More fake shows on the way, as Meta’s Muse gets into podcasting

• Meta’s Muse has only been available since September, but it appears that this new AI assistant is capable of researching content for podcasts, recording podcasts using artificial voices, and hosting podcasts on its own servers. We’ve found more than 20 shows which are already being hosted on Meta’s platform - including one from a man who calls himself Charles Mayfield, who says he runs a podcast network and has even partnered with a university for internships. But is he real? We take a “deep dive” into how Muse hosts podcasts, and discover a rabbit-hole of pretence, dishonesty, “Alex and Jordan”, and very strange wording.

• The UK podcast company Message Heard has gone into voluntary liquidation. Podnews has learnt that fourteen freelancers have not been paid for their work for some time; and staff have been made redundant. In the past four years alone, the company appears to have lost more than the equivalent of US $5.3mn.

• There’s a new, free, place for voices today - as Podeo unveiled a complete platform overhaul at WebSummit. The company has stopped using the word “podcast”, focusing instead on “infrastructure for the voice economy”, and the new Podeo focuses on “the three things every voice actually does - create, reach and earn”. It’s free, with unlimited storage.

• After Europe and the US, Audion has announced its launch into the Japanese market. Japanese brands and media agencies can now reach audiences across major audio and video platforms through a single partner, the company says, while publishers and creators gain access to Audion’s international advertising demand. Audion is working with Sekaiichi Inc, with access to the influencer marketing platform from BitStar.

• “Podcasting remains an audio-first medium, but one that is learning to use video in useful and sometimes powerful ways.” From the UK, RAJAR’s Director of Research and Audiences, John Carroll, spoke at the recent ASI conference in Venice, Italy, sharing the company’s research on podcasting. RAJAR suggests that around a third of UK listeners switch between audio and video formats within the same week. 105 million hours of podcasts are consumed every week in the UK.

  • Adam Bowie takes a closer look at the numbers coming out of the UK.

• Flightcast has achieved certification under the IAB Podcast Measurement Guidelines v2.3. The podcast hosting company is certified for Download, Listener and Ad Delivery.

• Captivate has joined the list of signatories for our Code of Practice for podcast migrations.

• Australia’s iHeart Podcast Network unveiled a number of new signings at the company’s content showcase today.

• A podcast studio in Toronto’s Harbourfront, Links Live Media, is inviting podcasters, brands and broadcasters into its studio. (Beer lovers might like to know that it’s close to the Steam Whistle brewing company, and to Amsterdam Brew House, and a short tram ride to Great Lakes Brewery.)

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: TechCrunch Daily Crunch gives you today’s biggest tech headlines in a flash from TechCrunch. Yesterday, they covered apps to distract you from the endless cycle of doomscrolling.

It’s Remembrance Day in many parts of the world. SBS has launched The Forgotten Soldiers - writer Sami Shah goes in search of answers about his Indian ancestor who died in the First World War. The show highlights the million South Asians who fought in the First World War for the British Empire: but the show also quickly becomes a murder mystery, as Sami uncovers more than he bargained for.

Brand new show SUCKER is a horror-satire fiction show about a desperate woman who joins a skincare MLM to turn her life around, only to discover that the women at the top aren’t just exploiting their downlines… they’re feeding on them.

Podcast Network Insights interviews former iHeart Media SVP Nathan Otoski, who shares insights into running IHM podcast network of 1000 shows. Hear from him and 40 other heads of podcast networks on previous episodes.

Trading has a bro culture problem. But what if the pressure to win, suppress emotion, and constantly prove yourself is affecting the very traders that culture celebrates? In Beneath the Trade, entrepreneur and futures trader Maria Fuller brings a different voice to a male-dominated industry, exploring what’s underneath the fear, urgency, comparison, and need for validation. It’s a conversation about trading psychology that goes beyond gender and gets to the human experience behind the performance.

THE 50TH FIRST DATE follows Logan Quinn as she sets out to record one hundred first dates for her new podcast, never expecting to actually fall in love. But after “Date Number 50” stands her up, she stumbles into Hayes, a charming stranger who turns her experiment upside down.