Artificial Intelligence adds visuals and context links to podcasts

• Entale, a visually augmented podcast player, has released a slew of new features. Entale 3.0 features artificial intelligence, adding extra information and context automatically to podcasts. Their Entale Original podcast Life and Lipstick performed, the company reports, extremely well - with “almost 50% of listening time spent interacting with content and a third of listeners shopping via the app.” You can also sign up to test the Android app.

  
  Aug 10 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Transistor, a podcast host, have made their revenue figures public and open, and also the consumption figures for Build your Saas, their podcast. Their stats include information from Apple, Spotify and Podtrac.

• Podest, a podcast app for iOS, has released a new version. Michael Nisi, the developer, wrote a lengthy blog post explaining why he’s released it. Unusually, all its code is open on Github. He says: “I’ve open sourced the app, not only to give back to the community, from which I’ve learned so much, but also to improve code quality. The more components are used in other contexts, the better.”

• Substack, a premium newsletter service, has launched Substack for Audio, a paid subscription tool for podcasts. Playback is through the web, which as this blog posts notes, isn’t a bad experience any more on mobile.

• DAX, the digital audio advertising arm of media and entertainment company Global, has signed an exclusive deal to represent Slacker Radio. (The curated radio service has 1.2m active users).

• Jack Rhysider’s Darknet Diaries recently did an “episode swap” with two other podcasts. In a blog from Pacific Content, we learn what effect it had.

• Entercom’s radio·com, a radio and podcasting app, has added third-party content from CNN, Bloomberg, and the Turner Podcast Network. (You can submit your podcast to radio·com from our big list).

• PodcastOne, the US podcast producer, has a new Chief Executive: Peter Morris (AirBnB, Barstool Sports, IMAX). Founder Norm Pattiz, 75, remains Executive Chairman.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 10 2023

• Marco Arment writes that listeners are spooked out by location-specific ads in podcasts and that if they continue, “we’ll all lose”.

  • Our Editor writes: Being based in Australia, ads for Casper Mattresses, RocketMortgage, stamps·com or Blue Apron are also irritating, precisely because they are not location-specific (none of these companies operate in Australia). Is there a middle ground between “creepy tracking” and “annoyingly irrelevant”?

• This man really loves podcast theme music.

Spotify+Gimlet+Anchor day 3

• Our informed Anchor purchase price of $50m? We’ve now heard a few others claiming $25m. Either way, it was significantly smaller than Gimlet; which many found surprising.
• Spotify is defanging Apple as podcasting’s biggest threat, claims Rebel Base Media’s Mark Asquith. “Apple is actually the biggest threat to podcasting,” he says, attributing this to our Editor - who responds that “risk” might be the better word. Apple controls 85-90% of all podcast consumption through the iTunes API, which everyone uses to populate their own podcast apps (and, indeed, Podnews’s podcast pages). Were they to remove this API tomorrow, that would be a significant business risk to all within the podcasting ecosystem.
• Stratechery applies some deep analysis to Spotify’s purchase of Gimlet and Anchor earlier this week; an interesting and informed read by someone outside the podcast business.
• Kris Lawson, an Australian podcast producer, says that there are huge benefits for podcasters from the deal.

Aug 10 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
• Recode carry a long, audio interview with Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber, and a transcription, on why they sold to Spotify.
• Dave Lee of the BBC posts about the potential for targeted podcast ads with the Spotify deal.
• The Verge gives ways Spotify could be a better podcast app.

Podcast

• Much hyped by portions of the podcast press, The Ron Burgundy Podcast dropped its first episode earlier this week.