of the service. We checked - you also can't export them from Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. (Apple removed the export when retiring iTunes on the Mac).
February 6, 2020:
February 5, 2020:
    Spotify is #1 again - but this time for music streaming. NotiPod links to research from Mexico, indicating that Spotify has 84.8% of the music streaming market in the country. Apple Music is second, with 6%.
February 3, 2020:
    Apple Podcasts is looking for a Head of Partner Relations - "you will oversee all new and existing relationships with podcast creators."
January 31, 2020:
January 29, 2020:
    Developer corner: Edge Case Special: Some podcasts are geo-locked in Apple Podcasts. The Adam Carolla Show in the US lives here, with an ID of 306390087. In Australia, because PodcastOne is run by someone else, it lives here, with an ID of 1471244702. Unfortunately, the Australian ID number fails when used as a lookup to the iTunes API, and therefore breaks our podcast pages. It isn't documented, but you can add &country=au to a lookup and it will work; but there doesn't appear to be a method of knowing what ID number is available in what country from the iTunes API, except cycling through all 28 countries. Anyway, if you've spotted that some podcasts don't work properly (in Podnews or some of the analytics websites) then this is the reason - we've no idea how to work round it.
January 28, 2020:
    The Apple Podcasts directory is currently slow to update podcast episodes on their website and to people who aren't subscribed. Libsyn say Apple are aware of it. Subscribers remain unaffected.
January 27, 2020:
January 24, 2020:
January 23, 2020:
January 22, 2020:
    Exclusive: Apple vs Spotify: who is number one, really? Morgan Stanley and MIDiA have both released recent data showing Spotify could be #1 for "people", aka "unique devices" - but both surveys are based on human recall, not data. We were keen to see what the data said: so Podnews asked two podcasting companies whether they were able to work out "devices" vs "downloads". Libsyn did not reply to our email; but Chartable - which has oversight of a number of podcasts across different podcast hosts and services - has crunched the data and given a categorical, and final, answer to who is #1 for podcasting. Researchers may like to note that Chartable's "unique downloads" per app are, pleasingly, within 1% of Libsyn's reported percentages.
January 21, 2020:
    Is Spotify or Apple #1? They both are, explains our Editor. Depends what you're measuring.
January 20, 2020:
January 17, 2020:
    Have you ever wondered how the Apple Podcast Charts worked? Today we link to its patent application from Apple, filed in 2006. Computing popularity based upon subscriptions appears to contain all the information we already know about the chart: that it's based upon subscriptions not downloads, and that more recent subscriptions count for more in the chart than older ones (that's the equation you can see in the excerpt above). The patent application, which has been abandoned, may not be the method that Apple now uses to calculate the charts, which seem to have been significantly strengthened since there was evidence of manipulation in mid 2018.
January 16, 2020:
January 15, 2020:
January 13, 2020:
January 10, 2020:
    The Catch and Kill Podcast, which covers the systems that protect powerful men accused of terrible crimes in Hollywood and beyond, gets a full review from Podcast Review, describing one episode as "38 powerful minutes of podcasting that puts into perspective how precarious these acts were and continue to be". (Pineapple Street Studios / Megaphone)
January 9, 2020:
January 8, 2020:
    In a private note for investors, Morgan Stanley has published its 6th Annual Audio Entertainment Survey. The survey notes that Spotify is now the most popular podcast platform in the US, claiming 24% of podcast listeners surveyed used Spotify while 21% used Apple Podcasts. Spotify seems to be growing, rather than Apple declining. The research also claims that people are finding it harder to discover new podcasts, not easier. The survey was conducted online, interviewing a nationally representative 1,961 US adults.
December 26, 2019:
    In Libsyn's The Feed, Rob Walch shared growth stats for Libsyn-hosted podcasts in Jan-Oct 2019. Listening on Apple Podcasts increased by 13.1%; but since Apple Podcasts accounts for 58% of all podcast listens, that growth accounts for 44.5% of total podcast growth in 2019. Listening to podcasts on Spotify doubled in 2019, accounting for 39.5% of total podcast growth. We reported on Libsyn's overall podcast app market share numbers in late November; Walch also clarified that almost all Libsyn shows are now on Spotify.
December 25, 2019:
    Ratings and reviews do not affect ranking in Apple Podcasts. That's the analysis of Daniel J Lewis from My Podcast Reviews, who posts the above graphic, saying:
December 23, 2019:
    Podfollow, a free URL that redirects your listeners to the right podcast app on their device (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, your website) has just had its 1,000,000th click thru. The service now offers free stats as well as automatic social images and has announced more features in the new year.
December 20, 2019:
    Triton Digital is to produce a podcast ranker in the US, called Podcast Reports. Already signed up are NPR, Entercom (inc Cadence13, RADIO·COM and Pineapple Street Media), Stitcher and Cumulus Media (inc Westwood One). The company is already producing a ranker in Australia, the Netherlands and Latin America, and has been producing a ranker for online radio for some time; Triton Digital uses logfiles to produce IAB certified data.
December 19, 2019:
    Vox Media's Zach Kahn has joined Apple Podcasts, in the clearest indication yet that Apple may be planning original content.
December 18, 2019:
    Apple Podcasts's market share tumbled by 10% in 2019, according to Podbean, which has posted a Big, Fat 2019 Podcast Statistics and Trends Roundup with all the numbers from the podcast hosting platform. The company has also posted a number of "top 10" lists based on their data.
December 17, 2019:
    Spotify is now more popular than Apple Podcasts in Canada, according to new data released by Voxnest as part of The State of the Podcast Universe 2019. Spotify also became more popular than Apple in another ten countries in November.
December 16, 2019:
December 11, 2019:
December 10, 2019:
    24% of all podcasts released in 2019 are in AAC/M4A format (the format Apple recommends). So says podcast host Blubrry, who have looked at MP3 vs AAC format files. However, the company points to M4A being the default for Anchor - and once you remove those, M4A format files only account for 4.3% of 2019's podcasts where podcasters have made a deliberate choice. One of those is ours.
December 9, 2019:
    The My Podcast Reviews service, by Daniel J. Lewis, tells us that there are currently 799,482 valid podcasts in Apple Podcasts. He promises "a little gift" when it hits 800,000, which will probably be later today.
December 6, 2019:
    TuneIn and Sony/Warner are both appealing a UK High Court decision made last month that has, effectively, stopped TuneIn from listing non-UK radio stations in the country. "We hope to overturn this latter point on appeal as we believe that it is fundamentally bad for freedom of expression on the Internet and cultural diversity," a TuneIn spokesperson tells Podnews, adding "the Court of Appeal will now have to grapple with this complex case, which looks at whether we should be allowed to provide our UK users with access to hyperlinks to music radio stations that are freely available on the Internet."
December 4, 2019:
December 3, 2019:
December 2, 2019:
November 27, 2019:
    In the latest episode of The Feed, Libsyn report which mobile apps downloaded podcasts from them in October. Apple Podcasts is the highest, at 58%. Of note: only around 40% of Libsyn shows are published on Spotify (so the app will be under-represented in these figures). Libsyn won't publish any numbers next month, because of work they're doing on Spotify passthrough.
November 25, 2019:
    Podblade has launched a $20 podcast editing package: "a low-cost editing solution that allows podcasters of all sizes to outsource their post-production without spending an arm and a leg". The flat $20 fee per episode also includes social media content, said Apple Crider, a co-founder of the company.
November 22, 2019:
    Correction: as far as we can tell, the incorrect information about host images in Apple Podcasts's email last week was, itself, incorrect information from an Apple Podcasts support team member. We've reverted the amendment to our copy of the email.
November 20, 2019:
November 19, 2019:
    Yesterday, we quoted Libsyn's Rob Walch about what happens if you mark your podcast as explicit: that you're removed from Apple Podcasts in many countries. Jack Rhysider, who hosts an occasionally potty-mouthed podcast Darknet Diaries, says things have changed somewhat, and that "it's hardly a hurdle now".
November 18, 2019:
    There were over 11,100,000 new podcast episodes in 2018. Listen Notes have developed a new "stats" page, looking into their database of podcasts (which appears to include all in Apple Podcasts). 21% of podcasts are hosted at Anchor, and a further 11% at Soundcloud, the results show. (Some great data for any pitching documents!)
November 15, 2019:
    Apple's email to all podcasters yesterday contained a set of specifications for host and guest images... which were wrong. We've amended the corrected specifications: they want square, 2400px images, not what they originally asked for.
November 14, 2019:
    Apple has written to all podcasters announcing a major change: you can now hide new shows until you're ready to launch them: so they won't be visible in search until you make them appear. They've also published their holiday submission schedule and some revised updates to those selected for host and guest images. If you didn't get it, we've reproduced the email for you.
