More people in Canada listen to podcasts every week than the US

• 37% of Canadians listen to podcasts every month, according to new data from Edison Research’s Infinite Dial Canada 2020. That puts monthly Canadian podcast consumption on par with the US. Weekly listening is even higher than its southern neighbour, at 24%: the highest figure recorded by the international surveys so far.

• Triton Digital has released their US Podcast Report through May 10. NPR News Now is (still) #1; NPR have 9 shows in the top 15. The highest new entry was from Audioboom, who joined the report this release: Morbid is new at #29. The service only measures participating publishers.

• Podtrac has also released their US publisher report for May. iHeartRadio, absent from the Triton Digital report, is at #1; NPR is at #2. Their service, too, only measures participating publishers.

  
  Aug 24 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Podcast apps Castro and Pocket Casts have both been pulled from Apple’s App Store in China. Apple Podcasts remains available, but only offers a selection of podcasts to comply with Chinese government content rules. This time last year, they removed a number of shows for, um, some reason.

• 97.2% of active podcasts make no money, according to a new service which has launched today. Podhero is a simple way to support podcast creators: your monthly $5.99 subscription is shared between the podcasts you support. The podcast app is available on iOS and Android, and was formerly known as Swoot; you can support Podnews on the service.

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• NPR has announced the winners of the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. The lower grades winner covers the harassment and racism felt by chinese students in New York City as the coronavirus hit; the higher grades winner focuses on how global warming disproportionately affects black communities.

• The annual Podcast Awards are open for registration. Podnews is a supporter for the third year. You have until the end of June to register: it’ll cost $25.

• The Wheeler Centre in Australia have launched a mentorship and development programme for aspiring podcasters and audio storytellers, called Signal Boost. Applications are now open, and close on Wednesday 17 June - audio producers receive tailored mentorship, practical support, essential equipment and professional development.

• Meanwhile, Spotify has announced the return of Sound Up, their program for underrepresented voices in podcasting. This year it’s open to people in more countries than ever - the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Brazil, Sweden and Australia. The US applications are open now; others soon.

• Zoom, which almost everyone uses for video conferencing these days,released their first-quarter’s figures: revenue has increased to $328m from $122m a year ago.

• Medium has launched their own newsletter service to build relationships with your audience. It’s called, um, Newsletters.

• The BBC has launched a voice assistant of its own, called “Beeb”. It has a voice from Merseyside by the sounds of it, and lets you listen to BBC podcasts among other things. It’ll only be available on Windows for now. (You can hear a bit on our podcast).

• Sonos and Targetspot have expanded their relationship: Sonos stations have been expanded to France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and New Zealand.

• Podcast host Podiant has announced integration with Headliner to help share podcast clips visually on social media.

• Aha! UK broadcaster Alan Partridge (a character played by Steve Coogan) is to podcast from his shed. From The Oasthouse will be available from September, but there’s a free episode on Audible for the next seven days. “All national treasures have a podcast,” says Coogan, adding “it’s time for the UK to hear what a real award-winning podcast is like”.

Podcast News - with The Jordan Harbinger Show

On The Jordan Harbinger Show: Jordan is joined by Gabriel Mizrahi for Feedback Friday, answering your questions. Is the graduating class of 2020 finding it really hard to plan their life course? And what happens if your mentor becomes your crush? Listen now

Bill Simmons has apologised for comments made in The Bill Simmons Podcast, according to a report in the NY Daily News. “I’m 50 years old, I still barely know what I’m doing, I’m still gonna make mistakes,” he said. An apparent commitment to diverse hiring was criticised by the Ringer’s staff union on Monday.