Pocket Casts on the web: now open to everyone

• Pocket Casts has opened its web player to everyone. You don’t need an account to listen - here’s our daily podcast to try it out. You can also download Mac and Windows desktop apps, too - and if you sign in, you can rate shows and store your favourites, and keep tabs of what you’ve listened-to (which syncs to the app, too). Until now, it was behind a paywall, and only available to Pocket Casts Plus users.

  • The company’s press release includes significant promotion of the benefits of open RSS. “The future of podcasting shouldn’t be locked behind walled gardens,” it says; “podcasts belong to the people, not corporations,” adding that “Podcasting is one of the last open corners of the internet, and we’re here to keep it that way.”
  • We’re linking to the Pocket Casts web player from our podcast pages, like this for The Joe Rogan Experience. One way to link programmatically is to use the Apple iTunes ID, like https://pca.st/itunes/1325018583 - this will also open the Pocket Casts app if it’s installed on mobile.
  • The Pocket Casts web player is not (yet?) optimised for mobile, and doesn’t show transcripts. An Apple Podcasts web player was launched last year - and while it, too, doesn’t show transcripts, it works flawlessly on mobile: especially when installed as an app on Android.

• As the number of podcasters, producers and students from across higher education get involved in podcasting, the HigherEd PodCon has been announced. In the podcast conference capital of Chicago, at the University of Illinois campus in the city, on July 12. Already confirmed as a speaker is Matt Abrahams from Think Fast Talk Smart.

• Magellan AI now lets advertisers measure podcast ad reach against their own first-party and third-party audience data. “Magellan AI ingests advertiser-supplied hashed email lists of their audience segments,” says the company, “and we match them against podcast ad exposure, for insights on reach, audience overlap, and targeting effectiveness.”

• Triton Digital’s Sounder announced that it will be implemented by Audioboom. The podcast network will get brand suitability guidance and advanced contextual targeting.

• Spotify published its “annual music economics report” for 2024. The company paid out $10bn to the music industry last year.

• Audio vs Video - 2025’s fiercest fight is its most pointless one, claims Nick Hilton in a long read today. “Turning a video into a podcast is as easy as closing your eyes; turning a podcast into a video requires several hours of outsourced labour.”

Moves and hires

• Jason Kalin has joined Frequency as Chief Commercial Officer. Most recently, Jason served as the Chief Business Officer at Nativo, a top native ad exchange and creative ad platform for brands and publishers.

Tips and tricks - with Pod Predictor by Coleman Insights

• Podcastle posts How to Post a YouTube Video on Instagram: Your Ultimate Guide

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Safeguarding Sound Science debuts today. The show, from the National Center for Science Education combats misinformation, disinformation, and misconceptions about climate change with actual science. It’s hosted by Mat Kaplan.

Section 230 – the law that made the internet a lush garden of user content. Democrats and Republicans want it gone. But, what’s the real story? Tech journalist Mike Masnick explores this in the new series Otherwise Objectionable. The immersive docuseries features experts who witnessed the birth of the web, the Congressmen who wrote Section 230, and the tech pioneers who couldn’t have succeeded without it.

Self-improvement show The Art of Manliness has partnered with Backyard Ventures to expand its brand and increase its visibility. The 15 year-old show’s host, Brett McKay, says the new partnership "will allow us to continue producing the quality show our listeners have come to expect while partnering with brands that resonate with our audience.”

The Moonshot Podcast launched this week at an event at SXSW. The show focuses on Google X, the innovation lab within Google owners Alphabet, and some of the ideas it’s spawned - self driving cars, wearables, robots, computer systems that code themselves, Internet balloons, laser internet, wildfire prediction, and so much more. It’s hosted by Google X’s Astro Teller, who is Captain of Moonshots for the company.

Good news for DIYers everywhere: This Old House Radio Hour has been announced by LAist Studios and American Public Media - and will start airing on March 22. The show will bring the spirit of home improvement and do-it-yourself culture directly to podcast listeners, inspiring people of all skill levels to take on projects big and small.

The Business Owner’s Journey returns for Season 2 today, with insightful conversations with top entrepreneurs and business strategists. The new season kicks off with Anne McGinty, host of How I Built My Small Business, plus a special episode where guest host Jessica Rhodes flips the script and interviews Nick Berry about his entrepreneurial journey.