November 13, 2019:
November 12, 2019:
November 11, 2019:
    Entercom CEO David Field gave the prices paid in cash for Cadence13 ($34m) and Pineapple Media ($14m) in an earnings call; that's below the reported prices at the time. The company, which owns RADIO·COM, has announced that it's to get onto Bixby voice assistants
November 4, 2019:
    Apple TV+, the company's new streaming service, has a show about a podcaster. Truth Be Told airs on December 6th. (via Benjamin Bellamy)
October 30, 2019:
    Voxnest claim that Spotify is now more popular than Apple Podcasts in most of continental Europe, South and Central America: Spotify claimed another six countries in September, the company says, based on listener data from the Voxnest Audience Network. The main holdouts are the US, Canada, the UK and Australia (all countries where Apple has around 50% market share).
October 28, 2019:
    Zack Kahn from Vox Media adds on his personal Twitter that "we are building a billion dollar industry on late 90s tech, and it's going to really hurt us unless we start modernising", and "even the best podcast hosting providers are doing a C+/B job". We helped a podcast publisher with an issue with Apple Podcasts last week: their podcast host had let them upload the wrong sized image, and had also allowed them to upload a VBR audio file. Both of these issues are easily caught by simple software routines, and are obvious best practice.
October 25, 2019:
    Bob Pittman, iHeartRadio's CEO, has been interviewed on CNBC, a US business news network. In the interview, he said that podcasting is "an extension to radio", adding that the company is encouraging everyone to get into podcasting because "we're the leader, we've got the big library and the big shows".
October 22, 2019:
October 21, 2019:
October 16, 2019:
    A few small tweaks to Google Podcasts on the web have been spotted. Most importantly, the service is now prominently linking to publishers' websites (rather than hidden behind a menu option as previously). (Neither Apple Podcasts nor Spotify appear to link to publisher websites at all, depriving podcasters of potential revenue).
October 15, 2019:
    Plink, a service that makes smart-links to podcasts that work on any device, has unveiled a way of sharing episode-level deep-links. Their blog contains more information, with an excellently-chosen example of a podcast.
October 14, 2019:
    Radio Sodoma has topped the Finnish podcast charts, with the dark comedy podcast achieving 800,000 downloads in 14 days (not bad for a podcast in a language only spoken by 5.5m people). The podcast was released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts after spending a short time as an exclusive on YLE's Areena app.
October 11, 2019:
October 10, 2019:
    By contrast, we've had no more details on how to be part of Apple's "hosts and guests" feature, which launched a few days ago. It appears a closed and proprietary Apple service for selected podcasts.
October 8, 2019:
    Apple Podcasts has demonstrated "browse by hosts and guests", showing Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend's guests (and if you're running iOS 13, you can see that too). We also found it in the desktop app in MacOS Catalina. The documentation for the feature, earlier this year, describes the image requirements but just says "these search enhancements will first be available for selected top shows in English"; we can't see any evidence of them in the podcast's RSS feed, and the guests appear not to include Conan's latest guest, David Letterman, highlighting that this may be a manual process.
October 4, 2019:
October 3, 2019:
    In a talk that was praised as 'refreshingly frank', CEO of Pocket Casts Owen Grover spoke at OzPod 2019, an Australian podcast conference, earlier today. In a wide-ranging Q&A with ABC Audio Studios boss Kellie Riordan, Grover predicted a continuing decrease in Apple's influence, and said that Pocket Casts is planning for a future where there is no market leader in podcast discovery. "Spotify are helping non-podcast listeners to discover content: but we're fooling ourselves if we believe they'll indefinitely do this for the love of the medium," he said, highlighting the benefits of RSS. "We just got over what Facebook did to journalism - we don't want that to happen with podcasting." Asked whether Pocket Casts will share individual audience listener data in future: "No," he said, adding "We won't do that. Is that clear enough? No."
October 2, 2019:
    A new "podfading" statistic: Apple Podcasts say they remove podcasts from their directory with technical problems, that violate rules or manipulate charts. So - how many have they removed from Apple Podcasts over the last 90 days? 23,460 according to data from podcast analytics and attribution company Chartable - that's 260 a day.
September 20, 2019:
    Only 14% of podcast listens on Apple Podcasts are downloads, according to new data from Simplecast: the rest are streams. In comparison, on Overcast 87% of podcasts are downloaded first. "Podcasts apps ought to default their audio delivery to streaming", says the company.
September 19, 2019:
September 18, 2019:
September 17, 2019:
September 12, 2019:
September 11, 2019:
    Exclusive: The amount of listening to podcasts on the web is increasing, according to new data supplied to Podnews by Simplecast. The data represents all Simplecast shows, and shows plays from Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts on the web. "Many podcast hosts would just credit 'web browsers' with this data," said Stephen Hallgren, CTO of Simplecast. "But because Simplecast is able to check HTTP referrers, we're also able to see how successful Apple Podcasts Preview is on the web, and how popular Google Podcasts plays are within Google Search. All these metrics are IAB compliant and are reportable through our Audience dashboard."
September 3, 2019:
    Instagram appears to be temporarily banning links to Apple Podcasts, marking them as not allowed. (You should be linking to your website or a service like podfollow or plink anyway, we reckon).
September 2, 2019:
August 30, 2019:
August 29, 2019:
August 27, 2019:
    Ken Lagana has been announced as Entercom's Executive VP of Digital Sales, looking after Entercom's podcasting and radio·com business. He joins from Megaphone. The US broadcaster bought Cadence13 and Pineapple Street earlier this month.
August 26, 2019:
August 22, 2019:
    Apple Podcasts appear to have turned on transcript search in their beta podcast apps. A search for "Google Pixel" appears to return a bunch of podcasts that have mentioned the device (albeit mainly in ad copy). Daniel J Lewis says that transcription search has been available for a while for select shows, but that they may have enabled it for many more.
August 20, 2019:
    Wondery's Dr Death has hit the #1 spot in Apple Podcasts worldwide, after translated versions were released last week at Podcast Movement. They're the first to launch a set of translated podcasts across the world. (Here's how the Apple Charts work).
August 16, 2019:
    A detailed study into Spanish-speaking podcast listeners has been released by Podcaster@s. Based from a self-selecting sample, it shows that Spotify is most popular, and that Apple is just as popular as YouTube for podcast listening. It also touches on ideal podcast length, attitude to advertisers, and more. (Go to the end for a summary).
August 12, 2019:
August 9, 2019:
    Apple have written to podcasters, letting them know that the new categories are now live, and giving some tips to maximise your show's potential on the platform.
August 8, 2019:
    Entercom, a large US radio broadcaster that owns 235 stations, has bought podcast studio Pineapple Street Media for US $18m, and bought the 55% of Cadence13 it didn't already own, valuing the company at $50m, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pineapple Street Media will be re-christened Pineapple Street Studios as part of the deal.
August 6, 2019:
    Spreaker Prime: Switch, Pivot or Quit is a podcast that lets you sit in with your girlfriends and chat all things career changes and challenges. These influential women often find themselves in Apple Podcasts’s curated list of “Inspiring Women.” They're using Spreaker Prime to earn money and cut their hosting costs.
August 5, 2019:
August 2, 2019:
August 1, 2019:
July 31, 2019:
July 30, 2019:
    It’s now day seven without any categories in Apple Podcasts apps while the company reworks them. Spreaker has supported them since last week; podcast app Player FM has completed integration, though points out that their own categories are more detailed. Podnews podcast pages, like this for The Thing About Cars, now display the Apple primary genre (in this case, 'comedy').
July 29, 2019:
    It’s now day six without any categories in Apple Podcasts apps while the company reworks them. Omny Studio and Zencast has both announced that they are supporting the new Apple Podcasts categories. Pocket Casts say it intends to support them and suggest publishers adopt them. "Apple’s leadership in the space is still meaningful and the [new] categories do feel like a good step," the CEO Owen Grover told us.
July 26, 2019:
    We've learnt that Apple's previously-announced podcast categories were quietly altered earlier this month. Changes include a removal of Arts>Literature, Society & Culture>History and Sports>Outdoor; a new Education>Language Learning; Health is now Health & Fitness; Sports>Fantasy is now Sports>Fantasy Sports; Religion & Spirituality>Other was announced but has since disappeared; and a tweak from TV & Film>Aftershows to TV & Film > After Shows. We've updated our list of the changes.
July 25, 2019:
    Spotify's winning the battle - enterprise podcast host Voxnest has published an Apple vs Spotify comparison for June 2019, comparing usage on the two podcast apps. Since May, Spotify has become the most popular of the two apps in the Netherlands, Germany and Bulgaria. (Earlier this year, our Editor made some suggestions about how Apple could regain their place.)
