Ron Burgundy podcast fails to hit the mark for iHeartRadio

• Podtrac have published their stats for February 2019. February included the much-hyped Ron Burgundy podcast, which released its trail on Feb 1 and launched on Feb 8; yet iHeartRadio’s figures in total were virtually flat, at 5.28m downloads a day (rather than 5.22m the previous month). iHeart remains the global leader for downloads, while NPR remains the US #1 based on unique audience. (As ever: Podtrac only measures some US-based publishers and their methodology is proprietary and opaque. Here’s more on podcast stats.)

• What’s the secret to successful podcast advertising? US radio network Westwood One says: “communication is best when it’s transparent, real, direct, and tells a story. Apply that to a podcast ad and the audience will appreciate it.”

• Listen calls itself “the only podcast app built with multi-tasking and beauty in mind.” The first version features unique gesture-based navigation for on-the-go listening, including a queue system, and it’s available for iOS here. Meanwhile, the iOS app for Stitcher has also had an update.

• The Guardian's podcasts are the subject of coverage in Digiday, including an estimate of the total size of the UK podcasting ad market: £25m (US $33m) from veteran adbuyer Howard Bareham. The Guardian’s daily podcast has eight people working on it, according to the article.

• Meanwhile, The Guardian covers have podcasts sold out?, a critical look at the launch of Luminary and similar services. The excellent article interviews many excellent people who all say excellent things, especially the second person to get a quote.

• Edison Research’s Tom Webster writes about the significant new podcasting stat hiding in plain sight: it’s a figure that’s flat.

• “Based on recent conversations I’ve had across some corners of the community, Luminary has attracted a level of bile I’ve never encountered before,” says Nick Quah in this week’s HotPod.

• Pandora’s executive creative director Lauren Nagel says that every brand needs to consider sound, in a speech at SXSW.

• The IAB published a list of “direct brands to watch”. Magellan have examined the list, and concluded that 4 out of 10 of them have tried podcasting. The podcast ad research company says that personal care products are most likely to have added podcasting to their marketing mix - companies like our new favourite electric toothbrush company Quip (see below).

• Podcaster communities are all over the place, and they use a bunch of different tools. Spreaker looks at eleven of them, and how they make their communities a success.

• We should have covered this last week, but for the record, Maryland’s highest court has denied a new trial for Adnan Syed, the subject of Serial, in a 4-3 opinion.

• Job: Podcast Audience Producer, The Economist, London UK

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 11 2023

• What happens when Chinese and Western podcasters meet? asks Siobhán McHugh from the University of Wollongong in Australia.

  “What do you know about Serial?” I asked, before bringing up the slide. A [Chinese] broadcaster reflected. “It’s something you have for breakfast?” He was not making a joke. That’s when I realised what cultural difference truly means.

Podcasts

Just Between Us launches today. Featuring New York Times best-selling authors and YouTube series hosts Allison Raskin and Gaby Dunn, the podcast is a Stitcher production. It’s a podcast version of a popular YouTube channel with 750,000 subscribers. (Stitcher)

30 Animals That Made Us Smarter is a new 30-part podcast from the BBC that launches on March 25th. Presenter Patrick Aryee says “as humans, we have so much to discover from the animals around us”. (BBC)

Who cares about Ross and Patrick? features a newly married couple discussing topics “as broad as sobriety, mental health, wellness, New York City, comedy, pop culture, politics, sex and sexuality, and polyamory.” Maybe relevant: it’s #197 in the comedy podcast chart for Saudi Arabia. (Blubrry)

Jensen & Holes: The Murder Squad is hosted by retired cold case investigator Paul Holes and investigative journalist Billy Jensen. It’s the first new, original series to come out of the Exactly Right Media network, created by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hosts of hit podcast “My Favorite Murder.” (ART19)

Series two of this podcast about religion launches tomorrow, co-hosted by Laura Barclay, a Baptist minister, and Sara Hof, an agnostic. It’s a theological, comedic, feminist podcast that examines the bible and modern theology, as well as speak to the overarching commonalities of atheists, agnostics, progressive Christians, and people of other faiths. (Soundcloud)

Twitter has launched a podcast. Character Count is, says TechCrunch, focused on its ad business. (Simplecast)

Programming notes

• Thank you to Quip - perfect oral care, delivered - for your kind support of our favourite podcasts and now of Podnews too! (Psst: They’re available internationally, apparently).