Kids’ podcast becomes kids’ book

• An original kids’ podcast from Podster will be published in print in Denmark next year. The World’s Wackiest Bandits features stories about the smartest, dumbest, most charming and strangest criminals. It is released on Nov 1, just in time for Christmas.

• Media research firm Coleman Insights has been acquired by Quest Global Research Group, an online market research company. Coleman Insights will continue to operate under its brand and retain its team.

• There are just 7 days left to enter the Audio Production Awards 2024. The awards, sponsored by Audible, celebrate the people both behind the scenes and in front of the mic. There are 23 categories to enter.

• Spreaker has made changes to its auto-optimisation feature, which adds advertisements to podcasts. The company looks as if it has opted more podcasters into the tool, which appears to now recommend more ad breaks - some podcasters report an ad break is being inserted every five minutes. (You can adjust it back down).

• Headliner now automatically creates captions for all projects.

• Our podcast today uses a Wondercraft AI voice clone, since we’re travelling. It sounds a bit Essex, innit.

People News

• Rebecca Adams has joined podcast marketing agency Podcast Discovery as PR and Outreach Executive.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• The funding tag is the easiest way to help podcasters get paid. It’s one URL, which you can point to your Patreon, your Stripe account, or wherever you’d like. It’s already supported by many podcast hosting companies, including RSS.com, Buzzsprout, Blubrry and Transistor; and a number of podcast apps, too (as well as Podnews podcast pages).

• Missing the itunes:duration tag from your RSS feed? PodcastAddict, as one example app, will make a MediaMetadataRetriever request for your audio file to learn how long the episode is. It should make a range request (apparently a 65kB chunk); but in some statistics tools, that request may appear as a “download”. tl;dr: ensure the duration is in your feed, for the most accurate download stats.

• Want transcripts for your podcast? RSS.com, who sponsor this section, offer free transcripts for every creator on the platform - and they’re Podcasting 2.0 compatible, so the transcripts appear in loads of podcast apps. You can switch to RSS.com and get 6 months free.

Tips and tricks - with Ausha 🚀

• Explore Ausha’s list of 10 top branded podcasts and what makes them stand out.

• Learn Ausha’s tips to create an effective branded podcast using your existing content.

• RedCircle asks Are You Maximizing Your Revenue? which explains where to put ads in your show, and not to forget about using your archive.

Podcast News

40 ish launches today - diving into the challenges and absurdities of forty-something life. From the hosts of Self Care Club, Lauren and Nicole, they tackle everything from dealing with teenagers, husbands and hormones, dating in midlife, wondering why your favourite songs are now considered “classics’ and when”Netflix and chill" starts to mean just that.

Dax Shepard was on Good Morning America to talk about the new season of Armchair Expert, which moved to Wondery on Sep 1.

Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith has an interview later today with the three writers behind Ottolenghi’s new book, Comfort - and reveals a fascinating dynamic behind the throne. Plus, talking of thrones, later this month she will speak to the new Queen’s son, Tom Parker-Bowles, focusing on the culinary history of the British monarchy and the significance of royal feasts and personal meals from Queen Victoria to his stepfather, King Charles III.