Podcasting goes primetime

• 2018 must be the year of the podcast, as it goes primetime on US television. ABC premieres Alex, Inc on March 28, based on Alex Blumberg’s Startup. As the trailer will show you, it focuses on a man who quits his job and launches a podcast company. Hilarity ensues.

• Podcast producer Gimlet has a new Chief Marketing Officer: Jenny Wall, described by Variety as an “entertainment-marketing veteran”. She’s come from Hulu, Netflix, and HBO. (Her first job should be ensuring there’s a Gimlet logo at the bottom of this update.)

• HotPod 146 is out, and focuses on smart speakers, in-car podcasts, and in a section called What’s going on with Podtrac?, covers our investigation into iHeartMedia’s figures. Of Podtrac, Nick Quah writes: “the fact that Podtrac missed what could be charitably phrased as an inadvertent gaming of its system raises questions over its technical acumen, particularly given its core work of verifying downloads in the space.”

• Cathy O’Connor, the CEO of Australian radio and podcaster NOVA Entertainment, makes it into Mediaweek’s top 25 media people of 2017 list. Under her leadership the company has had a record year; produces its own podcasts out of Brisbane, and represents acast in the country.

• Cabana, a podcast community in New York NY, USA, launches a guide to buying podcasts - “from understanding the current landscape to building the campaign of your dreams”

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Jul 29 2023

• Spanish speakers, rejoice - Francisco Izuzquiza is producing a new series for SpainMedia Radio called Podcasting Notebook, focusing on stories from the podcast industry. Hear a first greeting on his website.

  
  Jul 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• The Australian Podcast Awards gets a new name and a new website. Podnews’s Managing Editor James Cridland appears on the front page, too, staring into the audience over the 'Enter’ button. And you should enter, because he’s one of the judges again this year.

• From Paris and Amsterdam, The Europeans focuses on what it’s like being an expat Brit in Europe. This week, they talk about the unexpected comeback of Luxembourgish, an officially endangered language, and ask why a baby born in Bulgaria will have a much shorter life expectancy than one in Spain.

• Dundee, UK based business podcast company, The Podcast Host, reveals plans to expand. “The firm, which specialises in podcasting for business, is developing its first app – named Alitu – which will revolutionise podcasting for individuals, SMEs and larger companies by automating the production and publishing process.”

• Stitcher has a new podcast out on Jan 23: Unladylike. “Getting unladylike is the first step in not only claiming space for ourselves, but also making room for other overlooked stories and voices.” It’s hosted by art19.

• The Guardian profile Pod Save America. Data: the show “now reaches 1.5m Americans per episode”.

• A press release announcing The Ripple Effect, which goes live on February 14th - a podcast focusing on the not for profit and social enterprise sector.

• Podcast directory Listen Notes adds a feature called Listen Later, a way to add podcast episodes to a list to listen later on any player (or the web).

Feature - our site search also searches through podcasts, thanks to Listen Notes

Thankyou to new sponsors Adopter Media, adswizz and podrover.