July 24, 2019:
July 22, 2019:
July 17, 2019:
    Apple plans to make its own exclusive podcasts. Bloomberg reports that Apple has "reached out to media companies to discuss buying exclusive rights to podcasts". It's initially unclear what this means for the iTunes API that many other podcast apps use, or, indeed, for Android users.
July 15, 2019:
    Exclusive: There's been a significant increase in one-star reviews in Apple Podcasts since 1st July, according to analytics company Chartable, which tracks rankings and reviews across a number of podcast directories. Of the most one-voted, four of the top ten shows are true crime podcasts, including the #1.
July 12, 2019:
    An update from yesterday: over the last three days, Obscura, a true-crime podcast, has had 258 one-star ratings from bots. While Apple are not responding to emails about the issue, they do appear to have removed the fake ratings.
July 11, 2019:
    A true-crime podcast is being targeted with one-star ratings. The creator of Obscura has tweeted about his experience. After they initially said they wouldn't remove them, Apple did eventually remove a hundred obviously fake ratings, but the harasser has responded with a further 150. On Reddit, commenters believe they know who is responsible: we have no evidence for the accusations, but have reached out for comment.
July 10, 2019:
July 8, 2019:
    The Apple Podcasts app will appear on the front page of new iPhones. The new iOS13 operating system, to be launched in September, places the Apple Podcasts app on the front screen for the first time. The Apple Podcasts app will also be on the front screen of iPadOS13. (Users upgrading won't have their homescreen apps moved.)
July 5, 2019:
    The BBC Sounds app has been upgraded to add CarPlay and Android Auto support. "We've also taken the opportunity to reset our rating in the Apple App Store as today's BBC Sounds experience is very different from the one people would have had when we soft-launched it a year ago", said James Purnell in an all-staff email, seen by Podnews. The rating for the app was just 2.1 stars before this reset, with the majority of reviews, 52%, only giving the app 1 star out of five. After the reset, the app had 4.3 stars at the time of going to press. You can't reset Google Play ratings: the Android app there has 2.5 stars (ratings are weighted for recency).
July 2, 2019:
July 1, 2019:
June 27, 2019:
    Following our story yesterday about Anchor seeming to bypass the Apple approval process, Anchor have responded denying that's happening; and other podcaster publishers confirm that they are able to bypass the approval process. We've updated the story.
June 26, 2019:
June 19, 2019:
    Via Product Hunt, and oddly not available on Apple Podcasts, Terms and Conditions is a podcast consisting of a guy reading the terms and conditions from large banks. (It's branded advertising from Current, a US bank that claims it's better than all the others.)
June 13, 2019:
    WarnerMedia Podcast Network is working together with Rainstream Media on season two of Somebody Somewhere. In an interview with Podnews, GM/VP Tyler Moody explains the strategy behind the move, as well as his thoughts on Apple's new categories and what he gets out of Podcast Movement.
June 12, 2019:
    Mail...kimp?! has launched "Mailchimp Presents", a set of podcasts and videos aimed at entrepreneurs. They've partnered with a set of producers including Vice and Pineapple Street Media.
June 11, 2019:
June 10, 2019:
    The 'iTunes Performance Marketing Campaign', an affiliate system used by many podcasters to measure promotion of their Apple Podcasts shows, is changing name to the Apple Services Performance Marketing Campaign.
June 7, 2019:
    Spotify is the global #2 podcast app, but it's beating Apple in many countries in the world (partially due to Android's popularity in many places). According to Voxnest, Spotify's beating Apple in much of Southern and Eastern Europe, Latin America, India and Indonesia.
June 6, 2019:
    Apple's 100+ category changes announced yesterday have been well received by most podcasters. A little detail to come out of discussions we've seen:
June 5, 2019:
June 4, 2019:
June 3, 2019:

So, what does this mean for podcasting? NOTHING: because you're on Apple Podcasts, not iTunes. In fact, Apple mailed us back in February 2018 reminding us to always say "Apple Podcasts", not "iTunes".

May 30, 2019:
    Podcast host Spreaker has launched a new tool - one-click distribution, making it easier to get a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts and Castbox.
May 29, 2019:
May 28, 2019:
    Apple is reported to have finally fixed the "New and Noteworthy" sections within categories, which we reported were stale and broken in November 2017, and again in August 2018 . New & Noteworthy is possibly the only Apple section that uses ratings and reviews as part of their algorithm; so it's good news to see that these are finally fixed.
May 24, 2019:
    The Shrink Next Door is Wondery's newest "event miniseries". They tell us the first two episodes have already done better than Dirty John, Dr Death and Gladiator. It tells a story of power, control and turning to the wrong person for help: and is #1 in the Apple Podcast trending Charts in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. (Wondery / ART19)
May 23, 2019:
    We built this for ourselves - but if you want to link direct to a podcast episode, our episode link pages now use "magic links" that open directly in Apple Podcasts (on iPhone), Google Podcasts (on Android), or a web player. Here's an episode about a haunted school in Brisbane from the Brisbane is Weird podcast, as one example. Search for your podcast in Podnews, and choose "Link direct to an episode" from the tools at the bottom to find a list of episodes.
May 22, 2019:
    Apple have removed the words "Listen on iTunes" from their podcast pages, preferring now to use "Listen on Apple Podcasts". This is the surest indicator yet that they plan to build an Apple Podcasts desktop app for the next iteration of MacOS.
May 21, 2019:
    The largest independent podcast host Libsyn has released its Q1 earnings report. Libsyn's podcast revenue increased by 16% to $3.3m (and, including Pair Networks, the company got $6.28m in revenue, up 24% year-on-year). Libsyn now hosts 62,000 shows (and 4.9m media files); it claims it's responsible for around 35% of the Apple Podcasts top 200, and delivered over 5.1 billion downloads in 2018.
May 17, 2019:
    The latest mobile overview report has been published from ScientiaMobile. Part of this information is helpful to podcasters - the split between Apple and Android (above).
May 15, 2019:
    We regularly see which podcast app is most popular; but Simplecast have shared which web player is most popular for their podcasts. Ignoring their own player, Apple Podcasts leads the pack, driving about 2.5 times more plays than Google Podcasts - so far.
May 14, 2019:
    Apple are trialling a new session in one of their stores: Creating Your First Podcast is running from next week at the Apple Store in Chicago (and the store is also host to some live podcast recordings). They may roll this session out to other stores in future.
May 13, 2019:
    We've been trying to understand the rationale behind Google's placement of the podcast play buttons in their search, rolled out to desktop and iOS devices last week. A search for Podnews (now) correctly shows play buttons underneath our website, but that's not the case for a search for Fun Kids Book Club Podcast, which despite doing everything technically correct, doesn't show any play buttons - which are attached to its Apple Podcasts page a little further down. Here are some more examples - we'd be grateful for your comments as to why. (In our mind: if the web-page unambiguously links to the RSS feed and vice-versa, that should be the signal for Google to put them together).
May 10, 2019:
May 7, 2019:
    Yesterday, we focused on how podcast apps display show notes in over 40 apps. Today, Luminary's Joe Purzycki, the company's Chief Strategy Officer, announced that Luminary is now displaying links in shownotes in their apps. The update to the Android app is already live, and now shows links and formatting in the "my shows" episode view (though not in the playback view). The company has also apologised "for our short-sightedness", fixed an error in podcast attribution, and is asking for feedback. (We've updated our scores - this pushes their score up to 11, roughly similar to Apple or Google).
May 3, 2019:
May 2, 2019:

Background: Speaking to Podnews, CEO Ross Adams highlighted that the company has always taken a platform agnostic view about their podcasts - you can listen to them anywhere - and that the same principle should happen for premium, paid-for podcasts as well. Acast Access is "GDPR compliant subscription technology" that is, in his words, "properly secure - it has a link that can't be shared with other people - and a simple user flow": and works in any app that allows standard RSS feeds (like Apple Podcasts, Pocketcasts, etc). It also adds lockable, embeddable players for websites, too. The two launch partners are the FT and The Economist, and the next phase, he says, is to open this technology up to other publishers. Of note: both the FT and The Economist operate their own subscription platform, which this integrates into._

May 1, 2019:
    Another one leaves Luminary - the podcast app has lost content from ESPN. Meanwhile, also gone: a bunch of Luminary podcast feeds on Apple Podcasts, which contained short promo shows and unsubtle advertising for the Luminary platform.
April 30, 2019:
    Spotify paid €50m (US$55m) for Parcast, their financial results say. More than 50,000 shows have been submitted through their podcast portal - and there are 250,000 podcasts in their system overall (the differences being Anchor's catalogue, presumably, as well as automated API-driven submissions from partner hosts like Libsyn or Omny Studio). Apple has over 700,000.
