Global to commission original podcasts

• Global, the media and entertainment group, have entered a podcast commissioning partnership with Dentsu’s Story Lab, a content investor, producer and distributor operated by an advertising agency. The first podcast to be produced is Hunting Ghislaine, a story about Ghislaine Maxwell. It’ll be presented by John Sweeney in his first project since leaving the BBC.

• Podbean have announced Podcast Wellness Week, a week of daily panels and speakers about mental health, meditation and a positive mindset from November 30 to December 4. The event is free to watch live.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Podsmooch is a new service allowing podcasters to have one place for their episodes, merchandise and sponsor links.

• Megaphone now appears to support VAST, a method of allowing multiple third party companies to serve ads on podcasts. ART19 announced their support in September.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• A writeup of the recent Podcast Day Online highlighted some YouGov studies into podcasting saying that BBC Sounds is the most popular podcast app in the UK. The app only includes BBC podcasts and a handful of third-party ones.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• The winners of the Podes Portuguese podcast awards were announced. We’ve the full list here, to which we’ve added podcast hosts. Parabéns!

• Podnods claims to recommend podcasts specifically for you - and allows you to keep your existing podcast player.

• Ilana Susnow has been announced as the new Head of Marketing & Audience Development for PodcastOne.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 29 2023

• How discoverable is your podcast? Headliner has released the Podcast Discoverability Grader, a free tool to help. It gives us a score of 90% - it marks us down for not being with the cool kids on Insta. Ain’t never gonna happen, girlfriend.

Spotify’s purchase of Megaphone

• “I think this will be a very savvy move for Spotify that helps them sell ads on their own shows as well as on third party podcasts, while also gathering whatever data they want.” - Jeff Umbro, The Podglomerate, on LinkedIn

• “What stands out to me is the data that Spotify will be able to gather about Megaphone client publishers and their audiences, and how that will inform their ongoing product and acquisition strategy. It may also inform how they interact with and influence ad-supported shows and networks that do not use their ad tech.” - a mystery Podnews reader

• Expect more on this in Monday’s Sounds Profitable, our ad-tech newsletter.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Tips and tricks

• How to Find Podcast Guests (Kristi Jacobsen)

• How I Got On 60 Podcasts In The Last 6 Months… (Jeff Harry)

• How to launch a podcast in a crowded space (Josh Adley, Listen Entertainment)

Podcast News - with Vurbl

On Vurbl Voices, Paul talks with the co-founders of KidNuz about the audio news format, storytelling, crafting your voice, distributing to the classroom and opportunities around audio for kids and families. Listen on Vurbl

The Piper is a new drama from Somethin’Else for the BBC. A modern take on the 'pied piper’ fairytale, it stars Tamzin Outhwaite, and a soundtrack by Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan.

The Coronavirus Radio Ideas Awards took place yesterday. The “best podcast, creativity and entertainment” went to BBC Radio 4's comedy podcast Now Wash Your Hands…

…while the “best podcast, long-form storytelling” went to the Spanish-language Buscando Una Luz from Podium Podcast; produced by long-time Podnews reader Francisco Izuzquiza. All the winners are here.

Race at Work is new from the Harvard Business Review. “Hear leaders from business and government trace their personal journeys with race, equity, and inclusion. And learn from their mistakes and their triumphs.”

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has launched LPO Offstage, exploring the lives of orchestral musicians. It covers everything from how to keep instruments in working order to life on the road as a classical musician.