Acast integrates with Patreon patron-only shows

Preroll. Midroll. Post-roll. We’re told that all three are part of a successful ad strategy for podcasts. I’m here to tell you that post-rolls are garbage. — the latest Sounds Profitable ad-tech newsletter from Bryan Barletta, with Podsights. Subscribe for free

Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• First look: Acast and Patreon have just announced a collaboration, enabling creators to publish subscriber-only content across different podcast platforms, allow creators to simply and securely distribute their free and paywalled content, and make it easier for fans to financially support Patreon creators. It works on almost all podcast players (excepting Spotify).

• Podcasting is profitable for iHeartMedia - podcast revenue grew 74% year-on-year (downloads are up 71%), and new advertisers are also spending with the company in other places too. (Overall, the company has seen a 22% decline in revenue, and made a $32m loss). Bob Pittman, the CEO, committed that “50% of the new podcasts we launch on the iHeart Podcast Network will be from female and diverse creators”.

• And, we now know that iHeart paid $50m to buy Voxnest last month.

• iHeartMedia has also signed a sales and production partnership with Pushkin Industries. It’ll make iHeartMedia the company’s exclusive sales partner, and Pushkin will also co-produce new, original podcasts for iHeartMedia over the next few years.

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• Stitcher has rolled out a new website. In the process, the URL for a podcast has changed - we’re now here. Old addresses will redirect.

• ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia have signed with Podsights to enable podcast measurement and attribution for every campaign.

• Triton Digital’s Omny Studio has partnered with Gaana, India’s largest music streaming app, to bring Omny Studio podcasts into the Gaana platform. (See below for how well it’s working for us.)

• Podcasts was a category in US quiz show Jeopardy! on Monday. Podcasts highlighted were Stitcher’s Science Rules! with Bill Nye, Luminary’s Fiasco, Wondery’s WeCrashed, an Audible Original called It Burns, and Earwolf’s Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. Taped earlier, it was the first broadcast since the death of the host, Alex Trebek.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS․com

• Gaana, the Indian podcast app, appears very high in Podnews’s podcast download statistics. Our numbers are produced using both RSS useragent and player useragents - but the Gaana app itself doesn’t set any obvious useragents so this traffic may not be visible in your own podcast host. Inspect our workings.

• Phase 1 is about to close for additions and suggestions for the new podcast namespace.

• Buzzsprout now supports “visual soundbites”, a way to mark shareable portions of podcasts in apps and social media. A tag from Podcast Index’s new “podcast” namespace, here’s a soundbite from the Podcasting 2.0 show, on Podverse.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Here’s a little more about the Lightning Network and podcast monetisation; and also over here.

Podcast News - with Vurbl

On Vurbl Voices, Sean Howard, the founder of the audio fiction network Fable & Folly talks with Paul about the state of audio fiction, starting a podcast network and their unique approach to sponsored ads. Listen on Vurbl

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