April 29, 2019:
April 26, 2019:
    We can reveal today that Luminary's app is now disguised - as our tests show, the Android app is now calling itself "ExoPlayerAudioPlayer", the audio library they've used. We've also tested the iOS app, which identifies itself as "AppleCoreMedia/1.0.0.16". Requests by Luminary's servers for the podcast RSS feed are also hidden, with no Luminary user-agent. As a result, podcast hosts cannot monitor traffic from the Luminary app (or block it).
April 25, 2019:
    Luminary appears to be fighting back with PR: Matt Sacks, the co-founder and CEO of Luminary, has written a long piece explaining Luminary's model, the sole post in a hastily-erected Medium blog. Manoush Zomorodi is also interviewed in Digiday hawking the company, saying "As a creator, it’s hard to get a production off the ground if you don’t know you have a steady income". Her podcast Note To Self is relaunching as a Luminary-funded production. Luminary have also placed sample episodes of all their premium podcasts in Apple Podcasts (and therefore most other places).
April 24, 2019:
    Libsyn's The Feed usually contains some nice stats. In the latest show, for March, 62% of Libsyn's podcasts were downloaded from Apple Podcasts; 9.6% from Spotify, and 2.8% from Overcast (with Google Podcasts at #8, with 1.2%). (Fewer than 40% of Libsyn shows are available on Spotify).
April 23, 2019:
    Yes, your podcast is there already. Luminary links now appear in our podcast pages, like this for Gladiator, and our availability page now includes Luminary too. Here's how to add your podcast if it isn't there already. Luminary's base directory was taken from Apple Podcasts before October 20th and podcasts since deleted from Apple's database have not been removed from Luminary's directory. There is no contact point for how to achieve removal of podcasts.
April 19, 2019:
April 17, 2019:
    Zach Kahn has spotted that Apple Podcasts has much better browsing functionality in the latest beta version of iOS. "It makes it that much easier to discover new shows", he adds.
April 16, 2019:
    Network 10, an Australian television network owned by CBS, has released its first podcast. The Professor and The Hack is the first from the company's 10 Speaks division, and is a political podcast coinciding with the recently-announced Federal Election in the country. It isn't, yet, in Apple Podcasts, though.
April 15, 2019:
April 12, 2019:
    Apple appears to have rolled-back their Apple Podcasts on the web product, which we reported on yesterday - the old pages are now appearing again. We did notice some errors using the service yesterday; perhaps it needed a little more polish, or maybe they're waiting until WWDC in six weeks. Meanwhile, 9to5Mac has discovered an icon for a rumoured-but-likely Apple Podcasts desktop app in an upcoming macOS release.
April 11, 2019:
    Apple Podcasts is now available on the web, with a brand new web interface. The pages are responsive, and work on desktop and on Android phones. All these new pages are already indexed within a Google search, including specific episode pages, the first time that podcast episode pages have surfaced in search.
April 9, 2019:
    Will we have an Apple Podcasts app on desktop? iTunes is apparently to be broken up, says Pocket Lint. We're expected to see them at Apple's WWDC conference in early June.
April 4, 2019:
    Spotify is continuing to grow: it's now the #1 podcast player in India, Spain and Indonesia, report Voxnest. Unsurprisingly, says YouGov, Spotify users are far keener on podcasts than users of Pandora.
April 3, 2019:
    Magellan looks at podcast beer advertisers, noting significant activity in 2017, but relatively little now in the top podcasts. The company points out that brands have simply focused on smaller podcasts - at least, those further down the Apple Podcast charts. (Note: the Apple Podcast chart isn't a popularity chart).
April 2, 2019:
    Job: Apple is looking for a data scientist. "Apple is seeking an expert Data Scientist to join a team passionate about Data Science & Analytics for Apple Media Products (AMP) covering Apple Podcasts"
March 29, 2019:
    Chartable say that we've just hit a total of 700,000 available podcasts. The company monitors Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and other podcast apps. (Interesting fact: our average lifespan, in hours, is also 700,000).
March 28, 2019:
    A comedy podcast app, Laughable, available on iOS for two years, has just launched on Android. The app uses profiles, so you can follow comedians' own podcasts and where they've been a guest. Once you subscribe to your favorite people and shows, Laughable keeps you current on future episodes, too – including people's guest appearances. The developer tells us that no other podcast app is more highly rated in Apple's App Store (scoring 4.9/5 after 3,600 reviews).
March 27, 2019:
    In a blog post, the BBC has given more details about its decision to block Google from cataloguing its podcasts. We've updated our story with the details, as well as a comparison between the Android/Google and iOS/Apple experience, which seem similar.
March 26, 2019:
    Apple has released iOS 12.2, which displays episode numbers more clearly in the Apple Podcasts app. We'd recommend you use the episode tags - they're good for accessibility. Meanwhile, Apple announced a lot of things yesterday including a new credit card and a Netflix imitation; there was no news about podcasting.
March 25, 2019:
    TranscribeMeow is an iOS app to help podcasters transcribe their podcasts "right meow". It's here.
March 22, 2019:
March 21, 2019:
    A new vertical podcast app has launched: bitcast·fm is a social podcast app, allowing you to tag, clap and share your favourite bits of tech podcasts. Also, Podbean has updated its app: it now works on Apple Carplay.
March 19, 2019:
    Our Editor, James Cridland, has written an opinion article called Podcasts - what Apple should do next: three simple steps to stop the decline of Apple Podcasts and help podcasters.
March 14, 2019:
    Gimlet's parent company Spotify has filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission for unfair competitive practice, and has launched a website with their side of the story. Their complaint focuses on difficulties that Spotify has with app approvals and contractural agreements, but contains this interesting nugget at the bottom of their timeline:
March 13, 2019:
    Listen calls itself "the only podcast app built with multi-tasking and beauty in mind." The first version features unique gesture-based navigation for on-the-go listening, including a queue system, and it's available for iOS here. Meanwhile, the iOS app for Stitcher has also had an update.
March 7, 2019:
    Infinite Dial 2019 also reports on an increase for smart speaker owners. 23% of US adults (65 million people) claim to own a smart speaker, with Amazon Echo being the leading brand, and Apple Homepod doing very poorly. VentureBeat reports that Apple is hiring an analyst to explain Siri complaints to executives, which doesn't sound like a good thing. (Editor's note: careful when comparing products - like Google Home - with services - like Google Assistant, which is in many more devices).
March 5, 2019:
    Spotify is now more popular than Apple for podcast listening in many countries, according to new data from Voxnest. In particular, Spotify beats Apple across almost all of Central and South America. The podcast consumption data is based on February's downloads of podcasts powered by Voxnest including a number of third-party platforms, and reflects Android's success in many of these markets.
March 4, 2019:
    Jon Wilkerson suspects he knows what's behind Apple Podcast's recent attempt to clean up metadata: the ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act). He points out that Apple received a class action last year because its website was "inaccessible to visually impaired users". Others point out that episode number tagging would enable, for example, "Siri, listen to episode 125 of The Daily" which is currently difficult to achieve. Here's our FAQ: we'd still recommend doing the tags, even if Apple isn't threatening you.
March 1, 2019:
    In an apparent u-turn, Apple has sent a (partial) email to podcasters reassuring them that "Your Show Won’t Be Removed for Having Episode Numbers in Episode Titles", reverting the threat made yesterday. This is an embarrassing about-face for the company, compounded by the fact that their latest email looks suspiciously as if someone hit the "send" button before it was actually completed, and has made them the target of ridicule.
February 28, 2019:
    Apple has sent an email to podcasters reminding them to ensure decent-looking metadata. They particularly don't want spammy-looking names or authors, and no episode numbers in titles. There's a tag for that. "These practices could result in your show being rejected or removed from Apple Podcasts," they warn. They have, though, unveiled a mechanism to resubmit podcast feeds if required.
February 26, 2019:
February 25, 2019:
    NPR's RAD podcast analytics specification was launched on 12 December; but our RAD tracking server remains unbothered by any actual listens to track. This might soon change: NPR drops heavy hints to Current that Apple are quite keen on it; and RadioPublic are the first non-NPR app to publicly commit to integrating the tracking "as an opt-in feature that listeners can enable or decline for each podcast".
February 22, 2019:
    Apple Podcasts appears to have a branded embedded player, called the "Mezzanine Player Prototype". This player - designed to be embedded in a web-page - was sent to us as part of a press release. Of interest - the audio is hosted by Apple and is available in both MP3 and OGG varieties. A Google search reveals it's been used for Beats 1 video clips as well.
February 21, 2019:
February 20, 2019:
February 19, 2019:
    The #2 radio advertiser in 2017 is now also the #2 podcast advertiser, according to data from Magellan's podcast ad report for January. Magellan details all 110 ads the company found in the US top 2,000 Apple Podcasts trending chart. The top three: #3 Indeed, #2 Geico, and #1 ZipRecruiter. While this does show that US radio's $15.9bn annual revenue is beginning to come to podcasting (which stands at a more meagre $314m), none of radio's other big advertisers are yet visible in the podcast top 15.
