Now, iHeart tops two US podcast rankers

• There’s a new #1 for podcasting at the top of May’s Triton Digital US Podcast Ranker - for the first time, iHeart Media is being measured by the service. The “iHeart Audience Network” claims 67,355,410 average weekly downloads, 76% more than the previous #1 network, SiriusXM. iHeart is also #1 with Podtrac.

• Riverside is launching “Conversation Studio”, a new set of features including full HD live-streaming, multi-track editing, and a forthcoming mobile editor.

  • Riverside’s Kendall Brietman is on the Podnews Weekly Review this week to explain more of the features.

• “AI video regenerate” has been announced by Descript - a service that will “generate your AI voice and sync your lips so you look and sound like you said it that way the first time”. If you want access, you need to join the waitlist. (Riverside’s competitor, Video Dub, is also not generally available yet).

  • Descript is also to make a number of changes to its free plan, adding new limits to some features.

• Mediastream was given IAB v2.1 certification yesterday for podcast measurement. We have a full list of certified podcast hosting companies.

• Ten music podcasts from Evergreen Podcasts are to be sponsored by DistroKid, a music distribution company.

• Podcast app Castro is now supporting WebSub, a mechanism for getting quicker updates for new episodes. The podcast app says that 25% of the most popular shows on its app have support already. (More on WebSub on Podnews).

• Headliner has added an automatic-posting feature to TikTok. The tool can automatically create and post engaging TikTok videos every time creators upload a new episode.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Talking of stats, as we were above - how do podcast stats actually work? And how do these rankers work?

• And… how do YouTube stats work, come to that?

Podcast News

The Longform podcast is to end after twelve years, according to The New York Times. The show has interviewed writers, journalists, filmmakers and podcasters in nearly 600 episodes.

Office Ladies, one of the US’s biggest shows, is reportedly to leave SiriusXM’s Earwolf and move to Audacy. A number of other Earwolf shows have left the network over the past year.

One of the inventors of podcasting, Dave Winer, is podcasting again. DW’s Podcast0 feed will contain archive material, curated by Dave - including his first podcast ever. (His 'Morning Coffee Notes’ and 'Trade Secrets’ shows are archived by Podnews with his blessing, if you want to listen to the whole shows - find them in most podcast apps).

TuneIn, a radio streaming app, has launched a podcast. From Garth Brooks’ radio network The BIG 615, the show, The StormeCast, features interviews from host Storme Warren, who also hosts a show on the station.

Bad Watchdog is back for a new season. The investigative show turns its focus on the Department of Homeland Security. They trace how an agency established to protect the nation from security threats has doubled down on detaining migrants, sometimes in horrifying conditions, while failing to address the most dangerous security threat caused by far-right violent extremism — even within the agency’s own ranks.

Joel D. Montgrand’s podcast for Indigenous actors, Actors and Ancestors, is back for a new season today - Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. The show is designed to celebrate Indigenous actors, uplift their communities, and help push the industry towards more meaningful representation of Indigenous Peoples beyond Hollywood stereotypes.