New AI tools launched for podcasters

• Descript has added new AI tools for podcasters - a script generator (“Will it be perfect? Probably not. But it will give you something to work with”), a script rewriter (“to help you whittle down your early drafts”), and a blog post tool (“turn your script into a blog post to expose your content to a wider audience”). They’re our title sponsor this month, but, as ever, don’t have any say on this editorial.

• Spotify is experimenting with Google’s AI tools to make better recommendations for podcasts and audio books.

• First Look: Podchaser has unveiled Performance+, which it calls the Podcast Industry’s First Recommendation Engine for Direct Response Campaigns, a tool to identify the most effective podcasts for performance and direct response campaigns for advertisers.

• Descript’s Ashley Hamer shares How I got 10x YouTube subscribers by adding video to my podcast.

• DW Podcasts has launched a YouTube channel. It’s home to seven of the international broadcaster’s podcasts, which are funded by the German government.

• Triton Digital released the New Zealand Podcast Ranker for October. At 9am ET today it’ll release the US Podcast Ranker (probably at this URL): if we understand the advance information we’ve been given, PRX appears to be a newly measured publisher in the ranker.

• Veritonic has released its 2023 Insights Package, “sharing actionable insights around the use and measurement of audio in marketing strategies”.

• Podpage has added support for a number of new Podcasting 2.0 features to its podcast website service.

• The Premios Ondas Globales Del Podcast, the main podcast awards for podcasts in the Spanish language, are open for entry. You’ve got until the end of the year.

• First published in 2021, our Editor writes about the unwritten contract between podcast publishers and apps, and it’s still just as relevant today. The article is now available for free away from Medium.

People News

• Hager Eldaas is a new Creative Producer at CitizenRacecar. She joins from narrative and chat shows at Discovery, Kerning Cultures, Salt Audio, and Spotify.

Podcast News - with Airwave

From Airwave: If Hardcore History met up with My Favorite Murder in the ancient world, with a heavy helping of booze and laughter, you’d get Ancient History Fangirl, an ancient history podcast run by two Millennial women.

The Global Story is the new in-depth podcast from the BBC World Service and BBC Studios, and a sister podcast to the Global News Podcast. This new show, which starts on Nov 27, will focus on one story every day. It will be hosted by Katya Adler.

Starting today, Ghost - Scary Stories features Thanksghosting: a spine-chilling week-long podcast event where eerie ghost stories meet the warm, cozy vibes of Thanksgiving. Prepare to be haunted each day with tales that will make your turkey tremble and cranberry sauce curdle. (Podnews fact check: cranberry sauce can’t curdle.)

From the State Library of Queensland, Cake the podcast looks at bakers from Queensland, and the story of The Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book, one of the most influential cookbooks in the state that was dreamt up when there was an oversupply of pineapples. Note: despite being less than fifteen minutes away from the State Library of Queensland, Podnews’s offices did not get sent cake with this press release.

Legacy was new yesterday, from Wondery and Goalhanger - the first collaboration between the two companies. Legacy charts the lives of some of the most extraordinary men and women who have ever lived. The series launches with a season on Napoleon Bonaparte, the iconic military leader and Emperor who died over 200 years ago and is still regarded as France’s most famous figure: but was he a hero or a tyrant?

You know the story of A Christmas Carol, but, we’re told, you’ve never heard it like this. Scrooge: A Christmas Carol lets you get drawn into the powerful story of forgiveness and redemption. This all-new audio experience stars Hollywood pros like Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, and Juliet Mills; and is produced by Hope Media Group and Compassion International in partnership with KSBJ & WayFM.

Unapologetic with Andrew Fitzsimons & Erica-Cody is new this week from the Irish stars, working with the Acast Creator Network. Andrew Fitzsimons is usually found in the salons and beauty rooms of the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez and the Jenners; and he’ll be face-timing the latest gossip across the Atlantic to Erica-Cody each week.

The podcast from The Paris Review has a new home with PRX, and launches a new season this week. The show will feature twelve episodes of the best interviews, fiction, essays, and poetry from America’s most legendary literary quarterly.

Podcast promotion in the wild

On the Q train in Brooklyn in mid-October, podcasting’s Arielle Nissenblatt spotted this ad for Exposed while dutifully not holding the doors. We wonder whether it’s obvious enough that it’s a podcast; the image used is very different to the podcast’s thumbnail, and there’s no Wondery branding. Turns out that it’s actually an ad for the lawyers involved.

Spot some marketing for podcasts in the real world? Hit reply and send us a (landscape) photograph.