February 18, 2019:
    Want to find out if you're in Google Podcasts, or to get some decent buttons or social media links for your podcast? Perhaps you're in the Apple Charts in Turkmenistan and you don't know about it. Just search for your podcast, and find more details there.
February 15, 2019:
    Exclusive: Wondery is proclaiming Over My Dead Body as "the first zeitgeist show of 2019": with about double the downloads seen by Dirty John and Dr Death in the same launch window. The podcast network is also celebrating this podcast being #1 in the Apple Podcast Charts simultaneously in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
February 12, 2019:
    Apple Podcast Connect, which contains Apple's analytics service, has published new terms and conditions. Included is added specific wording that reads:
February 8, 2019:
February 7, 2019:
February 6, 2019:
February 5, 2019:
    Apple's quarterly financial figures now include total active users on iPhone: there are 900m globally (and therefore 900m installations of Apple Podcasts). Analyst Benedict Evans estimates 2.5bn Google Android phones (which all have the Google Podcasts player installed, if not the full app), and a further 600m in China.
February 1, 2019:
    Apple Podcasts has launched downloadable podcast analytics data from their Podcast Analytics portal. The company says we should "look for the Download button under the date control in the upper-right corner"; the information downloaded is a simple tab-separated-value file for use in spreadsheets. The email also asked podcasters to market how podcasts work on Siri.
January 29, 2019:
    Our podcast availability list shows that, in general, every podcast is available in Google Podcasts as well as Apple Podcasts, though Spotify still only lists about 60%
January 22, 2019:
January 21, 2019:
    Apple have released a set of online video adverts for the new iPad, including how to make a podcast on one. The ad highlights the Anchor app.
January 18, 2019:
    Paul Colligan posts his Podcast Predictions for 2019 in the latest episode of The Podcast Report. He views Pandora as having an "exponentially bigger" impact than Google; he forsees major changes at Apple Podcasts since Apple's turning into a service company; and thinks Instagram is the future for promoting podcasts. He says that Pandora is his #2 platform currently.
January 16, 2019:
    Spotify now has 200m global active users, up by 10% over the past six months. 87m of those are paying customers. Morgan Stanley says users listen for 4.4 hours a week - Apple Music is 3.7m. However, 50% of Spotify users say that all the podcasts they want aren't on the service. Notwithstanding this, it's the #2 most popular podcast app. (Search for a podcast, and we'll show you a Spotify link if it's there.)
January 14, 2019:
January 11, 2019:
    There's widespread anger at an announcement that a popular BBC podcast, Fortunately, is going to be made exclusive to BBC Sounds, the broadcaster's new audio app. It means that the podcast, which isn't aired on radio, will no longer be available on other services like Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. There's concern that because the BBC Sounds app is unavailable outside the UK, overseas listeners may be unable to listen.
January 9, 2019:
January 7, 2019:
    In a letter to investors, Apple had to revise their earning guidance, downward. An illuminating article from MG Siegler points out the themes in the letter: China, yes, but also fewer people are upgrading their iPhones, perhaps they're too expensive, and Apple's future income lies in "services" rather than hardware. (We'd note that the total direct podcasting income for Apple since launch in 2005 has been exactly $0.)
January 4, 2019:
    A bit annoyed by podcasters who just link to iTunes? As a bit of fun, we've made a Chrome extension today which will catch Apple iTunes links and open them on Podnews instead, so you can subscribe in your favourite podcast app. (Very helpful, particularly, for Chromebook owners.)
January 3, 2019:
January 1, 2019:
December 28, 2018:
    "Most would classify [Google Podcasts] as a big disappointment", says the report, placing the app at #5, and noting that Android is responsible for only 23.7% of all podcast listens (and smart speakers just 1.3%). Spotify, the company's data shows, is a strong second - responsible for 25% of the downloads of Apple Podcasts.
December 27, 2018:
    In a new episode of Chartable Radio, we learn that there have been 200,000 new podcasts in 2018. A quarter of all podcast reviews (on Apple and Stitcher) were written this year, too.
December 24, 2018:
    A new podcast app, that you probably won't like, has just been launched: Just Listen™ plays one random podcast episode after another. That's literally it. Wenbin Fang from Listen Notes describes the thinking behind it, and how he built it, in a blog post.
December 18, 2018:
    Yesterday, we reported that Apple Podcasts has mysteriously removed many reviews and ratings from their service. Those that contacted us reported losing around half their ratings and reviews; issues were seen throughout the whole App Store, not just for podcasts. Some noted that review removals were seemingly at random, and not related to a purge on automated or spammy reviews. At time of going to press, podcasters report that their ratings are back to normal.
December 17, 2018:
    Something strange is happening in the Apple Podcasts app: podcast ratings in some cases are being recalculated and can even entirely disappear. Reader Josh sends us this example. Meanwhile, many others are seeing their number of ratings being significantly reduced in the app - "trying to figure out why it said I had 33 reviews when I could only see 25 to read", says one Facebook commenter, "I went from 60 to 30" says another. Are you seeing this too? Hit reply and tell us.
December 12, 2018:
    Apple, Google and Spotify have yet to comment about whether they'll support RAD. It's fairly clear that Overcast's Marco Arment won't: he commented earlier this year that "Big data ruined the web, and I’m not going to help bring it to podcasts. Publishers already get enough from Apple to inform ad rates and make content decisions — they don’t need more data from my customers. Podcasting has thrived, grown, and made tons of money for tons of people under the current model for over a decade. We already have all the data we need."
December 11, 2018:
December 10, 2018:
December 6, 2018:
December 5, 2018:
    Apple is releasing "most downloaded podcasts of 2018" lists in most countries. Here's Australia's. For noting: it's "most downloaded in Apple Podcasts", which is responsible for about 60% of all podcast downloads.
December 4, 2018:
    The first edition of Post Reports, the Washington Post's new daily podcast, was published yesterday afternoon. Chartable report it's #17 in the US Apple Podcast trending charts. Of note: you can subscribe to the podcast by email.
December 3, 2018:
    There are now 609,000 podcasts in the Apple Podcasts directory. Daniel J Lewis posts that 158,000 podcasts have three or fewer episodes; and that 43% of all podcasts haven't released a new episode in 2018.
November 30, 2018:
    Apple Podcast Chart manipulation is the focus of the next episode, due tomorrow, of Darknet Diaries. It's "all about the people who are gaming the Apple Podcast charts. I called up six of the promoters, and talked with them, and got pictures from them, and so much more," says the podcast's producer, Jack Rhysider.
November 27, 2018:
    Chartable, a podcast analytics product, has added integration for Apple Podcasts Analytics. To use this, however, you need to share your Apple username/password with Chartable; the company told Podnews that "we triple encrypt all usernames and passwords with the same technology used by sites that ask for the same information for bank accounts". They've also launched Trackable, a redirect stats service much like Podtrac or Blubrry. (We're trying it out for our podcast).
November 26, 2018:
    Wondering where else to add your podcast, apart from Apple Podcasts? We've got a list for you, and we even link directly to the submission pages.
November 20, 2018:
    Magellan have looked closely at the podcast advertising within those naughty podcasts who are manipulating the Apple Podcast Charts, and whether it differs from others. It does.
November 15, 2018:
    COLD, a new weekly podcast from KSL Investigative Reporter Dave Cawley, was released on Nov 12 and has spent the last day at #1 in Apple Podcasts. It looks into the case of missing Utah mother Susan Powell.
November 13, 2018:
    Many staff at Apple Podcasts are on vacation from November 16, 2018, to November 26, 2018, and December 21, 2018, to January 2, 2019. "Shows submitted during these windows may not be available within our regular time frame of five business days."
November 12, 2018:
November 9, 2018:
    We reported that Apple had removed a crypto podcast, Off The Chain, from their platform on Nov 7th. Was it censorship? Well, the author tag was the spammy and keyword-stuffed Anthony Pompliano: Fund Manager Investing in Crypto (Blockchain, Crypto Assets, Tokens, Digital Assets) which was against Apple Podcast guidelines. It's now been changed to simply Anthony Pompliano, and it's now listed again.
November 8, 2018:
    Apple has sent many podcasters a note saying: "Site Manager Reporting - we have received reports of steep consumption declines in reporting. We are investigating these figures as they do not match playback data in Podcast Analytics." Site Manager is a product used by a very small group of podcasters that allows them to brand their podcast section within Apple Podcasts. Chances are you're not using this to report on your stats.
November 7, 2018:
    Apple has removed a crypto podcast, Off The Chain, from Apple Podcasts for some reason. (That will also have resulted in its removal from most third-party podcast apps, who use the iTunes API).
