More on Apple's new categories, and a Spotify curated podcast playlist

• 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:

  • Apple’s attention to detail is evident: unlike the previous categories, the new Apple Podcasts categories stand on their own. “Daily News”, for example, doesn’t require to have its parent category present to make sense: which should lead to clearer and easier UX for podcast apps.
  • The new “soccer” category will be correctly localised as “football” in countries like the UK. (Indeed, categories have always been localised).

• Daniel J Lewis has played with the new Apple Podcasts desktop app, and tried the transcription search. “Pretty cool!” he says.

• If you use Apple’s Siri, that will be able to control third-party podcast apps from early September.

• Podbean has unveiled PodAds, an ad management system for podcasters, which can be used to ensure ads appear on the right days (and in the right places, thanks to geo-targeting). Unlike others, the service does not take a cut of ad revenue.

• Spotify has begun rolling out podcast playlists. My Spotify Ideas has discovered their Dead Good True Crime playlist. Users still can’t add podcast episodes to their own playlists yet.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 13 2023
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• Speaking at a media conference, Australian radio presenter Amanda Keller says: “when you hear a long drifting podcast with no discipline, you recognise good radio”. (Or, we would guess, a good podcast).

• Steve Pratt from Pacific Content writes how the company measures a successful podcast, and diagnoses podcast problems. Meanwhile, South African broadcaster Gareth Cliff shares his thoughts on podcasting successfully.

• Simplecast wonder Is there a race and gender pay gap in podcasting? and ask you to take part in a pay gap survey.

• South Korea is the world’s podcasting capital, exclaims OZY. From that, these are the most popular podcasts in South Korea, from a service called Podbbang.

• David Abramovic argues that audio is more important than ever: “For the first time in history, the spoken word has the same reach and arguably as much power as the written word.”

  
  Aug 13 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Here’s a day in the life of Michael Barbaro. We can only hope that this is true.

Podcasts

Ear Hustle is back for season 4. The new season of the podcast will feature a mix of stories from a mix of stories from inside San Quentin State Prison and of life post-incarceration, as well as a new co-host. (PRX)

Lehmans Solutions for a simpler life has interviews with homesteaders, cooks, gardeners and employees will help you take the next step on your journey to a simpler life. (Evergreen Podcasts / Libsyn)

State of Digital Publishing covers media technology trends, perspectives, and news for online publishing and media professionals. The latest episode features a discussion on paid newsletters. (Omny Studio)

Good Code is a weekly podcast on digital ethics - the press release describes it as “Black Mirror meets The Good Place”. It’s from The Digital Life Initiative (DLI) at Cornell Tech and French journalist Chine Labbe. (Libsyn)

Let Lisa Help features “retired insult comedian” Lisa Lampanelli. “Thank goodness PodcastOne recognized my true genius when it comes to forcing help down people’s throats,” she’s quoted as saying. (PodcastOne)

Catch up with Podnews

• Podnews is at Podcast Day in London next week (and fairly free on the Friday and early Saturday). Want to catch up? james@crid.land
• We’re also at, variously, the Power of Audio conference in Auckland, New Zealand (June 25); in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (30 June to 2 July); at Radiodays Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa (3-5 July); Podcast Movement, Orlando FL (14-17 August); Radiodays Asia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (3-5 July); Momentum, Orlando FL, 4-6 September; Amsterdam and Hilversum, Netherlands, 9-11 September; and far too many airports. We’d love to catch up with you - we like beer or coffee.

Music for a part of the podcast edition of this newsletter today is Slow Snow, by Nordgroove from Fugue.