Netflix to launch an original scripted podcast with Spotify

• Netflix is to launch its first original scripted podcast. The podcast, a companion podcast for Daybreak, will stream exclusively on Spotify until Dec 12. “The podcast will branch off from season 1 to tell a story of a group of teens, who decide to make a podcast during an apocalypse.”

• PRX and Google Podcasts have launched Pod casting 101, a ten-part video series to help early-stage podcasters. The videos are translated and subtitled into Spanish, Hindi, French, Arabic and Portuguese. Google adds some helpful tips from Luvvie Ajayi, while PRX taps up advice from Sean Rameswaram: they both present the video series.

• Edison Research’s Tom Webster has written a piece on what your podcast download numbers can’t tell you, arguing that 'reach’ is just as important as downloads.

• Radioplayer, an online live radio platform that also includes podcasts, has signed two separate deals with broadcast consortiums in Italy and Spain. They’re the eleventh and twelfth countries to sign up.

• The Spanish online newspaper Libertad Digital and its radio station esRadio have launched a set of new podcasts. The launch mentions a new report that claims 39% of Internet users in Spain listen to podcasts.

• Soundtrap, a multitrack tool from Spotify, has announced that its transcription service will now be available in more languages than just English - it’s available in French, Spanish, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese and… well, it is owned by Spotify… Swedish.

• “Most podcast advertising is very rudimentary and not personalized,” said SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer on an earnings call. “Frankly, this area is ripe to be disrupted and improved.” The company owns Pandora, which has seen a 5% increase in subscriber revenue.

• Spotify will start looking at monetisation of podcasts in 2020, according to Daniel Ek, the company’s CEO on an earnings call. “Streaming was to Netflix as podcasting is to Spotify”, added the CFO, Barry McCarthy, bullish at the effect it’s having on user engagement.

• Podcast Ad Reps have added Techmeme Ride Home to their representation list., bringing the number of podcasts represented by the sales house to over 60, with 4 million downloads per week. Ride Home Media focuses on concise daily podcasts.

• Pod Life is a brand new book about podcasters - why they podcast, how they got started, what keeps them motivated, and what they’ve learned along the way.

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

• Here’s what else you need to know today: Dave Shaw (Politico, Scripps, Marketplace) is rejoining The New York Times as a senior audio editor, and the first Washington-based member of the “Daily” team.

Podcasts

Slow Burn is back for a new season, tackling the murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G; it’s been marketing its podcast by handing out CDs in New York. (Megaphone)

Radio Rental, a horror anthology podcast from Tenderfoot TV, has launched with its first two episodes. (Not this Radio Rentals. Or this Radio Rentals). (Tenderfoot TV / Cadence 13 / Megaphone)

The Second Oil Age, written and created by host Robert Lamb, follows Synøve Pan, voiced by Angèle Masters, a specially-conditioned agent of the UDEX Oil Corporation as she investigates the disappearance of an oil executive on the deep-sea Atlas Station. The first three episodes were released yesterday. (iHeartRadio)

Go With Nugget for Parents joins a kids podcast from family travel company Nugget, designed to inspire and educate listeners on the beautiful diversity of people and places around the world. (Blubrry)

Academic, TED alum, and advocate Sinéad Burke has launched As Me with Sinéad, talking to all sorts of notable people about their deepest fears, secrets and what it’s like to live in their bodies. Guests so far have included Victoria Beckham and Riz Ahmed; next week, Jamie Lee Curtis. (Lemonada Media / Megaphone)

The Double Shift podcast, focusing on the personal side of being a working mother, returns for a new season, including a live show. (Critical Frequency / Lipstick and Vinyl / Libsyn)

The WWE has launched their first-ever weekly podcast, After The Bell. In the first episode, Corey Graves is joined by Triple H, WWE Universal Champion, Seth Rollins, WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion, Bayley … and the legendary Ric Flair.