November 2, 2018:
October 30, 2018:
October 29, 2018:
    In data shared with Podnews, Voxnest says that, on average, 9.4% of all podcast downloads on its platform are on an Apple Watch device. The 'humps' in the graph above, where the percentage rises to over 13%, are related to weekends. Voxnest's tools include Spreaker, catering to independent podcasters, Hive, a turnkey platform for enterprises, and Dynamo, a standalone monetisation solution. Apple Watches gained the option to play podcasts in mid September.
October 22, 2018:
October 17, 2018:
October 16, 2018:
    Making Gay History returns for its fourth season, focusing on the pre-Stonewall beginnings of the LGBTQ rights movement. "To date, its 36 episodes have been downloaded 1.9 million times in 211 countries and territories." (Pineapple Street Media / Megaphone)
October 12, 2018:
    What's the category in Apple Podcasts with the most titles? Comedy? News? Nope. Dan Misener posts about the most crowded categories in Apple Podcasts, to help you choose the right category (and secondary category) for your podcast. #data
October 11, 2018:
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 9, 2018:
October 5, 2018:
    Podcasts have been disappearing from Apple Podcasts - kind of. Many publishers are reporting that iTunes, and the Apple Podcasts app, showed no episodes at all for certain podcasts. Subscribers continued getting the episodes, though - with Apple, when you subscribe to a podcast, your app pulls the RSS feed directly from the publisher rather than Apple's copy. Libsyn report that Apple has fixed it.
October 4, 2018:
October 2, 2018:
    Spotify, the second-largest podcast platform in the world, has today released a dedicated podcasters portal. The website now lets you instantly add your podcast, even if you're not with a partner host; and promises audience consumption data including gender, age and location. Unlike Apple Podcasts, there is no editorial approval process.
September 27, 2018:
    Apple have shared podcast authoring best practices. It covers loudness levels (-16 LKFS, which is the same as -16 LUFS, and a -1 dB peak) - a good audio editor like Hindenburg, or online service like Auphonic, will enable you to hit that; formats and bitrates: "We strongly recommend using AAC over MP3", and a range of recommended bitrates; and discusses loudness metadata. (If you master to -16 LUFS, it's unclear what the benefit of adding this metadata is).
September 26, 2018:
September 25, 2018:
    Chartable write a piece about how to get into the top ten (of the Apple Podcast charts) with three case studies, based on their analysis of the numbers.
September 24, 2018:
    The Apple Watch now includes a podcast app. Here's how to use it. (Anyone want to send us some pictures of Podnews playing on it?)
September 19, 2018:
September 11, 2018:

Our podcast pages now include prominent Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts buttons. (Here's an example). We're also parsing descriptions for Patreon links, to help you support the podcasts you like.

September 7, 2018:
September 6, 2018:
    In an astonishing video, Twitter user Lime Link posts a video that shows the extent of Apple Podcasts Chart manipulation: it shows a clever way of how to spot the podcasts gaming the system, and how to do it yourself (don't).
September 5, 2018:
September 5, 2018:
September 4, 2018:
    People are still offering to manipulate the Apple Podcasts Chart. Some podcasters are being threatened by negative reviews if podcasters don't buy their "service". (We'd like to see examples.)
September 3, 2018:
    In an interesting blog post, UX designer Henry Cheng interviews users of the Apple Podcasts app, and redesigns it to make it better. Of particular interest: in his mockup, "search" returns not just that person's podcast, but other podcasts they've appeared on. This is nice.
August 31, 2018:
August 27, 2018:
    Spotify is moving too slowly and tentatively, says Fast Company's David Lidsky. It points out that the $1m Amy Schumer 3 Girls, 1 Keith podcast isn't exclusive (it's on Apple and Google), and that 'windowing' has historically "failed miserably".
August 24, 2018:
    There might be about 540,000 shows in Apple Podcasts, but they're not all active. In fact, according to Todd Cochrane from Blubrry, 75% of podcast [shows] are no longer in production, he tells Stephen Goldstein - a phenomenon known as "podfade". Separately, Chartable's hosting data suggests only 16% of podcasts on the free podcast host Anchor have published more than 9 episodes: that figure rises to 77% of podcasts hosted on the paid platform Libsyn. (Anchor is considerably younger, of course.)
August 23, 2018:

A correction - yesterday Podnews said that Anchor podcasters "were not subject to the same approval process as others". We were wrong: Anchor podcasts are subject to the same manual Apple Podcast Approval; although they're all posted under Anchor's account, which is a different process from other hosts. We've amended the post.

August 22, 2018:
    Chartable has published a "top podcast hosting platforms" piece of data work, analysing >500,000 podcasts in the Apple iTunes catalogue. It highlights hosts for popular podcasts and for podcasts with ten or more episodes (both of which are very different to the overall figures).
August 17, 2018:
August 16, 2018:
    Our podcast pages now include recent chart information from Chartable, a new website that aggregates chart information from many different apps including Apple, Pocket Casts and Stitcher. The company offers email alerts for chart rankings and reviews. Search for your podcast within Podnews to see your information, including links to a variety of podcast apps like Google Podcasts, and technical advice.
August 15, 2018:
    Podkite launched today. "It's an analytics and intelligence platform for individual podcasters, larger publishers and advertisers", they tell us, and they measure both Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
August 14, 2018:
    Followup - in November 2017, we reported that much of New & Noteworthy was broken within many iTunes country categories. At the time, we noted that the Business category in Australia consisted of podcasts added in Q1 2016, and hadn't been updated since then. Nine months later... nothing appears to have changed. Every single podcast in the category appears to have started two and a half years ago; of the twenty podcasts in this category, eight haven't posted a new episode in the last six months. (Meanwhile, Apple Podcasts Connect is still reportedly unusable for many podcasters).
August 13, 2018:
    Still can't log into Apple Podcasts Connect? You're not alone - the best and brightest in Cupertino are fixing it right now, according to an enterprising Redditor. Internal ticket 2900775 is the one to watch, if you're on the inside.
August 10, 2018:
    Anchor have announced Anchor Listener Support. It lets listeners pay a monthly pledge ($1, $5, $10) for your podcasts through Apple Pay or Google Pay. Including payment costs, fees are 9.5% plus $0.10 per transaction; Patreon takes 0.5% more. Listeners can be anywhere and can use any app to listen, but Listener Support is only available to Anchor creators in the US.
August 9, 2018:
    Rakhim Davletkaliyev writes about his concerns that podcasting might become a walled garden, after Alex Jones was removed. "When you perform a search on Apple Podcasts, you aren’t searching for podcasts. You are searching for Apple-approved podcasts."
August 8, 2018:
August 7, 2018:
    Buzzfeed News reports that Apple has now removed Alex Jones's podcasts from its platform, saying "Apple does not tolerate hate speech". Previously, Spotify had removed specific episodes. Infowars content has additionally been removed from Stitcher, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. Spreaker, who describe themselves as the "secondary host" of the podcast, have also removed the podcast from their listings: "it violates our Terms and Service Conditions because of Hate Speech," said a spokesperson for the company. Spreaker's action will effectively pull it off most third-party podcast apps. In a response, the radio host claims "this is the modern day electronic equivalent of book burning"; as of press time, his self-hosted RSS feed is still available.
August 6, 2018:
    The Corporation for Public Broadcasting covers a recent public radio presentation about podcasting. "Just 1 percent of the half-million podcasts in the Apple iTunes store generate enough audience to attract sponsorship" - but "the top three podcast publishers in the U.S. are NPR, WNYC and PRX".
August 3, 2018:
    On Aug 1, we reported that Spotify was under pressure for hosting The Alex Jones Show Podcast. AP reports that the company has now 'removed specific episodes', citing hate content. Most episodes remain. Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, among others, still appear to link to all available episodes. The podcast is hosted with Spreaker.
August 1, 2018:
July 18, 2018:
July 16, 2018:
July 12, 2018:
July 10, 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 6, 2018:
June 28, 2018:
    Joe Clark discovers what he calls censorship of a sort - Apple Podcasts is, according to him, censoring podcasts from far-right groups; and thus, all podcast apps that use Apple's directory are doing similar. (The majority of the censored podcasts are, however, listed in Google Podcasts, we'd note, which has no editorial gatekeeper).
June 27, 2018:
    "Podcast links are a mess", says a new service called Play Podcast - they promise simple one-click podcast links for social media and similar. They gave us playpodca·st/podnews which automatically opens Apple Podcasts and/or Google Podcasts on phones, and helpful links on desktop.
June 26, 2018:
June 22, 2018:
    While your podcast is probably in Google Podcasts, getting correctly listed, including in Google Search, is a bit difficult. We continue to finesse our how to get listed guide, and have now added a Google Podcast link validator to our podcast pages. To get started, search for your podcast and press the 'more info' button for the technical details. It also checks if you have a secure RSS feed for Apple Podcasts.
