New Australian podcast research; how spammers are targeting Apple Podcasts

• Chartable focus on how spammers are targeting the Apple Podcast Charts, including a useful guide on how to spot a fake:

  “Apple isn’t just one player among many in the podcasting ecosystem—the Apple Podcasts directory is the closest thing to a centralized podcast database that this industry has.”

• The ABC launched a set of podcast research today at OzPod 2018, in Melbourne VIC, Australia. The data shows a surge in true-crime listening and says that women are leading podcasting’s growth. There’s an infographic and the full report on the ABC’s website.

• Slate launched What Next, their daily news podcast for your evening commute, today. Their launch communication mentions that it’s a month’s test, before “a brief hiatus to tinker and refine”, and a return in January. Podcasting represents 28% of Slate’s revenues, and is forecast to increase to 35% next year.

• Much touted by the ZigZag podcast, a journalism blockchain company called Civil has failed to sell its tokens, only raising US $1.4m against a target of $24m (and three-quarters of that by an investor).

• An episode of Lantigua Williams & Co’s 70 Million will be placed on TIDAL, the music subscription service. TIDAL is planning a fundraising concert for criminal justice efforts on October 23.

• Winamp is coming back: as a desktop and mobile app that brings music, radio and podcasts together. The product is now owned by Radionomy.

• In HotPod, Nick Quah writes not altogether positive things about Podtrac.

• PodFinder is a new podcast discovery service, in early test.

• Best practice: the website for Ask Rezz (a podcast for freelance business questions) contains a helpful index of previous podcasts, categorised into subject areas.

• Podcasts in Mexico have grown 2.4x in the last four years, according to PwC.

Listicles

• 10 Podcasts comandados por Mulheres (“10 women-led podcasts”) (HerForce)
• 5 Great Road Trip Podcasts (Wil Williams / DiscoverPods)