An interview with Spotify’s Maya Prohovnik

• Exclusive: What’s the future of podcasting in Spotify? Is video necessary for every show? Why is Spotify so successful? And how important is open RSS to Spotify? We had questions for Spotify’s VP of Podcast Product, Maya Prohovnik; and she had answers.

  • Her interview with us coincides with a new release of Spotify’s Fan Study, which focuses on video podcasts.

• There’s a bug in Apple Podcasts in iOS 18, which is marking shows as “played” when the user hasn’t, actually, played them.

  • Apple Podcasts tells Podnews that the company is aware of the issue; there’s a fix coming in iOS 18.1.

• Axios has noticed the podcast capability in Google’s NotebookLM. It ends: “Anthropomorphic tech will always wow us — for a time, at least. But these tricks quickly become first mundane and eventually dull and passé.” The tool now works with YouTube videos.

• One in three Spotify users in Spain are listening to podcasts, says new data from the company shared at a recent Madrid event called Next in Podcast. Nine out of ten users of video podcasts watch them in the foreground, says the data.

• Wondercraft now allows you to direct its AI voices, letting you change the voice’s accent, tone, and even merge voices together.

• Podcast app Overhaul FM is the latest to support creator-made podcast transcripts, using open RSS. The company has communicated “the good, the bad and the ugly” as an update to users. “Creating a podcast app is not easy,” the developers say.

• Sports podcast company BlueWire is partnering with NFL website The 33rd Team, adding a further eleven podcasts to the network.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• From the archives: Pacific Content shares How to make amazing podcast artwork.

• Podcastle post How to Get a Transcript of a YouTube Video (the Simple Way) - copy and paste is your friend, if you know how!

Podcast News

In the asiCast this week, our Editor, James Cridland, talks to asi’s Research Director Richard Marks about how he got started with the daily email global briefing on developments in podcasting and on-demand audio; and the major trends in podcasting and in audio more generally. James will be speaking at this year’s asi International Radio & Audio Conference in Venice on November 6th.

The Times Tech Podcast is new today: a new weekly global podcast that dives deep into the latest trends and innovations in technology, from The Times and The Sunday Times in the UK. Hosted by two tech journalists on both sides of the Atlantic — Danny Fortson and Katie Prescott — the show promises to bring listeners the inside scoop on the technologies that are transforming our world.

The Body Collective is new this week from Lemonada Media and WeightWatchers. Co-hosted by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Model Hunter McGrady, body-acceptance advocate Katie Sturino, celeb-loved artist Ashley Longshore, and TV personality Tracy Moore, this podcast brings together expert voices to help shift the narrative around diet culture.

Boj & Kate Have A Lot On Their Plate is a brand new podcast from UK celebrity Kate Lawler and her husband, Boj - and combines food, family life and at times, full-on chaos. It launched yesterday, debuting high in Apple Podcasts; it’s produced by Podmasters and is with Acast.

Next Question with Katie Couric returns for a new season today, produced by iHeartPodcasts. The first guests are journalist, political analyst, and New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and author and journalist Liz Plank - more political experts and cultural commentators are promised later this season.

Self-described as Hollywood’s coolest podcast, ARE WE ON AIR ? “isn’t just a podcast, it’s Hollywood storytelling at its finest”. Arman Naféei’s show returns for a new season, to delve deep into the soul of music, art, and fashion, offering listeners an all-access pass to the minds behind the magic - and will explore the soundtrack of life with some of the world’s most influential creative minds.