June 21, 2018:
    UTA and Cadence13 have launched a new podcast network called Ramble, which will use YouTube stars. UTA, a talent agency, were behind Amy Schumer's Spotify deal, and claim they represent half of Apple's top 20 podcasts.
June 20, 2018:
    Anchor have released its first podcast editing app for iPads. It's free, and available now in the Apple App Store. It's compatible with external (lightning) microphones, deals with multitasking and does drag and drop. The company calls it "the world’s first-ever end-to-end podcasting solution for iPad".
June 18, 2018:
June 13, 2018:
    The Apple Watch will play podcasts in the next version of WatchOS, which comes out soon; it will deal with downloading but not streaming, according to developers working on it.
June 8, 2018:
June 6, 2018:
    Data: Apple Podcasts now has over 550,000 shows - 25,000 added since the last announcement on April 30. Stuff You Should Know has officially become the first podcast to be downloaded over 500 million times, according to announcements at WWDC.
June 5, 2018:
June 1, 2018:
May 31, 2018:
May 30, 2018:
    Apple Podcasts have sent an email to all podcasters today, "strongly encouraging" podcasters to use "a secure podcast feed with a SSL certificate" - in practice, this means a podcast RSS feed that starts https:// . The email says that, in future, a secure feed will be required for Podcast Analytics and also to submit new podcasts.
May 29, 2018:
May 25, 2018:
May 24, 2018:
    In April, report Magellan, there were 361 brands or products advertised in the top 200 Apple Podcasts; and 1,864 pre-roll or mid-roll ads. SquareSpace is the second-biggest podcast advertiser - you'll have heard #1 probably.
May 22, 2018:
    Podcast app Castro has been given a new update - a review of Castro 3 says "Castro 3 is everything Castro already was, but better. It's the app that Castro fans have always wanted."
May 21, 2018:
    The British Podcast Awards happened over the weekend. Here's a list of the winners. Of note: 13 of their 15 winners made it to the Apple Podcast Charts the day after the awards.
May 18, 2018:
May 16, 2018:
May 15, 2018:
    RAIN reports on our story, yesterday, of buying your way into the Apple Podcast Charts. They quote other methods to hijack algorithms. Meanwhile, in a closed Facebook group, a person familiar with the story claims that Apple are identifying podcasts who use this service and permanently banning them: a request for more information, however, hasn't been responded to. Another correspondent has noted the opportunity for mischief: a jealous podcaster could spend $5,000 to use this service for a competitor, and get them banned. We've heard nothing from Apple.
May 14, 2018:
May 7, 2018:
May 4, 2018:
    Overcast, an iOS podcast app, has been updated to v4.2. It's an aggressive privacy update: removing the need to register with an email address, and deliberately hampering podcast publishers' efforts to track images shown in show notes. "Big data ruined the web, and I’m not going to help bring it to podcasts. Publishers already get enough from Apple to inform ad rates and make content decisions — they don’t need more data from my customers", says developer Marco Arment. (Of note: Apple Podcast Analytics does not monitor Overcast at all).
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'.
May 2, 2018:
    Gimlet and Squarespace announce a competition to look for podcasting's next star. "The two podcast giants looked at the top 100 podcasts on Apple Podcasts and found that over 55% of the shows were made by production companies in either New York or Los Angeles, despite the fact that there are reportedly other places on the planet." says Fast Company. The competition is available to anyone living in... the United States.
April 30, 2018:
April 25, 2018:
    HotPod 160 is out. Nick delves into numbers behind Atlanta Monster, looks at Podcast Consumer 2018, and disappointing sales of HomePod, Apple's not-so-smart speaker.
April 23, 2018:
    For noting: the "new" Google Podcasts experience has a useragent of something like Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 8.1.0; Pixel XL Build/OPM2.171019.029; wv) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Chrome/65.0.3325.109 Mobile Safari/537.36 GSA/8.0.17.21.arm64 - "GSA/" would appear to be the user-agent to search for ('Google Search App'?) - the version number appears to match the version of the Google app that's installed on my phone. Ask your podcast host to add this now to their analytics.
April 18, 2018:
April 4, 2018:
    Do podcasters really need to beg for ratings and reviews? Dan Misener from Pacific Content asks the questions that ought to be asked. "We have not seen conclusive evidence that ratings or reviews directly contribute to chart performance, visibility, or editorial support from Apple Podcasts", he says. (Some others claim that reviews are only used for the "What's Hot" algorithm; and not for the others).
March 29, 2018:
    Amazon Alexa's "Daily Briefing" feature delivers good traffic, if you're a suitable podcast; above is a sample breakdown of devices consuming the podnews podcast. Apple's ecosystem delivers about half, but our appearance in Amazon Alexa's Daily Briefing is responsible for almost a quarter.
March 20, 2018:
    Pacific Content's Dan Misener has written a piece about "a little-known tool from Apple" to help you with your podcast marketing. It's an ingenious use of a service Apple makes available for affiliate sites.
March 8, 2018:
March 6, 2018:
March 5, 2018:
    'sodes is "a casual cozy podcast player". "There are no download queues or tricked-out audio features. Just tap a show, tap an episode, and listen." It gets a review from Lifehacker. Similar to Leela, it's built to be simple and streaming-only; it's also very pretty-looking; reviewers like the lack of storage space it uses.
February 27, 2018:
February 23, 2018:
February 21, 2018:
February 20, 2018:
    Of interest: the minimum number of unique devices required for any iTunes Connect Podcast Analytics data is... five. You also appear to need this minimum number for the majority of your podcast episodes to get the detailed stats and graphs. Don't ask us how we know this, but in an entirely unrelated item, here's where we are if you want to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or anywhere else. Cough.
February 16, 2018:
February 15, 2018:
    iOS11 is now in use on 65% of all iOS devices. (As a reminder: Apple's podcast stats only works on this version of iOS, and only for listeners to the Apple Podcasts app.)
February 12, 2018:
February 9, 2018:
    English musician George Ezra now has a podcast of his own - not much there yet, excepting a long and very personal description. His first guest is Ed Sheeran.
February 8, 2018:
    The Australian ABC is launching The Pineapple Project, a podcast about advice with money. Pineapples is the nickname Australians apparently give their $50 note: "Just like money, pineapples are sweet. But they’re a prick to deal with if you don’t know how to handle them."
February 7, 2018:
February 6, 2018:
    Global, the UK's largest commercial radio company, is launching Case Notes, a true crime podcast, "investigating some of the darkest mysteries from the history of music". It's co-branded by their classical music station, Classic FM.
February 2, 2018:
January 30, 2018:
    Podcasts really are the holy grail - a piece from WIRED magazine, focusing on the drop-off rate that's now visible in Apple's podcast analytics. It's very good - 90% stick with a podcast to the end - which, naturally, advertisers are quite pleased about.
January 29, 2018:
    A thought-piece from Steve Bowbrick - Podcasting, the platform battle. In it, he talks about the history of RSS (and its fundamental drawbacks), and predicts who'll own podcasting in the future. He doesn't think it's going to be Apple.
January 26, 2018:
    Midroll publish the second half of their 2018 forecast, focusing on ads, metrics and revenue. Unsurprisingly they're forecasting their best year yet. Interestingly, they plan to correlate Apple's stats with Stitcher's stats.
January 24, 2018:
    Apple have finally launched their HomePod speaker. Online orders will start in the US, UK and Australia on Friday. It's US$349 - competing products from Google and Amazon start at less than a third of that price. It's assumed that Apple Podcast integration is built-in.
January 23, 2018:
    Apple are hiring! The job is opaquely called Digital Supply Chain, Technical Producer and the description says: "The Apple Podcast and Siri Audio News team seeks a Content Producer to be responsible for the health of the podcast and audio news catalogs and act as our front-line point of provider support". You'd be working in the Santa Clara Valley in California, USA for exactly "40.00" hours a week.
January 17, 2018:
    Apple are rolling out a new podcast news feature in iOS 11.2.2 - much like Alexa's Daily Briefing or Google Assistant's "Tell me about my day", it allows you to customise your news sources.
January 9, 2018:
December 27, 2017:
December 25, 2017:
December 20, 2017:
    The fall-out of Apple Podcast Analytics continues. Fast Company calls it a good start, but we need more data, pointing out that much listening occurs away from Apple's measured platforms.
December 19, 2017:
    US commentator Seth Resler's first impressions of Apple Podcast Analytics. "Among the podcasters that I have heard from, the Average Consumption looks really solid – often over 80%" (Is anyone else seeing consumption figures of 107%? What does that mean?)
December 18, 2017:
    Scale Up is a new podcast about startups in Melbourne scaling to global success.
