The Spotify exec who is ignoring video

• After a launch of Spotify’s video ambitions earlier in the month, industry observers are increasingly asking… why has Spotify’s Head of Podcast Monetization and Innovation so publicly decided not to back it? First spotted by Chris Petersen and again earlier this week by John McDermott, while you can watch this episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast in full video on YouTube, you can only listen to the same episode on Spotify. The Ringer isn’t posting video on Spotify for many of their shows, including ones specifically about video, like The Big Picture, The Rewatchables, The Watch, and The Prestige TV Podcast; and many sports shows - like The Ringer NBA show, which again posts full video on YouTube, but only audio on Spotify. Given Spotify has been shouting about video since June last year, we’re curious as to The Ringer’s reticence.

  • It’s been reported - and refuted - that Simmons will leave Spotify early next year.

• The Spotify app has added a “recents” carousel, helping you remember what you’ve been listening to. Or watching.

• Does adding (full) video to a show make any difference to the algorithm in Spotify and YouTube? We quietly made one of our “Podnews Daily” shows in full video earlier in the week, and uploaded the video version to both Spotify and YouTube. And here’s what happened:

  • We saw no difference in total plays at all on YouTube.
  • On Spotify, however, we did see an increase in total plays, and interestingly, the audio-only version the day after was also bigger than usual.
  • Worthwhile mentioning that YouTube and Spotify both account for less than 0.5% of our podcast plays - so we’re not talking big numbers. Anyone else want to give it a go?

• Narralize is a new tool that turns PDF content into concise audio summaries (translated, too, if you want).

• Adweek claims that podcasts are increasingly a visual medium. The evidence given are figures from Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Pod Save America and Charlie Kirk.

  • Cheeky Friday holiday opinion: Those shows might be increasingly visual. But take a look at The Daily from the New York Times - which in 2020 was doing 4mn downloads each episode as a podcast (likely more now), while on YouTube, each episode is doing 25,000 plays an episode. All podcasts are not Joe Rogan, after all. Indeed, all podcasts can’t be turned into video easily. S-Town? Serial? Death in Ice Valley?

• Further reading: The Podcast Host write Your Podcast Won’t Go Viral, and That’s a Good Thing … Pod The North writes about corporate control of Canadian media, after yet more job cuts at Rogers.

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Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• According to our swanky new internal dashboard, our article on how to install Audacity on your Chromebook is surprisingly popular. We don’t have an up-to-date Chromebook any more, so if you do, we’d be keen to know if our instructions still work - and if you have any suggestions to make them better.

Podcast News

In the Podnews Weekly Review - we chat with Jon Thoday from Avalon Entertainment, Nick Dunkerley from Hindenburg, and a long (and worthwhile) (and, frankly, skippable) discussion about the future of streaming payments for podcasting. It’s not the weekend if there’s no Podnews Weekly Review.

Got a flight this weekend? Or perhaps an excuse to go for a long, long, walk and discover a new podcast instead of staying in the same building as that person a moment longer? New Podcast Trailers puts podcast trailers for new and interesting podcasts right where you want it - in your podcast player. Follow this podcast now, and use it later.

You Are Error is new from games website Aftermath. Each episode interviews a different guest about something that either games or the people who play them frequently get wrong. It starts with a game designer who speaks Arabic - and the many lamentable attempts to write something that looks like Arabic in games.

An architect and designer are on a journey to help their community understand the nuances of designing for the built environment. Sense of Space is on the SURROUND podcast network, and launched in October. It’s hosted by Ella Hazard and Faraz Shah, who explore all the stuff we interact with as designers, architects, and people.