Infinite Dial Canada 2019 released in full

Someone from NPR was our 8,000th subscriber late yesterday. Thank you to them, and to you, for reading.

• The Infinite Dial Canada 2019 study, which we previewed earlier this month, is now available to download in full. 36% of Canadians aged 18+ listened to a podcast in the last month.

• Spotify has published a good look at the podcasting industry on their Spotify for Brands website, with lots of statistics and detail.

• It’s almost a month since Luminary launched. “As one of our first Premium subscribers, we want to say thank you by extending your free trial period to THREE months!”, they say, in an email seen by Podnews today sent to a subscriber - it’s unclear if this is a targeted offer or something for everyone.

• Podtrac is changing their measurement algorithm. A blog post appears to indicate that they’re undergoing official IAB compliance, and warns “you should expect to see your download numbers decrease to be consistent with the new guidelines”. Podtrac claimed last July that their figures were, and have always been, consistent with the IAB Podcast Metric Guidelines v2.0; but say this change is due to “more coalescing around specific interpretations of the guidelines” in the industry.

  
  Aug 13 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • At the end of last year we highlighted that Podtrac’s figures were around 27% higher than Blubrry/RawVoice, who were awarded IAB Certification in early December.

• The new (still opaque) methodology from Podtrac has been applied to their (opt-in, self-selecting) April 2019 statistics. The effect appears to be a drop of around 20% for streams/downloads for the top 3 publishers, which remain #1 NPR, #2 iHeartRadio, #3 PRX.

  
  Aug 13 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Omny Studio has rolled out full support for WebSub, so podcasters using the platform will see new episodes appearing instantly in podcast apps that support it, like Google Podcasts or Swoot. Podcast host Megafono also supports the WebSub standard.

• Apple have removed the words “Listen on iTunes” from their podcast pages, preferring now to use “Listen on Apple Podcasts”. This is the surest indicator yet that they plan to build an Apple Podcasts desktop app for the next iteration of MacOS.

• You probably don’t want a new podcast newsletter, but if you did, Fiction Podcast Weekly might be for you, if you’re involved in the world of audio fiction, audio drama, and sound storytelling. It’s free to sign up.

Podcasts

Your Weekly Tech Update with Ray McNeal is celebrating episode 100. It features “the newest, coolest and most mind boggling side of tech available on the interwebs”, and in episode 100, Ray hikes Phillip Island VIC, Australia. (Anchor)

Clusterf*cked is a brand new US political podcast that makes the point that liberals are too clustered together, and talks to “people in places that aren’t blue.” Its first guest is Chief Political Analyst at ABC News, Matthew Dowd. (Libsyn)

Photo Business Help is a new podcast from Natalie Jennings, promising to teach “effective strategies to tackle productivity, organization, and content creation while recognizing that in order to do grow a business we must first care for mind, body, and spirit.” (Simplecast)

The Strategerist, a podcast from the George W Bush Institute, has snagged a well-known guest for their first ever appearance on a podcast: George W Bush. “It’s hard to be optimistic if you’re not able to smile,” says the former US President. (Libsyn)

Long Distance, a member of the inaugural Google Podcasts creator program with PRX, has completed its first season. They’ve launched a Patreon drive, and produced a documentary TV series.

en(gender)ed features “stories that explore the systems, practices, and policies that enable gender-based violence and the solutions to end it”. The host, Teri Yuan, is a member of the NYC Gender Justice and Domestic Violence Task Force. (Libsyn)
Arca-45672 is a new “cinematic science fiction audio drama” from Victoria BC, Canada - or from the exoplanet Arca-45672, where a new race of humanity has emerged. Is this potential salvation for Planet Earth?