Apple Podcasts launches video - all the details

• Apple Podcasts announced support for video podcasts in the next version of iOS.

  • Unlike Spotify or YouTube, your podcast host will continue to host the video files, using HLS to deliver video in good quality. However, it only works with participating podcast hosts; Apple has launched with just four participating companies: Acast, ART19, Omny Studio and Simplecast.
  • For the first time, dynamic advertising will be available for video podcasting. Apple Podcasts will charge a per-impression fee for each dynamic ad shown; however, the ads will be controlled by the podcast hosts and their ad networks. (All four launch partners, Acast, ART19, Omny Studio/Triton and Simplecast/AdsWizz, are also ad networks.)
  • Podnews has taken a long look at how the new service works. We’ve posed plenty of questions to Apple, and got plenty of answers; as well as playing with the new service hands-on, and hearing what others think. There is lots more detail over here.

• Apple Podcasts also seems to have made a lot of changes to its documentation about Apple Podcasts Connect. (Why, yes, we do have an automated system checking that). Show Settings now explains how to tell if you can do video with your existing podcast host; a new Availability table tells us that video podcasts will not be available in mainland China; how to publish video tells us about API keys and talks more about analytics - and clarifies that paid subscriptions are audio-only; Analytics tells us that video analytics aren’t broken out by Apple; here’s a page trying to sell Final Cut Pro as an editing tool, and how to 'shape up your podcast copy’ with advice on Apple’s AI tools; and local capture on iPad which apparently does a very good job of capturing video and audio during live calls on FaceTime or other apps.

• Away from Apple Podcasts - PodRanker claims to have checked 128 episodes to discover how much ads are in podcasts. The median figure is 3.7%, which is about two minutes per hour. 13% had no ads at all. The heaviest was 27.6% ads. These numbers are highly dependent on where podcasts are downloaded from, and also how; many podcast ad systems won’t supply ads to automated requests, especially those coming from server farms. We’ve asked for more detail.

  • This data comes after we highlighted Magellan AI’s report that included an average ad-load of 8.82%. Our mistake: we suggested that was 7 minutes every hour; it’s closer to 5. We’ve worked out a better way to math for next time.

• Chris Stone writes about how he spent money on a new podcast studio for the New Statesman, a British magazine, and then ripped it all out again to build a better one. Learning from mistakes is always good. See above.

• PodcastOne, which went on the NASDAQ in Sept 2023, is looking to go private, and is hunting for a buyer, according to Semafor. The share price is currently close to its best-ever in the last twelve months, at $2.86. On its first day, however, it ended at $4.39.

• Wanting to advertise in Japan? Digital audio company Otonal has added a new service for Japanese Audio Ad Localization. The company says that word-for-word translation can easily overrun 15 or 30-second slots, and fine-tuning the language used is vital to get an ad working well for Japanese listeners. The new service will fix the language (“to appropriate politeness levels”), as well as find voiceovers and audio files.

• You may know Cleanfeed from being a long-term Podnews supporter, and offering excellent quality remote audio. But it also does remote video, too - a product called Cleanfeed Cinema, which gets a writeup today.

• David Greene, the former host of Up First and now host of KCRW’s Left, Right & Center, suggests that he sounds “just like” the AI-generated male voice used in NotebookLM, and has filed a lawsuit against Google claiming they stole his voice. Google says it’s nonsense - it’s a professional actor, they say. Our daily podcast today has audio of both, to let you decide.

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Rug Cuddle (With Us) is a cozy, funny lifestyle podcast about living a creative life in the real world. Hosted by Mr. Kate (aka Kate Albrecht), known for helping millions tap into their inner creative weirdo, and her husband Joey Zehr, who brings the practical to the whimsical, the show explores creativity, relationships, parenting, wellness, and modern life through honest conversation, bite-sized segments, and a lot of laughter.