Can you game the Apple podcast charts?

• Is it possible to game the Apple Podcast Charts? - lots of data and analysis from Kevin Goldberg. Yes, it would seem, it is: and he highlights one podcast that just might have been doing so.

• The Australian ABC has, intruigingly, launched a new podcast which plays songs in full. It’s the triple j Unearthed Podcast, “a breakdown of the five best independent Australian songs uploaded to triple j Unearthed that week. And unlike most podcasts, the triple j Unearthed podcast will play out full songs for maximum music discovery.”

• A new project aimed at preserving podcasts for the future has gained funding; it’s called Preserve This Podcast, and it aims to “help independent podcasters protect their work against the threats of digital decay.”

• Will robots take over the podcasting world? That’s the question from book2pod.com, who are using Amazon Polly to produce automated podcasts for authors.

• AudioBoom inventory in Canada will be sold by The Podcast Exchange, the company announces. In the same story, Audioboom reveals it has also hired Jenni Skaug as Sales Executive, who has over a decade of podcast sales experience.

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• Also in Canada, the CBC is releasing their “winter slate of original podcasts”. Data: CBC podcasts had 300 million downloads from April 2016 to December 2017.

• Podcasting company WPO has produced Micro Party, what it calls the first ever political podcast from the country of Monaco, for their elections.

• ABC Audio Studios boss Kellie Riordan is writing a weekly podcast newsletter, Pod Squad, with her recommendations. Mentioned in the last edition were The Pineapple Project, The Side Hustle Show and Making Obama. Here’s a subscribe link.

• What they didn’t tell you about podcasting is the result of three and a half years of podcasting by Fei Wu of the Feisworld Podcast; including monetisation and promotion.

• Podchaser announces a revamped search product.

• Which podcasts are the best fits for the big screen? Hannah Verdier from The Guardian has some suggestions.

My thanks to Audioburst and Wondery for their support.