Theroux signs exclusive deal with Spotify

• Broadcaster Louis Theroux has signed an exclusive deal with Spotify. The show is the latest high-profile defection from the BBC: his podcast Grounded was the most popular podcast on BBC Sounds in Q2/20.

  • Michelle Obama is also doing an exclusive: but an Audible Original, and exclusive to that platform. The Light Podcast starts in early March. The Obama-owned production company Higher Ground signed the deal with Audible in June.

• Last month, Buzzsprout saw a market share growth of almost a percentage point, according to John Spurlock’s LiveWire. RSS·com overtook iVoox to become the #9 biggest podcast hosting company, as measured by total new episodes published; Megaphone overtook Soundcloud to reach #7.

  • Other data points include trackers and CDNs.

• Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast reports a significant drop in average podcast CPM rates for January. At $22.28, the average rate in its marketplace is down 12% year-on-year, and is the lowest figure for 23 months.

• Podnews’s Editor, James Cridland, is confirmed to be speaking at Podcast Movement Evolutions this year - he’ll be sharing the results of the Podnews Report Card. It’s your yearly opportunity to have your say about podcast platforms and apps - take part today, it should only take a few minutes.

• 43% of Black Americans said they had listened to a podcast in the last month - five points higher than the total population, according to new data from SXM Media, Mindshare and Edison Research. The data was released in The Black Podcast Listener Report.

• Amplifi Media’s Steven Goldstein says that podcasting is doing fine, thank you

• Twitter has announced that all free access to the Twitter API will end on Feb 9, without announcing pricing or usage detail. This is likely to break many cross-posting tools and services. You can follow Podnews by searching for updates@podnews.net in Mastodon and other compatible platforms, where we’ll continue to keep you updated.

• Podcast Brunch Club looks at podcasts focusing on aging.

Moves and hires

• Robbie Ashcroft has been announced as Managing Partner at Free Turn Entertainment. He joins from Denstu’s The Story Lab, which funded new shows.

• Javier Huertas has been hired as Country Director, and Madelón Lánchez as Partner Manager, for new Spanish offices for Libsyn’s Julep Media. Steffen Hopf has been made Head of International at Libsyn; and Maik Lenze is now Country Director for DACH.

• Soundstack has hired Scott Klass as Chief Marketing Officer, Bill Feichtmann as VP of Finance, and Tony Licon as Head of Product. “Putting the right, experienced people into place is always step number one”, said CEO Jon Stephenson.

• Ray Harkins, who works in Podcast Strategy at iHeartMedia on the West Coast, leaves the company on Friday. He’s “taking a moment to check out what else is happening in the podcast space”.

Radiotopia from PRX

Paid content

Radiotopia from PRX, the award-winning podcast network for independent creators, recently unveiled an updated visual identity for the network. Coupled with this refreshed branding, the new tagline “audio with vision” will serve as an expression of the network’s purpose and mission as a creator-centered home for innovative programming. The refreshed branding convey’s the network’s distinct identity in an evolving podcast landscape, inviting listeners to:

“Immerse yourself in stories and conversations of all kinds—intellectual and emotional, real and imagined, entertaining and thought-provoking. Be part of a community that values bold authenticity and boundless creativity. Discover award-winning audio with vision at Radiotopia·fm.”

Elements within the brand refresh will reflect the network’s brand attributes including creativity, authenticity, and well-craftedness.

Radiotopia will also continue to uphold a producer-centered framework, as creators across the network retain their intellectual property while leading editorial decision-making and production.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement Evolutions

• Booking promo swaps is an important part of any podcast marketing strategy. Podcast Marketing Magic does a deep-dive into how it all works.

Podcast News

Behind every catfish, there’s the bait. Love, Janessa is a new true crime podcast from the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts. Produced by Antica Productions and Telltale Industries, it tells the story of an unwitting human face of a digital con.

Rights Back At You launched yesterday - it’s the first podcast from Amnesty International Canada, and introduces listeners to frontline activists creating unstoppable, lasting change in Canada and beyond in Black History Month.

Need a new show to listen to? New Podcast Trailers is available in your favourite RSS podcast app, and contains trailers from lots of new shows.