Inside the iHeart Podcast Awards nominations

• Exclusive: With 18 nominations for iHeart-owned shows, how exactly did the nominees for the iHeart Podcast Awards get chosen? Yesterday, an iHeart executive said it was up to the panel of companies who judged the awards. Today, one person on that panel can reveal that this is not true.

• Apple’s email to all podcasters yesterday contained a set of specifications for host and guest images… which were wrong. We’ve amended the corrected specifications: they want square, 2400px images, not what they originally asked for.

• Libsyn’s revenue continues to increase, according to its Q3 2019 report. For its podcasting business, Libsyn earnt US $10.5m in revenue in the first nine months of 2019: up 14% from $9.2m in the same period last year. Libsyn has 67,000 podcasts on its platform, and also owns an internet hosting company, Pair.

  
  Aug 18 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• How is Spotify using podcasting? An interesting example is Harmonize, a branded music podcast “from P&G and Spotify”, featuring conversations about conscious and unconscious racial bias. Using interviews with musicians, the podcast launched with a companion playlist on the Spotify platform.

  
  Aug 18 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• The Wall Street Journal covers the rise of programmatic advertising for podcasts, and the concerns it may erode the medium’s intimacy.

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• Slate is now making half of its overall revenue through podcasting.

• Which of these three pieces of artwork do you like? I’ve got $23 for a new microphone, what should I go for? How do I make this audio appear in both ears? If you’d like an online podcasting community without all this nonsense, Build A Better Podcast is a new initiative from Brandon Hull’s HelloCast that might just be for you. You can apply to enter now.

• Data: Jeff Vidler from the Canadian Podcast Listener 2019 notes our coverage of Nielsen yesterday, that podcasting is not replacing radio. “This reinforces what we see in The Canadian Podcast Listener 2019 as well,” he says. The survey has also published information about how people discover new podcasts - results pleasingly similar to the Australian data seen last month.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 18 2023

• Want to help long-form podcasts in Texas? The Drag Audio Production House at Moody College at UT is looking for your help to release a number of podcasts. UT has more than 30 legendary Pulitzer-Prize winners; they’re raising money to help produce more great stories.

• Dan Misener from Pacific Content covers audio funnels - the reason why Charles Schwab has more than one podcast.

• Transcription service Rev, which recently lowered its payment to its contractors, is under fire after a point-by-point rebuttal of its “morally and ethically unacceptable” stance to pay.

Developer’s corner

• Wondering what hiding an Apple Podcast - through iTunes Connect - does to the iTunes API listing? We hid this one - ID 1176327926 - on Friday 15 Nov 05:16 +0000.
  • As of 05:34, the page returns a “Cannot Connect” error, a search does not return this podcast itself, but does return episodes of the podcast. Episodes are still visible at the time of writing, in the iOS desktop app, at 07:32. (We’re searching for “James Cridland”, and the podcast is “James Cridland - Radio Futurologist”).
  • The iTunes API search result does not now return the podcast either, and nor does the API lookup - our podcast page correctly (phew!) returning a 404 error.

Podcast News - with Spreaker Prime

Spreaker Prime: Dungeons & Randomness is a weekly Dungeons and Dragons podcast that highlights the moves from over 20 players (and 100 characters) who play in one world in where their actions impact one another and tell a giant, sprawling story. They’re using Spreaker Prime to increase exposure and maximize monetization.

Ledlow & Parker is a new basketball podcast. Kristen Ledlow & Candace Parker will use their unique insight, knowledge & connections to go inside the latest league storylines. (Turner Sports / WarnerMedia Podcasts / knit)

In the Adult Swim Podcast, new Rick and Morty feature episodes launched this week, including the artists, writers and directors behind Rick and Morty Season 4. They offer their unfiltered, inside perspectives of each new episode. (Adult Swim / WarnerMedia Podcasts / knit)
More Rick and Morty - Ricksplained features special guests from the hit show to help overexplain the secret deeper meanings, whether or not those meanings are intentional. It’s represented by PAR. (New Rockstars / Megaphone)

A wild Pokémon podcast has appeared! EXP. Share features two friends who play every generation of Pokémon game, gym by gym. Future seasons will see the hosts take on every game in the Pokémon franchise (so we’ve possibly a while to wait until that vague disappointment of finding yet another Zubat). Episodes drop every Tuesday. (Anchor)

What does it feel like to belong in two places, and nowhere at the same time? In My Arab Identity - بودكاست الهوية, hear from Arab-Australian migrants on how they’re dealing with the complexities of a mixed identity. - بودكاست “الهوية” يسلط الضوء على التحديات التي يواجها المهاجرون العرب وابناؤهم بسبب هويتهم المختلطة في أستراليا وكيف تغلبوا عليها. The podcast is in both English and Arabic, and an interesting listen. البودكاست باللغتين العربية والإنجليزية (SBS Arabic 24)

PodSchool's back: short podcasts to help from Mamamia’s Head Of Podcasts, Rachel Corbett. This new season starts with the thorny subject of “how to record with multiple USB microphones”. (Whooshkaa)

Secret Leaders, featuring interviews with high-flying CEOs and forward-thinking founders, is back for a new season, starting with the British-born founder of Slack. (Simplecast)

Our email overfloweth with exciting new podcasts, and we can’t always squeeze yours in. We’re sorry about that.