December 15, 2017:

Apple finally launch their podcast analytics dashboard, in beta. They promised it on June 12. Techcrunch has a set of screengrabs.

December 13, 2017:
    HotPod 144 is out. "I am struck by a distinct sense that we’re smack dab in the middle of a really slow but considerable change," says Nick Quah, looking back at 2017.
December 12, 2017:
December 11, 2017:
    Remember Omny Studio claimed they'd worked out how to get podcast analytics out of Apple Podcasts? Here's how they did it. Clever idea of using rate limiting to force the player to get "just enough" data to play, but no more.
December 8, 2017:
    As we reported a few days ago, ABC Audio Studios has a shortlist of podcasts vying for their Australian podcast fund. Kellie Riordan, Manager of ABC Audio Studios, tells podnews:
December 7, 2017:
December 6, 2017:
    A small amount of excitement earlier, as podcasters were unable to log into Apple Podcast Connect for a time. Were we to get those podcast stats promised in June? No; it was just a piece of maintenance, it appears.
November 30, 2017:
    iHeartMedia launches an app on Comcast cable set-top boxes. Content includes live streaming radio stations, music channels, and podcasts. (Listening to audio on the TV accounts for 5% of all radio listening in the UK, so it's an interesting market. In other news, the iOS app has been updated to give access to podcasts while using Apple CarPlay.
November 29, 2017:
    The Brisbane Podcasters group, above, held its first meeting today in the Pineapple Hotel (because Queensland). The meetup was organised by Lyndal Harris, Joe Lewis and Odell Harris. Brisbane (QLD, Australia) is the home to NOVA Entertainment's podcasting unit, ABC News Online, as well as many independent podcasters. Podnews is also based in Brisbane, so I went too.
November 24, 2017:
    In an Australian podcast chatroom, news of a quiet but significant update for Pocket Casts on Android. Click on any "Subscribe on Apple Podcasts" link on your phone, and your Android phone will now offer to open that link within Pocket Casts instead. Shouldn't be any reason why other Android podcast apps shouldn't follow-suit; that would mean an end to the plethora of subscribe links. Here's an iTunes link to try it on.
November 23, 2017:
    A quite savage piece about Apple's non-appearing HomePod speakers. It transpires that they won't be available for developers to access, unlike the competing Amazon Echo and Google Home. It will, however, play Apple Podcasts flawlessly.
November 20, 2017:
    The Apple HomePod won't be in christmas stockings this year: it's been delayed to "early 2018".
November 17, 2017:
    It’s reached #1 on both the US and Canadian Apple podcast charts.
November 16, 2017:
    Old data, but worthwhile understanding: Spanish smartphone penetration is over 90% (population: 46m), but the more interesting figure is the Android market share which is 93.9% - small wonder, therefore, that readers of podnews in Spain don't really care about the Apple Podcasts store, and dismiss it as not having much impact. If you're a Spanish-language podcast, you apparently want to be making friends with iVoox, who describe themselves as the leading podcast platform in Spanish (and also host and monetize).
November 15, 2017:
    Yesterday, we reported that much of Apple Podcasts is broken, with "New and Noteworthy" in most sections being stale for at least 18 months. Correspondents in the UK report that many entire categories are similarly stale, with the home-page for "Kids and Family", as one example, not having changed for over one and a half years. It'll be interesting to see whether Apple cares.
November 14, 2017:
    In the Apple Podcasts store, how old is "New and Noteworthy" for you? Is the entire feature broken? In a (closed) Facebook group, it's been noticed that most "New and Noteworthy" categories, for example Australian Business, only feature podcasts that launched between January and March 2016. It's not alone - the US store also appears to only show podcasts launched in early 2016, too. I checked "Comedy" in the Australian store: it includes one podcast that hasn't added a single episode since October 2016, another was updated in November 2016, and plenty that haven't been updated in three months. Has something broken at Apple?
November 9, 2017:
    The Apple podcast app gets properly slated in the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Since the Sept. 19 release of iOS 11, which brought with it a totally redesigned Podcasts app, my [morning] routine now includes two unwelcome variables: confusion and aggravation."
November 3, 2017:
November 1, 2017:
    Pocket Casts on iOS gets some updates. It supports Apple Watch better, supports the iPhone X, loads podcast images better, and has some bugfixes.
October 31, 2017:
    Original: How podcast show notes actually display - so, can anyone read those podcast show notes you're making? Not if they listen in TuneIn; nothing's clickable and everything's scrunched together in Spotify; and Apple Podcasts isn't very consistent either. Our first long-form article tests 17 different apps. (Please share it!)
October 25, 2017:
    Grappling with iOS 11's podcasting app? Like the changes? Or are they driving you crazy? Please let us know - james@crid.land - a special edition coming this weekend with feedback direct to Apple (who subscribe to podnews, naturally).
October 20, 2017:
October 16, 2017:
October 10, 2017:
    How important is a feature on the iTunes Apple Podcasts front page? Quite important, according to this article on The Podcast Host - a podcast improving from 71 downloads a day to well over 1,000.
October 4, 2017:
September 27, 2017:
    A documentary film about podcasting, Earbuds, is now available for purchase on iTunes.
September 19, 2017:
    Simon Owens from Washington DC, compares the US podcast market with Australia. "Australia only has 24 million inhabitants compared to our 323 million, so raw audience numbers alone won’t do much to provide an apples to apples comparison".
September 13, 2017:
    Apple launched new things. The iPhone X, with an OLED screen, face unlock, and wireless charging (like the 2013 Nexus 5); the iPhone 8 and 8Plus (much the same as the 7, excepting covered in glass on the back (like the 2012 Nexus 4); an Apple Watch with built-in mobile data (like 2016's LG Watch Urbane 2), and a 4K Apple TV (like the 2016 Chromecast Ultra). Wait, none of this seems new at all! (grin)
August 21, 2017:
August 11, 2017:
August 2, 2017:
    The word "podcast" will now outlast the product it was made for: Apple have now removed all iPods from their online store. "What does the 'pod' in 'podcast' mean, Daddy?"
August 1, 2017:
July 28, 2017:
    In what they claim is a world first, Leela Labs launches a kids podcast app, Leela Kids. Nice idea to produce curated content for younger ears (in this case, 3-15 year-olds). Demo on YouTube. Their FAQ includes an email address for content submission.
July 13, 2017:
    The IAB Tech Lab have released their revised podcast measurement guidelines and invite comment. There doesn't appear to be any connection to the analytics promised by Apple, other than one mention.
July 12, 2017:
    AdWeek covers an announcement today that Panoply is working with Nielsen data for targeted podcast advertising. "Advertisers will be able to deliver ads to specific segments of listeners based on data such as interests, purchase intent, demographics, geography, media consumption and psychographics.". This uses data collected from Nielsen's web-bugs and app-bugs. The press release says ads can be targeted "across all podcasting apps, including Apple Podcasts and other third party podcast apps." Consumers will be able to opt out in a link in the show notes.
July 7, 2017:
June 30, 2017:
    Anchor, a "push to talk" type app - like the original AudioBoo, in many respects - now interfaces with Apple Podcasts and Google Play Podcasts. "Coming soon" - an RSS feed. Caution: they're doing this under their Apple/Google accounts, not yours, so don't expect any analytics.
June 28, 2017:
June 27, 2017:
June 22, 2017:
    Poynter shares ideas of what Apple's new stats could mean for discovery - assuming Apple opens up the data. They're great ideas. Not sure Apple nor many podcast makers want this data to be quite as visible as these ideas would need. (That said, people like Omny Studio or Libsyn could do this.)
June 21, 2017:
    The podcasting experience in Android is about to get simpler: the new Google app (pre-installed in every Android phone) is prepping for podcast subscriptions. Probably also good for Google Home. Google typically does a good job of synching data between devices, but still has a way to go to match Apple's ease of use.
June 20, 2017:
June 14, 2017:
    HotPod 123 contains, naturally, more about Apple's podcast analytics. A balanced look, including why it might come with negatives as well as positives. Total reading time: 19 minutes.
June 13, 2017:
June 12, 2017:
    The WWDC session about Apple Podcasts, with new features for iOS 11, and lots of stats. Here's a direct link to the streaming video for those of us not using Safari, and slides. Of note: lots of changes to the RSS spec (which other podcatchers will have to support too), and way more flexible. Here's an Engadget piece covering the main news. /ht Matt Wade
June 7, 2017:
    HotPod 122 contains details about a new podcast app from Apple, linking to a few leaks on Reddit. Particularly it appears to enable "seasons" for shows - requiring some work on your RSS feed, it would appear, in time for "this fall" (Australians - they mean "next spring"). Plus a Gimlet acquisition Quah calls 'curious'. Reading time for this issue is 18 minutes.
May 31, 2017:

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