Google's podcast strategy includes better searching, and more monetisation

• More on Google’s new podcast strategy, reported yesterday:

  • Steve Pratt posts part 2: Google’s Plan to Make Audio a First-Class Citizen. “Google’s new podcast strategy is designed to make audio a first-class citizen, alongside the text, image, and video results you are used to seeing.” … “your podcast could also show up when people search for topics or people that your podcast covers”. There’s also a donate button in some podcasts.
  • In response to comments on social media, I’ve been able to ascertain that Google does not cache podcast audio for it. This means that it should appear in your stats and be directly monetisable, unlike Google Play Music Podcasts. Yesterday, we posted its user-agent. You should ascertain that your podcast host is correctly measuring it. I can also confirm that it is a properly global service, available everywhere. I’ve tested it in Australia (Google Play Music Podcasts is only available in North America) and I’ve also tried it via VPNs in other countries.

• A new podcasting network from D. Scott Karnedy, (XM Satellite Radio, AOL, iHeart Radio and MySpace), Stuffed Sausage Media goes live, promising to 'connect great talent with great brands’.

• The tech press covers Google’s podcasting strategy. The Verge highlights the multi-device features; you can also see coverage in RAIN and 9to5Google.

• Podtrac release the top 20 podcasts for March 2018. As ever, data is US only.

  
  Aug 1 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• A profile of the new podcast Breach, branded content from Carbonite covering the Yahoo! hack of 2013, is in Dallas website Central Track.

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• DiscoverPods look at the Edison Research Podcast Consumer 2018 study. Kevin Goldberg doesn’t share the optimism regarding podcast use on smart speakers.

• The New Statesman asks Why do politicians keep making podcasts? - hanging the piece off a new podcast from former UK Deputy PM Nick Clegg, Anger Management (published on Audioboom).

  
  Aug 1 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Listicle: Top 10 true crime podcasts, from Castbox.

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