Anchor: skipping the approval queue, and filling Apple Podcasts with illegal copyright material?

• Exclusive: Spotify-owned podcast host Anchor is seemingly bypassing the Apple Podcasts approval process, and this lets their users post tests and even illegal copyright material un-checked to Apple Podcasts and others, we’ve discovered.

• NPR and Edison Research have released their Smart Audio Report 2019. Their data suggests that 21% of American adults (53m people) own a smart speaker. Podcasts don’t appear in the report, though 42% claim to use their speaker at least once a week to listen to the news.

• There are now 706,000 podcasts, according to Blubrry. How many are still in production? About 280,000, according to this article by Amplifi Media - 18% of the podcast catalogue.

  
  Aug 14 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • Opinion: This figure is described as “sobering”. However, readers might wish to compare the figure with broadcast television’s entire schedule, where significantly less than 18% of shows being broadcast are still in production; or a typical library, where many books being borrowed were released a long time ago.

• Millennial podcast listeners outspend non-listeners by up to 179%, according to a new report, A-List(en)ers, about the power of UK podcasting from podcast strategists 4DC.

  
  Aug 14 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Swipe right? Cosmopolitan is launching its first branded podcast with Tinder.

• Footballer, broadcaster, robber and kidnapper OJ Simpson may be preparing a podcast, according to a showbiz site.

• Aimee Lapic and Lizzie Widhelm, the CMO and SVP of advertising innovation at Pandora, are interviewed on video for Variety. “You should never put a radio ad onto Pandora,” they say.

• Castro’s Padraig O’Cinneide is leaving the company after nine years of working on the well-reviewed iOS podcast app. His current role is being advertised, along with others.

• In the UK, podcast measurement has challenges, says Digiday.

• Data: that feature in Overcast that skips past silences in podcasts? So far, it’s saved all of humanity “a little over 1,898 years”. (And that’s before any savings from playing podcasts at increased speed).

• Podcast app Player FM has given their iOS app an update.

• Publishing with Libsyn to LinkedIn? You need to reauthenticate.

• Advice: Email marketing basics, Should you join a podcast network?, How to persevere when podcasting gets tough

• Paul Spain was on the AM Show in New Zealand the other day, on Three TV and Magic Talk Radio, talking about podcasting. We liked this response to: “What’s your favourite podcast” - a brilliant answer, and one we’d suggest if anyone asks you.

• We have updated our podcast app useragents list to use data from a new, open, repository.

Podcasts

The NZ Tech Show is a weekly podcast from New Zealand, talking tech news. Host Paul Spain is joined by our Editor, James Cridland, this week. (Podcasts NZ / Simplecast)

Startup Dunedin interviews founders and experts with a local connection about their businesses and about the tips and tricks that keep them on top of their game. It’s from Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand. (Anchor)

On the Ledge is about to celebrate its 100th edition, with host Jane Perrone celebrating an award at the US GardenComm awards. The podcast is about houseplants, and is produced in Bedfordshire, England. (Libsyn)

Previously, on…, hosted by UK broadcaster Jamie East, helps you get up to date with TV shows. Choose a show and an episode, and learn what happens in it. Here, at random, is S1E3 of Stranger Things. (Acast)