Spotify gives podcasters 2019 Wrapped; and is podcasting going to get smart in 2020?

• Spotify for Podcasters has launched 2019 Wrapped, a look back at your year as a podcaster. Log into the Spotify for Podcasters dashboard, and you’ll see your top episodes, top countries and the “two farthest countries in your listening base”. The last quarter for Spotify saw a podcast listening growth of 39%. (You can listen to Podnews on Spotify).

  
  Aug 19 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • (Edit:) This was embargoed to midnight NY time. It’s now 0600 NY time, and we can’t see this feature yet. We guess it’s coming.

• Exclusive: 2020 looks like it might be the year podcasting finally gets smart, says Entale’s Wil Harris, writing for Podnews: “It’s clear from just about every survey of consumer trends that podcasts are only increasing in popularity … and supporting that requires not just experiences that can scale beyond the hand-curated, but data and monetisation that can support that growth.”

• Here’s what else I-can-sell-u-tdy - 11% of The Daily is advertising, according to research into daily news podcasts at RAIN News, which shows that the 25 minute podcast packs in five different spots.

• Paolo McCarty highlights something we missed at the time: when Stitcher and Earwolf moved from ART19 to Omny Studio, that meant that every part of their business - production, hosting, distribution and monetisation - is now owned by their owner, Scripps.

• The New York Times reports that Facebook is looking into creating podcasting apps; though is scant on detail.

• Headliner is now integrated into Audioboom, for easy production of little social media trailers for podcasts. Headliner now has over a dozen integrations, they tell us: you can also make Headliner clips directly from Podnews podcast pages.

  
  Aug 19 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Fox News Radio is now available live and on-demand at RADIO·COM, Entercom have announced.

• Podcast Day 2020 will be in London on June 16, in a new venue: The Mermaid Theatre, next to The Thames in London.

• A Milwaukee company, Zima Podcasting Network has announced it is to invest in a number of binaural audio dramas.

• How do you make an audiobook sound better? By calling it a podbook, it appears: “an audiobook with the rhythm and flow of a podcast”, How to be a Rock Star has been a big success in Brazil, where it has been made by podcaster Guga Mafra. It’s exclusive to the Storytel platform.

• UK audio producer Listen has been recommissioned by Audible to make a further series of “A Grown-Up Guide To…”, this time looking at the oceans. The company has also been commissioned to produce a show with Levi Roots and a careers show, The Careers Couch.

• In the Middle East, Kerning Cultures is the first VC-backed podcast company in the area. Hebah Fisher talks with Podfund about the history of the network.

• The Spark Christian Podcast Conference has announced that Blubrry will be a silver sponsor of the event, and that CEO Todd Cochrane will be one of the speakers. The conference is in Houston TX, USA on Feb 21-22.

Podcast host updates

• Transistor has updated their analytics, offering CSV export, popular players over time, and better location analysis including US and Australian states, and Canadian provinces. The company now claims 4,481 shows are on its platform.
• Captivate has increased its download plans by around 20%. (Disclosures)

Aug 19 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
• Omny Studio has launched Comparison Analytics, allowing easier-to-read comparisons of the growth of your podcast episode downloads for their first sixty days. The company also offers CSV export of analytics.

Tips and tricks - with Acast Open

• How can you make the jump into a full-time podcasting career? Wil Williams suggests to look before you leap.

This link is no longer available, as at Aug 19 2023
• Does music production differ from podcast production? Mandy Pennington highlights the differences and the similarities.

Podcast News - with Spreaker Prime

Spreaker Prime: Strictly Homicide Podcast is hosted by Nicki T, who discusses true crime out from Arkansas in a narrative style bi-weekly podcast. Nicki covers the cases you haven’t heard of while bringing positive attention to sometimes forgotten cases. They’re using Spreaker Prime to earn money and cut their hosting costs.

In 2010, a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee was on the cusp of happening. Funding was secured. Contracts were signed. Construction was about to begin. Then it all got Derailed. Hear why it fell apart - and how Wisconsin changed along the way. (Wisconsin Public Radio / StreamGuys)

Sweet Valley Diaries starts its fourth season today. The podcast focuses on Francine Pascal’s over-dramatic Sweet Valley High books, and started two years ago. (Libsyn)