Doja Cat and Ice Spice appear on podcast from Instagram

• First look: Doja Cat and Ice Spice are on the first edition of Close Friends Only, the first podcast from Instagram. The branded show has the two icons diving deep on Instagram - from crazy memes to content from creators they love. It’s produced by Sun-ny Side Up, in collaboration with The Unwell Network; and it’s out tomorrow.

• Announced earlier this year, Linkfire has placed its linking tool live for podcasters, giving you one link to share for your show. Uniquely, it offers access to Apple Podcasts analytics - the only third party to do so. Here’s what a link page looks like. (We’d recommend you get your own website; Podpage is a gold Podnews supporter).

• Wiser Than Me, hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, was named Apple Podcast’s 2023 Show of the Year.

• Captivate launched support for Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. They join Transistor, which announced support last week.

• Lydia Polgreen, the former managing director of Gimlet Media, has criticised Spotify for cancelling Heavyweight and Stolen. “If you can’t make a go of it with these incredible shows you are simply bad at podcasting,” she wrote on Threads. She’s since deleted the post. Meanwhile, Dan Le Batard, a sports podcast host, claims that Spotify is “junking up the numbers”, and “the numbers are jerryrigged”, after a conspiracy theory from a fan that Spotify is deliberately holding back sports shows that aren’t from The Ringer.

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• Podcasting is coming to SXSW, with Vox Media partnering with the Conference to provide an Official Podcast Stage. A number of popular shows will be brought to the stage next March.

• Embedded players from ListenNotes, like this, were preloading audio until yesterday, against IAB guidelines. That meant that when your browser loaded a page containing an embedded player, it downloaded the audio in full: which appeared as a valid download in podcast analytics - even if you never listened. After Podnews reported it, ListenNotes has quickly fixed the issue.

• It’s been a year since Acast launched the company’s self-serve ad platform. Milly Botes, Sr. Director of Product, looks back at the last year in a blog post; 40% of advertisers have booked repeat campaigns, 15% of revenue come from host-read sponsorships, and it was the first form of advertising for 40% of podcasters on the platform.

• Mia Lobel writes about her experience at Pushkin Industries, and why she left the company: “The people who are ultimately making the decisions are not the people who know how to make shows.”

• reVolver Podcasts and Adori are working to produce Podcast FAST TV channels on the Roku platform, highlighting multicultural podcasts.

• Pocket Casts has published a guide to moving from Google Podcasts, using an OPML feed. The company is offering a 50% discount for your first year of Pocket Casts Plus.

Thank you to Mark Ramsey and Charles Spivey for becoming our latest personal supporters. Based in Portland, Mark Ramsey makes podcasts for companies like Wondery and iHeart, and is an excellent thinker about all things audio; Charles Spivey works for Louisville Public Media in Kentucky, the owners of three radio stations and plenty of podcasts, and also tipped us off for a story in this very edition. Personal supporters make our day - and lessen our reliance on advertising, thus ensuring our independence. You can support us here.

Enter The Webbys. Mark Your Spot in History.

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Take your team to new heights with The 28th Annual Webby Awards. Last chance to enter next week Friday December 15th, 2023.

Entering The Webby Awards is a great way to recognize your team’s achievements. Just by participating, you show your team that their work deserves global recognition. It also signals to the industry that your team is one to watch, and work with. This is great for talent retention and attracting the best people in audio.

Enter the 28th Annual Webby Awards by the Final Entry Deadline of December 15th, 2023.

Podcast News

Tyler Goodson has died: in 2017, he pleaded guilty to burglary and theft of items from John B. McLemore, the focus of the popular podcast S-Town. Goodson was shot and killed by Woodstock Police after a standoff; “unfortunately, he kept living a colorful life,” said former Bibb County District Attorney Michael Jackson. He was 32.

The latest episode of Lawfully Creative, hosted by lawyer Annabelle Gauberti, features our Editor, James Cridland, as a guest. He shares his knowledge on the strength and weaknesses of the podcasting sector, and his background in the audio industry.

On The Town with Matthew Belloni, Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman talks about the state of the podcast industry and its struggle to reach profitability despite its growth - and what they call “the murky metrics for success”. The show is a Spotify Original, made by The Ringer and Puck.

The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told is new from iHeartPodcasts and Diversion Audio. Hosted by true crime writer Mary Kay McBrayer, who will walk the audience through the most riveting true crime stories ever told. Not only are these stories deeply researched, but many episodes often include interviews with authors and experts on the cases.

The Murder in Boston Podcast from the Boston Globe started recently. The newspaper interviews the host, Adrian Walker, about how the podcast was put together.