Audioboom posts financial results

• London-based podcast publisher Audioboom has just posted a trading update for Q4/23. Q4’s revenue, at $19mn, was up 37% quarter-on-quarter, and up 5% year-on-year. Downloads for the quarter were only down 0.75% year-on-year, in spite of the auto-download changes in Apple Podcasts.

• If that was too much good news for you, yesterday Semafor wrote about “the incredible shrinking podcast industry”, detailing the changes to Apple Podcasts’ auto-download behaviour. Some podcast publishers are angry - “advertising deals were inked under the assumption that shows had audiences they no longer have … some shows could struggle to meet minimum download agreements.”

• In Australia, Josh Withers wants to be the ABC’s Head of Audio on Demand. His job application is… a piece of audio on demand. Nice! Give him an interview on that alone, surely?

• Podcast hosting company Castopod has added “the Castopod Index”, a listing of shows hosted on the platform to aid discovery. The full index is here.

• Does your podcast inform people at the heart government? “This podcast series is worth listening to … the best insight into Yemen.,” tweets the UK’s Minister of State for Security, Tom Tugendhat. He links to Message Heard’s Conflicted, a podcast looking at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East.

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• What did you learn from a podcast in 2023? The EarBuds newsletter asked 45 different people across the industry. Alberto Betella from RSS.com recalls when our Editor ordered grilled cactus leaves in cheese, while in Mexico (pictured).

• We reviewed the ALABS FXCaster Podcast Workstation, something that looks like the RØDECaster but is just $199 - with a microphone, too!

• Further reading:

  • YouTube Music is missing too many podcast basics, says 9to5Google. Abner Li is missing “mark episodes as played”, chapter support, and new episode notifications. (We’d add: skip-silence and volume-boost, please; but we like the “New episodes” view and when it gains swipe-to-mark-as-listened, it’ll be excellent).
  • Amplifi Media: Following the Audience, The New Direction for Podcasting

The Tech Stuff - with RSS․com

• From podcast platform badges to user-agent detail and full podcast directories, there are lots of resources on Github for podcast app and website developers. We’ve put a small list together: we’d love additional submissions (probably worthwhile enclosing full open-sourced apps and libraries, for example).

• The podcast:contentLink tag, a proposal for the next round of the podcast namespace, aims to make it easier for podcast directories and websites to link to your podcast on different platforms.

Tips and tricks - with Patreon + Spotify

• Which podcast apps support HTML markup? This is a relatively new piece from Dan Rowden; we’ve an older version of this testing on our website, which we should update at some stage. Both help you make sure your podcast’s episode notes look as good as possible on every podcast player.

• RedCircle: Tips for growing your podcast in 2024.

Podcast News - with Airwave

From Airwave: Inc. Productivity Tip of the Day is a daily productivity tip from the experts at Inc., the business magazine. Friday’s was “how to cope with setbacks, and come back stronger”.

That’s Total Mom Sense has joined Evergreen Podcasts. The show has a mission to be illuminating, inclusive, and inspiring for parents worldwide.

Business Beyond the Mic today features our Editor, James Cridland, talking about tracking the pulse of podcasting. It’s hosted by Carli van Heerden from We Edit Podcasts.

Dissident at the Doorstep was new from Crooked Media last weekend - following the story of a Chinese human-rights hero who wasn’t everything that some of his fans hoped he was. It’s hosted by Alison Klayman, Colin Jones and Yangyang Cheng.

We often hear that we should eat less and better meat, whether to slow the heating of our heating planet, for our health or the sake of animal welfare. But it’s less clear and even contested as to how and why eaters should eat less and better meat. Farmerama launched over the weekend, hosted by Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham, to ask ask how less and better meat can be accessible for all.

Those amazing competitive bike riders might be secretly hiding electric motors in their bikes. New today from Stak, Ghost in the Machine is an investigative podcast looking at the truth behind the rumour - and featuring a world-exclusive interview with Femke Van den Driessche, the only person to ever be banned by for having a motor in her bike.

Camlann - An Audio Drama launches today from Tin Can Audio, written and directed by Ella Watts and produced by David Amber Devereux. It’s a serialised fiction podcast inspired by folklore and Arthurian legends. Alternatively - it’s about three idiots and a dog in Wales, fighting for their lives.