Overcast adds instant search; the NYT helps new podcast listeners

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• Overcast, a popular iOS podcast app, has released v5.1. The author, Marco Arment, is most proud of instant search (which uses a cache on your device). Data point: over 80% of podcasts are added in Overcast by searching.

• Beginner’s Guides to Getting Into Podcasts are two-a-penny online, and we don’t normally link to them. Unless they’re from the New York Times. It contains recommendations from many different writers. (They recommend Google Play Music as an Android app, though, which is disappointing - and shows how far Google Podcasts has to go to market itself.)

• Procast, an iOS podcast app from Germany, is now also available for Android. It’s based on an inbox concept powered by a fast cloud-based backend. Privacy is highly valued - it’s free, and has no advertising.

• A new podcast studio has opened in Warren OH, USA.

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• In case you missed it: we’re monitoring many different things about podcasts to help the industry.

  • Our podcast availability list shows that, in general, every podcast is available in Google Podcasts as well as Apple Podcasts, though Spotify still only lists about 60%
  • Our technical podcast analysis shows that 128kbps is the relative standard for stereo podcasts, but mono podcasts are just as likely to be 64kbps or 128kbps. Most podcasts are coming in around -16 LUFS in terms of loudness (more info); but many are much, much quieter.

Stats and data

• Civic Science has done an (online) poll on podcast listening. The figures are markedly different to Edison Research (which doesn’t use online polling) - Civic Science claims only 8% of Americans listen weekly; Edison Research claims 17%; and similar surveys in other countries reflect Edison Research’s numbers. Still, there may be something to glean from this data.

Podcasts

The Intelligence launches today: it’s The Economist’s new daily podcast. “Global illumination from The Economist’s worldwide network of correspondents as they dig past the headlines to get to the stories beneath—and to stories that aren’t making headlines, but should be.”

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